Ask Matthew
Our resident Nikon expert Matthew Richards answers your questions and solves your problems. If you have a Nikon-related question, email it to mail@nphotomag.com
Our Nikon know-all tackles all your technical questions
QI use a Sigma 12-24mm with my D750. How much viewing angle would I lose if I swap to a Z 6 and 14-30mm lens? Hank Stevens
AAs reviewed last issue, the new Nikon Z 14-30mm certainly doesn’t come up short in quality, although its minimum focal length isn’t as short as your Sigma. Technically, the maximum viewing angles are 114 degrees for the Nikon and 122 degrees for the Sigma. This is measured on the diagonal of the image frame, but the figures aren’t a great help when trying to visualize the difference.
For landscape and outdoor shooting, you usually won’t find the Nikon lens’s maximum viewing angle more restrictive. It can be more of an issue when shooting indoors, or any other time when you’ve got your back up against a wall and can’t move any further away from the subject. Case in point, below are two interior shots, taken at 12mm and 14mm focal lengths.
QCan I use Nikon’s recent E-type lenses with my D5600 camera body?
Simon Barton
AThe short answer is yes. Nikon introduced E-type lenses back in 2016, with electromagnetic control over the aperture. In D-type and G-type F-mount lenses for DSLRS and film cameras, the aperture is controlled by a mechanical lever. The advantage of electromagnetic control is that the aperture can be set more precisely, especially when shooting a sequence of shots in high-speed continuous drive mode.
Many recent lenses made by Sigma and Tamron, as well as a number of own-brand Nikon lenses, feature electromagnetic aperture control. In all cases, they’re compatible with most cameras, but not the D2-series, D1-series, D200, D100, D90, D80, D70-series, D60, D50, D40-series, D3000, and film SLR cameras. When used with these cameras, you’d only be able to shoot at the lens’s widest aperture.
Another restriction is that some of Nikon’s recent lenses use AF-P (Pulse) stepping motors to drive autofocus. This typically offers fast and virtually silent autofocus for stills, and smooth autofocus transitions when shooting video. Again, though, there are compatibility issues with older cameras. For example, neither autofocus nor manual focus is available with cameras including the D1-D4 series, D700, D100-D300 series, D40-D90 series, D7000, D5000-D5100 and D3000-D3200.
In some cases, autofocus is available with AF-P FX rather than DX lenses, with certain limitations.
QThe horizon is slightly slanted in many of my landscape and cityscape photographs, no matter how carefully I try to frame them in the viewfinder. How can
I fix this problem?
Alan Shaw
AEven though a composition can look ‘right’ in the viewfinder, it’s easy to be half a degree off or so, no matter how much effort you put in. An easy fix is to straighten the horizon in an image-editing program, where you can rotate the picture with the utmost precision. To help at the shooting stage, most Nikon mid-range and up-market cameras, like the D5000 and upwards, offer a grid overlay for the viewfinder display. You can activate this in the Custom Settings
menu. Cameras like the D7000 and above also offer a Virtual Horizon. This can be assigned to a Fn button for viewing in the viewfinder and also works particularly well in the Live View shooting mode.
QHow can I download photos from my Z 7’s XQD card to my ipad Pro?
Michael E Mccormack
AOne option available is to transfer images wirelessly with Nikon’s Snapbridge app, but this can be very time-consuming if you have a lot of shots you want to download – the Z 7’s images aren’t exactly the smallest. I’d usually recommend using a card reader with a wired connection to the ipad Pro’s Lightning port. However, unlike with SD cards, XQD cards require a bit more power than the ipad Pro can actually supply. You’d therefore need to use a Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter. Unlike the standard Lightning to USB Camera Adapter, this has an additional USB-C port to which you can easily connect a power supply.