5 Things About the Z5

Nikon Z5, Z 24-50mm f4-6.3, 9 stop ND

Did a nice little hike with the Z5 yesterday at the north end of Rouge River National Urban Park, I shot with 3 lenses, the Laowa 15mm Macro, the Z 24-50 kit lens and a 105/2.5 AI-S. That combo worked out pretty well although I'd rather have had a 70-300 than the 105, there's a couple shots I could have gotten with the zoom that I just couldn't with the 105, particularly a skittish juvenile Chipmunk.

At just over 3 weeks of ownership and just under 1000 shots (there was no photo walking last week due to weather and work), the Z5 continues to do well. But it's not perfect.

So, here's 5 things I dislike about the Z5

1. It's porky. The Z5 is definitely the largest & heaviest mirrorless camera I've owned, and that is noticeable, it's just enough that it bugs me if I walk around with it in my hand with one of my heavier lenses and the FTZ (the 105/2.5 AI-S most notably, as it is compact but heavy)

2. Pointless UI crippling. There's a few areas this annoys me, particularly with regards to things the F mount bodies can do and the Z's cannot. These are: No lens data to EXIF for non-CPU lenses unless using an FTZ. Annoying especially since Auto-ISO behaviour clearly shows the camera is respecting the Non-CPU lens setting. Second is no 2-button format shortcut. That was a great feature on all the higher-end DX and FX DSLR's and I miss it a lot. My X-T2 has a similar feature. The third is no ability to override DX crop with a DX lens mounted. This makes one of my favourite cheap FX combos impossible, namely using the 35DX with FX crop (where it vignettes slightly). All of these are fairly clearly deliberate decisions by Nikon to dictate how users use their cameras, and Nikon really should fix all of these via firmware updates. Note all of these are common across the Z bodies, not Z5 unique items.

3. Limited Control customization. There's really 3 fully-assignable buttons (Fn1, Fn2, Record) and three with limited assignability (AF-On, Joystick press, OK), and in some cases moving a default function only moves its activation, not the control (AF Subject tracking is the big one here, you can move activation off OK, but control is always OK+ Zoom -). Plus the zoom buttons shouldn't even exist (this function should be on a control dial) and the drive mode button, ISO button and exposure comp button should all be Fn's as these are all functions that are duplicates of the i menu options. 

4. Touch oddities. Why is there a touch i button? Why is it right next to the physical one? Why can we change some settings directly via touch, but have to menu-dive for others that are displayed on the screen already. Touch really isn't fully thought out, although it is light-years better than Sony's implementation.

5. The i menu. Great idea, nice UX. Why so limited? It's 2 rows of 6 settings each. Why not have a near-fullscreen selection like Olympus's Super Control Panel?

And now, to balance that, here's 5 things I like about the Z5

1. It's porky. The ergonomics benefit greatly from the size & solid build. It is the nicest mirrorless body to hold & shoot with of all the ones I've owned (just slightly edging out the E-M1.2)

2. Very well sorted UI. The button assignment options are excellent, the controls are all well placed and the menu system is very well laid out and also well translated (no 1 fish/3 fish or invalid operation buttons)

3. The touch implementation is excellent. By far the easiest to interact with of all the ones I've used. Better than Olympus's already good implementation thanks to very straightforward menu interactions.

4. The i menu. This makes accessing second-level settings quite easy even at eye level thanks to the combination of good graphic design and a well located and easy to discern by feel physical button.

5. That EVF. I know it's not the best on the market, but it's by far the best at its price point and Nikon's implementation bats above the specs in terms of experience. It's much more transparent and less obviously an EVF than the same panel in the X-T3/4 or G9.

 

Two Weeks with the Z5

Nikon Z5, Laowa 15mm f4 Macro

The image above is some fun with the macro capability of the Laowa 15mm f4 Macro. This is a unique lens in terms of close focus capability and I do enjoy abusing that capability at times, like these tiny flowers left over from the fall.

There hasn't been a lot of photography in the last week, but I'm over 800 frames on the Z5. That's less than the E-M1.2 at the same point, but without vacation time and with only one serious photowalk in the period it's pretty good overall.

I'm quite content with the Z5, and now that things have warmed up I'm starting to warm to the Z 24-50 kit lens. It really is quite good optically and my focus jam issue I had initially turned out to be cold-related. Once it gets over 2-3C the lens has no issues. The 0.35m close focus is pretty decent, not up to the m.Zuiko 12-40 Pro for sure, but acceptable for a cheaper kit lens. Focus is quite speedy and very accurate. Handling is more than a little wonky, with a tendency for the zoom to overshoot 24mm and start collapsing because the zoom stop detent is too soft. The main body of the lens is short enough that you can't really use the lens as a handgrip. Oh, and the focus ring/control ring is well located for a control ring, but in a poor location for focus control, especially if you use an L bracket on your body as I do. 

Overall, I'm not going to rave about the 24-50, but there's nothing truly wrong with it considering the requirement to be short. Both issues I have with the lens are around constraints brought by its collapsible nature. 

I got out for a long walk on Friday, using the 24-50 and my old 50-135/3.5 AI-S. Still don't like that AI-S zoom, but the 24-50 did alright and didn't freeze up once in the warmer temperatures. I would like to see Nikon do a compact telephoto zoom to match up with the 24-50 though, maybe a revisit of the classic 75-150? Doesn't need to be fast, just small and reasonably priced. I'd also love to see something like an 18-30 ultra-compact UWA zoom. The 14-30's great, but it costs almost as much as the Z5 and that's a showstopper for many potential Z5 buyers. The 18-35G is much more reasonable in price and an excellent performer, but it's a little big on the FTZ when pairing with small native lenses, so it needs a compact Z mount equivalent.

 

Today is Cleanup Day

Sony A7II, FE 28-70 f3.5-5.6 OSS

I've spent some time over the past couple days doing a major cleanup of my Flickr stream. I was up around 2800 images and trimmed down to 1940 or so images.

Mostly I cleaned out a mix of old 'found item' shots, mediocre street photography and uninteresting cityscape work. I was largely focused on preserving images that had some significant engagement, as well as some of the stronger images that may not have gotten as much notice. 

I think the end result is a much stronger Flickr stream, and one that focuses more on what I shoot today, rather than being 50% 'guy with a camera wandering around finding random crap' and 50% 'photographer shooting interesting subjects'

The one thing I do need to decide is how to approach some of the stronger or more popular images that really don't match up well with my overall body of work. I'm primarily a landscape and nature photographer. I dabble in cityscape. I'm not a street photographer, a portrait photographer or an aviation or automotive photographer and I'm not sure if I want to just cut some of the strong or popular images of those types out of my stream, especially since those genres dominate my earlier posted work. I'd like to have a solid body of work that dates back to 2005 when I joined Flickr, but a lot of that work just doesn't match what I do today. 

 

One Week with the Z5

Nikon Z 5, Z 24-50mm f4-6.3

One week in with the Z5 and I've taken about 450 frames with it. In context, that's a little less than half what I did with the E-M1.2 in the same period, but without any serious excursions while I had two excursions with the E-M1.2. The weather also hasn't been as conducive to shooting, with several chilly or grey days.

Overall, it's definitely still in new toy mode, or at least feels like it. 

I've sorted out the issue with the Z 24-50, turns out it simply doesn't like the cold and works fine inside or outside as long as it's above zero. That means it will work for me for the summer, but I will need a different walk around zoom for next winter. Maybe just a cheap 24-85VR or the Z 24-70/4.

I'm really digging the handling of the Z5, it's a little on the heavy side compared to the other mirrorless bodies I've owned, but lighter than most of the DSLR's (the D3200's and D40 were still lighter).The viewfinder is great and the functionality matches my needs very well except for the one weirdness about writing Non-CPU Lens data to EXIF only when the FTZ is mounted (hmm, maybe somebody could work up a chip mod that emulates an FTZ when stuck on a mechanical M or other adapter).

Image quality is absolutely top notch. Nikon files have generally been my favourites, with excellent colour  like the Olympus's combined with easy to work with files. The Z5 is no exception here.

The IBIS seems to work very well, almost as effective as the E-M1.2, although I've not tested too much at really low shutter speeds.

I don't miss the top display, I've had so few bodies with that feature over the last 10 years that I just tend to ignore it. I'd much rather use the settings display on the LCD which is easier to read and can display more data. 

Overall, it just makes me want to go out and shoot it, even more so than the E-M1.2 did, and that camera already was a motivator. 

 

Z5 Up and Downs

 

Nikon Z5, Z 24-50mm f4-6.3

The first real photowalk with the Z5 happened yesterday, with mixed results.

The bad? My kit lens is bad. It periodically gets confused at wider focal lengths and won't focus past 1m or so. The issue is intermittent and very frustrating. I've already opened a case with Nikon. Normally I'd just do a quick exchange with the store, but I don't want to have to swap the body as well, as I know it's good, I've just about got it setup right and I trust it. This is a little frustrating, I've had the occasional bad bit of kit over the years but I've had two new gear failures in the last 3 weeks, first the original E-M1.2 and now the Z 24-50. 

I've also found a gotcha with the Non-CPU Lens Data implementation. It doesn't write EXIF unless you are using an FTZ adapter. That's annoying for those interested in adapting non-F mount lenses, like myself, or in using 3rd party manual lenses which I'm also interested in. The good? 20 slots in Non-CPU Lens Data vs 9 in most of the DSLR's. Auto ISO and IBIS also still respect the Non-CPU Lens Data set. 

The good? Oh my, that EVF. My favourite OVF's were always the non-HP F3 and the F2 finders. Both are 0.8x and 100%. Guess what the FX Z's all are 0.8x and 100%. Eye relief is very close as well, perfect for me (but not so great for glasses wearers who will prefer lower magnification and a longer eyepoint). The 3.69 Million Dot OLED display is great, best I've owned. I know there are better out there (Leica's 4.4MD, the 5.76MD unit on the A7RIV and the Panasonic S1's and Sony's new 9.44MP unit in the A7SIII and A1) but the Z5 unit is the best I've worked with. I'd seen a similar setup on the X-T3 with 0.75x magnification and wasn't all that impressed compared to the X-T1/2's 2.36MD 0.77x unit, but a lot of that is just implementation. The Fuji's are very good, the Nikon is simply sublime, it feels almost like an OVF. 

Buttons are marginally better than the E-M1.2, for the most part they're very close but the Nikon has 2 real advantages:

1. The Fn buttons on the front are big and easy to find, these are the two most fiddly buttons on the E-M1.2. Only downside here is gloves can hit these buttons on the Z5 and not so much on the E-M 1.2

2. All buttons can be actuated by your right hand except play & delete. The E-M1.2's left shoulder buttons are not reachable by your right hand. This means that you need your left hand to actuate non-lens controls while shooting on the E-M1.2, but not on the Z5. That's a nice bonus. 

The Nikon also has the on/off on the shutter button. I'm kind of ambivalent on this compared to the E-M1.2, because frankly the front control dial around the shutter button on the E-M1.2 was kind of awesome and the Z5's front dial is the weak point in its controls, being very low profile and harder to actuate with gloves. Honestly, the control dial setup on the E-M1.2 was about the best I've seen. The Z5 is quite good, but not quite on the same level. Better button layout on the Z5 though, the different rear dial position makes the dial a little harder to actuate but allows for a better AF-On location.

The older Olympus bodies annoyed me with the on/off location, but the quick sleep feature on the E-M1.2 made this pretty much irrelevant as I could just leave the body on like a DSLR. I need to be a little more cognizant of this as it doesn't sleep or wake up as fast as the E-M1.2. It's not slow, the Z5 is the second most responsive mirrorless body I've owned, the E-M1.2 is just really, really fast. It's actually been quite a while since I've had a body where I just felt it was slow. The last one was the X-E1 I had in early 2019 and I knew going in that it just was an older and slower body. The Fuji X-T1 & X-T2 are quite responsive, as is the A7II, the Z5 and E-M1.2 are noticeably better, with the E-M1.2 on top for things like wake-up speed.

Next up is the files. They're just like the D750 files, just a touch better. That makes them the second-best RAW files I've shot at low ISO (trailing the D800's) and the best at high ISO's (beating the D750 and D700). Just yum. Nikon colour and absolutely outstanding noise performance. Yes, there are better cameras out there, like the Z7 at low ISO and Z6 at high ISO, but the Z5 is already superb. 

I'm pretty surprised by how good the AF is. Not so much the speed, which is good, but how good the tracking is. The tracking features are not something I've ever really used before, but Subject Tracking really does work. Eye AF and face recognition are quite usable, even if it won't track a guy in a 'Fro jumping around and Sony/Canon will. Even with the issues with my kit lens I was able to test this, and I also grabbed a 50/1.8G and have tested it a bit. 

My L-bracket arrived today, along with my Haoge Sony E to Nikon Z adapter. The L bracket is OK, it was cheap and is bright red, but I don't like the extra spacing of the L portion. I'll probably get a Smallrig bracket eventually. The Haoge adapter lets me stack my Sony adapters for now, mostly my M and C/Y adapters, until I get native ones, and will also give me the option of buying E mount manual focus lenses that aren't available in Z mount, like say the Loxia's.

I'm also on the lookout for a Fuji X to Nikon Z adapter. It should be possible as X mount is almost identical in spec to E mount (0.3mm shorter register, but very similar otherwise). That would let me use all my Fuji lenses except the XC35/2 in DX crop mode on the Z5, at 10.5MP it wouldn't be really high-end IQ, but fine for occasional use.

I expect I'm going to use the 24/50/105 combo a lot on the Z5, right now that's a Nikkor 24/2.8 K non-AI, the 50/1.8G and the legendary 105/2.5 AI-S 'Afghan Girl'. If that works well, I'll pick up an AF 24, maybe Viltrox will bring their new 24 to Z mount soon? I've heard good things about their 85/1.8 and it's on my list of interesting things, along with the 7Artisans 28/1.4 and 35/1.4's (not sure which of those I'll get, the cheaper native mount or the better Wen series in M mount). There's no AF replacement for the 105/2.5 though, which somebody should remedy. I'm expecting a 35/85 kit might work once I have an 85, as I already have 2 35's, the Nikkor 35/2 AI, which is decent enough but I've never been overly fond of it and the Super-Takumar 35/3.5, which I like a lot, but it's slow enough that it's not usable in weak light.

These are all fun lenses though, my hiking/landscape kit is the Laowa 15, the 24-50 (once sorted) and a telezoom, likely the 70-300E, and probably the 55/3.5 Micro.

In terms of buying fun lenses, I'm going to try and stick to 3 kinds:

1. Nikkors, both F and LTM

2. Cheap manual lenses, like 7Artisans and TTArtisan.

3. Takumars, I miss my old setup and they're still reasonably cheap aside from 85's.

A Change in Directions

 

Nikon Z5, Nikkor 35mm f2 AI

Welp, the E-M1 Mark II didn't last long. It got returned and a Z5 came home with me.

Why? Not anything wrong with the E-M1.2, but entirely looking at what I'd need to get to make m43 a full system for me, then looking over and realizing I already owned most of it in F mount. Why buy a bunch of new lenses when I already own equivalents that I know work for me. I basically needed to build a full system in m43, but I need a telezoom only for Z at this point (I'd arranged to sell my Laowa 15/4 Macro to a friend, but they kindly allowed me to back out of the deal now that I'm back on FX, it's an amazing lens but I couldn't see a real use case for it on m43, a 30mm-e shift/macro is a lot less interesting than a 15mm macro, the shift capability is crop-only)

I'll miss both the E-M1.2 and the 12-40 f2.8 Pro, they were an amazing combo. The Z5 beats the E-M1.2 in some areas, and lags in others. The EVF is one area it's like night & day, the Z5's is much better than the already quite decent E-M1.2, while the E-M1.2 had a better LCD setup as Nikon does tilt-only. The Z5 also has USB-C charge, one thing oddly lacking on the Olympus. I'll miss the 4:3 aspect ratio, although I can shoot in 5:4 crop on the Z5. Only crop mode missing is the 1.2x crop. Nikon is way behind Olympus in the way of multi shot and computational capabilities, but quite frankly I mostly use those to make up for the less flexible RAW files of m43. I will note that I pushed the E-M1.2 pretty hard on DR and found the files very close to my Fuji's in terms of usable DR, a surprise to me and much better than my experience of the 16MP m43 files, which got crunchy when pushed.

As to the Z5, the ergonomics are if anything better than the already excellent E-M1.2, the button layout in particular is better and the grip is just a bit chunkier which I like. The key thing is that I can get a nice 2 zoom setup in the system pretty easily and not too expensively if I'm willing to exploit equivalence and I am. Where the Olympus is ahead is in sealing & cold weather capability, something I don't need at that level, in speed, again something I don't need and in computational photography, which I like, but again I don't actually need. 

Lots of cool toy advantages for the Olympus beyond the sealing, but in terms of practicality they're pretty non-impacting for my uses. The Z5 has very good IBIS, adapts very well, better than the E-M1.2 thanks to the lack of crop factor, and a best in class viewfinder.

One neat thing is that once I get my adapter situation sorted out, I'll be able to use my beloved Nikkor-S.C 5cm f1.4 lens on an actual Nikon for the first time. It's a Leica Thread Mount lens, so I've never had a Nikon body it fit, but LTM and M mounts are very adaptable to the Z's, like Sony and unlike Canon R (the sensor filtration on R cameras is very unfriendly to M/LTM lenses). This is actually a big reason I want a FF mirrorless, there's been a boom in inexpensive but shockingly good M mount lenses, ranging from Laowa's insane 9mm f5.6, the world's widest rectilinear lens for Full frame, to the 7Artisans 75mm f1.25 and with all sorts of niftiness in between and all for 3 digit USD prices, similar to what Voigtlander's used to cost before they became another premium brand.

In terms of adapters, I have the FTZ, have an E/FE to Z adapter coming and will be acquiring M and C/Y adapters at a minimum, I already have a M42 to C/Y adapter for my 3 M42 lenses and because of how that adapter works, I can stack adapters with no tolerance issues. M42 adapters for C/Y and K mounts actually are only bayonet to screw mount converters and sit entirely inside the mount. That was a unique design and deliberate as both M42 and C/Y mounts were intended as successor mounts to M42 and adaptation was a design requirement.

I still think the E-M1.2 is a great camera, and would have worked quite well for me long-term. However I would still have had the lure of Full Frame and I simply needed to acquire too many lenses to offset the value proposition of the Z5. There's a difference between buying a kit + a telezoom and buying a full setup including UWA, telezoom, macro, a fast AF normal, plus a couple more lenses and buying the kit+telezoom an maybe a fast AF normal. I already have an extensive F mount manual focus setup, covering 15mm, 24mm, 8mm, 35mm, 50mm, 55mm macro, 105mm, 200mm and 300mm, plus a 50-135/3.5 zoom I'm not overly fond of. Plus I have a 35mm f3.5 and 135mm f3.5 in M42 mount, a C/Y mount 70-150/3.8 I quite like and my beloved Nikkor-S.C 5cm f1.4 in LTM. All are very usable on the Z5 and most are kinda questionable on both the Fuji and Olympus bodies, really only the the 55 Macro, the 105/2.5 and the 200/4 are interesting on crop bodies, and the 200 isn't a great match to m43, it doesn't quite deliver enough resolution for the high density 20MP m43 sensor.

More to come on the Z5 as I shoot with it. Lets see if I'll hit 1000 images in a week, like I did with the E-M1.2. Although I will note I was on vacation that week and am working this week.

X-T2 as a Manual Focus Body

 

Fujifilm X-T2, Micro-Nikkor 55mm f3.5 AI, Acros+R Film Simulation

The image above is straight out of the camera, Acros film simulation with simulated Red 25 Filter and H+1, S-1 and Sharpness +2 for a bit of extra punch. Cropped down to 1:1 and slightly less than full width.

This is part of why I still love the Fuji's, especially for B&W and cityscape work. The film simulations just give a great starting point to get a great image. I took the X-T2 out with a bag full of primes, native & adapted, and just had some fun shooting in the city. 

I've largely settled on how I'm going to approach my kit for now. The Fuji's will stay and will be paired with manual focus lenses and mostly be used in the city. The Oly will be primarily zoom-based and backpacking/rough weather kit. The 12-40 replaces the XC 16-50 and a 40-150 Pro will replace the departed 55-200. I'll still need a UWA for the Oly, likely a Laowa 7.5mm f2 as I'm just not sure I want to spend on a 7-14 Pro with its lack of filter compatibility and likelihood to just get used at 7.5mm. Maybe I'll look at a zoom when Oly releases their new f4 option (they have 2-3 f4 zooms known to be coming, all of which are interesting to me)

So the X-T2 will mostly get used with the inexpensive Chinese manual focus lenses I've been buying. I really do find manual, mechanical lenses more fun to use than zooms on the Fuji bodies. I've ever liked focus by wire that much and the more I rely on just the physical controls, the more I like the Fuji's. The only physical control I never really liked is the M/S/C AF switch on the front, and shooting MF glass makes it irrelevant. I suspect I will continue to add inexpensive MF lenses to my Fuji kit, but right now I don't really see adding any AF lenses, although that could change, Fuji's primes are excellent and I could totally live with an all-prime Fuji kit if the Olympus kit handles my zoom needs. That also saves me from looking for a second Olympus body, as I'm quite conflicted as to what would be interesting there. No smaller body has battery compatibility with the E-M1.2. 

All of this will let me use the two kits at what I like best about them. Oly colours for landscapes, Oly tech for landscape & long exposure work, Oly sealing for rough conditions. Fuji Film Simulations for B&W and night work, classic Fuji handling & big beautiful finders for manual focus lenses and taking advantage of the fact that most manual focus crop lenses are designed for APS-C use (Laowa's MFT lenses being some of the rare exceptions). 

This also lets me continue to focus on the inexpensive lenses that I so enjoy, without giving up performance by settling on 3 higher-end lenses for my landscape work, where I need the absolute quality.

This won't stop me from shooting landscape on my Fuji's, especially while my only UWA option is on that system (I sold my Nikkor 20mm and my Laowa 15mm Macro is already spoken for, eliminating my UWA FF options, outside of my 7Artisans 12mm on Fuji, all my other systems are limited to 24mm-e at the widest for now). I ill just prioritize using the Oly when I have to go somewhere I don't want to carry 4+ primes to.