Nikon Zf Impressions from a Fujifilm Guy 

Very nice video indeed. I am in a similar position, I was a Nikon user for a long time, both film and digital, with an F401, F801, D90 and D7100. Then I found Fuji and now own an X-Pro2, X-T2, X-T3, X-T4, X-T5 and X-H2. I have also pre-ordered an X100VI. Then a few months ago I saw the Nikon Zf announced and pre-ordered two of them. Since the Zf arrived it has become my Go-to camera and I love it. It is so nice to hold and use, and produces such great images that I really have re-discovered my love of photography, especially here in London where I do a lot of street stuff. The main thing for me is that it is so easy to use that I can now concentrate 100% on the shot and not on the settings. I am not going to get rid of any of my Fuji gear but for the moment it is all taking a back seat.

The Z8 got me. I hated saying goodbye to Fuji but the AF pushed me away. I was heavily invested too. My Z8 is phenomenal at shooting sports, and I have a Zf on the way to replace my Zfc for street stuff. Subject detection in manual focus is brilliant and I just needed the FF capability. Can’t wait to bring it up to Iowa in November!

I'm finally convinced after watching this. From D750 to zf. Thanks.

Camera differences do not matter that much these days, as long as the fotographer is as gifted as you. Awesome!

Fantastic photos and great review ✌🏼

I have been shooting Nikon since the film days. Tried fuji 3 yrs ago then sold it just didn’t work for me. Have a zf and z9 all I will ever need I hope. Thanx for the review.

Love the images. Always jealous of the subjects you have by you, especially the old cars and buildings. This is a camera that has popped up on my radar, the Z6III too.

Seriously awesome photos, Jarred. I'm about to go on a trip later this month and I am STRONGLY considering renting a Nikon Xf....the more and more I begin to think about it, the more I'm considering just buying it as a retro lens camera. How absolutely wild that you made this video that directly correlates to my frustrations with Fujifilm. What keeps bringing me back down to reality is the weight of the Xf and the compact, quality lenses I have for the Fujifilm. Maybe I'll try to find a used one so I can easily flip it without losing money.

As a canon shooter, love this video. Was thinking of getting a fuji for street and candids of my family, but hoping canon would come out with a retro like camera. Zf looks so sexy

Traded my XH2 for the Z8 for lens selection mostly. That 70-200mm F2.8 VR S is butter baby. That Viltrox 16mm 1.8 lens and the Tamron 28-75 F2.8 G2 lens are awesome, too. I originally wanted the XH2S and settled for the XH2. With the Nikon Z8, I have both in 1 camera with better lenses and low light performance. You are one of my favorite youtube reviewers, and I am glad you are with me on the Nikon journey. I'm looking at the 180 600mm to shoot wildlife. Fuji color science and cameras are great, but my Z8 is superior in most every way. Once you get use to how to setup the autofocus, it's seamless. You can assign your shooting styles to banks that have them stored as presets, which you can assign to function buttons for on the fly settings changes to wildlife, people, landscapes, or birds. Fuji is sharp but the Z8 is sharper, and when I shoot the same picture with the Z8, when I zoom in on the picture to crop a scene, it's sharper still than Fuji. I'm not taking anything away from Fuji, but the Z8 is an XH2 and XH2S in 1 without the open Gate, sadly.

A very excited volunteer. Good look into the ZF. I particularly like the ability to just use the PC software to make profiles then export. I'm big on Fuji film sims but I'd consider giving it up to just custom tailor something I can export to the camera for consistent results

Nice video. I look forward to a vid about all your new nikon gear.

Nikon has really nice colours, they just used to have so much noise it was hard to justify using them.

You can assign any black-and-white profile to the B&W switch. also, nikon is bringing recipes to the system, which will come in an update. If I understand correctly, you will input the recipes via an app on your phone and then transfer it to the camera.

Beautiful pictures in the end.

Excited volunteer 😂😂😂😂. Dude, really great comparison. Sweet setup with that 50!

Forget any spec any performance figures, when Nikon’s colour science gets you, there’s no going back.

Great video, would love to see you showcase different vintage lenses

I picked up the Zf last fall, admittedly it was a FOMO purchase during holiday promos. Figured I'd unbox it, admire it for a day, and return it in favor of the Z6III, as a secondary body to my Z8. Fast-forward 8 months later, the Zf rarely leaves my side. It's an ideal companion to the Z8, because they're both so different (I do iunderstand why some people see this is a negative though - muscle memory etc). Hard to explain but the tactile experience of the Zf's dials, the simplicity of minimal buttons, how everything feels and sounds - it's just FUN and relaxing to use. In addition to amazing colors and lower light / lower noise results of the 24mp full frame sensor. Wish list items - I'd love to see Exposure Delay and Cycle AF modes come to the Zf. And this one might be reaching, but a retro-style vertical / battery grip (perhaps inspired by F3's motor drive) would be a welcome addition!

Some very nice photos there at the end.

I don't need another fucking camera, Jerred. Haha, this is great though. You're killing it - the difference between I think someone like myself and you is that you can grab any camera and make stuff look awesome. Your abandoned and "country-ish" landscapes are just so good. The shot at 1:01 is incredible

love the Zf 😍

Amazing photos brother ✊🏼

I was a Fuji user with the X-Pro3 and X-H2s. Their main draw for me was the film recipes. I love getting an amazing look straight out of the camera, no editing required. But the Zf is just a better camera over all, I’m happy I made the switch, though I wish Nikon would upgrade their own “recipe” system

Regarding picture controls, starting with Z6III and soon coming to Zf is new Flexible Color Picture Control where you have proper color mixer and grading wheels. It’s already available to play with in NX studio but you can’t transfer it yet to Zf. It’s much more powerful than fuji sims and recipes

Nice images! Never thought to use charcoal but you inspired me

Great review Jerred, I have a sonay a7rv and want a fun daily shoot and street cam. I am seriously thinking on this one.

Exactly! They didn't care much about ergos back in the film days. Not everything retro is good. But having dials so you can change settings was good from my POV of course. Much prefer that to scroll wheels and LCD screens. I like the old Nikon lenses with aperture settings on the lens barrel. It would be nice to have this on Nikon AF lenses but we don't. Fuji absolutely got it right here again only IMHO of course. The dials on the X100F I used to have were perfect. I agree I think only Fuji can do film sims properly. I love my ZF but I don't do wildlife or sports so don't need fast AF or FPS

Keep in mind that Nikon has been working with Auto focus tech since the mid-1980s before the digital age. It is why back then almost every photojournalist and pro sports journalist were using Nikon F film bodies, it was the best at the time. So there is history with Nikon AF, is it the best Now?! well Sony took the crown in the digital age but arguably Nikon has caught back up with their latest bodies. I've shot Fuji since 2013, after six bodies and I have to agree that Fuji is always a couple steps behind everyone. The implementation is there but the hit rate is not as good as it should be.

The ZF is such a fun camera!

Nikon has a 35 focal length one like the 40 f2 in the grapevine. I haven’t played with one my self but would be eager to see

I love the simplicity of your photography.

Thank you for your review and thoughts. Beautiful images. Really impressive. Yes, the autofocus is a thing with Fuji, but you can still get great results. The weight and size to image quality ratio still makes me lean towards the X mount. CF Express B (I have the xh2 and XH2s) are much better than SD and CF Express A like Sony uses and that comes in a compact system (the Z8 is quite big). The lens lineup is good and affordable, not like Canon. So I think Fuji still has some valid reasons, but …the autofocus…..😁 Enjoy your camera, sounds like a lot of fun.

I really didn't like my used Z6 much so I've gone back to my Nikon DSLRs for now. The Zf seems like it will be way better, but it will be another year or two until there are used copies that I can afford. The Z6III and Z8 appeal too, but they are going to be more expensive and the Zf will be enough for me. I shot with an FE & FE2 back in the film days so the design is no problem for me.

Outstanding photos! Kept wondering how they would appear on a black background.

I can deal with the ergo, but that weight is my only gripe, especially when I love shooting it with manual lenses. Still my dream camera until Nikon releases a RF version. I do miss my Xpro3, but I know nothing Fuji could release that would make me want to go back.

Agreed. I have the xt4 and tried xt5, while its usable the ZF blows it out of the water. I also don't think fuji color science is good. Fuji is like a fun camera. If its just me on a business trip and im walking around taking throwaway shots. Yeah leica m10 or fuji. But on vacation and now for kid sports and event, the nikon zf has everything covered. My biggest pet peeven is the AF-D lenses that have aperture and good manual focus cannot be used autofocus on the zf.

I’ve been thinking about returning my Zf to grab the Fuji XT5 because of size. But it seems a lot of videos I’ve seen the last 4 days have one thing in common “Fuji AF needs work” I love the Zf and Xt5 model since I shoot manual so I enjoy having to use the dials.

The ZF looks amazing! I would very much like to go for it, but I miss the custom modes U1-3. Is there a workaround? How fast can you switch between custom settings with the ZF?

Beautiful photos. They really have a great feel to it. I am considering switching my Leica M10 for a EVF mirrorless. I mainly shoot with a prime 50mm and I am getting tired of the rangefinder. I am very undecided between the Fuji X-H2 and the Nikon Zf. Nikons were my first cameras, so I am attached to them, but the main thing is the full frame vs APS-C. I never liked the cropped sensors (I also shoot medium format digital). My only concerns are - the EVF on the nikon, as I read around that it is not great, while the Fuji X-H2 is top level. - weight and size, but when it does not look that big in photos/videos.

Honestly Nikon's Rich Tone Portrait profile looks closer to film than most of what Fuji has. Fuji's film sims seem to be gunning for the lomo crowd. This is from someone who shoots mostly with a Nikon F6 and Fuji X100V.

Glad to know you have finally decided to move to another system, nothing against the Fuji cameras but the AF is just bad.

That is a beautiful looking camera body, paired with that vintage glass! If you were going to jump into a system fresh with no existing lenses, would you go Fuji or Nikon at this point? As a mostly Olympus shooter for nature/macro, I have been debating a new system - was considering Fuji, had not heard much about recent Nikon or the Zf until now, intriguing and more to consider...

Also have some Duh on the BW. It would be better to do it in post where you can control RGB highligths in bw.

Great video - great photos. With my Fuji gear packed away, waiting for an eventual firmware fix for the AF problems, every video talking about switches from Fuji to Nikon is more intriguing. Nikon has similar color science, better (working) AF and it's full frame. Fuji seems to have lost the plot.

The BW switch would've been a bit more useful if Nikon allowed us to set the image format separately for the BW mode and regular photo mode so we can set JPEG only on BW and raw on regular photo mode.

Some very nice photos here. Takes me back to my midwest roots. Still wavering on the ZF… The grip is just so….horrible. Am considering the Z6ii or iii just for a better grip and button placement.

Great video. Annoyed by Fujifilms AF and slow motion development for lenses too, I bought a Z8, selecting the lens first (105/1.4, adapted and 70-200/2.8), coming from a XH2 and XH2s. Sold the XH2 and some lenses immediately. Fujifilm doesn't care. Their CEO looks only on things damaging the reputation of the brand. Nobody is buying a Fujifilm expecting standard or even state of the art AF and tracking performance. So being years behind doesn't harm the brand. And: Investing 80% on the last 20% AF performance is then a waste of money and only stresses their crippled development ressources. As they don't care if customers are waiting months after ordering a new camera.

I have both nikon and fuji system. I do think fujifilm images are great, but to be honest for the prices.. it's overrated. The menu are also a meh. And if you're relying on the AF and tracking, lately it's becoming problematic with recent firmware update. I also saw some videos complaining fuji build quality that's getting bad with more recent releases compare to older generation fuji X system. Nikon in the other hand, in recent days is the opposite of fujifilm. Not as "hip" or trendy (or tiktokable/instagramable) but the pricing is quite right, always in stock and you can get it anywhere, never had any problem with build quality either with my 30 years old film camera, or few years old digital camera.

I wish I could afford to switch to the Zf, really regret buying into Fuji, How is the ZF high iso noise like compared to the Fuji? I have an XT4 and XH2s

You are a really good photographer. The photo gallery was beautiful. Of course, as a Fuji user, your discussion on the Zf vs the Fuji messed my head up. We'll see what happens. If I buy a Zf, I 'll tell my wife it's all your fault. Lol.

I own a Fujifilm and I cannot stand the menu..as well its kind of easy to bump the settings .

The problem is for the non professional yet advanced photographer it’s just too heavy for a travel camera. The whole best camera is the one with you is why I couldn’t go for it.

I'm considering selling my X-T5 and accompanying lenses for a Zf and 40mm f2 SE kit. I like where Nikon is going, and feel like I want to explore them. How are the ergonomics with that grip for day to day shooting?

Better heavy and well made than hollow and plastic like the ZFC

Can you imagine if Nikon makes a ZS? The modern iteration of the S3? I would sell my Fuji kit so fast. The ZF is already catching my eye

As I've been contemplating what camera I might want to buy for after my X-T3, this one keeps coming up. The first reason is the same as you....the vintage lens issue. The second is a way to move up to FF. One of my concerns is not having the Fuji film simulations. I love to set the camera to Acros to shoot so I see BNW in the EVF. BUT, the bigger issue for me would be editing software. I WAS using Capture One Express until the jerks deprecated it. Now, I'm relegated to the Fuji raw converter. But, If I go to Nikon that means I need to buy software. Not sure I want to do that. Thanks for the good overview. Love the images too! Take care....

Ya kick fujifilm down while praising Nikon 😂😂 fujifilm needs to get their shit together

What adapter are you using?

Love 9:20! Yeh a lot of people are leaving Fuji rn over AF, and Fuji are kinda recognizing this fact with some lame fixes, but by and large they are undoubtedly years behind the competition and that gap likely to grow. The issue is mainly z axis problems and especially on the near to mid range. X and Y action and far away z axis, it does ok, but really people want the closer action shots in focus and this is where it is blatantly behind the competition. I am finding it hard to justify any more coin being invested in this platform. I think they have hit a genuine hurdle with AF now and it really could be hardware based limitations combined with inept software devs. Aperture stepping bla bla, they just can't overcome it regardless of time given. For my line of work I am kinda trapped with stacked sensors or cameras with decent read out speeds in ES mode, so the Z6III is a contender. Maybe I will let one of my XH2S's go, but I really can't afford to spend too much here on switching systems or going cross brand hybrid, it's just bad business for me. I try to remind myself that my line of work I don't have too many AF gripes. I want better AF because better AF is cool, but I don't really know how much I NEED it. Thanks for the impressions Jerred, appreciated.

Hi, what about om-1? Can you compare?

Long time Nikon user here that switched to Fuji. Nikon is very slow to iterate. Reason I left was that they and I drifted along for years with the D300 while digital was progressing everywhere. Shifted to the X-T1 and it was an upgrade.

I didn't need to see this, Jerred 😅 I have had thoughts about Nikon FF mirrorless. It's high time Fujifilm gave us a workable AF, and the X-T5 still isn't what I hoped in that department. Also, I have Nikon FF DSLRs and, for me 24MP FF is the sweet spot where the noise is low, the images are still creamy, not crunchy. I find 40MP of the X-T5 a bit crunchy, and even the 45MP of the D850 just a tad too. The D750's 24MP, for me, is perfect. So a FF Nikon mirrorless is on the cards for sometime in the longer term future. But... It's almost impossible for me to think of trading in the Fujifilm lenses. The 33mm, the way it renders backgrounds is delicious, the 56mm WR the same plus ridiculous sharpness perfection all round, the 90mm oh my word the 90mm 🤤 And that's why I didn't need to see this! 😜

All Nikons, starting with the Nikon F3, were thought out with ergonomics in mind. The designer's main purpose was to focus on usability as much as possible, on all types of bodies, including the entry level ones. Saying that „they didn't care much about ergonomics back in the day” is both a failure on understanding tech limitations of the time, and a total ignorance of the effort necessary to bring those features to cameras 30-40-50 years ago. The fact that you now have very good autofocus with whatever type of tracking you want even on cheaper bodies is a result of chips getting both much better at making calculations, and getting small enough to fit into a small form factor. You now have more processing power in a Zf than an entire IBM building in 1989.

Dang, I love my fuji kit. But your analysis of Fuji's auto focus is undeniable. Too many misses?

Or you could just get a Nikon film SLR for a hundred bucks or so and use your vintage lenses with that. You would also have many many hundreds of dollars left over for film, processing, etc. Plus, that way you get the no excuses absolute total and authentic vintage retro film look and feel with all your vintage lenses.

I gave up Fuji the moment I touched the Zf

Is this a fuji with good AF ?

I have both a Fujifilm X-T3 and a Nikon D750. In honesty, the D750's autofocus blows the X-T3 out of the water. I took the X-T3 to Japan and shots hundred of photos of a religious procession and was so disappointed that I got only around 1/3 of shots in focus. My D750 would have easily got over 80%. The X-T3 is also not as reliable and robust (I have a number of faults with it, even though it is much newer) whilst the D750 has been 100% reliable in 8 years of shooting with it. It like an amateur wannabe professional vs a thoroughbred profession (Nikon).

They just released 35 f1.4 with a ring on a lens. My issue as Fuji user on Zf is number of buttons and number of operations you have to do in order to swirch settings. Yes there are dials there but often they make you crazy since camera PASM dial does not belong on this body ( read as if PASM is not in M mode your top dials not doing anything). Wonder which people decided to put dedicated iso dial but you have to go into the menu to disable auto iso ?Btw Nikon colors do have magenta shift and then everywhere in green and blue also. Color is nothing to write home about it .

Say good things about Fuji if you want, but APSC will always be the crippled version of Full frame ..the ZF is essentially a full frame version Fuji...sort of....

Can change your ISO like the old film days? Well, I guess loading a new can of film was technically changing ISO settings 😂

Why about the df?!

Fuji have completely dropped the ball and I struggle to see the value in the X system when you can get a superior full frame camera with autofocus that actually works for similar money.

NikonZf instead of Nikon FM2.

Welcome to the dark side.

But the northrups said the auto focus is basic. Not as good or maybe slight better than fuji. They also said that fuji cameras are better, even the basic ones. So someone is lying

The real gas king.

That kid was not a happy camper.

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Fuji continues to fumble the bag with their poor decisions… MF instead of FF, questionable lens releases, horrible af performance. Idk why anyone would buy into Fuji at this point unless they just want a fun walk around / travel camera to shoot JPEGs. I did try the Zf but returned it after a week of light daily use due to hand cramps, even with the grip. The z6iii looks like appealing to me… and probably every XH2s owner right now.

Should have tried a Sony A7Cii, Nikon is light years behind. Not worth investing in 2024 tbh.