p.48 #1 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
I can't tell if you're trolling or not with this comment.
I personally would prefer to get the shot of my kid running around than play a challenging (albeit at times fun) game of focusing............................................................
philip_pj wrote:
These AF booster companies are deliberately sabotaging the art of manual focus for purely commercial reasons, greed effectively. Who would not enjoy a spin dial that enlarged magnification at shot time, or a menu to enter your exact magnification ratios, and the numbers of steps? A pox on their houses.
p.48 #2 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
We understand forums are good venues for letting off steam, of course, but information exchange is key. We are all different. Many design improvements are possible for any camera producer wishing to optimise the joys of manual focusing. These are among my interests, as is interface design generally. It's fine for you to disagree, or even become a hater.
p.48 #3 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
Philip, who has been around for ages (>10.000 posts), is supposed to be trolling?
… and that from someone who has just made his 46th post?
This is really a question, who is trolling.
Philip might be making pointed statements and anyone who has been on this forum any minimum time will have come across his statements on manual focus or the drawing of a lens. Usually extremely thoughtful, at times clearly very focussed. One might not always agree, might be more lenient to his often very clear cut analyses, at a few times even differ from his opinion. But Philip a troll - no way!
p.48 #4 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
I must certainly be the contrarian to think that it's a stretch to equate innovating and breathing new and performance-altering experiences as "sabotaging the art of manual focus for purely commercial reasons, greed effectively."
Leica sales are up. M-mount lens companies are growing in number and range. AF adapters are on multiple iterations.
Call it greed, but it's all net positive because this segment of prosumer photography benefits.
p.48 #5 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
Curious who you blame here? Suspect the camera doesn’t have the communication needed to support the features you’d prefer and the camera manufacturers don’t have much incentive to support 40 year old lenses? Or maybe I’m not understanding?
To the topic, Neweer adapter w/ txt file update even writes info into the Old Z6, pretty exciting. Going to play with swapping the txt tomorrow if you wanted to more precisely record info, poor man’s version of the new Non-CPU settings that certainly aren’t coming to Expeed 6 cameras. Gets the green focus box too.
philip_pj wrote:
These AF booster companies are deliberately sabotaging the art of manual focus for purely commercial reasons, greed effectively. Who would not enjoy a spin dial that enlarged magnification at shot time, or a menu to enter your exact magnification ratios, and the numbers of steps? A pox on their houses.
p.48 #6 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
I'm in the process of transitioning from DSLR to mirrorless so I'm all over the place regarding bodies and lenses. But I'm trying to tailor my body choices to the lenses I want to use.
One that interests me in particular is the CV 50mm f/1.2 Nokton.
I was wondering if anyone has experience using this lens on Nikon Z bodies in either M or E mount. The Z5ii seems very interesting to me (reportedly the same sensor as the Zf and Z6ii so any users of these, please drop your insights!).
Pros for the VM in particular: doubly usable as a film lens, and future-proof. For the E mount: easy exif, IQ *might* be better on Z (Sony users of the E mount version report better results than when adapting the VM despite the optical design being the same), but if I ever decide to swap to another manufacturer besides Sony or Nikon, I'm screwed.
Also, from what I've gleaned, Nikon Z is supposedly even better than Leica SL for adapting M mount lenses. Is that true? I've seen certain articles although those comparisons are always just Sony vs Leica SL (and the SL wins easily).
p.48 #7 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
horus__ wrote:
I'm in the process of transitioning from DSLR to mirrorless so I'm all over the place regarding bodies and lenses. But I'm trying to tailor my body choices to the lenses I want to use.
One that interests me in particular is the CV 50mm f/1.2 Nokton.
I was wondering if anyone has experience using this lens on Nikon Z bodies in either M or E mount. The Z5ii seems very interesting to me (reportedly the same sensor as the Zf and Z6ii so any users of these, please drop your insights!).
I've used the 50mm f/1.2 via the TechArt adapter.
I've used it with pretty good outcomes when there's lots of light. But it does hunt in low light. One bigger issue is that after a week of particularly heavy use, it started to struggle to focus at f/1.2. At f/2, f/2.8 there weren't any issues, still very snappy. I haven't tested it recently however, so just a heads up.
I used a fairly involved set of adapters: LTM-LM, Hawks close-focus LM-Sony E adapter, then Megadap Sony E-Z adapter! I also have a quality Novoflex LM-Z adapter, however the close-focus function of the Hawk's adapter was useful.
Here it is, this time using a simple LTM-LM ring and then the Novoflex:
p.48 #10 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
Anybody having issues with their TTartisan M to Z 6bit Adapter since the Zf 2.0 firmware update?
I have some strange new behaviours from it, the scale distance is always on and with the same wrong value, the aperture numbers are random and can’t be changed with some lenses.
Maybe it needs an update too from TTartisan.
p.48 #12 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
I just checked with mine using a Voigtlander 75mm f/1.9 Ultron and it still works with the Zf 2.0 firmware. The "lens" firmware says version 2.02.
I noticed once that IBIS was acting weirdly for a 35mm lens and I couldn't set the aperture to what I wanted. Turns out either the 6-bit reader was dirty or the lens was so it was identifying a 6-bit code that wasn't there. Simply wiping both with a lens cloth fixed that issue.
p.48 #13 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
I did a few experiments with the M-Z 6 bit adaptor following my discovery that it didn't work with ZF firmware 2.0.
I downgraded my ZF firmware to 1.21, and the adaptor still didn't work. So must have been something else wrong...
I then remembered that I updated the adaptor firmware to 1.02 using a Mac. So I did the whole painful VirtualBox thing to get Windows running and re-installed the firmware using the virtualized Windows, and got the ZF back up to firmware 2.0.
And -- it works again. Mostly. So definitely don't use a Mac to update the adaptor firmware!
I get the same weird distance scale thing as Sonnar-7, and the manual setting of the aperture for exif recording doesn't seem to use the lower-bound values specified in the non-CPU lens setup. And I'm not convinced the focal length is being read properly - I see a small "35mm" icon appear only while I press the adaptor reset button.
p.48 #14 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
Bob Bogo wrote:
I did a few experiments with the M-Z 6 bit adaptor following my discovery that it didn't work with ZF firmware 2.0.
I downgraded my ZF firmware to 1.21, and the adaptor still didn't work. So must have been something else wrong...
I then remembered that I updated the adaptor firmware to 1.02 using a Mac. So I did the whole painful VirtualBox thing to get Windows running and re-installed the firmware using the virtualized Windows, and got the ZF back up to firmware 2.0.
And -- it works again. Mostly. So definitely don't use a Mac to update the adaptor firmware!
I get the same weird distance scale thing as Sonnar-7, and the manual setting of the aperture for exif recording doesn't seem to use the lower-bound values specified in the non-CPU lens setup. And I'm not convinced the focal length is being read properly - I see a small "35mm" icon appear only while I press the adaptor reset button. ...Show more →
You can downgrade the firmware of the camera? How?
p.48 #15 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
I find that with the 6 bit adapter, sometimes when I turn the camera on it seems to assign a random minimum aperture value that is above what my lens is capable of (ie I can't set f/1.6 because the minumum aperture value defaults to 2, 2.8, 4, etc). I think that's been the case since before 2.0. It's frustrating. It just randomly fixes itself if I turn the camera on and off, press the button on the side of the adapter, take the adapter off. Nothing seems to work every time.
Question: Using the 6bit adapter without a 6bit lens, will the camera record the focal length value that is set on the adapter, or will it take the non-CPU setting? I'd prefer it to take the non-CPU setting.
I kind of wish TTartisan (or someone else) would just make an adapter for m mount lenses that didn't have the 6 bit code reader, or the focal length wheel. Just make it dumb, aside from providing contacts to allow for manual focus confirmation.
p.48 #16 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
Malabito wrote:
You can downgrade the firmware of the camera? How?
Same way as upgrading the firmware -- you just need to find the old firmware file.
I made sure to backup my menu settings, so I could restore the camera to current state when I put fw 2.0 back on again.
Nikon doesn't have the old firmware files on its site for download, but I found on an archive site somewhere. Probably worth keeping copies of firmware versions going forward, in case I need to downgrade again at some point in the future for other reasons.
p.48 #17 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
Bob Bogo wrote:
I just tried mine -- paired with a w-nikkor 3.5cm LTM, and a LTM->M adaptor ring.
I have odd behavior too. Can't take photos, the shutter button doesn't actuate. And the focus confirm/green box doesn't work any more either.
Sigh.
I've had this happen to me, only to realize that I didn't have the camera in MF. If you have the shutter on AF-C or AF-S to only actuate when the image is in focus - Focus Priority - then I could see how the shutter may appear disabled (note: focus priority seemingly became the default with the ZF firmware 2.0 update? i didn't have this on before). I have the 6-bit adapter and firmware 2.0 and haven't run into any usability issues on my end.
p.48 #18 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
weezintrumpete wrote:
Question: Using the 6bit adapter without a 6bit lens, will the camera record the focal length value that is set on the adapter, or will it take the non-CPU setting? I'd prefer it to take the non-CPU setting.
I kind of wish TTartisan (or someone else) would just make an adapter for m mount lenses that didn't have the 6 bit code reader, or the focal length wheel. Just make it dumb, aside from providing contacts to allow for manual focus confirmation.
I just did some tests, and can confirm that the camera uses the focal length from the wheel on the adaptor, when I use a non 6bit lens.
If you hold the reset button down, it uses the non-CPU setting from the camera (while the reset button is held).
p.48 #20 · Nikon Zf as a platform for adapted/native manual focus lenses
Thanks for the insights regarding the TTartisan 6bit adapter, I cleaned the reader and the contacts and there were less issues, sometimes I need to cover the part of the lens with my hand to block the light when I power the camera for the aperture number to be adjustable, I still have some other issues with the scale distance and it annoys me quite a bit. It’s probably due to the update to it by the Nikon firmware and its compatibility problems I suspect with the chip of the adapter.
The adapter is quite nice, it might be my only one where I always have infinity compared to the others where I can never have it correctly, but for now I went back to a close focus adapter with no chip. I use the confirmation box less and less these days, zoom focus is still great.
