Nikon Zf for landscapes?

A few weeks ago I was caught out in a monsoon and my Z6 took a right soaking and failed on me the next day due to water ingress. It has since come back to life but as an outdoors photographer I cant trust it anymore. I have given my Z6 to my daughter along with my 24-70mm lens as she is trying her hand at music photography. As this is mostly indoors it should mean the Z6 will have some use yet. That camera has really been through the wars and its testament to Nikons build quality that it still functions at all!

So as I have little in the way of available funds at the moment I was stuck with no camera. I could have bought one on finance but with the currewnt APR rates being pretty high (for me) this was not viable. Thankfully, after a call to my parents they agreed to loan me the money to get a new body, for which I must thank them both! I had been hoping to keep the Z6 for a couple more years yet and then upgrade to the Z6iii, as that would have been out for a while by then. But as its not released yet and my budget was NOT stretching to a Z8 (nor would I want one), I opted for the Nikon Zf. Now, I am a sucker for a retro looking camera, being a fan of the Fujifilm cameras. The Zf was highly rated tech wise too and coupled with those lovely dials it was the obvious choice for me to get and a proper step up in capability too. I ordered through Panamoz and about a week later it was delivered.

First impressions were good. Its well built, has a superb AF system borrowed from the Z8, a much higher quality processor, better screen and viewfinder over the Z6. Basically you could tell it was a step up in most areas. My immediate dislike were the poor ergonomics, solved somewhat by the application of the Smallrig camera grip, and the strange layout of the camera, which is more a personal thing as my hands were used to handling a Z6. The lack of a joystick was also slightly annoying but I have already gotton used to not having it.

It took a few days to set the camera up how I wanted it, and once again Nikon really shine with their customability of their cameras.

Now I just needed to get outdoors with it for its first in field session. Well, that took a while as conditions here in the south of England have been pretty terrible recently with grey skies rain and little else, uninspiring to say the least! But I finally managed to get out with it the last couple of days and I can report the Zf is simply fantastic! I really love the EVF and the rear screen, both giving much more natural looking renditions of the scene and much brighter too which helps my terrible eyes to see things better!

Yesterday I headed to a local wood that is carpeted with wild garlic. Its not fully out yet and will probably peak later this week. No bluebells I here you say? Well, no. I have two places in mind this year to photograph and neither are showing at their peak yet so will target them next week.

I must also throw some positive waves Nisi’s way. Their new Swift filter system is pure genius. The glass is top notch, the filters are push on, with no risk of them dropping off and they even supply each filter with a cap to protect when not in use. A very clever system and in my opinion far superior to magnetic ones.

I also popped out this morning for a drive around and got a reasonable sunrise image and a nice barn with a rapeseed field in front of it. Eat your heart out Dutch barn!

Overall, I am happy with my new camera. The images files are not too big, the colours are fantastic, the AF system works fantastically well and it just looks stunning.

Thats it for this week. Thanks as ever for reading, it truly is appreciated! See you out there!