New Nikon ZF unusable/broken AF!

[Ocoloy]

I recently won a Nikon zf with the Nikkor 40mm f2 and it got me so excited I bought a Voigtländer 40mm 1.2. After nearly 400 test shots in every kind of AF and M mode I still haven't got a single shot with good exposure, in focus, details etc. I've test shot bottles, flowers, dogs and cans from different distances but they are mostly crap.

It must be broken. It had 0 images when I got it. I tried it with nikon Z S range lenses and a Tamron aswell without success, the 40mm f2 worked great on my dads z6ii so it's not the lenses.

I've shot digital since 1998 and tried all of the brands including Nikon for some years. The past 6 years I've only shot with Fujifilm. The ZF combined with the Voigtländer seemed like a dream come true but so far only problems.

Eve with AF-s or c with eyesores lighting up green it focuses somewhere else and it's all a blurry mess.

I'm so upset and sad about all of this.

Sooc images



I shot this one on a person who sat still, with IBIS and a sturdy grip. Green square indication on the eyes etc with the 40mmf2. My 20 year old 4mp camera takes a better image. It's all a blurry mess, look at the hair details which are worse than a out of focus smartphone image 10 years ago. Nothing in the image is in focus.

 

[Mizar11]

I recently won a Nikon zf with the Nikkor 40mm f2 and it got me so excited I bought a Voigtländer 40mm 1.2. After nearly 400 test shots in every kind of AF and M mode I still haven't got a single shot with good exposure, in focus, details etc. I've test shot bottles, flowers, dogs and cans from different distances but they are mostly crap.

It must be broken. It had 0 images when I got it. I tried it with nikon Z S range lenses and a Tamron aswell without success, the 40mm f2 worked great on my dads z6ii so it's not the lenses.

I've shot digital since 1998 and tried all of the brands including Nikon for some years. The past 6 years I've only shot with Fujifilm. The ZF combined with the Voigtländer seemed like a dream come true but so far only problems.

Eve with AF-s or c with eyesores lighting up green it focuses somewhere else and it's all a blurry mess.

I'm so upset and sad about all of this.

Sooc images



I shot this one on a person who sat still, with IBIS and a sturdy grip. Green square indication on the eyes etc with the 40mmf2. My 20 year old 4mp camera takes a better image. It's all a blurry mess, look at the hair details which are worse than a out of focus smartphone image 10 years ago. Nothing in the image is in focus.

Are you shooting in DX mode? I ask because the image size is 10.7mpx which is exactly the size of DX mode on Nikon's 24mpx bodies.

On the image above, there is some slight movement in the image. You can see it at 100% (and you can partially correct it with appropriate sharpening software). A 1/125 shutter can work, but not always. You are also at 2500 ISO. The ZF while excellent at high ISO still suffers some acuity loss. Between the high ISO, the slight movement, the thin DOF at f2.5, and the reduced resolution, the hair looks about as I'd expect. All these images look like they were shot in relatively low light.

Having the green box on the eyes doesn't guarantee the actual eye is in focus. For critical focus, especially at wide apertures , you need to check the image at 100% in the EVF.

Do yourself a favor. Do a factory reset of the ZF. Put the camera on a tripod, on a sunny day, and take a photograph of your from door (nice flat surface) or a taped up sheet of newsprint. Shoot it in raw and make sure you are not in DX mode. I suspect the ZF is just fine.

 

[mobydick]

I shot this one on a person who sat still, with IBIS and a sturdy grip. Green square indication on the eyes etc with the 40mmf2. My 20 year old 4mp camera takes a better image. It's all a blurry mess, look at the hair details which are worse than a out of focus smartphone image 10 years ago. Nothing in the image is in focus.

I think that there is motion blur in this picture. Look at the earring. The high ISO value (2500) most likely means that ambient light was strongly contributing to the exposure. Maybe 1/125 sec was not short enough to stop a quick head movement.



--
Wolfram

 

[Laqup]

Your initial posting is not very trustworthy (not getting a single good shot seems very strang).

That being said I was very unhappy with my ZF as well when I got it. Keeper rate improved drastically when I switched of focus point linked VR and used VR in sports mode. Before I did that the focus point was shown on the eye but the camera pulsed around that point in continuous series. Sometimes spot on sometimes front sometimes back focused. Without the link setting AF appears to be more consistent. I haven't scientifically tested that though. It's worth a try

 

[jthomas39]

The montage of crops does seem to show focusing quite a disatance away from the subject. It's hard to reach a conclusion from these small crops, though. Any ideas on best AF modes for these type of scenes?

 

[Joachim Gerstl]

Hi,

You wrote that you took over 400 shots with various lenses and not a single image is in focus and/or correctly exposed. You also wrote that you shoot digital since 1998 with various cameras so you should know how to use a camera.

So what exactly do you expect from us? Bring the camera to a store and have it checked.

In case you still want to give it one more try:

AF-C and wide area with face detect on and Auto ISO with a min. shutter speed of 1/250. If you still can't get sharp and correctly exposed shots bring the camera back.

--

regards
Joachim

Little Big Traveling Camera

a blog dedicated to traveling and small big sensor cameras

www.littlebigtravelingcamera.com

 

[Ocoloy]

Your initial posting is not very trustworthy (not getting a single good shot seems very strang).

That being said I was very unhappy with my ZF as well when I got it. Keeper rate improved drastically when I switched of focus point linked VR and used VR in sports mode. Before I did that the focus point was shown on the eye but the camera pulsed around that point in continuous series. Sometimes spot on sometimes front sometimes back focused. Without the link setting AF appears to be more consistent. I haven't scientifically tested that though. It's worth a try

I think my sensor combined with the IBIS is broke. Every time I have AF-S and chose my focuspoint it still focuses at the bottom of the image. So far I only have one image in focus which is crazy bad. I've shot MF lenses on my Fujifilm for 6 years without issues. The ZF supposed to be the best in the world in MF but that's also off in focus even with focus peaking and green focus indicators.

My only image in focus was shot at 1/60 and it was a miss focus shot but it got the eye in focus even though she was moving and I had Iso 2000. I just turn around and snapped the photograph drunk at 01.30am. It's my only sharp image out of 400.



On the image below I had the AF-S focus on the face with face-recognition lighting up green.

Still the focus ended up in bottom corner (green circle) like the other images below



I also put a white and red circle where the focus ended up even though they where all focused on the faces.

 

[Ocoloy]

I recently won a Nikon zf with the Nikkor 40mm f2 and it got me so excited I bought a Voigtländer 40mm 1.2. After nearly 400 test shots in every kind of AF and M mode I still haven't got a single shot with good exposure, in focus, details etc. I've test shot bottles, flowers, dogs and cans from different distances but they are mostly crap.

It must be broken. It had 0 images when I got it. I tried it with nikon Z S range lenses and a Tamron aswell without success, the 40mm f2 worked great on my dads z6ii so it's not the lenses.

I've shot digital since 1998 and tried all of the brands including Nikon for some years. The past 6 years I've only shot with Fujifilm. The ZF combined with the Voigtländer seemed like a dream come true but so far only problems.

Eve with AF-s or c with eyesores lighting up green it focuses somewhere else and it's all a blurry mess.

I'm so upset and sad about all of this.

Sooc images



I shot this one on a person who sat still, with IBIS and a sturdy grip. Green square indication on the eyes etc with the 40mmf2. My 20 year old 4mp camera takes a better image. It's all a blurry mess, look at the hair details which are worse than a out of focus smartphone image 10 years ago. Nothing in the image is in focus.

Are you shooting in DX mode? I ask because the image size is 10.7mpx which is exactly the size of DX mode on Nikon's 24mpx bodies.

On the image above, there is some slight movement in the image. You can see it at 100% (and you can partially correct it with appropriate sharpening software). A 1/125 shutter can work, but not always. You are also at 2500 ISO. The ZF while excellent at high ISO still suffers some acuity loss. Between the high ISO, the slight movement, the thin DOF at f2.5, and the reduced resolution, the hair looks about as I'd expect. All these images look like they were shot in relatively low light.

Having the green box on the eyes doesn't guarantee the actual eye is in focus. For critical focus, especially at wide apertures , you need to check the image at 100% in the EVF.

Do yourself a favor. Do a factory reset of the ZF. Put the camera on a tripod, on a sunny day, and take a photograph of your from door (nice flat surface) or a taped up sheet of newsprint. Shoot it in raw and make sure you are not in DX mode. I suspect the ZF is just fine.

The image is cropped and not DX mode. It might look like movement (it's not) but I got about 100 more images like this where the subject/subjects are sitting/Standing still. I've checked 100% in the evf almost every time. I even made the front button into a zoom in to a focus button. I can handle a camera and know how they work, it's my job! I even teach camera settings. I own Fujifilm, Lumix and Sony at the moment and used to shoot both Nikon and canon for many years without any issues. ISO 2500 is no problem for the ZF and my 7 year old Fujifilm XT2 produces clean images at 2500. 1 shot of 400 are in focus! More than half of those are on things that are still.1/125 is fast enough, I often do model shoots at 1/80 sec that works great.

I've done 2 factory resets and update firmware aswell

I've shot with other ZFs and never had any problems. Supersharp and accurate AF

 

[Ocoloy]

I shot this one on a person who sat still, with IBIS and a sturdy grip. Green square indication on the eyes etc with the 40mmf2. My 20 year old 4mp camera takes a better image. It's all a blurry mess, look at the hair details which are worse than a out of focus smartphone image 10 years ago. Nothing in the image is in focus.

I think that there is motion blur in this picture. Look at the earring. The high ISO value (2500) most likely means that ambient light was strongly contributing to the exposure. Maybe 1/125 sec was not short enough to stop a quick head movement.

It still doesn't explain the other 399 images of 400 out of focus including Coca-Cola bottles, portraits, flowers, lamps and the other 198 things (the rest was friends and family)I did testshots on. Which many of them also looks like they're moving. The ZF should have one of the most accurate AF allround. My camera is obviously broken and I'm sending it back to nikon on Monday.

 

[Ocoloy]

Hi,

You wrote that you took over 400 shots with various lenses and not a single image is in focus and/or correctly exposed. You also wrote that you shoot digital since 1998 with various cameras so you should know how to use a camera.

Exactly!

So what exactly do you expect from us? Bring the camera to a store and have it checked.

I was hoping someone had a similar problem and knew what to do. Instead I get these "experts" who clearly have not read what I wrote or looked at the images.

In case you still want to give it one more try:

AF-C and wide area with face detect on and Auto ISO with a min. shutter speed of 1/250. If you still can't get sharp and correctly exposed shots bring the camera back.

Tried this many times

One of many images I took with AF-C, face detection with even green square confirmation on the eye shot at 1/500. The only thing in focus is the fabric in the bottom of the image on my dads armpit.

Sooc

 

[Ocoloy]

The montage of crops does seem to show focusing quite a disatance away from the subject. It's hard to reach a conclusion from these small crops, though. Any ideas on best AF modes for these type of scenes?

I've tried all of the AF-C and AF-S modes

 

[Ocoloy]

I'm off working and did not bring my ZF but will show you plenty of images shot in good light in all kinds of AF modes in low ISO on Sunday.

The ZFs I've tried before I got mine were awesome!

My dream setup would be a working ZF with the Voigtländer 40mm 1.2 and Thypoch 28mm 1.4. Everyone I've talked to has ranked the ZF as their favorite MF camera of all time.

My Nikon ZF RAWS currently looks way worse then my raws from my 12 year old APS-C Fujifilm XE1 with a 1972 manual Zuiko 28mm 3.5 (similar focus lenght to my 40mm f2 nikkor) even my Sony rx100 iii 1 inch sensor kicks my ZFs butt at the moment

On Monday I'm sending back the camera to Nikon. I've used a Nikon Z6ii many times with perfect images, sharpness and focus. The ZF should even better in terms of AF accuracy especially in lowlight.

Don't get me wrong!!! I want to love the ZF and been dreaming about owning one for a year

 

[ghostfox_1]

Your initial posting is not very trustworthy (not getting a single good shot seems very strang).

That being said I was very unhappy with my ZF as well when I got it. Keeper rate improved drastically when I switched of focus point linked VR and used VR in sports mode. Before I did that the focus point was shown on the eye but the camera pulsed around that point in continuous series. Sometimes spot on sometimes front sometimes back focused. Without the link setting AF appears to be more consistent. I haven't scientifically tested that though. It's worth a try

I think my sensor combined with the IBIS is broke. Every time I have AF-S and chose my focuspoint it still focuses at the bottom of the image. So far I only have one image in focus which is crazy bad. I've shot MF lenses on my Fujifilm for 6 years without issues. The ZF supposed to be the best in the world in MF but that's also off in focus even with focus peaking and green focus indicators.

My only image in focus was shot at 1/60 and it was a miss focus shot but it got the eye in focus even though she was moving and I had Iso 2000. I just turn around and snapped the photograph drunk at 01.30am. It's my only sharp image out of 400.



On the image below I had the AF-S focus on the face with face-recognition lighting up green.

Still the focus ended up in bottom corner (green circle) like the other images below



I also put a white and red circle where the focus ended up even though they where all focused on the faces.

Did you turn the touch screen off? If not, I bet you're moving the focus point accidentally.

Easy test to prove it, set the lens on a 2 second delay, have it af in single point from a table/etc, and if it's sharp, definitely user error somewhere.

 

[Ocoloy]

Your initial posting is not very trustworthy (not getting a single good shot seems very strang).

That being said I was very unhappy with my ZF as well when I got it. Keeper rate improved drastically when I switched of focus point linked VR and used VR in sports mode. Before I did that the focus point was shown on the eye but the camera pulsed around that point in continuous series. Sometimes spot on sometimes front sometimes back focused. Without the link setting AF appears to be more consistent. I haven't scientifically tested that though. It's worth a try

I think my sensor combined with the IBIS is broke. Every time I have AF-S and chose my focuspoint it still focuses at the bottom of the image. So far I only have one image in focus which is crazy bad. I've shot MF lenses on my Fujifilm for 6 years without issues. The ZF supposed to be the best in the world in MF but that's also off in focus even with focus peaking and green focus indicators.

My only image in focus was shot at 1/60 and it was a miss focus shot but it got the eye in focus even though she was moving and I had Iso 2000. I just turn around and snapped the photograph drunk at 01.30am. It's my only sharp image out of 400.



On the image below I had the AF-S focus on the face with face-recognition lighting up green.

Still the focus ended up in bottom corner (green circle) like the other images below



I also put a white and red circle where the focus ended up even though they where all focused on the faces.

Did you turn the touch screen off? If not, I bet you're moving the focus point accidentally.

Easy test to prove it, set the lens on a 2 second delay, have it af in single point from a table/etc, and if it's sharp, definitely user error somewhere.

I got the touch screen set at off and the screen turned inside out so I can only see the images through the EVF. I prefer no screen. I've made 2 sec delay shots aswell without success

 

[sirhawkeye64]

Your initial posting is not very trustworthy (not getting a single good shot seems very strang).

That being said I was very unhappy with my ZF as well when I got it. Keeper rate improved drastically when I switched of focus point linked VR and used VR in sports mode. Before I did that the focus point was shown on the eye but the camera pulsed around that point in continuous series. Sometimes spot on sometimes front sometimes back focused. Without the link setting AF appears to be more consistent. I haven't scientifically tested that though. It's worth a try

I think my sensor combined with the IBIS is broke. Every time I have AF-S and chose my focuspoint it still focuses at the bottom of the image. So far I only have one image in focus which is crazy bad. I've shot MF lenses on my Fujifilm for 6 years without issues. The ZF supposed to be the best in the world in MF but that's also off in focus even with focus peaking and green focus indicators.

My only image in focus was shot at 1/60 and it was a miss focus shot but it got the eye in focus even though she was moving and I had Iso 2000. I just turn around and snapped the photograph drunk at 01.30am. It's my only sharp image out of 400.



On the image below I had the AF-S focus on the face with face-recognition lighting up green.

Still the focus ended up in bottom corner (green circle) like the other images below



I also put a white and red circle where the focus ended up even though they where all focused on the faces.

Did you turn the touch screen off? If not, I bet you're moving the focus point accidentally.

Easy test to prove it, set the lens on a 2 second delay, have it af in single point from a table/etc, and if it's sharp, definitely user error somewhere.

I got the touch screen set at off and the screen turned inside out so I can only see the images through the EVF. I prefer no screen. I've made 2 sec delay shots aswell without success

I think you might be right that the IBIS mechanism may be malfunctioning and thus the sensor may also be out of alignment. Nikon has had some issues with early Z cameras in terms of IBIS issues (but this was back with the gen 1 Z6/Z7 early on, but it's still possible a defective on slipped through anyway). I would try again without IBIS and see if it's improves. From what I can see for example the first shot the eye closest to the camera appears to be decently sharp, although I know these images are downsized for DPR).

One thing to keep in mind is that the sensor sled on the Zf does not lock down when powered off, so you do have to be a bit more gentle with it when it's off than the others that lock down their sensor/sensor sleds. It will take a reasonable amount of abuse (mine has been used on a rapid strap bumping into things as I move around for many months now without any issues) but something like a drop may be more damaging to a Zf than other Z cameras because of this (especially if it's dropped while IBIS is on/active).

Either way, if it is defective, it may be worth getting it looked at and fixed, especially if you say you won the camera (and presumably didn't pay for it).

I think if AF was broke you would know for sure AF was messed up (not just by softi mages, but possibly excessive hunting in adequate conditions -- good light for example, etc).

--
PLEASE NOTE: I usually unsubscribe from forums and comments after a period of time, so if I do not respond, that is likely the reason. Feel free to PM me if you have a questions or need clarification about a comment I made.

 

[J2daV]

Ok, similar question, when you hold the zf are you bumping the thump pad that locates the focus point?

 

[michaeladawson]

Hi,

You wrote that you took over 400 shots with various lenses and not a single image is in focus and/or correctly exposed. You also wrote that you shoot digital since 1998 with various cameras so you should know how to use a camera.

Exactly!

So what exactly do you expect from us? Bring the camera to a store and have it checked.

I was hoping someone had a similar problem and knew what to do. Instead I get these "experts" who clearly have not read what I wrote or looked at the images.

There's no secret tricks here. Given your knowledge of cameras and your experience I'm sure you know how to handle the camera.

A fair point to ask if anyone here had the same issue and what did they do. I think it's a safe bet that if they had the issues you have had with over 400 photos, they exchanged the camera for a new one or went with a different brand.

If you won this camera it sounds like you may be out of luck to exchange it. Your only hope then would be that it is serviceable.

If you haven't already you might try doing a full reset just to make sure some odd setting didn't get changed. After that it's off to the shop.

 

[Ocoloy]

Your initial posting is not very trustworthy (not getting a single good shot seems very strang).

That being said I was very unhappy with my ZF as well when I got it. Keeper rate improved drastically when I switched of focus point linked VR and used VR in sports mode. Before I did that the focus point was shown on the eye but the camera pulsed around that point in continuous series. Sometimes spot on sometimes front sometimes back focused. Without the link setting AF appears to be more consistent. I haven't scientifically tested that though. It's worth a try

I think my sensor combined with the IBIS is broke. Every time I have AF-S and chose my focuspoint it still focuses at the bottom of the image. So far I only have one image in focus which is crazy bad. I've shot MF lenses on my Fujifilm for 6 years without issues. The ZF supposed to be the best in the world in MF but that's also off in focus even with focus peaking and green focus indicators.

My only image in focus was shot at 1/60 and it was a miss focus shot but it got the eye in focus even though she was moving and I had Iso 2000. I just turn around and snapped the photograph drunk at 01.30am. It's my only sharp image out of 400.



On the image below I had the AF-S focus on the face with face-recognition lighting up green.

Still the focus ended up in bottom corner (green circle) like the other images below



I also put a white and red circle where the focus ended up even though they where all focused on the faces.

Did you turn the touch screen off? If not, I bet you're moving the focus point accidentally.

Easy test to prove it, set the lens on a 2 second delay, have it af in single point from a table/etc, and if it's sharp, definitely user error somewhere.

I got the touch screen set at off and the screen turned inside out so I can only see the images through the EVF. I prefer no screen. I've made 2 sec delay shots aswell without success

I think you might be right that the IBIS mechanism may be malfunctioning and thus the sensor may also be out of alignment. Nikon has had some issues with early Z cameras in terms of IBIS issues (but this was back with the gen 1 Z6/Z7 early on, but it's still possible a defective on slipped through anyway). I would try again without IBIS and see if it's improves. From what I can see for example the first shot the eye closest to the camera appears to be decently sharp, although I know these images are downsized for DPR).

One thing to keep in mind is that the sensor sled on the Zf does not lock down when powered off, so you do have to be a bit more gentle with it when it's off than the others that lock down their sensor/sensor sleds. It will take a reasonable amount of abuse (mine has been used on a rapid strap bumping into things as I move around for many months now without any issues) but something like a drop may be more damaging to a Zf than other Z cameras because of this (especially if it's dropped while IBIS is on/active).

Either way, if it is defective, it may be worth getting it looked at and fixed, especially if you say you won the camera (and presumably didn't pay for it).

Thanks!

The first image is the only image I've gotten that's sharp out of 400 images. And it was not in focus when I took it.

 

[mosswings]

The obvious next step is to do exactly what you apparently were planning to do - send the camera back to Nikon with these images as evidence of malfunction.

A couple of questions:

1. You say that you WON this Zf and a 40mm Z lens. Were these were brand new in the box from Nikon or a reputable vendor? From where/who were they acquired?

2. The problem manifests with either lens?

Best to let Nikon's experts look at this. If you then got the camera back with the same problems that it was sent to Nikon with, then flame here. But the resolution of your problems still rests with you, Nikon, and the provider of the equipment. You've already noted that other Zfs you've tried don't show these focus problems.

 

[Ocoloy]

Ok, similar question, when you hold the zf are you bumping the thump pad that locates the focus point?

No, for most images I have a centred square where the focus should be AF-S or AF-C with face/eye detection dependingon the situation. So when it lights green on the eyes they should be in focus. I tried it with dog AF on dogs aswell which didn't work. And the M focus mode with red focus peaking is pretty off aswell.