Nikon Z* mirrorless

Just ordered a 70-180 F/2.8 from e-infinity, having been trying to decide on a fast tele lens for ages… I know it won’t be as sharp as the 70-200, but at half the price and size it felt like the right call for me personally! Anyone else have one?
 
chris321 said:
Just ordered a 70-180 F/2.8 from e-infinity, having been trying to decide on a fast tele lens for ages… I know it won’t be as sharp as the 70-200, but at half the price and size it felt like the right call for me personally! Anyone else have one?
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Would be interested in your thoughts when it arrives as I have a big gap from my 24-70 to the 180-600
 
Nikon f1.8 said:
Would be interested in your thoughts when it arrives as I have a big gap from my 24-70 to the 180-600
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Well it arrived yesterday, and first impressions seem very good. Even in poor artificial lighting around the house it seems really quite sharp wide open. Looking forward to doing some proper real-world tests.

It feels a little larger than I expected - not sure why I thought it would be minuscule (you can’t argue with physics, and it’s still 180mm f/2.8!) but that’s probably just the comparison photos I’ve seen comparing it to the 70-200 which must be enormous!

Below shown on my z6, with the 24-200 for comparison (which to be fair, really is tiny for what it is!)
 

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Stephen L said:
It's not vast, considering it's f2.8
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Oh not at all, I’m very happy with the size of it (it fits neatly when attached to the z6 in my messenger bag) it’s just a fraction bigger than I had in mind. Probably from this type of comparison shot:
 

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if i didn't already have a 80-200 f2.8 D which is now mainly used with my Df, I'd certain consider this one to complement the 100-400 as it's far lighter than the typical f2.8 tele as has just been demonstrated.
 
Unlocker said:
Yeah, I get it but it's the first Z lens I've had that that isn't a lot better than an equivalent F mount lens (thinking 500mm PF) but it's by far my most used lens!
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I've been reading the reviews about the 500mm f5.6 PF. It seems that lens may have been an oddity in that its performance was far higher than its price point. This photography life review says 'the Nikon 500mm f/5.6 PF performs just as well as the expensive 500mm f/4G VR, and even out-performs it slightly in the corners! That’s a really excellent performance'.

That's amazing for such a lens like the 500mm f5.6 PF to perform in sharpness like a more expensive f4 prime lens. I think the lightweight Z primes like the 400mm f4.5 and 600mm f6.3 are realigning performance so there is an obvious gap between them and the very expensive f2.8 and f4 Z fast long primes, which was lost with the 500mm f5.6 PF.

All of this has made me reconsider the 100-400 Z and pair it with the 500mm f5.6 PF for longer focal lengths where I was thinking of using a teleconverter. Another option is to get the 100-400 Z and save up for a second hand 600 f6.3 Z, but that's going to be much more expensive than the 500mm f5.6 PF.
 
I've been using the Nikon 70-200mm F2.8 F-mount lens so it's quite a shock seeing how small 70-180mm lens is.
 
Anyone know how you set the lens function buttons on the Nikon Z 180-600 (the 4 around the front), to recall a focus distance on the Z8 & Z9 as try as I might, I can’t for the life of me seem to work it out?
 
Sootchucker said:
Anyone know how you set the lens function buttons on the Nikon Z 180-600 (the 4 around the front), to recall a focus distance on the Z8 & Z9 as try as I might, I can’t for the life of me seem to work it out?
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With my 400mm f4.5 I have it set to L-Fn2 (the 4 around the front) it’s an option under ‘f2 custom controls’ called ‘Recall focus position’, if it’s not there could it be lens specific?
 
rob-nikon said:
I've been reading the reviews about the 500mm f5.6 PF. It seems that lens may have been an oddity in that its performance was far higher than its price point. This photography life review says 'the Nikon 500mm f/5.6 PF performs just as well as the expensive 500mm f/4G VR, and even out-performs it slightly in the corners! That’s a really excellent performance'.

That's amazing for such a lens like the 500mm f5.6 PF to perform in sharpness like a more expensive f4 prime lens. I think the lightweight Z primes like the 400mm f4.5 and 600mm f6.3 are realigning performance so there is an obvious gap between them and the very expensive f2.8 and f4 Z fast long primes, which was lost with the 500mm f5.6 PF.

All of this has made me reconsider the 100-400 Z and pair it with the 500mm f5.6 PF for longer focal lengths where I was thinking of using a teleconverter. Another option is to get the 100-400 Z and save up for a second hand 600 f6.3 Z, but that's going to be much more expensive than the 500mm f5.6 PF.
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It certainly makes for interesting decisions, this evening I’ve been reading some of Brad Hill’s blog and the interesting part that stuck with me is that the new 400 f2.8 and 600 f4 are not any sharper to make it worthwhile upgrading from the previous FL versions, just ‘better’ in all other areas, weight, built in TC, focussing etc.

With prices plummeting on the older F mount gear, there are some serious bargains out there. MPB currently has an 800mm 5.6 FL for £4k as an example, better image quality for less money than a new 800 PF, just twice the weight! Newer, slower & lighter or older, faster & heavier. Pick your poison!

Having swapped a previous 400mm F2.8 G with a new 400mm F4.5, it has been quite a drastic change, 4.6 KG vs 1.4KG and the size of a 70-200mm. This has brought with it a new way of shooting with primes in that it is easily hand holdable for long periods of time, so no more tripod, saving even more weight. The curious oddity now is that with the Z9’s weight and the lightness of the newer lens, it makes this combo not possible to balance easily on a gimbal head as it’s too back heavy, didn’t see that one coming!

The pandemic did help my kit choices in that I had a ‘clean break’ moving from DSLR to mirrorless as I sold all the F-mount kit when I was forced to close the gallery. As things got back to normal I decided to just buy the best of the best lenses as I could afford them. The F2.8 trinity was an easy choice, followed by the 100mm macro when that was released and at the time, the 70-200mm was as long as you could get, then Nikon brought out possibly the best telephoto lens line up out there in the space of a year and gave us more options than ever before, so credit it where it’s due but boy does it make choosing hard!

If I was re-buying from scratch today would I make different choices? Maybe 100-400 and the 600 PF instead of 105 macro, 70-200 and 400 f4.5, possibly, but then again what I have is pretty amazing so maybe, having both the tele-converters too, all I need is an 800, but which one!?
 
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I read on another forum that using the silent mode on the Z6 or Z7 can cause unwanted "artefacts".
Is this true?
What should I be looking for?
 
Just posted on the wanted section - looking for a nice copy of the 24-70mm f/2.8 VR
 
My new 180-600 in it’s new full winter plumage :D:D

 
Skypilot said:
I read on another forum that using the silent mode on the Z6 or Z7 can cause unwanted "artefacts".
Is this true?
What should I be looking for?
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With flickering light (LEDs, Fluorescents) you can get banding. Does depend somewhat on the shutter speed.

Always worth doing some test shots and checking in camera. Banding is (currently) almost impossible to fix. Maybe AI will fix it soon...
 
Pound Coin said:
With flickering light (LEDs, Fluorescents) you can get banding. Does depend somewhat on the shutter speed.

Always worth doing some test shots and checking in camera. Banding is (currently) almost impossible to fix. Maybe AI will fix it soon...
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Thanks.
I think I can recall this being mentioned now, in the early days of the camera's release.
Not really that relevant to my photography though, but I'll remember to change the setting if I need too.
 
Never seen any artefacts whilst using the electronic shutter on any of my Z bodies that I can recall ?
 
I hardly ever use silent shooting on the Z6ii because of artefacts from lighting.
 
Pound Coin said:
I hardly ever use silent shooting on the Z6ii because of artefacts from lighting.
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do you mean banding under certain lighting conditions?
 
Skypilot said:
I'm not talking about any!!!
I'm asking if there are any, after seeing a comment on another site.
Good grief.
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Banding and rolling shutter distortion are both possible. Flicker reduction can help with banding, as does SS selection (longer/slower); nothing helps with the shutter distortion

The Z8/Z9 have sensor readout speed of ~ 1/250, which is about equal to the fastest mechanical shutter transit times; but the other Z's are much slower. I.e. you can get the distortion with all of them, but the slower electronic shutters are going to be more prone to it.
 
Decided to go a bit lighter yesterday and take the Z8 and the venerable F Mount 500mm F5.6 PF. I was thinking of selling this lens, but I always forget how sharp it is.

Robin, singing his little heart out.

 
Sootchucker said:
Decided to go a bit lighter yesterday and take the Z8 and the venerable F Mount 500mm F5.6 PF. I was thinking of selling this lens, but I always forget how sharp it is.

Robin, singing his little heart out.

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Beautiful sharpness and detail. Do you ever find the 500mm PF struggling to focus at near to minimum focus distance compared to 100-400mm when mounted on your z8? This chap mentions it at around 7mins into this video

 
Sootchucker said:
Decided to go a bit lighter yesterday and take the Z8 and the venerable F Mount 500mm F5.6 PF. I was thinking of selling this lens, but I always forget how sharp it is.

Robin, singing his little heart out.
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Holy smokes! That is sharp! What a stunning photo also.
 
gilbouk said:
Beautiful sharpness and detail. Do you ever find the 500mm PF struggling to focus at near to minimum focus distance compared to 100-400mm when mounted on your z8? This chap mentions it at around 7mins into this video

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Thanks. Can't say it's anything I've ever noticed the issue you mention. However now you have mentioned it, I'll keep my eye out for in when I shoot with it next.
 
Pneumatic said:
Holy smokes! That is sharp! What a stunning photo also.
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Many thanks. Yes, like I say, sometimes I forget how sharp this lens is. Sure it's not a Z mount S Line lens, and it's "only" and F mount, but just a few years ago, it's the lens that every Nikon wildlife photographer wanted. I've had mine about 4 years and it's so easy to carry (more so than my new 180-600 which doesn't quite fit in my regular day backpack). :(

Here's one from the same session of the same bird but from a different angle, it had just started to rain and got very overcast all of a sudden.

 
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gilbouk said:
Beautiful sharpness and detail. Do you ever find the 500mm PF struggling to focus at near to minimum focus distance compared to 100-400mm when mounted on your z8? This chap mentions it at around 7mins into this video

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Not sure how some of these reviewers can complain, as they always seem to live in bright sunny countries.:ROFLMAO:
 
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Sootchucker said:
Many thanks. Yes, like I say, sometimes I forget how sharp this lens is. Sure it's not a Z mount S Line lens, and it's "only" and F mount, but just a few years ago, it's the lens that every Nikon wildlife photographer wanted. I've had mine about 4 years and it's so easy to carry (more so than my new 180-600 which doesn't quite fit in my regular day backpack). :(

Here's one from the same session of the same bird but from a different angle, it had just started to rain and got very overcast all of a sudden.

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After reading reviews of the 400 f4.5 I’m now considering the 100-400 Z for the versatility of a zoom and potentially the 500mm pf as a longer wildlife lens. The 500 pf by all accounts was a stunning lens that performed far above its price point.
 
dcash29 said:
Not sure how some of these reviewers can complain, as they always seem to live in bright sunny countries.:ROFLMAO:
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Do you think they might have had the focus limiter on :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
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