Nikon Zf Review

Nikon had made a retro camera before in the Df and got it wrong, so the Zf's success is not the styling but what the styling wraps. The autofocus is the Z8's subject detection in a body that costs a third as much, which makes it the best focusing camera in its class by a distance. The sensor is proven and the stabilisation is Nikon's best, rated to eight stops and genuinely delivering most of that. The dials for shutter speed, ISO and exposure compensation are real, click into place, and change how you use the camera in the way the design promises.

Video is unexpectedly strong, with ten bit internal recording and no meaningful crop at 4K 30. The compromises are physical: there is no proper grip and the body is heavy for the lack of one, the single UHS-II slot is paired with a microSD card that is faintly absurd, and the flip out screen fights the dial layout. It is a camera bought partly for pleasure that earns its keep anyway.