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TL;DR - Nikon ZF has bad ergonomics if you have large hands and too few small prime lenses to replace a Fuji set-up.
Its weird the obsession to make smaller cameras has totally disregarded ergonomics; Fuji eventually admitted that with the X-S10 what they call an "SLR Style" camera 😂
I'd argue that the FM2 style bodies were always bad for ergonomics. F100/F90x style of cameras all the way to DSLR have the best ergonomics.
DSLRs were still quite tactile things
Nikon actually made a thing about ZF having loads of buttons and dials in comparison to their other Z cameras.
amey-
I have an FM2 which I never really use any more. Because it isn’t covered with buttons I can accidentally press and I’m not using it with long lenses, it’s basically fine but equally if I’m shooting manual wind film I’m not shooting enough for the boxy shape to give me claw hands.
Nikon actually made a thing about ZF having loads of buttons and dials in comparison to their other Z cameras.
This experience has made me realise how much of modern photography has become fly-by-wire - point a computer with a lens on it at something and the computer makes most of the the focus and exposure decisions for you, and then load it up in Lightroom and adjust the colours to fit whatever weird tonal fad is dominating instagram at the moment.
At the same time, that level of automation can be tempting when I am carrying a camera out with non-photographers who don’t want to be sucked into an impromptu photo walk. There’s not the time to consider every shot.
I think my solution is going to be to use the focus limiter function to effectively do zone autofocus - overcome Fuji’s relatively weak AF algorithm by massively limiting its choices, but get things a bit sharper than by zone focusing in manual (which works fine on my wider lenses but not so much with the normals where the plane of focus is a bit too shallow for me to judge it right consistently).
Equally, I’ve also realised I never use AF-C and maybe the Fuji AF would actually be fine for my needs if I started using that properly.
h2o
So I went to the Wex in Putney to have a look at the Nikon ZF.
I guess 10 years ago when I last shot Nikon, DSLRs were still quite tactile things - but even with the dials that are on it, it took me ages to figure out just how to switch the autofocus mode on the ZF (there’s a menu option on screen, no physical switch).
The shutter button is a weird hair trigger compared to anything I’ve handled recently. And because there’s no real grip, I couldn’t hold it without accidentally pressing one of the few function buttons. I definitely wouldn’t want to put a long lens on it, as there’s no leverage. But Nikon only makes about 3 small primes for Z mount and everything else is big and would be tough to handle without attaching the accessory grip (which for the moment they’re bundling free with it).
They’re also very cagey about weather resistance. The 28mm and 40mm primes have no rubber gasket. Nikon says the lenses and the camera independently are weatherproof but won’t vouch for combining them, which is just asinine. The Wex staff said they’d asked but that Nikon support was a bit shit compared to Fuji.
The one thing that I loved, though, was using the autofocus algorithm in manual focus - you put the focus box on what you want in focus, focus manually and it gives you a guide at the bottom of the viewfinder and the focus box turns green in confirmation. I think it will automatically face detect in manual focus as well, but I didn’t want to start pointing it at the Wex staff!
It’s not worth getting a camera with bad ergonomics just for that and a smidge more dynamic range. So I will stick with the x-pro 3 and see if the next generation of the Fuji is impressive enough to consider a trade-in when it eventually arrives. If Fuji could add a similar focus function to the X pro 4 I would be in heaven - manual focus confirmation in OVF without having to use the subscreen would be bliss.
TL;DR - Nikon ZF has bad ergonomics if you have large hands and too few small prime lenses to replace a Fuji set-up.