DrJ
Senior Member
I recently purchased a new Z8 from the Camera Mall in Ann Arbor, MI. My wife insisted I do it, probably to shut up my constant complaining about not having the latest and greatest camera. I also purchased an FTZ II adapter from eBay, saving a few bucks.
I love my new camera, especially its low-light performance. I can only shoot my 7100 up to about ISO 800 before the noise starts to become an issue. With my Z8, ISO 6000 still gives reasonably clean images.
I think the best thing Nikon did with their Z line of cameras was put the sensor closer to the lens mount than any of their major competitors, i.e. Sony and Canon as well as the Nikon F mount. This design decision made it possible to create adapters for a wide variety of lenses, including modern lenses from Canon and Sony, from the Sony E mount to the Canon FD and EF mounts to the Olympus OM mount to the M42 and M39 screw mounts, there are literally hundreds of modern and legacy lenses that will work well on my Z8.
Some of the adapters for modern autofocus lenses cost between $200 and $300 but implement virtually all the functionality of the modern lenses on the Z camera, including autofocus and aperture control. For lenses without electrical contacts, purely mechanical adapters allow you to use manual lenses just as they would work on their old film cameras, only better.
I am having fun using my new and old F mount lenses on my Z8. I still haven't bought a native Z mount lens and have been very happy. The FTZ II adapter works great on my Sigma 150-600mm F mount lens and my Nikon 18-200 mm DX lens also works great on the Z8. The cameral switches automatically to DX mode when I put it on and the cropped image fills the viewfinder. The FTX II also supports my legacy F mount lenses with one important caveat: focus confirmation (the focus point turning green when focus is achieved) doesn't work with my manual focus lenses. I have to zoom in on the focus point and focus carefully, kind of a pain in the butt.
After a little exploration I came up with a very nice workaround! The Neewer Z to Sony E mount adapter coupled with a very inexpensive mechanical Sony E to F mount adapter enables focus confirmation! When I achieve focus, the fucus point turns green! No more zooming in and out! I believe this would work with any Sony E to anything mechanical adapter. Here is a link to the Neewer site: https://neewer.com/products/neewer-nw-etz-pro-fe-e-mount-lens-to-z-mount-camera-adapter-66604462.
I did notice a small problem with the Neewer adapter when I used it to take a photo for this week's contest. It somehow overrides the "Non CPU" lens selection I made on the camera and creates a bogus 50mm lens which gets written into the EXIF data, regardless of which non-CPU lens i select. I plan to contact Neewer about this issue. Otherwise, it works great.
I love my new camera, especially its low-light performance. I can only shoot my 7100 up to about ISO 800 before the noise starts to become an issue. With my Z8, ISO 6000 still gives reasonably clean images.
I think the best thing Nikon did with their Z line of cameras was put the sensor closer to the lens mount than any of their major competitors, i.e. Sony and Canon as well as the Nikon F mount. This design decision made it possible to create adapters for a wide variety of lenses, including modern lenses from Canon and Sony, from the Sony E mount to the Canon FD and EF mounts to the Olympus OM mount to the M42 and M39 screw mounts, there are literally hundreds of modern and legacy lenses that will work well on my Z8.
Some of the adapters for modern autofocus lenses cost between $200 and $300 but implement virtually all the functionality of the modern lenses on the Z camera, including autofocus and aperture control. For lenses without electrical contacts, purely mechanical adapters allow you to use manual lenses just as they would work on their old film cameras, only better.
I am having fun using my new and old F mount lenses on my Z8. I still haven't bought a native Z mount lens and have been very happy. The FTZ II adapter works great on my Sigma 150-600mm F mount lens and my Nikon 18-200 mm DX lens also works great on the Z8. The cameral switches automatically to DX mode when I put it on and the cropped image fills the viewfinder. The FTX II also supports my legacy F mount lenses with one important caveat: focus confirmation (the focus point turning green when focus is achieved) doesn't work with my manual focus lenses. I have to zoom in on the focus point and focus carefully, kind of a pain in the butt.
After a little exploration I came up with a very nice workaround! The Neewer Z to Sony E mount adapter coupled with a very inexpensive mechanical Sony E to F mount adapter enables focus confirmation! When I achieve focus, the fucus point turns green! No more zooming in and out! I believe this would work with any Sony E to anything mechanical adapter. Here is a link to the Neewer site: https://neewer.com/products/neewer-nw-etz-pro-fe-e-mount-lens-to-z-mount-camera-adapter-66604462.
I did notice a small problem with the Neewer adapter when I used it to take a photo for this week's contest. It somehow overrides the "Non CPU" lens selection I made on the camera and creates a bogus 50mm lens which gets written into the EXIF data, regardless of which non-CPU lens i select. I plan to contact Neewer about this issue. Otherwise, it works great.
