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As mentioned, I was lucky enough to take the Z series 35mm and
50mm prime lenses with me to Japan, and they were impressive
- fast, smooth and easy to focus manually (focus peaking on the
Z 6 is a delight to use). I was very impressed with their optical
performance throughout the aperture range, and as with the
camera, the lenses are well built without being too bulky – though
just be careful you don’t
knock the AF/M switch
when pulling the camera
out of the bag. If you
want to use older Nikon
lenses, you’ll need to
buy an FTZ mount
adapter, which will take
up another 100 of your
English pounds. For the
full line-up of current
and planned Z-series
lenses, see
http://www.nikon.co.uk.
A quick word
about lenses
Testbench IN THE FIEld
apertures. That said, the Z 6
is still something of a porker
compared to the more svelte
Olympus Micro Four Thirds
cameras, for example, or the
best-designed APS-C models
from Fujifilm or Leica. As a travel
photographer, you do notice its
weight around your neck and back
after a hard day’s shooting and it
does take up space in your bags,
especially if taking more than one
lens and a tripod. It seems that
as mirrorless models get more
sophisticated, they are getting
quite bulky again.
One benefit of this is sturdy build
quality, and the Z 6 is reassuringly
tough. The body is grippy and
everything falls nicely to hand. It’s
fair to say I don’t always treat my
gear with kid gloves out in the field
(apologies to Nikon if you are
reading this), but the camera is
resilient and scratch resistant,
being built around the same
magnesium alloy chassis as the
higher-end Z 7. So it is fully
weather-sealed to prevent
moisture, dust and dirt getting
through to the internals. Indeed,
Nikon claims it’s weather-sealed to
the same standard as the D850,
and it coped with several Japanese
downpours without complaint. The
relatively clean design around the
back also means that you don’t
activate buttons and unwanted
functions by mistake when pulling
the Z 6 in and out of bags,
something which used to annoy
me about the D750. The top
OLED screen is also bright
and easy to read.Dial it in
The ergonomics and menu design,
while intelligent and a no-brainer
for current Nikon DSLR users, are
very good, with a few exceptions.
In his full review of the Z 6 (AP
12 January) Michael Topham
mentioned the slightly eccentric
placement of the exposure
compensation button, well off to
the side of the shutter release,
and I concur. I also found myself
hunting for the ISO button, and
fumbled around for the rather
titchy AF joystick (sorry,
thumbstick) until its placement
lodged in my muscle memory.
That said, I do have big hands, so
more dextrous users may find
this is simply not an issue. Nikon
menus are quite ‘busy,’ but you do
get used to them relatively quickly.
Activating the self-timer on the
Z 6, though, required checking
back in the manual before I
figured it all out. It should be easier
to get to grips with such a basic
function. But these are minor
niggles rather than big headaches.
The EVF (electronic viewfinder)
is simply fantastic. It offers
3.6 million dots with 0.8x
magnification, showing shooting
information against a black
background above and below the