Nikon Z fc review - So nice it makes me sad
I’ve had the preproduction Nikon Z fc for the last five days to play with and to use as much as I needed and I’ve got to say, it’s really grown on me. So much that it's actually making me rather sad. Why? I'll tell you at the end of the review but let's not get ahead of ourselves. We need to start at the beginning of the review and there's no better place than one of the main reasons for the recent hype. The design.
The design
Do I even need to emphasise it? The Nikon Z fc is a gorgeous camera! The styling is not just inspired by the legendary FM2 but it's practically the same. From the dimensions of the body, the metal and leather parts, or the aluminium dials to the exact same shape of the viewfinder housing even with the same font used on the "Nikon" logo. Clearly, Nikon has taken their time with this camera and made sure to get it right.
The magnesium alloy top plate of the Z fc bears three metal dials. The first one controls the ISO value, the second one lets you choose your shutter speed and the third one, easily adjustable with just your thumb, allows for quick exposure compensation. If you’ve ever shot with a Fujifilm X-T1/2/3/4 you’ll feel right at home. Other details on the top plate include the mode switch in the order M/A/S/P and Auto, the movie button and a small “old-school” LCD displaying the current aperture value. The shutter speed dial offers only full stops, but when locked at the 1/3 STOP position you’re able to use the rear command dial to choose, as the name suggests, third stop increments. If you’re running the camera in aperture priority or any other mode which chooses the shutter speed for you the top dial is deactivated.
My only gripe with the design scheme here is the omission of the threaded shutter button which has been done by for example above mentioned Fujifilm for years and even the original Nikon FM2 had one.
The rear of the camera is very typically “Nikon-like” with well placed and clearly defined buttons. Everything is easy to reach with a minimal risk of accidental presses. The one new thing for Nikon is the fully articulating screen. Great for selfies, perfect for video and even better for “vintage” or “retro” lovers as you can just fold the screen away and have the back leather on full display. Pun intended.
The functionality
Internally the Nikon Z fc is practically identical to the Z 50. It comes with the same 20.6-megapixel sensor. What’s new is the USB-C connector not only for faster data transfer but also for power delivery. Definitely a handy feature for extensive shooting days or video work. No need to search online for dummy batteries with external power bricks. Just plug the camera into a powerful enough phone charger and you’re good to go.
One of the main features I was impressed by the most was the improved autofocus system including the subject tracking. The camera focus is fast, snappy and trustworthy. It can detect faces and eyes reliably even through sunglasses. If you choose a subject manually it’ll hold onto it and won’t let go as long as it can see it.
The shutter is fairly quiet and pleasant sounding. There’s a minimal chance of it disrupting the photographed scene. The electronic viewfinder is fairly low-res on paper with its 2.36 million pixels but it feels sharp, fast and bright enough in real use. No need to be worried about it too much I’d say.
The image quality
If you’ve seen images made by the Nikon Z 50, you know what you’re getting into. The sensor is the same, after all. I was only able to use the SOOC JPEGs when I had the camera on loan from Nikon since it was only a pre-production unit and no RAW processor was able to work with the .tiff files yet. None of that held the camera back though. The photographs were still very well rendered and easy to work with. I was pleasantly surprised with the noise levels on higher ISO values but that is a rather subjective feeling. My manageable noise level bar is set pretty high.
The colours captured by the camera are typically “Nikon-like”. By that I mean they are accurate and without the warm or cold tinting other manufacturers tend to do. The scenes are captured honestly and the dynamic range is decent. APS-C is a demanding and creative photographer’s crutch no more and the Z fc is yet another proof.
Summary
Even though I haven’t expected this camera to come out at all I am really glad it did. I’m just hoping it’s not just a mere shot in the dark and that the company is going to try and keep the DX format alive. That is what I was talking about at the start. It’s a wonderful and fun to use camera with the "vast" selection of only two APS-C dedicated lenses. If you want any other focal lengths or wider apertures you have to reach for the unnecessarily large FX lenses. Maybe I’m wrong and Nikon is currently working on a decent DX lens lineup. If they get inspired by the competition and release some iterations of let’s say 23mm f2, 35mm f2, and 50mm f1.8 or similar they’d have a strong competitor to the current crop sensor leaders on the market. I don’t often enjoy a camera this much apart from the ones I own. I honestly didn’t want to give it back to Nikon.
Pros
Magnesium alloy body
Leather grip
Aluminium command dials
Decent viewfinder
Quiet shutter sound
Great autofocus
Image quality
USB-C charging and power delivery
Articulating screen
Design
Decent battery life
Easy smartphone integration through Snapbridge
Cons
No thread in shutter button
Weak DX lens selection
The album published here consists of only JPEGs out of a pre-production model with some minor tweaks in Lightroom.
