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
Q I’ve been thinking about trading in my D300 for a Z 7. Would that be a good choice and where could I get a good deal?
Tom Williams
I’d go for the Z 6 or Z 6II, unless you A really need the 45 megapixel sensor of the Z 7, which is mostly useful for retaining detail in large-format printing, or for extreme cropping of images. The Z 6 and Z 6II are much less expensive, have the same excellent handling characteristics and actually produce cleaner high-iso images with less noise. An advantage of the newer Mark II models is that they have a secondary SD card slot, making memory cards much cheaper to buy.
A standard zoom is probably the most important lens to get. Personally, I’d go for the Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4 S. Image quality and overall performance are absolutely excellent, and you could buy the lens with the camera as a money-saving kit. For competitive prices, try comparing online dealers at www.camerapricebuster.co.uk.
Q I have an FTZ mount adapter but are there any advantages of the new FTZ II over the original and does it work with all Nikon F-mount lenses?
Jim Radcliffe
The mechanical and electronic A linkages of the FTZ II are identical to the original, and neither has any glass elements. The only real difference is that the Mark II ditches the protruding section underneath, which includes a tripod mounting socket.
The main advantage is that the more streamlined, circular profile doesn’t restrict access to the vertical grip on the Z 9 camera.
As with the original FTZ, you get full compatibility with autofocus, exposure control and optical VR (Vibration Reduction) for all of Nikon’s AF-P and
AF-S lenses. Nikon says that AE (Auto Exposure) shooting is available for 360 Nikon F-mount lenses from AI type onwards, and AF/AE works with 94 AF-P, AF-S and AF-I lenses. However, neither version has a mechanical autofocus screw-drive (also omitted in all Z-series cameras), so you can only focus manually with ‘AF’ lenses like the AF 50mm f/1.8d, which don’t have a built-in motor.
Q I’ve just started trying to edit Raw files in Nikon NX Studio, but it won’t let me save them as JPEGS. It seems to have saved it as an ‘nksc’ file.
Ian Wilson
Like some other image editing A programs, NX Studio doesn’t have a ‘Save As’ option for converting Raw files to JPEGS. Instead, you need to select the files you want to convert and then click on the ‘Export’ button at the righthand end of the top ribbon, or in the File pulldown menu. You can also use the Ctrl+e keyboard shortcut if you want to speed things along.
A dialogue box will then pop up, giving you options for saving the images in JPEG or TIFF format, the latter with 8-bit or 16-bit colour depth options. For JPEGS, you’ll get options for quality/file size on a scale, resizing the images and where you want to save them, plus a few more options. The ‘nksc’ file you noticed is a record of the changes you’ve made to the image, as NX Studio doesn’t overwrite the actual Raw file itself.
Q A friend has asked me to take photos at her wedding. I have a Nikon Z 5 kit with a Z 24-200mm lens. Can you suggest any other lenses that’d be useful? Claire Roberts
Your Z 24-200mm should A work well for everything from wide-angle group shots to candid telephoto shots at the reception and even during the ceremony, although you’ll probably need to bump up your camera’s ISO setting to get sufficiently fast shutter speeds to freeze movement. That said, if I had to pick just one lens to shoot a wedding with, it would be the Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S. Sure, you have to ‘zoom with your feet’, but the focal length works really well for small groups and portraits of the couple, or of individuals.
If your budget allows it, I’d also suggest the Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8 S. The longer focal length gives a very flattering perspective for tighter, head-and-shoulders portraits and covers more distance when you might not be able to get in as close as you’d ideally like.