It’s not even 1 / 4 of a century since Nikon launched the FM3a. On the time, Nikon was already producing feature-packed fashions such because the F5 and F100. However, I’m going to make use of the previous guide traditional FM3a as a springboard for my futuristic visions. There are two causes for this. The private one is that I entered the Nikon waters with the FM3a. However extra importantly, this digital camera had simply two primary capabilities: shutter velocity and ISO.
The one different small options this digital camera had have been auto shutter velocity, routinely set ISO from the movie cartridge, publicity compensation, a self-timer, a depth-of-field preview lever, a body counter and, after all, levers to rewind the movie. And that was it.
Now, attempt to squeeze the options of at this time’s digital cameras into one sentence. It could be a sentence lengthy sufficient to fill a ebook, and it might take a champion freediver’s breath away to learn it. However as they are saying, the urge for food grows with the meals, so I requested myself a query. If I had the possibility, what options would I add to an already nice digital camera just like the Nikon Z9?
I put this query to myself and to my pricey colleague Jason, with whom I let my creativeness run wild. Nicely, right here’s the results of our visionary musings.
1. Sensible guide
An effective way to maintain management of the vertices of the publicity triangle is to shoot in guide mode with Auto ISO. This offers you full management over the ‘inventive’ variables of aperture and shutter velocity. The technical a part of the triangle, the ISO, is underneath the digital camera’s management.
Guide with Auto ISO does have one catch, nonetheless. Let’s say you’re capturing wildlife in a forest. You could have an aperture of f/2.8 and a shutter velocity of 1/400. The digital camera assigns ISO 400 to those values. So long as the animal stays within the shadows, every part might be superb.
However even on a darkish forest ground, a ray of sunshine will often strike, and that may be an issue as a result of a dramatic improve in mild can’t all the time be compensated for by reducing the ISO, with its minimal someplace round 100. In such instances, except you manually scale back the shutter velocity, the end result might be an overexposed picture.
And but just a little tweak, which I name Sensible Guide (or Foolproof Guide), would do the trick. In instances the place Auto ISO can’t decrease the ISO additional, the digital camera would compensate by altering the shutter velocity to keep up the proper publicity. And, it might routinely return to the set worth when the lighting situations return to the ISO limits.
2. Pre-Launch in Uncooked
Pre-Launch is a probably very helpful characteristic every time the response instances of our gradual neural methods fail. Think about, for instance, a toucan in a nest gap. For countless minutes, it simply peeks out of its cavity when you await it to slide out and unfold its wings.
Your finger presses the shutter each time the toucan barely strikes, nevertheless it doesn’t fly. After just a few such makes an attempt, your consideration wanes and also you miss the precise flight. The everyday result’s that you find yourself with a card stuffed with the identical images of the toucan peering out of the outlet.
The pre-release perform means that you can rewind time by as much as one valuable second by briefly storing photographs within the digital camera’s buffer. These photographs are solely recorded to the cardboard when the shutter is totally pressed. Since April 2022, when the Nikon Z9 received this characteristic in firmware model 2.0, we now have principally been in a position to {photograph} the previous. That sounds nice, however…the “however” is so massive that I by no means use this characteristic on my Z9: it’s restricted to JPEG output.
But, different producers by now have it in Uncooked. Each Sony and Canon have it of their top-of-the-line fashions. It’s even current on Canon’s EOS R6 Mark II, though on this mannequin, the result’s saved in an inconvenient single file from which you need to extract the specified Uncooked picture in suitable software program, usually Canon Digital Photograph Skilled.
After all, smaller sensor cameras have been the primary to get a pre-release characteristic with Uncooked. Each the OM System (Professional Seize) and Fujifilm (Pre-Shot) have it. Fuji’s velocity machine, the X-H2s, with its 26.1MP APS-C sensor, can shoot as much as 40 Uncooked photographs per second in Pre-Shot. Even the high-resolution Fujifilm X-H2, with its 40.2MP sensor, can shoot at 13 fps from the complete sensor space. Now 13 fps might not seem to be a lot, however take into account that just about the identical velocity was achieved by the 20.8MP Nikon D5 when capturing constantly with an digital shutter.
3. Digital ND filter
That is one other great characteristic that in all probability doesn’t want an introduction for customers of OM System cameras. Their Reside ND filter characteristic can simulate a variety of ND filter densities from ND2 (1EV) to ND64 (6EV). I say “simulate” as a result of the digital camera makes use of a composite of a number of exposures to realize the ND filter impact. Nevertheless, the tip result’s a single Uncooked file that may be processed as if it had been shot with an actual filter.
ND filters are most frequently used when we have to seize or emphasize motion. Typical examples are working water, clouds transferring throughout the sky or leaves blowing within the wind. Nevertheless, good high quality filters are costly and there can be issues with totally different thread diameters. To not point out that some telephoto lenses require both very giant filter diameters (e.g. 95mm for Nikon Z 180-600mm) or particular drop-in filters within the case of pricy exotics.
Actual filters additionally should not have as a lot comfort and velocity. When capturing landscapes, velocity is probably not a essential issue, however the identical can’t be mentioned for wildlife. The flexibility to activate an ND filter with a single button press could be a improbable characteristic. Water birds comparable to geese, dippers and herons look very good surrounded by motion-blurred water. To not point out, the digital ND filter received’t fall into the water whenever you’re making an attempt to screw it on rapidly.
4. Computerized Focus Stacking
Nikon has a Focus-Shift perform that means that you can take images with a depth of subject so nice that they’ll’t be taken in the usual manner, comparable to by stopping down. The precept is that the digital camera takes a collection of images of the identical scene, every with a barely shifted airplane of focus. Then, these need to be merged right into a single picture in Photoshop or a devoted stacking utility comparable to Helicon Focus.
However the entire course of is kind of advanced and includes numerous settings within the digital camera’s menu. With Nikon, you first need to deal with the closest level you need in focus, right the airplane of focus barely in the direction of the digital camera, regulate the variety of frames, the main focus step width between frames, the time interval between photographs and some different issues, after which end the method by urgent Begin and OK. It takes one other three seconds earlier than the precise recording begins. Do you additionally discover this a bit tedious? Let’s depart apart the necessity for post-production, which provides much more time to the general course of.
I might find it irresistible if the main focus stacking perform might be assigned to a perform button, like a File button. With focus stacking enabled, all you would need to do is deal with the closest (or probably the final) level you need in focus, press the shutter button, and the digital camera would do the remaining. Based mostly on the focal size of the lens and the shortest airplane of focus, it might calculate the variety of frames wanted and the main focus step width, and begin a quick sequence (at the very least 10 fps). This may make it doable to seize even transferring topics.
It could be nice if the digital camera may additionally merge the ensuing photographs straight right into a JPEG or perhaps a Uncooked file. Once more, not a revolutionary concept, because the OM System can merge as much as 15 photographs straight in-camera. This is probably not sufficient for very small topics, however it’s greater than sufficient for landscapes with a big depth of subject.
5. Customizable Focus Limiter
A spotlight limiter is often a characteristic related to telephoto or macro lenses. With these, there may be often an choice to restrict the vary of focusing through a change on the lens. On the Nikon Z 180-600mm, for instance, you may select between the total vary or 6m to infinity. In some conditions, nonetheless, it might be helpful if the AF vary might be outlined extra exactly.
One such state of affairs is when utilizing the Auto-capture perform. Limiting the AF vary would make the AF work extra precisely and in addition scale back the variety of false triggers.
On this mode, you’ll have a transparent concept of the place the topic needs to be, so it might not be an issue to find out the precise distance with a small tolerance. That is additionally the case when photographing hummingbirds on a flower, woodpeckers and toucans close to a nest gap, birds on a department, and many others. With this characteristic, your digital camera would by no means deal with a distant background or some object too distant from the supposed topic.
How would you’re employed with a customizable focus-limiter (CFL)? You’d first deal with the spot the place you count on motion. Then you definitely would activate the CFL by long-pressing the Reminiscence set button or one other programmable button. The Fn button on the lens and the Command dial might be used to set the gap vary inside which the AF needs to be delicate to the topic. Urgent the Reminiscence set button once more would deactivate the CFL and return the AF vary to the default values set on the lens.
Conclusion
You could have simply learn 5 options that Jason and I want to see in a future Nikon digital camera. As you may see, we’re not being conceited! Basically, a lot of the options I’ve talked about would require solely minor modifications to the digital camera’s firmware. The restrict could also be processing energy in some instances, however not for all solutions. If any of those options have been to seem in a future Nikon digital camera, and even higher, in a firmware replace, that might be improbable.
To you, our readers and lively photographers, I’ve just a few questions. What new characteristic would you wish to see in your future digital camera? Would you be keen to pay for brand new options on your present digital camera, as is the case with main updates to many software program merchandise (comparable to picture editors)? I stay up for listening to your ideas within the feedback part, and…I additionally hope somebody at Nikon is listening.