Df2, what I would like to see

[x-ray]

Let me start by saying Ive owned my Df for about a month and really like it. I have a particular fondness becaus I'm an old film guy and used Nikons for over forty years.

I feel Nikon is on the right track with the Df and would love to see them continue the series with an even more retro camera. I would love to see nikon remove the LCD and create an app to review images via wifi or hard connection through an iPhone, android or tablet. Menue functions could be set this way as well as reviewing images if desired. Next I'd like to see only analog controls like the F or F2. No buttons and nothing other than shutter speed and ISO with exposure compensation on the body. No AF at all and no G series lens capability. You could only use non AI and AI (s) lenses. Also, please Nikon, give us interchangeable focusing screens or at least a split image with microprism collar screen. This is a must! Next the camera would only shoot raw 14 bit. Ok you might be able to set it to shoot jpg through the app. The only LCDs on the camera would be a frame counter and info in the VF, shutter speed, ISO and F stop. If you want to take it farther give us a manual shutter wind and no motor.

Keep the basic Df design, small and light. Keep it simple! Let's keep the fantastic F4 sensor. What are your thoughts?

 

[--s]

Can´t believe you´d take vital features out of the body and fiddle around with an iphone instead...... where´s the point?

 

[Ronald M]

Fine as is except it needs a real focusing screen, split prism angled for 2.8 would be perfect. I really don`t care about people who buy cheap consumer zooms as they will not use a $3000 camera anyway.

More perfect , if that is possible, interchangeable split image for 2.8 and 5.6.

Factory special for above would be ok and they could taylor the metering for the new screen. Or send one in for factory mod.

 

[Highway 61]

What are your thoughts?

😕

Here is what you wrote some weeks ago as an answer to people expressing the exact same ideas as those you develop above :

If you don't like it simply don't buy it. It give another choice and that's it. It wasn't a personal slap in the face from nikon. It's great to see a departure from the worn bar of soap look that everyone uses. I like the operation of my D800 and have few complaints except I would like a split image focusing screen in it. Oops that's my only real complaint about the Df.

Anyway the DF satisfies my need for a light weight, rugged, pro quality, high ISO performer centered around manual focus lenses. Those of you that don't like it just let it go and keep using your D700 or buy the camera you do like. It's not a personal attack from Nikon. You have a choice.

🙄

 

[JRG]

😕

Here is what you wrote some weeks ago as an answer to people expressing the exact same ideas as those you develop above :



🙄

Perhaps the OP has learned from his month or so of actual experience with the Df. I usually consider the ability to learn from one's experience to be a good trait, not a bad one.

 

[Landberg]

I think that the Nikon DF is the most boring came release in many years! It is an uglier version of an existing camera with fewer specs. But that's just me. The great thing is that this camera is the best camera for some people and that's whats important! 😉

 

[Highway 61]

Perhaps the OP has learned from his month or so of actual experience with the Df. I usually consider the ability to learn from one's experience to be a good trait, not a bad one.

Eh eh. Nice and/or funny to read under some others' keyboards exactly what I was writing about a possible DfN or Df2... 😉

 

[Spanik]

No back screen, no wifi, single AF point, no exp comp (if you have diaphragm, speed and iso you have all you need), good focussing screen with split prism, no menu (obviously), no scenes,

 

[kjoosten]

It would be entertaining to read the reviews of THAT camera...

 

[jippiejee]

No back screen, no wifi, single AF point, no exp comp (if you have diaphragm, speed and iso you have all you need), good focussing screen with split prism, no menu (obviously), no scenes...

And it'll never pass the Nikon marketing department... the purists' 'niche' not being their thing. 🙄

 

[Fraser]

So every time you need to alter a setting there isn't a dial for or check a pic I need look at my phone. If you are going to go that far why not just shoot film. Nikon is never going to make a camera like that and why should they it makes no sense.
What happens if someone phones me while I'm changing my white balance😉

 

[nongfuspring]

So every time you need to alter a setting there isn't a dial for or check a pic I need look at my phone. If you are going to go that far why not just shoot film. Nikon is never going to make a camera like that and why should they it makes no sense.
What happens if someone phones me while I'm changing my white balance😉

Totally, just shoot film. It'll be hell of a lot cheaper than whattever a Df2 would cost.

I don't quite understand why there are always a few "purists" that are crazy over the idea of a modern digital camera which purposely leaves out useful technology in favour of inconvenient nostalgia. Why not just turn off your screen and auto functions and pretend? It'll be a lot less expensive.

 

[Highway 61]

I don't quite understand why there are always a few "purists" that are crazy over the idea of a modern digital camera which purposely leaves out useful technology in favour of inconvenient nostalgia. Why not just turn off your screen and auto functions and pretend? It'll be a lot less expensive.

When the Df came out after that infamous videos teasing marketing campaign, some (I was one of them) immediatly thought that this half-half camera was obviously suffering from :

- too many buttons on the back side, many of them being redundant
- useless features (top cover LCD, left panel ports for instance)
- weak battery
- one card slot only
- no eyepiece shutter
- plastic inwards (shame #1)
- no interchangeable focusing screens (shame #2)

For this (which is now shared by most of the serious reviewers) we got flamed by people calling us "purists" and who were about to tell us how nice that unique camera was.

Now the same guys want it to be without any screen... 😀 😛

 

[Spanik]

Totally, just shoot film. It'll be hell of a lot cheaper than whattever a Df2 would cost.

That's more or less what I decided. To be honest I was really looking out to it but not being able to use only a single AF point and not split prism was what turned me away. All the rest you could just turn off.

 

[x-ray]

I don't remember seeing a screen on any of my film bodies and for much of my career I never used a motor, popup flash or auto anything and I made images as good or better than having all the current options with a DSLR. Why suddenly do we depend on all of this? We have the option if we want to use it but it's not necessary. I even shot football as a journalist in the 60's with an M Leica, visoflex 2 and 200 and 280mm.


I also can't recall film over 1600 ISO or 3200 with a push. Color at that speed, I don't think there's been any. I don't particularly like the look of high speed film. The Df certainly beats the pants off high speed film IMO.

If you're shooting raw you don't need to worry about color balance. Color is balanced in the conversion.

I'm not suggesting one AF point, I'm suggesting manual only.

Is it that shooters today lack confidence and have to check every frame? Are we incapable of making a photo without checking it. Can we not shoot a single frame and be confident in what we shot or do we have to shoot 128 gigs of data at 11 fps and search for one image that works? When I apprenticed in 1971 under a master commercial photographer he would only allow be to use 1 4x5 Polaroid on a setup. He said it was a crutch for a weak photographer. I apprenticed for a year and a half and learned to see with my eyes and think the shot through and use my light meter to tell me what the scene looked like.

I agree in my commercial work I love the ability to confirm a shot and then download it to the computer for my client to review but in my documentary work I've always shot film till last year. In that work I don't find the need to review or have the time because things happen quickly and it's too easy to miss the best shot.

I'm not betting Nikon will do this but I'm not betting they won't. Think back to the reintroduction of a limited production S3 and SP bodies and 50 1.4 and 35 1.8. Not a money maker I'm guessing but they did it.

Impractical and won't sell, the Leica M8, M9, ME, M240 and MM appeal to a very narrow audience and are in no way comparable in reliability or quality with the Df. Just check the complaints about these and see what I'm talking about but it continues to sell beyond Leicas capacity to produce them and at an outrageous price. Folks including myself fork out $7k for a body that's quite flawed in design and execution and they, not I, come back with wads of money for more. Until the M240 none of the M digitalis did video.

The comment about turn off the LCD, it's easier, is exactly what I've done. I've used it with G AF lenses on assignment where I had to shoot with VR hand held at 6400 ISO but generally I use my D 800 for that but normally shoot AIs manual focus primes. Actually I built a very good kit of primes for the Df and the only AF lens in the kit is an 85 1.4D. It's so critical to focus at 1.4 that I do use AF under some conditions. If I had a split image / microprism screen I probably wouldn't care about the AF.

My suggestions are just words for thought. I know it's unlikely anything would ever come to market but I'm interested in how it would be received and others suggestions. IF WE HAD SUCH a camera we always have other alternatives if it doesn't fit our style. None of us are forced to buy a camera they don't like. The thing to remember is we all have different likes and needs. That's why we do t buy one kind of car and live in one stile house. We have choices.

 

[segedi]

My suggestions are just words for thought... but I'm interested in how it would be received and others suggestions.

Interchangeable screens seems to be the only viable, but still unlikely option as both Canon and Nikon seem to have done away with them. The other thoughts might make for a retro looking camera, but the usability would be awful.

 

[De_Corday]

Really all I'd want out of a Df2 (or any pro-level Nikon digi) is removable prism/interchangeable screens. I shoot an F3 and a D200. They're different animals for different things. The only thing from the F3 I really want on the D200 is the prism/screen setup.

(The only thing I want from the D200 on the F3 is a nice chunky grip)

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Let me start by saying Ive owned my Df for about a month and really like it. I have a particular fondness becaus I'm an old film guy and used Nikons for over forty years.

I feel Nikon is on the right track with the Df and would love to see them continue the series with an even more retro camera. I would love to see nikon remove the LCD and create an app to review images via wifi or hard connection through an iPhone, android or tablet. Menue functions could be set this way as well as reviewing images if desired. Next I'd like to see only analog controls like the F or F2. No buttons and nothing other than shutter speed and ISO with exposure compensation on the body. No AF at all and no G series lens capability. You could only use non AI and AI (s) lenses. Also, please Nikon, give us interchangeable focusing screens or at least a split image with microprism collar screen. This is a must! Next the camera would only shoot raw 14 bit. Ok you might be able to set it to shoot jpg through the app. The only LCDs on the camera would be a frame counter and info in the VF, shutter speed, ISO and F stop. If you want to take it farther give us a manual shutter wind and no motor.

Keep the basic Df design, small and light. Keep it simple! Let's keep the fantastic F4 sensor. What are your thoughts?

I'd also like to see them get rid of the LCD screen. And make it strictly a RAW camera. Take photographs as we did with film. Then go home and download your 'film' onto the computer to see your results... just like we did with film! By removing both the LCD and all the electronic processing features for in-camera manipulation of the image, couldn't the cost be brought down some as well? I'd love it.

 

[thegman]

Let me start by saying Ive owned my Df for about a month and really like it. I have a particular fondness becaus I'm an old film guy and used Nikons for over forty years.

I feel Nikon is on the right track with the Df and would love to see them continue the series with an even more retro camera. I would love to see nikon remove the LCD and create an app to review images via wifi or hard connection through an iPhone, android or tablet. Menue functions could be set this way as well as reviewing images if desired. Next I'd like to see only analog controls like the F or F2. No buttons and nothing other than shutter speed and ISO with exposure compensation on the body. No AF at all and no G series lens capability. You could only use non AI and AI (s) lenses. Also, please Nikon, give us interchangeable focusing screens or at least a split image with microprism collar screen. This is a must! Next the camera would only shoot raw 14 bit. Ok you might be able to set it to shoot jpg through the app. The only LCDs on the camera would be a frame counter and info in the VF, shutter speed, ISO and F stop. If you want to take it farther give us a manual shutter wind and no motor.

Keep the basic Df design, small and light. Keep it simple! Let's keep the fantastic F4 sensor. What are your thoughts?

I'm all for removal of LCD screen, and being manual focus only, but the idea of having to plug into or using wifi to connect to a phone or something, crivvens, that sounds hellish.

I'm definitely for simplification of camera interfaces, but the idea of using a phone to control it instead seems to me to just be moving the complexity, not getting rid of it.

 

[x-ray]

I like the way I can work with this camera. I turn the LCD off, manual focus lenses, use the shutter speed dial and aperture ring just like the F, F2 etc. it's the same as any film camera basically. I don't use the wheels unless I have to use at lenses. My plan is to use MF glass on the Df and G glass on the D800.