FTZ mount adapter & Z-mount lenses
Unlike Canon, which released three mount adapters for its new EOS R full-frame mirrorless system, Nikon has just the one. The FTZ mount adapter allows any F-mount lens to be coupled to the Z 6 with no loss in quality and costs £269 on its own, or £100 when purchased with the camera. The adapter is fully compatible with AF-S and AF- P lenses that have built-in focus motors, but for those who want to attach and use D-type lenses it’s a case of these being manual focus only. As briefly mentioned, the Z 6 provides excellent manual focus aids including peaking and superb magnified views using the zoom buttons at the rear of the camera. Three native Z-mount lenses have been made for the Z 6 so far and we received all three with our review sample. These include the 24-70mm f/4 S (£999), 35mm f/1.8 S (£849) and 50mm f/1.8 S (£599). These will be followed by the 58mm f/0.95 S Noct lens and five other optics comprising a 20mm f/1.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, 85mm f/1.8, 70-200mm f/2.8 and 14-30mm f/4. Nikon hasn’t been shy about letting us know what else is in the pipeline and the company’s published lens roadmap tells us we can also expect a 50mm f/1.2, 24mm f/1.8 and 14-24mm f/2.8 to arrive some time in 2020. beam does offer good additional illumination. With regard to battery life, the claimed 310 shots per charge doesn’t sound particularly good on paper, but by carefully managing the power off delay options and turning off image review I found I was able to shoot nearer 400 shots before a replacement battery was needed. Having the option to charge the battery in- camera via USB brings the Z 6 up to date with the times, but you will find it’s sensitive to power supply. It showed no problem being charged from the mains or 2A power outputs, but the orange LED that indicates USB charging is in progress didn’t illuminate with any of the small 1A power banks I tried. Plugging it into my 5V output car charger did successfully initiate in- camera charging so you can rest assured knowing it is possible to recharge it between locations.
Using the Z 6 with a selection of F-mount lenses via the FTZ mount adapter confirmed that performance and focusing is no different than when paired to a Nikon DSLR. The only thing to watch out for is the way the FTZ adapter’s tripod mount sits lower than the camera body. If you’re using a Z-mount lens and have a plate mounted to the bottom of the camera and then switch to using an F-mount lens via the FTZ adapter, you’re likely to find the tripod plate will foul the adapter being attached and has to be removed first.
On the subject of IBIS, it’s remarkably effective at allowing you to capture sharp handheld shots with slow shutter speeds, and does a magnificent job of suppressing jittery shake associated with handheld movie footage. With the 24-70mm f/4 lens I managed to capture sharp images at 1/5sec at 70mm, or 1/2sec towards the wider end of the zoom. The Z 6 is impressive in other areas of its performance too. It starts up briskly and is ready to use within a second of flicking the on/off switch. It also responds instantly to button presses and taps of the screen with your fingers. Generally, matrix metering does a good job of analysing scenes and exposing correctly for them, but I did occasionally find myself dialling in - 0.7EV exposure compensation to retain highlight detail in very bright scenes. When shooting outdoors, I opted to use the Natural light auto white balance mode for the most part, which I found produces more faithful colour closer to those seen by my eye than the standard Auto mode. For landscape and any outdoor photographers looking to resolve the most accurate colour straight out of the camera, Natural light auto is highly recommended, plus I found it helps avoid the cool feel to images that has long been associated with Nikon DSLRs.