This week, Nikon announced the new 800mm f/6.3S Phase Fresnel lens, which weighs in at a stunningly svelte 5.2 lbs. Although good telephoto lenses tend to be expensive, there are some good options out there that won’t completely break your bank. This week, we’ll discuss current options for long (400mm+) telephoto lenses and their pros and cons.
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I just received the new Nikon Z fc camera kit with 16-50mm DX lens. You might be asking why I would purchase this camera, seeing as how I already have a Nikon Z 7 ii. The answer comes down to size and weight.
The Nikon Z fc is a 20-megapixel, DX (APS-C) format mirrorless camera. While much has been hyped about it’s retro look (it does look a lot like my 1978 Nikon EL2), that’s only part of its charm. With the kit lens, the Nikon Z fc weighs in at around 576g. That’s less than half the weight of my Nikon Z 7 ii + 24-70 f/4 combo. This camera can easily fit into a jacket pocket.
The top controls include dials for ISO and Shutter Speed. Aperture is set via the front command dial, or you can configure the lens function ring to change aperture. There’s a tiny LCD panel on the top of the camera that displays the aperture (f-stop) value. There’s also an exposure compensation dial that ranges from ±3 EV in 1/3 stop increments.
The Nikon Z fc has a range of user-customizable options, including the i-Menu, and user-assignable functions for the front Fn1 button and the movie record button. There are fewer custom function buttons than what you’ll get on the larger Z6 and Z7 cameras, and there’s no Sub-Selector joystick.
Probably the biggest difference between the Z fc and other Nikon mirrorless cameras is the way the rear LCD is mounted. The rear LCD panel flips out from the side, rather than the top or bottom. This mounting arrangement allows you to use the LCD from the front of the camera (selfie mode), or rotate it to be completely covered and protected.
I’ll be putting the Nikon Z fc through its paces, but for now I’m pleased with its build quality and overall design.
This week, we spent some time handling the new Nikon NIKKOR Z MC 50mm f/2.8 Macro Lens, and we’ll give our impressions of the “other” macro lens for Nikon Z-mount.
Both Capture One and Luminar AI got updates this week, and we’ll tell you what new features you’ll get when you upgrade.
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This week Nikon announced two Z-mount macro lenses, in 105mm and 50mm focal lengths. We take a look at the specs, pricing, and whether we’ll consider replacing our F-mount 105mm VR micro-Nikkor lenses. We also take a quick peek at DXO’s newly updated Nik Collection 4, which we’ll review more in depth next week.
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This week, Nikon announced the development of the Z9 mirrorless camera. Although specs were scarce, there are a few things we can infer from the product announcement. Adobe released a new update to Camera Raw, which offers a new feature called “super resolution.” This enables ACR (and soon, Lightroom) users to double the linear pixel dimensions of their images while preserving a raw format. Our experiments with Super Resolution suggest that it has a lot of potential in the future for working with highly-cropped images or photos captured with lower-resolution cameras.
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