Questions for DSLR/Z7 Converts

[Cslucas34]

I hesitantly bought the Z7 as I wasn’t sure how it would fare compared to my D850. For me, the largest reason for the switch was the promise the new S line lenses offered. As with anything there are give and takes for every setup. About 4 months after buying the Z7 I sold my 850 and went completely to the new system. After what, a year and half now(??) I am still happy with my decision and do not regret it. In my opinion, most of what people seem to complain about with the Z series cameras are either unfounded or misguided. People complain about the single card slot but I see no reason to have two on this camera with the xqd / CFexpress architecture. If it were SD cards then I would agree one hundred percent. Focus seems slower to me in some instances compared to its DSLR counterpart but there are settings in the camera to mitigate that. I’ve captured BIF okay enough though it definitely took some adjusting method and shooting practices but once you learn the camera I find it’s not a bad experience.
For me the biggest reasons for the switch was the quality of the lenses first and foremost, the EVF I thought was awkward at first but now that I am used to it I don’t see how I could ever want to go back. Having the ability to see exposures, the histo, and all my info right there is amazing and definitely is a game changer (far more than I had anticipated).

Apples to apples comparison the 850 and Z7shoot well in the same situations I feel like. The z series isn’t designed for high speed shooting like sports all the time but the occasional spin with such shots and I haven’t had any issues. Battery life was a concern of mine as well but I’m finding 700-800 shots on a battery is a normal occurrence for me and I can swap a new battery rather quickly. I’ve done about 4 weddings last year and I only ever had to swap the battery once but that was a 13 hour shoot. Hopefully this helps give you some insight on your contemplations lol ?

 

[ac12]

To get more battery run time, Olympus switched to a larger capacity battery for the EM1-mk2, about 40% larger.
I think Sony did the same thing.

 

[ac12]

Another thing about the EVF.
If you are shooting with a SLOW lens or in dim light, what you see in the EVF is the image at the correct/shooting exposure, not the native dim image of the slow lens.
This confused me at first, as I did not understand why the EVF was brighter than the OVF of my Nikon.
Another thing that I learned.

 

[Cslucas34]

Another thing about the EVF.
If you are shooting with a SLOW lens or in dim light, what you see in the EVF is the image at the correct/shooting exposure, not the native dim image of the slow lens.
This confused me at first, as I did not understand why the EVF was brighter than the OVF of my Nikon.
Another thing that I learned.

You can change that setting to where it matches reality. Just an FYI

 

[ac12]

Yup. The evf giveth and the evf taketh away. EVF lag and blackout are the biggest challenges using mirrorless for action. The Z series evf's are among the better ones available but no one has totally eliminated the lag and blackout. I need to dig into the Z6 menus. The Olympus bodies had an adjustment that minimized the blackout. Maybe the Z does too.

Olympus has a feature on their EM1-mk2, EM1X, and EM50mk3 called Pro-Capture.
If you half press the shutter, the camera starts to shoot, so you get shots BEFORE you fire the shutter.
If you decide not to shoot, let go the shutter and those shots are flushed.
This does help to deal with the fraction of a second delay/lag between real life and the EVF display.

It is not perfect, as you do have to set up for it. So it won't work if you quickly move from subject A to subject B, and fire the shutter.

I think this is all/mostly done in FW, so Nikon could implement a similar function.
But the camera does have to have a buffer to store the pics until you fire the shutter, then it starts to write to the card.

As for blackout

The electronic shutter might be what you need to switch to, to reduce/eliminate the blackout.
The mechanical shutter has to close before the shot to start the exposure, then close again to complete the exposure, before it can open to give you the viewfinder image. For that reason, you cannot avoid a blackout.
I shoot basketball with the e-shutter on my Olympus EM1-mk2, and I don't notice a blackout. But then I shot with a dSLR long enough, that I learned to ignore the mirror blackout of the image anyway.
I still find it weird when I shoot with the e-shutter on the Olympus. I don't get the mirror blackout and shutter sound (like on my dSLR), to tell me that I shot the image.

 

[ac12]

You can change that setting to where it matches reality. Just an FYI

I usually set my EVF to match the camera's exposure, so that I can see and deal with difficult lighting situations.

Olympus (and I would guess Nikon also), has a video boost function, where the EVF is BRIGHTER than the scene or your correct exposure. In fact you can see the scene better in the EVF than with your bare eyes, kinda like night vision gear. Kinda neat.
You just have to remember that in that mode, the EVF is not displaying in WYSIWYG mode.
I have not found a practical use for this. But then I don't shoot in the DARK.

That is the neat thing about the flexibility of the EVF.
It can be adjusted to suit different needs.

 

[davidzvi]

Battery, EVF, ...... As already stated.

Two observations.

1. Mirrorless camera flash systems still aren't up to DSLRs.
2. I can't remember picking up a DSLR I couldn't just use and make most of the changes I needed for a shot. I can think of a few mirrorless bodies I actually had to "read the manual" ( ). I've often wished for a simplified body with current sensor and AF systems.

 

[MMRadman]

Here is a thing, AF SLR and later DSLR removed good quality manual focus, Nikon Df was a lame attempt, in my humble opinion but than I don’t work in camera sales, to create retro camera.

The EVF camera in a way restored classic ground glass or split prism approach to manual focus plus AF.

 

[MNglass]

Olympus has a feature on their EM1-mk2, EM1X, and EM50mk3 called Pro-Capture.
If you half press the shutter, the camera starts to shoot, so you get shots BEFORE you fire the shutter.
If you decide not to shoot, let go the shutter and those shots are flushed.
This does help to deal with the fraction of a second delay/lag between real life and the EVF display.

It is not perfect, as you do have to set up for it. So it won't work if you quickly move from subject A to subject B, and fire the shutter.

I think this is all/mostly done in FW, so Nikon could implement a similar function.
But the camera does have to have a buffer to store the pics until you fire the shutter, then it starts to write to the card.

As for blackout

The electronic shutter might be what you need to switch to, to reduce/eliminate the blackout.
The mechanical shutter has to close before the shot to start the exposure, then close again to complete the exposure, before it can open to give you the viewfinder image. For that reason, you cannot avoid a blackout.
I shoot basketball with the e-shutter on my Olympus EM1-mk2, and I don't notice a blackout. But then I shot with a dSLR long enough, that I learned to ignore the mirror blackout of the image anyway.
I still find it weird when I shoot with the e-shutter on the Olympus. I don't get the mirror blackout and shutter sound (like on my dSLR), to tell me that I shot the image.

I believe Pro-Capture was not part of the original EM1.II and was added as a firmware upgrade. Whether any of the Z's have the necessary hardware pipeline and memory (the Oly's can capture 15-20 full size RAW images) along with the internal programming hooks to implement something similar is an open question.

The Electronic shutter on the Oly had a scan time of about 1/60th second. The Z6 is something like 1/17 - 1/20 second which suggests a higher likelihood of some artifacts when capturing high speed motion. I've been using the ES extensively for general "tourist" shooting without an issue that I can tell. I'm still hesitant to use it for birding (particularly BIF/diving) because of the motion involved.

The Oly EM1.II was a fun, reliable, tool (and the synch IBIS was eerily good), but I'll take the Z6 files.

 

[Cslucas34]

Battery, EVF, ...... As already stated.

Two observations.

1. Mirrorless camera flash systems still aren't up to DSLRs.
2. I can't remember picking up a DSLR I couldn't just use and make most of the changes I needed for a shot. I can think of a few mirrorless bodies I actually had to "read the manual" ( ). I've often wished for a simplified body with current sensor and AF systems.

I will agree to disagree with you on the flash systems. The flash system on my Z7 works far better than any other DSLR I’ve owned.

 

[Mike Buckley]

The flash system on my Z7 works far better than any other DSLR I’ve owned.

If you can compare the flash system on a Z7 with a Nikon DSLR, that would be great.

 

[Palouse]

I will agree to disagree with you on the flash systems. The flash system on my Z7 works far better than any other DSLR I’ve owned.

I like my Z6 as much as I do my D850 for flash.

 

[davidzvi]

I will agree to disagree with you on the flash systems. The flash system on my Z7 works far better than any other DSLR I’ve owned.

Does the Z series support the IR AF assist light? My understanding is that it is disabled when the flash is mount on a Z body. I did ask the question a while back and got no responses. Yes this is a specific area, but it's something that was essential for me.

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/0...-pro-feature-that-no-mirrorless-camera-offers

 

[Palouse]

I last used this back in the early 1990s with slide film! My understanding for the Z6 is the green auto focus assist lamp on the camera will illuminate (assuming you have it activated) but the red light on the flash unit will not (the focus sensor can't sense it).

 

[Cslucas34]

Does the Z series support the IR AF assist light? My understanding is that it is disabled when the flash is mount on a Z body. I did ask the question a while back and got no responses. Yes this is a specific area, but it's something that was essential for me.

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/0...-pro-feature-that-no-mirrorless-camera-offers

No it doesn’t, so if that is something that’s important to you, then definitely stay away from mirrorless. I will however say that I’ve shot several weddings and had no issue on a dark dance floor. There are low light modes for focus and if you have your system set up to reflect exposure in the monitor it focuses better in my experience

 

[davidzvi]

No it doesn’t, so if that is something that’s important to you, then definitely stay away from mirrorless. I will however say that I’ve shot several weddings and had no issue on a dark dance floor. There are low light modes for focus and if you have your system set up to reflect exposure in the monitor it focuses better in my experience

It is, or I should say was.

I'm not saying it can't work, I was just pointing out what I noticed and others have experienced. If someone is looking for differences and/or potential issues, it's something that should be mentioned. Shooting styles, locations, types of events, etc all play into it.