The Nikon Zfc

Is this the digital Nikon FM/FE we’ve all dreamed about?

I don’t know why everyone compares the Zfc to the FM2. Why not the FE or FE2 given the exposure automation and the extra colored thing on the shutter speed dial?

Given my propensity to prefer pretty cameras over features that do nothing for my particular photographic endeavors, you’ve had to guess I’d purchase a Zfc sooner or later. Turns out that my acquisition was later rather than sooner. I was tempted the day it was announced. Why the delay? Why the wait and see?

The big obstacle was the DX/APS-C sensor. I have zero Z-mount lenses and don’t have a plan to acquire any. Even if I had plans, Nikon has shown no loyalty to an APS-C system ever in terms of small, fast, well-built primes specifically for an APS-C system. All of my F-mount lenses are manual focus, all metal gems from the past. I shoot those on some of my favorite 35mm film bodies. We all know APS-C sensors are not great if you're not a fan of telephoto lenses and more of a wide-ish shooter. Heck, I don’t even own a Nikon F-mount 35mm to work as a normal lens. The closest thing I have is a 28mm f/2. The dozen or so lovely 50mm lenses are now short telephoto lenses. So short that I wouldn’t use them much.

The sensor is so far forward in the Zfc (and other digital cameras except the Leica M) that adapting a manual focus F-mount 50mm is the same size as a 135mm on a film camera.

So what was it that tempted me? I was not enamored with the various non-traditional color schemes on offer. I’ve always preferred black-painted cameras over chrome versions. I guess it was a few months ago when Nikon offered the somewhat limited, available directly from Nikon black version that drew me in. I didn’t jump at it but then recently they offered a $100 discount with that plastic-fantastic tiny zoom lens. I could resist no longer, my rationalization skills took over and two days later the black Zfc arrived on my doorstep.

Is the Zfc as bad as they say?

No, the criticism of being too plasticky is not the case at all. I think the bulk of those comments step entirely from the battery door and the flippy screen. There are possibly two or three digital cameras ever produced that don’t have shitty-feeling battery doors, there are even fewer cameras that have any sort of movable screen that doesn’t feel plasticky. The rest of the camera feels just as solid as an FM/FE.

The other thing that may cause this feel is the unbelievably cheap feel and featherweight lenses every reviewer has paired the camera with. Any of the lenses that are typically paired with the Zfc are extremely light and all plastic. The kit zoom, the 28mm f/2.8, and the 40mm f/2.0 are all very light and very plastic.

If you adapt an old F-mount lens to the Zfc it feels more like an FM/FE film camera than you might imagine. In fact, picking either up it’s difficult to distinguish one from the other until you feel the controls on the back of the Zfc or look through the viewfinder.

Where did Nikon go wrong?

The executive summary; Nikon was not brave enough to get rid of features and tried to please both people that wanted a modern feature-filled camera as well as those that wanted a classically styled, paired-down photography camera.

Nikon did incredibly well in reproducing the FM/FE body. The textured leatherette on the body and viewfinder are incredibly similar in look and feel. The finish, at least on the black version I have, is almost identical. It looks like paint, we’ll see if it wears like paint and shows magnesium down the road. They even accurately copied the odd, non-centered proportions where it’s wider on the shutter speed dial side than the film rewind/ISO side.

The problem arises in the decision to festoon the back, front, and top plate with all sorts of unnecessary buttons and controls that are uncomfortable and error-prone to use. They are extremely difficult to use as one that wants to use classic adapted lenses would want to use them. The camera is too small for the rear control layout, period, full stop, end of story.

Zooming in or out when using manual focus in critical situations is cumbersome and error print. The function button on the front is impossible to miss when handling the camera so it’s always being inadvertently activated. The PASM modes are completely unnecessary for classic use. Why not just get rid of them and put “A” on the shutter speed dial like the FE/FE2? If you want a multi-mode camera get the Z-50. The D-pad sucks and so does the button in the middle, not because all D-Pads suck but because this one is too stiff and too small. The buttons crowded into the space between the D-pad and the screen are almost unusable. This is all especially true with your eye to the viewfinder.

The articulating screen and placement of other internal electronics are such that the sensor is nowhere near where the film plane is on the FM/FE. This causes lens adapters for F-mount, or any SLR lenses to be very long, far longer than if the sensor was mounted anywhere near the back of the camera. Mounting an adapter and a 50mm lens produces the same size camera as an FE with a 135mm lens mounted as shown above. Ironically M-mount lenses would be better and more in line with the overall size when using the Zfc.

Bottom line

Is the Zfc the optimal camera for those that like to use either new or vintage manual focus glass on a digital body? Absolutely not. Is it usable, fun, and worthwhile for that purpose? Yes, especially if you are looking for something super small, good-looking, and to do double duty as a modern autofocus point-and-shoot you can take anywhere.

Right now I am working with a very small kit that consists of the Zfc, a 50mm 1.4, a straight-through adapter, a speed-boosting adapter, and that tiny featherweight zoom that Nikon insists you buy with the black version. This is a tiny kit that gives you high-quality (but slow) autofocus 24mm-75mm equivalent, 50mm f/1.0 for shallow DOF and speed, and of course a 75mm f/1.4. That one vintage lens you select can be fine-tuned to your needs of the day. Do you want something dreamy and imperfect or something bitting with a bit more modern rendering?

Do vintage lenses work well with the Zfc? Yes, in fact, some of the vintage F-mount lenses work better than expected, better than they did on my Nikon Df. Two examples are my 18mm f/3.5 AiS lens which has always worked fine on APS-C as 28mm but was hopeless on full frame in strange colors etc in the corners. On the speed-boosting adapter, the 18mm seems not to have those weird color problems in the corners. The same holds true for the 28mm f/3.5 non-AI and AI lenses which suffered the same or worse until f/8 or so. In fact, the 28mm f/3.5 really has a unique look cropped or on the speed booster that I like when wanting a vintage look.

I’ll experiment with the custom control settings to see if I can get the Zfc anywhere close to how the X-Pro 2 or X-Pro 3 works with manual focus lenses. Right now either of the Fuji cameras is far more fluid and natural shooting manual focus lenses than the Zfc but if I can work out a control scheme that gets it close I’ll consider it a win.