Sorry, I've searched a bunch but I am still confused as to the answer.
Can you do manual focus trap on the Zf when using a Z mount Voigtlander lens? If so, what settings are necessary?
I see people definitely reporting that the TTA MZ adapter does allow for focus trap on the Zf. I thought this was also true for the chipped Z mount Voigtlanders. It isn't working on my Zf with either the Voigt 40/1.2 or 35/2. It does work just fine with the Nikon Z 40/2.
I've set both a1 and a2 to "Focus" as well as a6 to "AF-ON only" as well as "Out-of-focus release" to "Disable". With those settings the manual trap focus works perfectly with the Nikon Z 40/2 in either AF-S or AF-C mode.
With the Voigts the shutter fires as soon is it is pressed regardless of focus and racking past focus doesn't cause any additional shutter fire either.
Does this only work with the TTA adapter? Is it doing something special to make it work (e.g. pretending to be an AF lens or something)? Or is there some magic setting I'm missing to make it work with the Voigtlanders?
Thanks in advance for anyone with some experience with this!
EDIT: See below, there isn't a way to get this to work with Voigts or most other lenses or adapters. It is a quirk of the TTA 6-bit adapter that it allows this by reporting itself as an AF lens.
So answering my own question after digging some more and being a bit more clever in search.
You can't do the trap focus trick in manual focus mode on the camera. There is no technical reason for this at all, it is just the way the camera software works. Trap focus is already not really a documented feature in the first place, but if you run a lens in AF-S or AF-C with the right settings and use the MF ring on an AF lens then you get trap focus behavior.
You also need a chipped lens or adapter in order to get focus confirmation (green box) on a manual focus lens. Without that naturally trap focus won't work either.
The problem is that most chipped MF lenses (like the Voigts) or adapters (like the Nikon FTZ) report the lens as MF and the camera is forced into MF mode.
There are, however, a few third party adapters out there that report as being an AF lens. One example is the TTArtisans 6-bit M to Z adapter. When using that specific adapter you can keep the camera in AF-S or AF-C mode (the adapter chip doesn't force the camera into MF) and being chipped focus confirmation also still works. So with that adapter indeed you can get trap focus to work with any adapted manual focus lens.
So anyway, I (and maybe a few others online) got wires crossed when a few folks had reported manual lens trap focus working on the Zf. It only works with a few specific adapters.
Again, this is just because of the particular way configuration parameters work on the Z cameras. If Voigt were to change how their chip reported itself (probably not desirable to them) or Nikon would just change the shutter behavior for MF when we have trap focus settings (probably not desirable to them due to potential user confusion) then it would all work. The more realistic option would be for Nikon to actually create a documented trap focus feature rather than us having to kind of trick it into working with various other settings. I won't hold my breath for that happening! But at least Nikon has been doing a lot more with MF adapted lenses than ever before.
If any Nikon reps happen to see this thread, I hope they can pass this feature idea along to the software team. It could be such a cool feature to add via firmware update, and further strengthen how useful Nikon Z is for manual focusing, assuming there isn't some technical limitation that we're not realizing makes it unfeasible.
kwalsh wrote:
So answering my own question after digging some more and being a bit more clever in search.
You can't do the trap focus trick in manual focus mode on the camera. There is no technical reason for this at all, it is just the way the camera software works. Trap focus is already not really a documented feature in the first place, but if you run a lens in AF-S or AF-C with the right settings and use the MF ring on an AF lens then you get trap focus behavior.
You also need a chipped lens or adapter in order to get focus confirmation (green box) on a manual focus lens. Without that naturally trap focus won't work either.
The problem is that most chipped MF lenses (like the Voigts) or adapters (like the Nikon FTZ) report the lens as MF and the camera is forced into MF mode.
There are, however, a few third party adapters out there that report as being an AF lens. One example is the TTArtisans 6-bit M to Z adapter. When using that specific adapter you can keep the camera in AF-S or AF-C mode (the adapter chip doesn't force the camera into MF) and being chipped focus confirmation also still works. So with that adapter indeed you can get trap focus to work with any adapted manual focus lens.
So anyway, I (and maybe a few others online) got wires crossed when a few folks had reported manual lens trap focus working on the Zf. It only works with a few specific adapters.
Again, this is just because of the particular way configuration parameters work on the Z cameras. If Voigt were to change how their chip reported itself (probably not desirable to them) or Nikon would just change the shutter behavior for MF when we have trap focus settings (probably not desirable to them due to potential user confusion) then it would all work. The more realistic option would be for Nikon to actually create a documented trap focus feature rather than us having to kind of trick it into working with various other settings. I won't hold my breath for that happening! But at least Nikon has been doing a lot more with MF adapted lenses than ever before. ...Show more →
That's the clearest explanation I've seen, thank you.
Practically, with current Voigtlander Z-mount firmware, which is unlikely to change as Cosina does not offer a way to update it, and Nikon's implementation on the Zf, focus trap simply doesn't work with Voigtlander native Z-mount lenses.
The same limitation appears when using Voigtlander E-mount lenses on Z-mount bodies through adapters like the Megadap E-Z, since the lens still reports or enforces MF behavior.
With E-mount Voigtlanders, there is a partial workaround by covering part of the electronic contacts so the camera treats it like a non-chipped lens while still allowing the Megadap to pass the correct focal length for IBIS. However, at that point it starts to defeat the whole point of having a chipped lens in the first place. This is not advisable for the Z-mount lenses since there is no way to send the focal length data, so IBIS would not work correctly.
The core issue is that the lens firmware forces MF behavior regardless of the camera setting, and focus trap only functions when the camera is actually operating in AF mode, even if you are manually focusing.
One workaround is using Voigtlander M-mount lenses adapted to Z-mount. Since M lenses are not electronically chipped and don't enforce MF mode, the camera can still run in AF mode if selected in camera, which allows focus trap to work when adapted.
Like you said, the only real hope is for Nikon to enable focus trap in MF mode as well, but honestly, I'm not expecting it to happen.
I’m looking for a lightweight adapter solution for M mount lenses to the Nikon Zf. One that has electronic contacts to allow as much lens communication as possible. Sounds like the TTArtisans 6-bit M to Z adapter is one option. Any other suggestions aside from the very heavy Techart Pro option (granted, that solution provides AF functionality so I see why it would be heavier)?
Also, can someone please explain what is being referred to above when talking about “focus trap” on Z bodies, or specifically on the Zf? Never heard that term.
Steve Miller wrote:
I’m looking for a lightweight adapter solution for M mount lenses to the Nikon Zf. One that has electronic contacts to allow as much lens communication as possible. Sounds like the TTArtisans 6-bit M to Z adapter is one option. Any other suggestions aside from the very heavy Techart Pro option (granted, that solution provides AF functionality so I see why it would be heavier)?
Also, can someone please explain what is being referred to above when talking about “focus trap” on Z bodies, or specifically on the Zf? Never heard that term.
Thanks,
Steve
I recently bought the Shoten M to Z "E" (as in electronic adapter) from qycamera on eBay based on someone's recommendation here. Mechanically it is nicer than the TTA 6-bit adapter IMO. I'll likely be selling the TTA adapter soon.
Steve Miller wrote:
Also, can someone please explain what is being referred to above when talking about “focus trap” on Z bodies, or specifically on the Zf? Never heard that term.
Thanks,
Steve
It's not a Nikon exclusive idea. You set the camera to only fire the shutter when you have focus confirmed (green box). You set your system up with manual focus, you hold the shutter release button down and as you turn the focus ring, the camera takes the photo the instant focus is confirmed.
Or, you prefocus a plane that you want a subject to walk into, and as they enter and focus lands on them, the shutter fires.
Steve Miller wrote:
I’m looking for a lightweight adapter solution for M mount lenses to the Nikon Zf. One that has electronic contacts to allow as much lens communication as possible. Sounds like the TTArtisans 6-bit M to Z adapter is one option. Any other suggestions aside from the very heavy Techart Pro option (granted, that solution provides AF functionality so I see why it would be heavier)?
Also, can someone please explain what is being referred to above when talking about “focus trap” on Z bodies, or specifically on the Zf? Never heard that term.
Thanks,
Steve
The Nikon F4 had focus trap with the MF-23 in 1988, so it is not exactly a new idea. It was pretty useless back then and better, but still limited today.
