Nikon Z7 with TTArtisan 11mm f2.8 Fisheye and Nodal Ninja Lens Ring for Panoramas

So what are the advantages you may ask. Quite simply the most important reason for me was to have access to 4K video, so that my cameras could compete with my iPhone. Now that I have a Nikon Z7 and Z50 I have found a plethora of other reasons for the upgrade. When I saw the the power of 4K video on my iPhone XS , it was apparent my old Nikon D800 was simply outclassed by the new computational video options in my iPhone.

Still from iPhone 4K video – who needs SLR cameras?

However this iPhone has only one usable lens (the telephoto is lower quality, although I hear they have improved), and I found this very limiting. Now I have access to lenses from 7.5mm to 500mm, lots of options. Not only that, but due to the short flange distance, many vintage lenses can now be easily used with an adaptor. Talking of adaptors, the Nikon FTZ adaptor for G lenses works very well retaining full AF. However it is very bulky with a large box sticking out below the camera, which I find quite annoying, both for tripod and handheld use. (Update: There is now a version without the large bump). If you are using an old lens without AF, I recommend using a dumb circular adaptor. As for Z lenses, the new Nikon S lenses are indeed of spectacular quality, if rather expensive. Much better value and more entertaining are the third party Chinese lenses from Pergear, TTAritisan, 7 Artisans, Laowa and Meike among others. I have bought several of these metal manual focus lenses, in particularly fisheyes and wide angles, and optically they are excellent performers. In particularly my TTArtisan 11mm f2.8 fisheye was a lot sharper than my old faithful, the Nikon 16mm f2.8 fisheye, much to my surprise. The edge performance was a league above, although 11mm seems a misnomer, having a nearly identical 180º field of view to the Nikon 16mm. There are now some Chinese AF lenses from Viltrox, at least half the price of the Nikons, which have been well reviewed.

Callanish monolith Stone c.2600BC, Isle of Lewis. Nikon Z7 with TTArtisan 11mm f2.8 Fisheye.

So much for the lenses, the real surprise was actual usage. For 30 years I have only used my cameras in full manual, locked ISO, spinning the speed and aperture dials as necessary. Now I have discovered the power of Auto ISO (still available in Manual), and am already getting lazy. With the power of dual gain sensors it does not make much difference to noise and quality when shooting in Raw whether the ISO is 100 or 10000. I am aware that for full quality I should be below ISO 400, but can you tell the difference? Anyway the speed of use, once fully set up, allows me to nearly shoot at random. The amount of information in the electronic viewfinder (which takes some getting used to) is highly informative and can be rapidly changed. The peaking function is invaluable for manual lenses. I trust the AF and exposure (-1/3) and of course all the pictures are now free.The latest sensors are amazing, I remember never shooting above ISO 800 on my Nikon D200. Meanwhile these cameras are truly optimised for video, the focus no longer jumps or hunts, aperture changes proceed as if click-less, even changing shutter speed is done smoothly. In addition you have the speed and flexibility of a touch screen, articulated monitor and best of all, silence. A minor annoyance are touch buttons on the Z50 monitor, often accidentally touched by my nose since I am left eye dominant. They have moved them on the similar spec Nikon Zfc. The autofocus is great, with a few confusing options, wide area-s seems to suit me. Mirrorless cameras tend to use more battery and require attention since while the camera is on the monitor is on, which has caught me out a few times. Always switch off when not using and it easily takes hundreds of shots and an hour of video (with a restart). One advantage is that they can be recharged via USB without the mains adaptor.

In conclusion everything feels quiet, smooth and light, that’s all good. Do they take better photos than my old D800? Perhaps, but the benefit is really apparent in the sparkling video, tracking autofocus and flexibility of use.

FX Lenses on DX Cameras

Article featured in Nikon Rumors June 15th 2019
Comments included:
– That’s a very good article. If a D5xxx works for you, that’s great.
– This is a good article for enthusiasts to read and feel confident they are justified in buying and enjoying a DX system.

I am often asked for camera recommendations and my standard reply is the Nikon D5500. The later D5600 is basically the same camera with Snapbridge (an app for phones), which I never use. To make this into a “Pro“ camera I suggest attaching some some full frame FX lenses, which will give you startling sharpness, very little vignetting and no corner fuzziness. You are just using the best part of the lens, which is basically over-engineered for usage on DX crop sensor cameras. Take a look at nearly all MTF charts and you are avoiding the wavy (not as sharp) part of the graph on the right hand side, which is the edge of the sensor.

Here is the Nikon MTF Chart for their AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G full frame lens.
On a DX camera you are only using the lens up to the vertical dotted line.

A note about terminology.
A DX or APS-C camera is a so called crop sensor camera, meaning the the sensor is 1.5x smaller than a full frame FX camera. The sensor in a full frame camera is 24x36mm, the same as classic 35mm film. Thus on a crop DX camera the standard 50mm lens becomes a 75mm lens (50×1.5=75), a short telephoto. DX lenses cannot normally be used on full frame FX cameras, the image does not cover the whole sensor. On a DX camera a standard lens would be a 35mm, giving roughly the same angle of view as a 50mm lens on full frame. The Nikon 18-55mm DX kit lens is equivalent to a 27-82mm full frame lens.
The sensor in the D5500 is 24.2 mega-pixels, which is the same resolution as many full frame cameras such as the Nikon Z6 or D750 and the Sony A7.

Starsha Lee at Flaxon Ptootch, Kentish Town
AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G – 1/250sec, f2.0, ISO3200

My favourite lens combination in this regard is the AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G. You might think a full frame lens would be too big on a DX camera, but it fits perfectly in the hand and weighs less (185g) than the 35mm DX f1.8 lens (200g), specifically made for crop sensor cameras. Best of all it does not look like a telephoto lens, has well recessed glass and focuses down to to 0.45m, very good for a 75mm lens. It is no wonder Nikon do not make a DX 50mm lens, it would be pointless to try and improve on this. In crowded social situations this focal length is ideal for picking out faces in the melee, and is several centimetres shorter than the kit zoom lens which is only f5.6 at 50mm. Indoors with average room lighting that will never be fast enough even at ISO 3200, and of course you lose the the 3D effect of an f1.8 lens.

Spizz Energi at iKlektik, Lambeth
AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8G – 1/250sec, f2.0, ISO3200

At events when I am a bit further away I use the AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G, which becomes a very fast 130mm lens on DX. This extremely sharp lens sits well on the D5500 and only weighs 350g. Another FX lens I have used extensively is the tiny Fisheye Nikkor 16mm f2.8, which requires manual focusing, but does give a unique picture angle of over 100 degrees. For general travel and video usage the AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G VR lens is much heavier, but still quite manageable and becomes a powerful 36-180 lens without any FX corner fuzziness.

John Landor Music in Motion at Conway Hall, Holborn
AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G – 1/125sec, f4.0, ISO3200

To put all this in perspective the D5500 is a remarkably light camera (470g) with an excellent grip. While lacking a few bells and whistles, in particularly a discrete aperture dial, you soon get used to this and I have yet to find something the camera can’t do once you are familiar with the menus. The touch screen is also remarkably useful and can be used to set focus. It competes well with mirrorless cameras, being smaller and much lighter than a Nikon Z6 or Sony A7, and while the Fujifilm X-T30 may be a little smaller it does not have a proper grip and is at least twice the price. I prefer to handhold my camera and do not use a strap, which inevitably gets in the way and makes shooting less flexible. If you really want a light camera choose a Nikon D3500 which only weighs 365g, the lightest DSLR ever. It is the same basic design as the D5500 with the same sensor, but has only 11 AF points, as opposed to 39 on the D5500. I would not recommend it for video since it has no flip out screen or headphone/microphone port. It does represent excellent value, the results for stills should be as good as cameras costing four times as much.

Irene Serra at Royal Festival Hall, Waterloo
AF-S VR NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G – 1/200sec, f2.8, ISO2500

So to conclude my bargain camera would be a Nikon D5500 with 18-55 kit lens, currently available for £450. If you never use video and want to save more money try a Nikon D3500 with kit lens, about £315. The kit lens is usually heavily subsidised, you might as well purchase it since it is the only way to get a cheap wide angle on DX cameras, and they perform well enough these days. Next stop is the 50mm lens, which you can find for £150, or less second hand. If buying older lenses remember only the post 2000 G or E lenses with no aperture ring will autofocus on these cameras.

All pictures were taken as Raw files and processed in Adobe Lightroom.
Here are some more examples of full frame lenses on the D5500:

Trevor Watts, Peter Knight, Veryan Weston at Cafe Oto

Trevor Watts at Cafe Oto, Dalston
AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8G – 1/2sec, f4.0, ISO200

John Landor Bach Recital at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Charing Cross
AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G – 1/125sec, f4.0, ISO3200

Iain Sinclair at Cafe Oto, Dalston
AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8G – 1/200sec, f2.0, ISO3200

Marc Ribot at Cafe Oto, Dalston
AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8G – 1/160sec, f1.8, ISO3200

Starsha Lee at Flaxon Ptootch, Kentish Town
AF Fisheye-Nikkor 16mm f2.8D – 1/125sec, f2.8, ISO3200

The Gulps at Flaxon Ptootch, Kentish Town
AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G – 1/200sec, f2.0, ISO3200

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FX Lenses on DX Cameras