https://mobile01.com/newsdetail/26796/nikon-z7

Autofocus test

First Look at Nikon Z7 By Alan Halfhill

I had a chance to see the New Nikon Z7 at Glazer’s Photo in Seattle on September 6th. The Nikon Rep, Paul Van Allen gave a presentation and then let us try and handle the new camera. He had 3 Z7 camera’s and an assortment of lenses. I have to admit that I am impressed with this little Nikon. I was a Nikon owner for 30 years in the film days. Thy have stepped up their game in going mirrorless. It is nice to see Nikon join us in the 21st Century.

As a Panasonic GH5 owner, camera surprised me by it’s light weight and being small for a full 35mm sized sensor or as the media calls it “Full Frame”. This camera does not seem any larger than my GH5. The Z7 had the touch and feel of a Nikon with the controls being where you expect them. It was nice to see an ISO and Exposure Comp button around the shutter button. The video record button is also there. Like high end Nikon’s, there is a LCD status screen near by. It displays shutter speed, F-stop, ISO, battery health, etc. On the other side of the camera is the Mode Dial with the usual settings. It is nice Nikon has included 3 user settings as well.

The new EVF with 3.6 million dots was very large and sharp to the eye. You realize that it is a 720p viewfinder. The screen refresh was nice and clear. Some said it looked like an optical finder. Paul said you can customize it and choose to have look like an optical view finder. I wish these camera companies would make the viewfinder tilt up like on a video camera.

The tillable back LCD was large and sharp with a 3.2 inch display and 2.1 million dots. When asked why Nikon chose not to do a swivel screen like the GH5, he said it was for size, weight and strength. He held the camera by the screen and it seemed very durable. All the pertinent information was on the screen and it is a touch screen.

The AF-On button can be used for back button focusing. The display button was in the middle of the Camera / Movie mode switch and it is not likely to be hit accidentally. The movie mode uses the whole sensor for 1080 and 4K recording.

This new camera has included 5-Axis in body stabilization for the 45.7 megapixel CMOS sensor. The sensor features 493 PDAF points which choses between phase detect and contras auto focus and it did a very good job of doing quick auto focus.

They fit this sensor in the new Z-Mount which is an all new mount from Nikon. Bravo to Nikon for image stabilization as it is a 21st century addition to electronic cameras. That certain C company Did Not include it in their “revolutionary” camera.

The native Z-mount lenses shown were small and light weight. I was able to try the Nikkor Z 24-70 f4 S. It was surprising how light it actually was. The Nikkor Z 35mm f1.8 S which again was nice and light. The native Z-mount lenses have fly by wire manual focusing. I was told the reason Nikon did this was so they could use the ring for other things as well like f-stop, iso and exposure compensation.

The ZTF F-mount adapter or as he called it “coupler” as it couples the lens to the Z-Mount body. He had the new AFS Nikkor 300mm f4 VR which is surprisingly light and small on the adapter. The AFS Nikkor 16-35 f2.8 is not small or light. A person brought his old 55mm f3.5 Macro Nikkor and put it on the coupler. No problems, all features of the camera worked except auto focus as this is a manual lens. All manual lenses work as normal. The old screw drive AF Nikkors lens do not focus as there is no coupler or motor for them in the adapter. Now all lenses are stabilized going all the back to Nikkors made in 1959 for the F-mount. The adapter will automatic crop the sensor for DX Nikkors lenses like the HDSLR cousins.

Another nice surprise was that Nikon’s SnapBridge control software for the PC or Mac works over wifi with this camera, no need for a cable. Bluetooth as well is included. USB-C can be used for charging the EN-EL15b battery in the camera. The older EN-EL15 batteries work as well but no USB charging. The battery is smaller than what is found in professional DSR’s so record time will be more limited with a 30 minute limit.

We were not able to put a XQD memory card in the one slot of the camera so no pictures to look over.

For video it hit most of the right buttons. 3.5mm mic jack, 3.5mm headphone jack, 4K 10-bit 422 HDMI output, Mp4 and MOV 8-Bit recording, Drop frame timecode, N-Log gamma on HDMI, PDAF auto focus, titling screen and stabilization.

Overall I was very impressed with this little Nikon. A great first effort.

Samples - external 10bit

• https://www.dropbox.com/s/757qz6y0petib2u/Z7%204k.mov?dl=0
• https://www.dropbox.com/s/kgtgezwqaayinb2/Z7%20N%20Log%204k.mov?dl=0

This thing could be very cool. I have a feeling the 10 bit out will leave almost everything else for dead dynamic range and color wise.

The EF mount flange distance is not a great fit for a mirrorless system, plus Canon will want to sell all new lenses since the market is already flooded with excellent EF lenses which have (more or less) reached their evolutionary apex. There's minimal/no reason to upgrade, for instance, from the 70-200/2.8II IS to the 70-200/2.8III IS. The latter is already an outstanding lens.

On the other hand, if they release a new mount where the existing lenses work pretty well with an adapter, but not quite as well as the fancy new native lenses, that'll encourage consumers to go out and spend thousands of dollars fleshing out the new system.

More samples

https://www.dpreview.com/samples/1585173385/raw-conversions-added-to-nikon-z7-pre-production-gallery

My sources also tell that for Nikon it was only important to introduce cameras before Canon. No one cares for anything else. If you noticed Nikon and Canon PR departments played game with announcement leaks.

Which they accomplished.

Guess it wasn't so important to Canon to be "first" & beat Nikon

I did notice that Nikon seems to be showing cameras with firmware 0.5 (or 0.53). Typically a month before shipment I'm used to seeing 0.9x versions with Nikon. I don't know if that's meaningful here, but Nikon is a pretty anal and engineering nerd culture. They have a long-established step process they use. I just get the feeling we're seeing these cameras a little earlier in that process than usual (which also implies the process is getting time-compressed).

Thom H. (guy is very close to part of top Nikon management and is used as long pole to probe things in silent moment, during launches he plays full official PR role). Make sure to ignore complete bullshit he made up how second card slot is not important. As soon as Nikon will come with two slots he'll make exactly same thing how you must run to buy such camera.

My sources also tell that for Nikon it was only important to introduce cameras before Canon. No one cares for anything else. If you noticed Nikon and Canon PR departments played game with announcement leaks.

Lot of various info at IR

It seems like they became Nikon PR part.

https://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2018/08/28/nikon-z7-engineer-interview-deep-dive-q