Thoughts on a 'Nikon D850Z ' Transition Camera Combining Best of the Nikon D850 and Nikon Z7, Canon EOS R
Related: Canon, Canon EOS R, Canon mirrorless, EVF, lens adapter, Nikon, Nikon D850, Nikon DSLR, Nikon mirrorless, Nikon NIKKOR Z
See my Nikon mirrorless wishlist.
The Nikon FTZ lens adapter on the Nikon Z7 lets me mount all my Zeiss Milvus and Zeiss Otus and Zeiss ZF.2 lenses on the Z7. But it’s not particularly 'clean' feeling, what with having to mount the lens adapter plate into the tripod head and that being very close to the camera body. So my thoughts turn to the Nikon D850 and how much cleaner it feels to dispense with the lens adapter and also not have the extra weight and mess of the lens adapter jammed right next to the camera body.
The Nikon Z7 EVF is so terrific that I hugely prefer it to using a loupe on the rear LCD of the Nikon D850. But the Z7 as yet doesn’t have a single satisfactory native lens as far as I’m concerned (I’ve tested only the Nikon NIKKOR Z 35mm f/1.8 S and the Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/4 S so far).
Which makes me wonder if the perfect transition camera that I called for over the past few years still has a place: a “Nikon D850Z”, that is, a Nikon Z7 / Nikon D850 hybrid having no optical viewfinder, a DSLR lens mount and a D850 body style (larger and with D850 size buttons). It would be the perfect end-of-the-line DSLR camera—no muss no fuss, just mount DSLR lenses with all the Nikon Z7 EVF goodness. Because the DSLR is dead. I just cannot see it continuing much longer, it future clouded from R&D costs vs sales, with implosion in view.
Would a “D850Z” transition camera be worth it, given that it would not mount Nikon NIKKOR Z lenses? Certainly not two years from now, but for the next two years? Maybe—I’m on the fence on it. Perhaps Really Right Stuff will deliver a bracket system that makes a Nikon Z7 with the Nikon FTZ lens adapter a non-issue operationally. I’d rather not carry two camera bodies and I really do love that EVF on the Nikon Z7.
