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’m after a fast, really wide-angle prime for my Nikon Z fc. Is there anything available in native Z DX mount or will I have to use an FTZ adapter? Jeannie Payne

I’m a big fan of Viltrox autofocus A lenses for Nikon Z DX format cameras. The company followed up on its trio of fast AF 23mm, 33mm and 56mm f/1.4 lenses last year with an AF 13mm lens. The initial three lenses are pretty much identical in size and weight, and the 13mm is slightly larger but retains the same fast f/1.4 aperture.

With the same ‘effective’ focal length as using a 20mm lens on a full-frame camera, the lens gives a generous 94.1-degree viewing angle, while its bright aperture makes it ideal for freezing movement in low lighting conditions, getting a fairly tight depth of field in close-ups, and even for astrophotography. Performance, handling and outright image quality are excellent, making it a bargain at around £370/$459.

Q Does ISO have a measurable dimension, like distance in metres, speed in km/s and temperature in degrees Celsius?

Henk Bodt

ISO is more an expression of a A photographic medium’s sensitivity to light. It therefore governs what exposure value you need in terms of aperture and shutter speed for a nominally ‘correct’ exposure. A doubling of the ISO value equates to a narrowing of one f/stop in aperture, or doubling the shutter speed, to gain the same overall exposure. Unlike photographic film that has a fixed sensitivity, digital cameras have adjustable ISO settings. The base setting is governed by the sensitivity to light of the image sensor, but you can increase the gain applied by the image processor. Digital cameras typically have a broad ISO range but, as with other areas of electronics, as more ‘gain’ is applied, the signal-to-noise ratio gets worse, which is why images taken at very high ISO settings tend to look more grainy.

Q I’ve read that the Z 6II has a fast continuous drive rate of up to 14fps but I’m only managing about half that. Am I doing something wrong?

Mark Griffiths

To shift up a gear for really faster A drive rates of up to 14fps, you need to switch to Continuous H* (Extended) mode. This is available by pressing the ‘Release mode’ button at the bottom right-hand corner on the camera’s

rear panel, or via the ‘i menu’. There are a couple of other things to bear in mind. The 14fps Continuous H* mode will slow down to around 10fps when shooting in 14-bit Raw quality mode. It’ll also slow down when using the ‘Silent photography’ option, to 12fps or 8fps for 12-bit and 14-bit Raw quality modes respectively. Also, to maintain the fastest available drive rates, you need to select MF or AF-S focus modes, or stick with single-point AF in AF-C (continuous autofocus mode), otherwise the drive rate can drop to around 9fps.

Q There’s now a variety of Z-mount super-telephoto lenses on the market. Which would you choose for price, performance and ease of use?

Owen Roberts

There are certainly a few to A choose from. The Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S and Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S with their built-in 1.4x teleconverters are fabulous lenses but they’re hefty and fiendishly expensive at £13,499/$13,997 and £15,499/$15,497 respectively. The Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S is another superb lens at a more ‘affordable’ £6299/$6497, but its phenomenal telephoto reach makes it most ideal to specialist subjects like distant wildlife and bird photography.

For the versatility of a zoom lens, I’d go for the Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S, at £2699/$2697. It’s very manageable, measuring 98x222mm and weighing in at 1435g (1355g with the tripod collar removed). Personally, though, my outright favourite is the Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S prime, at £3299/$3247. Performance and image quality are spectacular, and it’s amazingly compact and lightweight for a super-tele prime, at 104x235mm and 1245g (1160g without the tripod mounting ring).

Like other lenses in the Viltrox AF Z series, the metal-bodied 13mm wide-angle prime is a fully autofocus lens that has an aperture control ring and comes with a removable hood.

Switching to the Auto ISO option, the camera will automatically select an appropriate sensitivity setting for the lighting conditions, and you can generally set the upper and lower limits.

When set up correctly, the Z 6II’S rapid-fire 14fps drive rate helps with nailing definitive moments, such as when a bird’s wings are at exactly the desired angle.

The combination of a relatively lightweight build and high-performance VR make the Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S an epic super-telephoto prime for handheld shooting.