Hi all, I am wondering if anyone has any insight on the ftz adapters and quality. I currently use one and have had a great experience with it. I am looking into purchasing a new lens but am wondering if spending the money on a nikkor z lens is worth it vs just buying a Nikkor lens and using my adapter. The price difference is huge! I am a lifestyle photographer and just starting to get consistent work.
I am interested in purchasing a 35mm 1.8
I have more questions than answers on that. What Z body are you shooting with for starters.? Because at first glance with you being interested in a 35mm f/1.8 I see you shopping for a DX format lens. Not a great choice to pair with full-frame body. Actually I had that 35mm f/1.8 DX lens and it is not all that impressive. I replaced it with a Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 Art series zoom and it was used much more.
Some fast answers: I see the FTZ adapters as the way to transition from F-mount to Z-mount gracefully. It is a path I am currently following. I agree that Z mount lenses (from Nikon) are expensive, but remember that you are comparing to lenses that may be a decade or more old. New versus used. Still inflated, but not that inflated compared using inflation calculators.
If you are using a DX format Z body, yes you also have more limited selection from Nikon. But there is really a lot of options from the Chinese brands in DX, and having bought and used a couple, they are not so bad at all. They give more for the price than anybody right now. But there are many DX lenses in F-mount that you would never see in Z-mount. An FTZ for having better selection makes good sense.
Full-frame bodies, the Nikon Z lens range is fairly filled out. They sell 3 tiers of price/performance levels across the line. And there are not really any clunkers in the line, but I question why some actually made it to production. (who actually would want a 24-50mm f/4-6.3?) Tamron sells their own line of Z-mount for people in the mid-tier budget). And again, Chinese brands are expanding to full-frame lenses with autofocus.
Personally, I find the adapter to be an extra step to lens changing, extra length on the camera, and I'm still using older lenses that I kind of want to upgrade to modern. In 2022 right when I was getting serious about buying pro-level lenses for my D750 I almost on a whimsy picked up a Z5 and within a year of that I was certain I was going to ditch the F-mount equipment and move to Z-mount. I still have 2 F-mount cameras (film and a D600 infrared spectrum conversion) and will need to hang on to some lenses for those cameras. But I am looking forward to replacing my 70-200mm f/2.8 and Sigma 150-600mm f/5.6-6.3 with equivalent Z-mount lenses and I won't look back. I have already replaced the wider glass.
And some extra food for thought: I had a Tamron 90mm macro lens in 2022 when I bought the Z5. Discovered pretty quickly it did not work adapted to the Z5. There was hardware incompatibility and the fix required sending to a service center to change some chips or a circuit board as I remember. I just chose to buy a Z MC 105mm lens and the Tamron was later sold with some other stuff to a used gear dealer for not enough dollars. The Tamron was the most current (and final) F-mount 90mm they produced and I was happy with it on a D7000 and later a D750. Then the opposite argument comes with a 15mm Zeiss lens I bought months before the Z5. That was a joy to use adapted to my Z5. The manual focus drawback on the D750 was completely overcome by the manual focus aids with the mirrorless bodies. It kind of hurt on the inside when I added it to the pile of gear I traded-in to get my Zf. But I already had the Z14-24mm and really it is the more practical lens to have. Nearly as good optically.
