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
QI want to upgrade my 12 year-old D3000 and its companion lenses to a newer camera with a variangle screen for shooting video, but on a tight budget. What would you suggest?
Elizabeth Kennedy
AYou’re best off upgrading to a D5xxx series body, all of which have a vari-angle screen that’s great for shooting video, as you can even view the screen when putting yourself in the picture, standing in front of the camera.
I’d avoid the earliest D5000 and D5100 models, as they’re not compatible with some of Nikon’s later lenses that feature the AF-P (Pulse stepping motor) autofocus system. Video quality from the D5000 is also relatively poor. The D5200 and D5300 are partly compatible, but you can’t enable or disable the focus ring in AF mode, as there’s no custom setting for this.
The D5200 also won’t let you switch off vibration reduction in AF-P lenses that lack a physical VR on/off switch, and if the standby time expires, the focus position will change when the camera restarts. I’d go for one of the latest D5500 or D5600 models.
QI’m in the market for a new computer monitor and am intrigued by the ones mentioned in the N-photo 122 (April 2021) ‘help me buy’ article. Which would you choose?
Brian Banks
APersonally, I’d go for the Benq SW271, which I actually gave the ‘best on test’ award to in N-photo 82’s (March 2018) Big Test of UHD (Ultra High Definition) monitors. It’s quite pricey at £949/$1099, but performance for photo and video editing is outstanding. It’s a 27-inch 4K screen that comes with preset options for SRGB and Adobe RGB modes, plus an HDR mode. Calibration software is supplied with the monitor, to maintain optimum colour accuracy over time, and the monitor comes complete with a handy hotkey puck for easily switching between SRGB, Adobe RGB and advanced black-and-white display modes.
In our lab tests, we found that the factory presets were highly accurate. Colour rendition proved excellent, with superb coverage of the extended Adobe RGB gamut and outstanding uniformity across the entire screen.
QI took your advice and upgraded from a D80 to a Z 50 kit. I’m really pleased and will sell my old lenses, but hope Nikon will
make more lenses for the Z 50 in the future. Krys Jasinski
AThat’s great to hear and thanks very much for the feedback. I’m really glad you’re happy with the Z 50, it’s a great camera. I’d also very much like to see Nikon making some more Z-mount DX format lenses sometime soon but we’re living in challenging times, and it seems that delays are affecting all areas of design and manufacturing across the world.
In the meantime, at least FX (full-frame) format Z-mount lenses are fully compatible with the Z 50 camera, as well as F-mount DX and FX format lenses via Nikon’s FTZ Mount Adapter. In the short term, it would probably be worth investing in the mount adapter and continuing to use your old lenses from your previous D80 kit, rather than selling them on anytime soon.
QI need a macro lens for my Z 6 and can’t wait any longer for the Nikon Z 105mm Micro. Are there any other native Z-mount macro lenses available right now? Mike Manning
AAs with DX format Z-mount lenses, the delivery of new FX lenses for Nikon’s Z-mount mirrorless cameras has been slower than expected, and there’s still no sign of the 105mm Micro. The Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro F-mount lens (£359/$569) works well via an FTZ Mount Adapter.
For a native Z-mount lens, I’d go for the Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO. It’s a fully manual lens with no internal electronics, so you have to set the aperture via the lens’s control ring, and focusing is a purely manual affair. However, manual focusing is often favoured when it comes to macro photography, and the focus peaking option of Nikon’s mirrorless cameras helps with accuracy. Unlike most macro lenses, the Laowa has a 2x maximum magnification factor, so it can reproduce objects at twice life size on the image sensor, revealing near-microscopic levels of detail.