Nikon Z fc Mirrorless Digital Camera Body - Compact & Lightweight for Travel, Vlogging & Street Photography

This is a brand new mirrorless DX (APS-C) camera from Nikon (I think it was released in the UK 5 days ago) and I appear to be the first person to review it on Amazon. I have only had the camera for a few hours and have not had any chance to really test it other than some quick and simple test shots that show the EVF is great, the autofocus is good and vibration reduction is very good.I have the kit version with the DX 16-50 and DX 50-250 lenses.Much of this camera is about the aesthetics so that is what I want to talk about. Many people will buy this camera because of its retro aesthetics and that is one of the reasons I bought it. So let’s consider the aesthetics.If you love 1980’s film cameras then this is undoubtedly a beautiful camera but on first handling there is no doubt that the outer coating is obviously made of plastic. Particularly disconcerting is the rather flimsy feeling plastic base plate and battery compartment door on the base plate. I’m sure Nikon have tested this and I’m sure my concerns are unfounded but I’d prefer to feel a more sturdy base as I often steady a camera by resting it on its base which could, in this case, lead to heavy scratching (not good for the aesthetics in the long term) or breakage. Apparently the chassis is built from magnesium alloy and whilst the camera is refreshingly light, apart from the base plate, it does feel reassuringly robust.The Z fc is reportedly based on the Nikon FM2 (I believe). I do not own an FM2 but I do own an FM, an FE and an FM3 and they are all pretty similar in build, design and layout and the FM2 does not differ in any significant way from any of these cameras which are all very similar in body design. But the truth is that it is closer in design to the original FE range of bodies than the FM range: the FM3 was actually an upgraded FE - I don't know why Nikon decided to use the FM designation.Whilst the Z fc does a good job of replicating the FM and FE range models it falls short in a few ways. Firstly, the controls on the top right-hand side are too bunched together. Measuring this against an original FE body I discovered the FE right-hand top panel is a full 5mm wider than that of the Z fc. Why did Nikon just not make the camera 5mm wider and space the controls out a bit more? This would have looked a lot better and I also think it would have provided better grip and made this camera easier to hold.On the left-hand top plate I feel the ISO dial is located too far in towards the “pentaprism”. I’d prefer to have it further out and swap over the “MASP” locater indicators so that they are on the inside between the dial and the “pentaprism” as this would more accurately capture the position of the FE rewind lever and ISO dial.The camera has two great command dials in addition to the dials on the top plate. And full marks to Nikon for making the front command dial a proper dial not opting for the stupid front dial they put on the Df (which is an excellent camera that I use regularly - but that front dial drives me nuts).I was a bit surprised to find the 16-50mm kit lens is silver, I’d have preferred the black version but after a few hours I am beginning to get used to it. But be warned – it is silver! Both kit lenses are great to use. They are DX lenses, not full frame lenses but I think for £1 249.00 this is a great deal on Amazon. Basically you get, in the box, a range from 16-250mm full frame which translates to 28-375mm APS-C which is pretty good for this price.As I said, this camera is very much about the aesthetics and replicating classic cameras of the 1980s and if you are not interested in this then this is probably not the camera for you. Modern digital cameras provide all the functionality you require without placing any dials on the top plate, these dials are only there for people like me who long for the film camera layouts we grew up with. These traditional layouts lasted from the late 1960s with the Introduction of the Nikon F through the life of the Nikon F3. Things changed drastically with the introduction of the Nikon F4 which has lead to the more familiar design of most digital cameras today. Unless you are an enthusiast, you really don’t need all these dials on top.On size and weight The Nikon Z fc weighs up just about equally to my Olympus OMD EM5 III but the Nikon is APS-C and the Olympus is micro-four-thirds. But the Olympus has much better image stabilisation and is much better weather sealed. However, the Nikon is much easier to use and has a much better touch screen.I really wish that Nikon would make the 28mm f2.8 SE full frame lens available for purchase outside the kit. I’d really like to have this lens if only because it makes the Nikon Z fc look stunningly cool and after all, that is very much what this camera is about.In summary, on my extremely brief exposure, as a camera collector, an enthusiastic amateur photographer and devotee of Nikon for over 40 years I already love this camera.Several weeks later, this is a great camera. If you are worried about the grip, buy the SmallRig grip available on Amazon, it is brilliant! In addition to providing grip it also protects the underside of the camera with a full steel plate. I love it.Update 2022-01-20: I happened on a site on Amazon selling 3 x 28mm F2.8 SE lenses and bought one thinking this could be a rip-off as I understood the lens was not being made available in the UK. I received my lens yesterday and it is great. It is a marvellous addition to the kit lenses that came with the camera and really makes the camera look great. From an aesthetic point, I am still not comfortable with the silver kit lens that came in the original kit - it should be black.A little publicised feature that should interest all those who love this retrograde camera style is that you can turn the manual lens focus ring on the Z lenses to be an aperture ring on the Zfc. This is really cool and works amazingly well. It works on all three Z lenses that I have, but it does not work using the ftz converter to attach older lenses even when they have actual aperture rings and electronic connections (they work fine on the Df), which is a bit of a shame. But I love this, as I now have a shutter speed dial and an aperture ring on my Nikon Zfc in a way that is only supported on digital cameras elsewhere by Fujifilms X-T camera system - a great system by-the -way.