The Nikon Zf: A Full-Frame Powerhouse in a Compact Body

THE NIKON ZF is

Nikon’s latest full-frame Z-series camera, though you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a film camera. The design is borrowed from Nikons of yore, but with a decidedly modern 24-megapixel sensor. In many ways, the Zf is the best of both worlds: a high-quality digital sensor married to a dial- and button-heavy case.

The result is a camera that’s a ton of fun to shoot with. You never need to go hunting around in menus, and using it is nearly as simple as using a vintage Nikon FE2. It doesn’t have the speed you’d want for wildlife or sports, but for everything else, this camera is hard to beat.

Classic Style

Quite a few people compare the Zf design to the 1970s FM2, but you don’t need to go back that far. The Nikon Df has similar lines, as does the Zfc, which is the APS-C little brother to this new Zf.

Much of the Zf’s weight is a good thing. This thing is incredibly solid. The body is all-metal and weather-sealed. The two large dials are both made of brass and turning them feels just like turning the dials on an old film camera. The Zf is the best-constructed digital camera body I’ve ever tested. It’s a tank, in a good way

The cost of great construction comes in the weight—22.29 ounces without a lens, and 40 ounces with the included Nikkor 24-70 f/4 lens. That’s not outrageous, but it sometimes feels that way because there’s almost no grip. The little lip provided is of an old Nikon F3, which was also awkward to hold after a while. This isn’t a huge deal. There are plenty of third-party grips you can add.

Other than the weight, the handling of the Zf is excellent. The dials are easy to turn and allow you to set shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation, shooting mode, metering mode, and shutter speed without even lifting the camera to your eye. Note that the shutter speed is displayed on a screen. With most lenses, it will be changed via a dial since quite a few Z lenses lack aperture rings.

There is a lack of a joystick on the back. There’s a D-pad to control things like the focus point, but a joystick is just faster and smoother to operate. On the plus side, another aspect that reminded me of a film camera is the big bright viewfinder. Like Nikon viewfinders on the F-series, this 3.68M dot OLED viewfinder is a pleasure to use.

The caveat here is that nearly everything about the Zf is very similar to old Nikons. As someone who learned photography on 1980s Nikon film cameras, this is very much a 1980s Nikon film camera, at least on the outside.

Modern Interior

On the inside, the Zf has a very nice 24-MP CMOS sensor, which appears to be very similar to the sensor in the Nikon Z6 II. That’s a few years old at this point, but it’s still very capable. The sensor is paired with a new processor (the Expeed 7 processor), which gives the Zf some tricks other Nikons lack.

The best of these is the autofocus system. The Expeed 7 processor brings subject recognition in the 3D tracking (which is borrowed from the very high-end Z9), and it is amazingly accurate.

Speaking of speed, the Zf can shoot up to 11 frames per second when going for RAW images and up to 15 fps in JPEG mode. The Zf also offers a JPEG-only shooting mode that uses video to capture 30-fps images similar to what you’ll find in the Z9. The 11-fps is going to be fine for 96 percent of people, but probably not wildlife, sports, and some other edge cases.

One very nice feature of the Zf is a black-and-white mode. Two things make this better than the black-and-white mode in most cameras. First, you can activate it with a switch under the right side dial—no hunting around in menus. You just flip the switch and flip it back when you’re done. This enabled me to use black-and-white mode as a quick way to view a scene without color, which I find helps with composition. Sometimes elements seem fine at first glance and don’t appear distracting until later, when you view the scene in black and white.

The black-and-white images themselves are also better than most. You don’t get Fujifilm-level image customization, but there are a few options. You can shoot in three modes, plain monochrome, “flat mono,” and “deep tone mono.” There isn’t a huge difference between these three, and there’s no way to customize the profiles the way you can in a Fujifilm camera, but it’s a start.

The Zf is a surprisingly capable video camera. It shoots up to 4K/60 using an APS-C size crop of the sensor. If you want to use the whole sensor, you can get 4K/30. That’s not going to wow video professionals, but again, it’s good enough for most photographers who just want the possibility of shooting some 4K footage.

There are a few negatives about the Zf,  The first is the card slots. There are two of them. One is a standard SD card slot supporting UHS-II cards. The second is a microSD card slot that supports only UHS I. It’s so difficult to get the microSD card in and out. There should have been two matched full-size SD card slots.

It doesn’t ship with a battery charger. A $2,000 camera shouldn’t require you to buy a separate battery charger (for $80 retail, no less). You can charge via the USB-C port. Battery life is so good that a single charge will last about 350 shots, more if you turn on energy-saving mode (I got 407), but serious photographers will always want a separate charger and at least a second battery.

As noted above, the Zf wouldn’t be a top pick for sports or wildlife. That’s in part because of the autofocus and shooting speed, but also because the 24-MP sensor, while sharp and capable of delivering those characteristic Nikon colors, is probably not what wildlife and sports pros are after. The Z7 and especially the Z9, with their much higher megapixel sensors and faster autofocus, are the cameras you want for those use cases.

In conclusion, the Nikon Zf combines the nostalgic charm of classic film cameras with the modern capabilities of a digital powerhouse. Its robust construction and intuitive control layout make it a joy to use, reminiscent of handling vintage Nikon models. The 24-megapixel sensor, coupled with the Expeed 7 processor, delivers impressive image quality and autofocus performance, suitable for a wide range of shooting scenarios. While it may not excel in fast-paced sports or wildlife photography, its versatility, including features like the black-and-white mode and 4K video capability, caters well to most photographers’ needs. However, drawbacks such as the awkward microSD card slot and lack of a battery charger out of the box might deter some users. Overall, the Nikon Zf strikes a compelling balance between retro aesthetics and modern functionality, making it a compelling option for enthusiasts and professionals alike who appreciate both style and substance in their camera gear.