The only issue that still keeps me from buying the Zf is the lack of user profiles. I'm doing mainly street photography, and when the camera is set up for Auto Area AF + eye tracking with Auto ISO set to minimum shutter speed of 1/500 and you see a beautiful landscape scene that requires a single point AF and maybe lower shutter speed to use f/11 + ISO 100, then you have to toggle a bunch of settings back and forth. On my Z6 I have 3 user settings for U1=street, U2=portrait, U3=landscape and I can switch between them in a second. If at some point Nikon do a firmware update to allow user profiles that can be accessed through the (i) menu or custom button, then I'd definitely buy it.
I have the Z8 and Zf. For me the Z8 does everything better than the Z6iii, and the Zf adds a different shooting experience. There’s nothing wrong with the Z6iii, it’s great, I would just always reach for the Z8 over it. With the Zf I can put some manual glass on and have a dials experience.
I don’t even bother selling my cameras anymore. Too much trouble and then the regret of selling a camera you truly like or didn’t get what you actually wanted. Just easier to save up and wait a little longer. And the old cameras go on the display shelf.
You probably already know my opinion, Frames! I am pro Zf/Zfc through and through. Other than the obvious gorgeous design, I consider it mostly a meaningful upgrade from the Z6II, and it sits very comfortably between the Z6II and the Z6III in the sense that it gives you enough reasons to specifically want to pick it up rather than the other two.
Hey, Frames, I know that you’ve already convinced yourself to keep the Zf but another reason is to use your Zf primarily with vintage MF lenses. That’s what I’m considering.
I noticed fter renting both that the nikon ZF is better for pushing files in post. Really absorbs the changes beautifully, the nikon z6iii you can push too, just not as much as the nikon zf.
Similar decision for me, I have the Z8 and Zf, and recently considered getting the Z6III. As great as the Z6III is, it was an easy decision to stay with the Zf. It's SUCH a great body to have alongside the Z8 (just with their Menu buttons were in the same position...), and both serve very different purposes for me. I feel like the Z6III would make perfect sense for me if I didn't have the Z8 and Zf - it's kind of a mix of both (minus the Zf's retro design of course). But man there is something special about using the Zf that's hard to explain until you actually pick it up and use it. It's not nostalgia for me (ok maybe 20% nostalgia). The instant-access B&W switch is probably a big reason, as I tend to lean much more into B&W. Overall it just FEELS good to use, and the files are truly gorgeous, with the best low-light performance I've ever seen. So someday maybe I'll grab a Z6III & grip, but no rush.
The zf when it came was remakable for its time and has a retro feel to it now that we have the z6iii there is the partial stacked sensor which is interesting so like the z8 with a full stacked sensor these are the cameras to get... I think so 😊
Hudson Henry did a vid in which he compared the Z6III and ZF image quality and came to the conclusion, like you, that the ZF is a bit better, and he likes the retro feel of the ZF. He ended up keeping the ZF and selling the Z6III as he already has the Z9. I'd get the Z6III myself as an amateur.
It’s not about the specs of any particular camera, it’s about what you will produce with any said camera. Go out and produce the best work you can. I’m so glad I don’t suffer from G.A.S. - I use to have semi GAS, but very quickly overcame that. If you don’t earn a living with all your gear and you have so many cameras and lens, then you have GAS. We have no cure for this and we will never admit to having GAS, until we accept it in our heads. This paragraph is not directed at you personally, but to us photographers in general. Keep the Zf and in ten years from now you’ll be glad you did.
I have used the ZF since October 2023. Almost a year later I'm very happy with it and will not sell this camera. When compared to the Z6III, the Z6III has the advantage in almost every feature available. However, I shoot photos most of the time with my Zf compared to the video. Also, the style of the camera is unique and a bonus for me. For that, the Z6III is more for work and the Zf is more for shooting for fun. I use different size lenses on the ZF and it doesn't bother me. I absolutely love the colors that are on the JPEGs, they are awesome.
So, my point of view: I have: Nikon Z8 - Z6iii Canon EOS R5II Panasonic S9 Fujifilm X100vi I’ve had other cameras that I sold (Panasonic S1R, S5II, Nikon Z6, Zfc, etc...). I have the same dilemma as you, but about the X100vi and the S9. They are both great cameras, but when you have the Z6iii, Z8, and R5ii, you know these cameras are outdated-they simply can't compete. And yet, I can't bring myself to part with them! Imagine, I chose to keep the S9 instead of the S5ii because I had no connection with the S5ii (I'm speaking for photography, I don't care about video). The mindset with the S9 or X100vi is just different. I got the R5ii because, five years ago when I was using DSLRs, I was with Canon. But when the Z6 came out, I switched to Nikon. Today, for me, the R5ii has a really good grip, it feels like it was made for my hands, but I still prefer the ergonomics of the Z6iii and Z8. Even though Canon’s ergonomics are very good, there are some missteps (you can feel they are still finding their way in terms of design and ergonomics). Your camera is brand new, and I understand why you're having doubts because you already have two other good cameras and you're afraid the Zf will just gather dust and lose value. It’s complicated. For me, since your camera is only 8 months old, you could sell it before Nikon puts it on sale in a few months, so you don’t lose too much (if you decide to sell it). And anyway, you can always buy it again later; the price will drop a bit at some point. But I know it’s hard to sell. It pained me to sell my first Z6, which I bought on day one, for the Z6iii today :D, but I had to force myself to sell it to at least get something out of it :D. In the end, the Z6 cost me €1400 for 4.5 years of use because I sold it for €1000. Basically, it’s like I rented or financed the Z6 for €25 a month. It’s up to you to decide. I'm the type to get rid of gear that's just going to sit in a closet!
I’m unlikely to ever sell my Zf. It seems built to accumulate history within the photos it captures as well as in its body. I’ve not felt that way about previous cameras I’ve owned.
People just don't buy the retro vintage style camera bodies just because they have money to splurge... Definately,the retro vintage style body takes them down the NOSTALGIA lane.. It brings back memories of how a generation of photography buffs learnt & honed their skills.... The present younger generation probably doesn't even know the "Kick" one gets tinkering with the dials taking you on a "High" when you end up getting the PERFECT shot!!!
I chose to keep my Zf and returned the Z6III. I don’t like the grip/ergos of the 6 and it has no class. It’s just a block with a grip while the Zf has old school feel and more simplistic controls. It’s a classic styled powerhouse.
@@FramesTM Z9 and the always wonderful D750. Those are the interchangeable lens bodies in digital anyways. My fav probably is the Fujifilm X100VI. That’s just such a creatively fun camera that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with.
I think if you keep the Z8 and Zf you will have everything. In my opinion the z6 is the odball out. Z8 for high res/sports/landscape (basically everything) and the Zf for vlogging, fun. Maybe I am over simplifying?
I own a Fujifilm 50R and X100v. Once I owned the ZF, I dont GAS on cameras anymore. I love it enough not to be tempted to buy a Z8 or Z6 III. Unless they make RF Z, I think it'll be a while when I update my cameras😂
Dude, you just invented (or discovered) 10 reasons to convince yourself (and your beloved wife) that you already decided to keep a Camera, decision already taken :D It turns out this camera is the Zf, which was very easy journey :D
I loved your photos in this video. The discussion about cameras is not for me. It's a tool and I need to take care not to become one myself. The differences you think you see are generally a matter of the profile you apply. When you comment on the best raw files, I would argue you never saw a raw file in your life. Raw files are extremely ugly and have monochrome data elements. They don't have "pixels" in the sense of RGB. Just an exposure value labelled with the spectral band of its EV measurement. So each "14 bits" data element is a measured EV with either an R or a G or a B. Those 14 bits represent one EV measurement and we see that 2 bits are added with the colour label - these used to be photographically meaningless and not communicated in the camera, but the addition of a lot of rows and columns to the sensor outside the "effective" area together with IBIS made this necessary - these two bits for labelling 3 colours are not measured and only relay a photosite's colour filter colour. When you look at a file in Lightroom Classic (LrC [1]), or Nikon NX Studio (NXS), at default settings, that's not "raw" but "unedited". WORDS MATTER, in communication. IF there is a difference between the rendition of a file from these cameras, e.g. in LrC, THEN this in the first place is an Adobe issue - as long as your rendition profile is "Adobe Standard". What Adobe does with Adobe Standard is try to make all cameras look alike. With that default profile, LrC/ACR pick a profile for your camera from the folder [ C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Lightroom Classic\Resources\CameraProfiles\Adobe Standard\ ] (on a Windows PC). Today there are 1,248 profiles in there, for example: - Fujifilm X-T3 Adobe Standard v2.dcp - Fujifilm X-T3 Adobe Standard.dcp - Nikon D700 Adobe Standard.dcp - Nikon Z fc Adobe Standard.dcp - Nikon Z 6 3 Adobe Standard.dcp - NIKON Z 8 Adobe Standard.dcp - Nikon Z 9 Adobe Standard.dcp - Phase One IQ280 Adobe Standard.dcp As you see, sometimes these Adobe Standard profiles can be dependent on firmware version. So when you compare images from a Z f and a Z 8 in LrC, or NXS, then you compare profiles in the first place. Yes, the camera may play a role in differences, but you tell me where the profile and the camera begin and end. We don't know. As raw processing plays such an important role here, we have to be extremely aware that some cameras have a 2nd filter layer over the sensor that was invented as hardware help for raw processing. This is called OLPF in the context of helping to make colour guessing easier or AA filter in the context of dealing with jagged lines/edges. ACR and NXS have originally been programmed with the assumption that that filter would always be present. But first in 2012 Nikon Eliminated the OLPF from the D800 in the D800E version and did nothing to improve NXS. Same story with Adobe. In 2012, the silent story with the D800E was, if you buy this camera you have to accept residual Bayer noise that raw processing does not touch. If you don't like that you have to buy the D800 with OLPF and accept that it is by far not as sharp. Topaz with their DeNoise AI followed by DxO with DeepPRIME then offered a way to deal with that residual Bayer noise. When Adobe added its AI Denoise in to ACR it dealt with the noise, but at 100% the mosaicking (crinkly lines) was horrendous. While sharpening is a way for you to make inadequate raw processing more visually palatable, everything you say about bokeh is on the domain of sharpening and how your raw processing deals with Bayer noise. Yes, your lens makes a difference but we don't know where raw processing versus lens begin and end. In the Z camera range: all APS-C cameras have NO OLPF; all ~45MP cameras have NO OLPF, all full frame ~24MP cameras have OLPF - Nikon made the switch at a photosite density of 36MP full frame. When we move from 24MP to 36MP, the OLPF gets increasingly in the way of image quality, colour space, dynamic range (DR), contrast envelope (DR in 1 shot), and low light sensitivity. Fuji's Xtrans sensor generates raw files that are totally unsuitable for deBayerisation based raw processing. Over the years we have seen lousy sharpness get better when raw processing got adapted to these trannies. We also have seen colours improve. Most of our attributions are just that - attributions or projections or assumptions. We don't know. Having said all that, show me an application that can render a raw file as raw. I would really want to see a raw image for the first time in my life. Yes, it will make me cry and I will never want to do that again. [1] raw processing in LrC is done by Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). ACR is the Develop tab in LrC. And it becomes visible as plug-in to Photoshop (Ps). LrC hides this in its own UI. ACR converts the raw image into RGB pixel data and does that in 16 bits per channel ProPhoto colour space. Magically, ACR has converted each 14 bits monochrome (one colour) into 48 bits RGB. It first extrapolates colour by deBayerisation, that generates digital artefacts if done mathematically precise but lazy. These artefacts are also called "mosaic" and so after deBayerisation, "demosaicking" is done to try to remove the [ ... ] that was generated first. Your monitor cannot render that and so LrC compresses this for your monitor again. When you hand a file over from LrC to Ps as smart object AFAIK it goes over as 3*16 bits per pixel. Ps still can upsample the gradation to 32 bits per channel (3*32 bits per pixel) refinement. If you have a good 8 bits per channel calibrated and stable monitor with a very good colour space (that does not fool you with 8 bits using 7) then you may see that the 32 bpc in Ps is nicer. It's subtle. But usable when you print very large. In order to assess cameras and lenses, the DxO Mark firm has developed a version of raw processing that only does deBayerisation and that adapts to their measurement. The problem with deBayerisation is that it extrapolates RGB and this already influences sharpness, vignetting, chromatic aberration, etc. The claim that they measure sensors takes so much poetic liberty that we can call it a lie. Still, it is the best we have. This deBayerisation also impacts "dynamic range" measurements. What folk out there call "luminance noise" or "colour noise" generally should be called - IMO - "Bayer noise". And a raw file is 100% Bayer noise, even when correctly exposed in adequate light levels. The only thing we do when we call noise in our images colour noise, luminance noise, or blame dynamic range is help software developers do a bad job in raw processing. The assumption must be that noise is Bayer noise and we should blame the raw processing application for that. Stop the gaslighting.
@nimai0108 Loved my Xpro3 moving to the ZF. I have a hard time imagining what a Xpro4 could do to make me want to go back. I even played with the idea of buying it back of the price was right.
Are you photographers EVER happy??? LOL Like, is photography all about the specs? Geez, smh lol, not directed towards you Frame lol... just saying, I wish people would be more happy with their gears and photos :)
The only issue that still keeps me from buying the Zf is the lack of user profiles. I'm doing mainly street photography, and when the camera is set up for Auto Area AF + eye tracking with Auto ISO set to minimum shutter speed of 1/500 and you see a beautiful landscape scene that requires a single point AF and maybe lower shutter speed to use f/11 + ISO 100, then you have to toggle a bunch of settings back and forth. On my Z6 I have 3 user settings for U1=street, U2=portrait, U3=landscape and I can switch between them in a second. If at some point Nikon do a firmware update to allow user profiles that can be accessed through the (i) menu or custom button, then I'd definitely buy it.
I have had a Nikon ZF since January this year and I will stay with it. For me it is a unique camera. Greetings from Poland, Jarek
I have the Z8 and Zf. For me the Z8 does everything better than the Z6iii, and the Zf adds a different shooting experience. There’s nothing wrong with the Z6iii, it’s great, I would just always reach for the Z8 over it. With the Zf I can put some manual glass on and have a dials experience.
I don’t even bother selling my cameras anymore. Too much trouble and then the regret of selling a camera you truly like or didn’t get what you actually wanted. Just easier to save up and wait a little longer. And the old cameras go on the display shelf.
Well, the Zf is not old in that sense at all
@@FramesTM for sure it’s got a good decade of use.
You probably already know my opinion, Frames! I am pro Zf/Zfc through and through. Other than the obvious gorgeous design, I consider it mostly a meaningful upgrade from the Z6II, and it sits very comfortably between the Z6II and the Z6III in the sense that it gives you enough reasons to specifically want to pick it up rather than the other two.
Hey, Frames, I know that you’ve already convinced yourself to keep the Zf but another reason is to use your Zf primarily with vintage MF lenses. That’s what I’m considering.
100% agree, its the same feeling that made me buy pen f for the second time. its that special feeling those marvels give us while we do what we love.
You ave the Z8? What is the point of keeping the ZF? The Z8 is the best all around camera for the price. Do you like playing with mirco-HD? I don't.
It’s all about the vibe sir
@@FramesTM Not paying 2k for "vibe".
I noticed fter renting both that the nikon ZF is better for pushing files in post. Really absorbs the changes beautifully, the nikon z6iii you can push too, just not as much as the nikon zf.
Especially on capture one! Omg
Similar decision for me, I have the Z8 and Zf, and recently considered getting the Z6III. As great as the Z6III is, it was an easy decision to stay with the Zf. It's SUCH a great body to have alongside the Z8 (just with their Menu buttons were in the same position...), and both serve very different purposes for me. I feel like the Z6III would make perfect sense for me if I didn't have the Z8 and Zf - it's kind of a mix of both (minus the Zf's retro design of course).
But man there is something special about using the Zf that's hard to explain until you actually pick it up and use it. It's not nostalgia for me (ok maybe 20% nostalgia). The instant-access B&W switch is probably a big reason, as I tend to lean much more into B&W. Overall it just FEELS good to use, and the files are truly gorgeous, with the best low-light performance I've ever seen.
So someday maybe I'll grab a Z6III & grip, but no rush.
colorgrading improved drastically
Thank you
for photography which is best Zf or Z6iii
i have a Z8 as main Camera, ZF-C (because the size and weight) in place of ZF using it in street Photography.
The zf when it came was remakable for its time and has a retro feel to it now that we have the z6iii there is the partial stacked sensor which is interesting so like the z8 with a full stacked sensor these are the cameras to get... I think so 😊
Recently bought into Nikon Z8. Ima Fujifilm shooter who is tempted to purchase ZF.The big negative is Nikon not producing retro lenses to go with ZF
Agreed. There can be some more options
Hudson Henry did a vid in which he compared the Z6III and ZF image quality and came to the conclusion, like you, that the ZF is a bit better, and he likes the retro feel of the ZF. He ended up keeping the ZF and selling the Z6III as he already has the Z9.
I'd get the Z6III myself as an amateur.
I’m not selling the z6iii. Will tell you why in a video
... Until the Zf-2 is launched
It’s not about the specs of any particular camera, it’s about what you will produce with any said camera.
Go out and produce the best work you can.
I’m so glad I don’t suffer from G.A.S. - I use to have semi GAS, but very quickly overcame that.
If you don’t earn a living with all your gear and you have so many cameras and lens, then you have GAS.
We have no cure for this and we will never admit to having GAS, until we accept it in our heads.
This paragraph is not directed at you personally, but to us photographers in general. Keep the Zf and in ten years from now you’ll be glad you did.
Totally agree
Maybe You are talking to Yourself :) :)
I have used the ZF since October 2023. Almost a year later I'm very happy with it and will not sell this camera. When compared to the Z6III, the Z6III has the advantage in almost every feature available. However, I shoot photos most of the time with my Zf compared to the video. Also, the style of the camera is unique and a bonus for me. For that, the Z6III is more for work and the Zf is more for shooting for fun. I use different size lenses on the ZF and it doesn't bother me. I absolutely love the colors that are on the JPEGs, they are awesome.
The the Zf colours are my fav just after the Z9
You expressed exactly why the Zf is so wonderful. Makes you feel god !!~
Soul camera
So, my point of view:
I have:
Nikon Z8 - Z6iii
Canon EOS R5II
Panasonic S9
Fujifilm X100vi
I’ve had other cameras that I sold (Panasonic S1R, S5II, Nikon Z6, Zfc, etc...).
I have the same dilemma as you, but about the X100vi and the S9.
They are both great cameras, but when you have the Z6iii, Z8, and R5ii, you know these cameras are outdated-they simply can't compete. And yet, I can't bring myself to part with them! Imagine, I chose to keep the S9 instead of the S5ii because I had no connection with the S5ii (I'm speaking for photography, I don't care about video). The mindset with the S9 or X100vi is just different.
I got the R5ii because, five years ago when I was using DSLRs, I was with Canon. But when the Z6 came out, I switched to Nikon. Today, for me, the R5ii has a really good grip, it feels like it was made for my hands, but I still prefer the ergonomics of the Z6iii and Z8. Even though Canon’s ergonomics are very good, there are some missteps (you can feel they are still finding their way in terms of design and ergonomics).
Your camera is brand new, and I understand why you're having doubts because you already have two other good cameras and you're afraid the Zf will just gather dust and lose value. It’s complicated.
For me, since your camera is only 8 months old, you could sell it before Nikon puts it on sale in a few months, so you don’t lose too much (if you decide to sell it). And anyway, you can always buy it again later; the price will drop a bit at some point.
But I know it’s hard to sell. It pained me to sell my first Z6, which I bought on day one, for the Z6iii today :D, but I had to force myself to sell it to at least get something out of it :D. In the end, the Z6 cost me €1400 for 4.5 years of use because I sold it for €1000. Basically, it’s like I rented or financed the Z6 for €25 a month.
It’s up to you to decide.
I'm the type to get rid of gear that's just going to sit in a closet!
I’m unlikely to ever sell my Zf. It seems built to accumulate history within the photos it captures as well as in its body. I’ve not felt that way about previous cameras I’ve owned.
People just don't buy the retro vintage style camera bodies just because they have money to splurge... Definately,the retro vintage style body takes them down the NOSTALGIA lane.. It brings back memories of how a generation of photography buffs learnt & honed their skills.... The present younger generation probably doesn't even know the "Kick" one gets tinkering with the dials taking you on a "High" when you end up getting the PERFECT shot!!!
I chose to keep my Zf and returned the Z6III. I don’t like the grip/ergos of the 6 and it has no class. It’s just a block with a grip while the Zf has old school feel and more simplistic controls. It’s a classic styled powerhouse.
Powerhouse it is. Btw, what other cameras do you have?
@@FramesTM Z9 and the always wonderful D750. Those are the interchangeable lens bodies in digital anyways. My fav probably is the Fujifilm X100VI. That’s just such a creatively fun camera that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with.
I have a z9, z8 and zf I love them all.
Tough to not love them
Probably not needed but the Zf is so much fun.
And we need more fun in photography...🦘
We need more and more fun in photography yes
I think if you keep the Z8 and Zf you will have everything. In my opinion the z6 is the odball out. Z8 for high res/sports/landscape (basically everything) and the Zf for vlogging, fun. Maybe I am over simplifying?
No there’s some merit in that thought
I own a Fujifilm 50R and X100v. Once I owned the ZF, I dont GAS on cameras anymore. I love it enough not to be tempted to buy a Z8 or Z6 III. Unless they make RF Z, I think it'll be a while when I update my cameras😂
What is RF Z?
Hey Frames Tm more of this real life reviews 👍👍❤️
Dude, you just invented (or discovered) 10 reasons to convince yourself (and your beloved wife) that you already decided to keep a Camera, decision already taken :D
It turns out this camera is the Zf, which was very easy journey :D
Hehe
I sold my D850 just because I felt there was someone who could make better use of the magic it can provide, I still have my 2 Z9s and a Z30.
Hey Frames, are you based in Delhi?
Ya!
@@FramesTMDamn I was just there and I sent you a message on Insta about going for a photowalk but I don't think you saw it
I loved your photos in this video. The discussion about cameras is not for me. It's a tool and I need to take care not to become one myself. The differences you think you see are generally a matter of the profile you apply.
When you comment on the best raw files, I would argue you never saw a raw file in your life.
Raw files are extremely ugly and have monochrome data elements. They don't have "pixels" in the sense of RGB. Just an exposure value labelled with the spectral band of its EV measurement. So each "14 bits" data element is a measured EV with either an R or a G or a B. Those 14 bits represent one EV measurement and we see that 2 bits are added with the colour label - these used to be photographically meaningless and not communicated in the camera, but the addition of a lot of rows and columns to the sensor outside the "effective" area together with IBIS made this necessary - these two bits for labelling 3 colours are not measured and only relay a photosite's colour filter colour.
When you look at a file in Lightroom Classic (LrC [1]), or Nikon NX Studio (NXS), at default settings, that's not "raw" but "unedited".
WORDS MATTER, in communication.
IF there is a difference between the rendition of a file from these cameras, e.g. in LrC, THEN this in the first place is an Adobe issue - as long as your rendition profile is "Adobe Standard". What Adobe does with Adobe Standard is try to make all cameras look alike.
With that default profile, LrC/ACR pick a profile for your camera from the folder [ C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Lightroom Classic\Resources\CameraProfiles\Adobe Standard\ ] (on a Windows PC). Today there are 1,248 profiles in there, for example:
- Fujifilm X-T3 Adobe Standard v2.dcp
- Fujifilm X-T3 Adobe Standard.dcp
- Nikon D700 Adobe Standard.dcp
- Nikon Z fc Adobe Standard.dcp
- Nikon Z 6 3 Adobe Standard.dcp
- NIKON Z 8 Adobe Standard.dcp
- Nikon Z 9 Adobe Standard.dcp
- Phase One IQ280 Adobe Standard.dcp
As you see, sometimes these Adobe Standard profiles can be dependent on firmware version.
So when you compare images from a Z f and a Z 8 in LrC, or NXS, then you compare profiles in the first place. Yes, the camera may play a role in differences, but you tell me where the profile and the camera begin and end. We don't know.
As raw processing plays such an important role here, we have to be extremely aware that some cameras have a 2nd filter layer over the sensor that was invented as hardware help for raw processing. This is called OLPF in the context of helping to make colour guessing easier or AA filter in the context of dealing with jagged lines/edges.
ACR and NXS have originally been programmed with the assumption that that filter would always be present. But first in 2012 Nikon Eliminated the OLPF from the D800 in the D800E version and did nothing to improve NXS. Same story with Adobe. In 2012, the silent story with the D800E was, if you buy this camera you have to accept residual Bayer noise that raw processing does not touch. If you don't like that you have to buy the D800 with OLPF and accept that it is by far not as sharp.
Topaz with their DeNoise AI followed by DxO with DeepPRIME then offered a way to deal with that residual Bayer noise.
When Adobe added its AI Denoise in to ACR it dealt with the noise, but at 100% the mosaicking (crinkly lines) was horrendous.
While sharpening is a way for you to make inadequate raw processing more visually palatable, everything you say about bokeh is on the domain of sharpening and how your raw processing deals with Bayer noise.
Yes, your lens makes a difference but we don't know where raw processing versus lens begin and end.
In the Z camera range: all APS-C cameras have NO OLPF; all ~45MP cameras have NO OLPF, all full frame ~24MP cameras have OLPF - Nikon made the switch at a photosite density of 36MP full frame. When we move from 24MP to 36MP, the OLPF gets increasingly in the way of image quality, colour space, dynamic range (DR), contrast envelope (DR in 1 shot), and low light sensitivity.
Fuji's Xtrans sensor generates raw files that are totally unsuitable for deBayerisation based raw processing. Over the years we have seen lousy sharpness get better when raw processing got adapted to these trannies. We also have seen colours improve.
Most of our attributions are just that - attributions or projections or assumptions. We don't know.
Having said all that, show me an application that can render a raw file as raw. I would really want to see a raw image for the first time in my life. Yes, it will make me cry and I will never want to do that again.
[1] raw processing in LrC is done by Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). ACR is the Develop tab in LrC. And it becomes visible as plug-in to Photoshop (Ps). LrC hides this in its own UI. ACR converts the raw image into RGB pixel data and does that in 16 bits per channel ProPhoto colour space. Magically, ACR has converted each 14 bits monochrome (one colour) into 48 bits RGB. It first extrapolates colour by deBayerisation, that generates digital artefacts if done mathematically precise but lazy. These artefacts are also called "mosaic" and so after deBayerisation, "demosaicking" is done to try to remove the [ ... ] that was generated first.
Your monitor cannot render that and so LrC compresses this for your monitor again. When you hand a file over from LrC to Ps as smart object AFAIK it goes over as 3*16 bits per pixel. Ps still can upsample the gradation to 32 bits per channel (3*32 bits per pixel) refinement. If you have a good 8 bits per channel calibrated and stable monitor with a very good colour space (that does not fool you with 8 bits using 7) then you may see that the 32 bpc in Ps is nicer. It's subtle. But usable when you print very large.
In order to assess cameras and lenses, the DxO Mark firm has developed a version of raw processing that only does deBayerisation and that adapts to their measurement. The problem with deBayerisation is that it extrapolates RGB and this already influences sharpness, vignetting, chromatic aberration, etc. The claim that they measure sensors takes so much poetic liberty that we can call it a lie. Still, it is the best we have.
This deBayerisation also impacts "dynamic range" measurements. What folk out there call "luminance noise" or "colour noise" generally should be called - IMO - "Bayer noise".
And a raw file is 100% Bayer noise, even when correctly exposed in adequate light levels.
The only thing we do when we call noise in our images colour noise, luminance noise, or blame dynamic range is help software developers do a bad job in raw processing.
The assumption must be that noise is Bayer noise and we should blame the raw processing application for that. Stop the gaslighting.
Superb
Sold mine due to bad ergonomics. waiting for xpro4
😳
@nimai0108 Loved my Xpro3 moving to the ZF. I have a hard time imagining what a Xpro4 could do to make me want to go back. I even played with the idea of buying it back of the price was right.
@weiyang6417 for me it was the experience and shooting range finder style. Plus I missed the aperture ring on lens.
Are you photographers EVER happy??? LOL Like, is photography all about the specs? Geez, smh lol, not directed towards you Frame lol... just saying, I wish people would be more happy with their gears and photos :)
Agree!