Thom Hogan

As you're probably aware, Sigma just launched a US$2995 500mm f/5.6 lens that's relatively small (9", or 234mm) and light (3 pounds, or 1400g). (It also has an Arca-Swiss compatible foot, but that's another story for another day.) In some ways the new Sigma reminds me of the 400mm f/4.5: shorter in overall length due to a somewhat different optical design, and use of materials to keep it light, as well. 

Until recently, Nikon had a pretty clear lead in the quality mirrorless telephoto choices. Two zooms, two 400's, two 600's, and the 800mm PF all made for a healthy set that already has everyone confused as to which one to buy (hint: if you can't articulate a specific reason, the lenses to buy are the 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR or the 400mm f/4.5 VR S; anything else and you must need ridiculous reach, have perfected pixel peep, or are a bokeh buff). 

Sony, meanwhile, had basically two zooms and a single 400mm and 600mm choice until recently, when they added the 300mm f/2.8GM OSS. Now with the Sigma addition, another spot in the lineup is filled, and it's a spot Nikon doesn't have covered. Okay, you could use the 500mm f/5.6E PF VR on an FTZ adapter, but people aren't buying that new to use on a Z body that I can see. 

Sigma almost certainly could have made a Z-mount version of their new 500mm f/5.6, but the fact that they didn't seems to indicate that Nikon is still being protective of their mount. Perhaps even protective because they have future plans to bring their own 500mm f/5.6 PF over to the Z-mount. 

The problem is simple: if you have multiple choices in another brand and more companies filling out the lens lineup, the bodies become more desirable. Sometimes I think that Nikon doesn't actually want to sell more bodies. They make system mistakes that put a ceiling on their potential. This isn't anything new, it's been a fundamental problem with Nikon for decades. Long gone are the days where Nikon actually had a full system. It might go all the way back to the F3 or F4. 

Also, as usual, the problem is that Nikon isn't actually fully connected to its customers. What would its customers want? 

More choice, basically, even though they already are confused by the choices they have ;~). They want to know that that little box they paid US$4000+ for (Z8, Z9) can do anything. Even if all they ever put on it is the 24-70mm f/4 S. Instead, Nikon paternalistically tends to keep saying "you can do this, and only this, because that's all we'll allow."

Imagine for a moment that the new Sigma was available for the Z-mount. You'd have a choice of two lenses at about the same price, that were the same physical length, with the shorter 400mm f/4.5 being faster and lighter than the 500mm f/5.6. Some people would pick the aperture (and Nikon reputation), some might prefer more reach at the expense of light. But both those groups would need a Nikon Z body to put it on ;~).

It's interesting to me that Nikon allowed the Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 onto the mount. That gave me hope that Nikon wasn't playing too restrictive with the mount. However, it does still seem that Nikon is trying to play the middle of the protectionist road with the mount. Sony's over off on the left shoulder letting anyone play; Canon's over on the right side saying "nobody gets to do anything."  The irony is that everyone can understand Sony's and Canon's positions. Nobody can understand Nikon's ;~). Another irony is that because the Sigma 500mm f/5.6 is also available in the L-mount, that makes the Panasonic full frame bodies a bit more competitive.

High tech firms seem to always want to micromanage and "own" their customer base. This works if you have a monopoly, or perhaps even an oligopoly. But it doesn't work well in a competitive market, as customers eventually become smart enough to figure out when you're placing too many restrictions on them and opt for more "open" choices. Anticompetitive behaviors then ensue, and the market doesn't grow naturally. Eventually, closed systems become disruptible. 

So, a few messages to Nikon:

• Put Arca-Swiss compatible edging on your lens plates.
• Bring out a 500mm f/5.6 PF VR S in the Z-mount, stat.
• Protect your lens lineup by making all of them even better. Best products win.
• Open the Z-mount if you want to sell more cameras (and lenses ;~). 

Yes, NX MobileAir is (still) a mess.

What should be a solid and useful tool is one of the biggest software cluster f**** I've seen. 

Let me point out some of the (current) problems:

• You're charged for storage on your own mobile device. That's right, the program is free and works right up until you try to take a 1000th image or create a new album. For the lovely price of only US$4.49 a month (US$53.88 a year) you can "unlock" the storage on the phone you already paid Apple for. I'm sure Nikon will call this approach Trialware, but the problem with that is that in your "trial" you'll discover all the other problems with the program ;~). 
• It doesn't work with USB-C devices. That's right, the USB-C on your Z8 or Z9 can't speak to the USB-C on your iPhone 15 Max Pro or your iPad Pro (post 2018). Brilliant. So for that US$4.49 a month you get software that hasn't been updated to perform on the platform it was programmed for since 2018 (iPad) or September 2023 (iPhone). Gives you a lot of confidence that the crack team that needs that monthly tithe is working hard to make things work for you, doesn't it? If you've got a Zf, Z8, or Z9, you can sync NX MobileAir by making sure that NETWORK > USB data connection > iPhone is set.
• High efficiency raw doesn't display. Nikon's notice sent to the NX MobileAir app says "We are currently confirming the details." Uh, nothing needs to be confirmed. It doesn't work. And it doesn't work because Apple apparently doesn't have a license to use the IntoPix SDK. All those coders you hired with my US$4.49/month are not going to be able to fix this on their own. Someone has to call Apple and convince them to license the IntoPix intellectual property. Good luck with that.
• It gets interrupted. I'll quote Nikon: "Launching other applications or using network connections for other purposes may interrupt picture import and FTP upload. Consider investing in a smart device for use solely with NX MobileAir." Oh, and make sure it's an iPhone 14 or earlier, because USB-C doesn't work; you need a Lightning cable ;~).
• It's not really supported. It's right there in the License Agreement: "No support services, including, but not limited to repair or replacement of and answer of any inquiry whatsoever by any means about the APPLICATION, is provided by Nikon, its employees, distributors, dealers, and agents." 

At its core, NX MobileAir is simply a repackaging of an Apache 2.0 server behind a minimum of user interface, plus a few other bits, like filtering and IPTC data entry. It's very tightly focused on a specific problem (getting images from camera to a remote FTP server) and not much else. You'd think that with such a narrow focus the programmers could create a better product ;~).

NX MobileAir needs some love. Or a third-party alternative.

Updated: 2/10/24

Sometimes I have to complain about my customers ;~). It seems that everyone is now sending me an email asking if I'll update my Complete Guide to the Nikon Z8 to cover the new C2.00 firmware. This is akin to asking me "have you gone out of business?" If I do decide to answer such emails I've learned to also include "I don't have a target date for when I'll be done with that." 

I'll repeat: yes, I'm working on a revision to my book, no I don't know when it will be done.

I understand that you want to know how these features work. But there's a lot more to things than just adding a quick rehash of Nikon's sparse Supplemental Manual. For instance, Pixel shift shooting. While most people are just asking "does it work"—yes, it does—they're missing something that Nikon glossed over: you can now set a button+dial customization for it. I have to find all these little things, integrate them into 1000+ pages of already dense material, rationalize customizations with other choices, and much more to justify a new edition of a Complete Guide. 

I do have some comments about the firmware update, however. 

• Nikon continues to have an issue with firmware update completion. If you start a firmware update, walk away, and come back to find the screen black and press the shutter release partway, the camera will spring back to life as if it is finished updating. Virtually all of the firmware update issues I've encountered or helped others with can be attributed to this "finishing up" issue. The proper way is to monitor the camera during an update, wait for the "Turn off the camera" message, and turn off the camera. If for some reason you don't do that and have an issue: (1) try resetting the camera; or (2) reinstall the firmware update and wait for the message and do what it says. What appears to happen—and things vary with how a camera is set at the time—is that update completion not done correctly can leave the camera in an indefinite state. Some variables are muddled, and then when you try to go and do something, you encounter a bug because of that. This problem is totally on Nikon, and Nikon customer support doesn't know the drill I just wrote about, above, so will do silly things like say "send the camera back to Nikon for repair." It doesn't need repair. What needs repair is the way Nikon handles update completion. 
• Auto capture is interesting, but seems like beta work still. First off, the UI is totally bonkers for Auto capture. Second, sequence and settings seem nuanced in a way you can't figure out until you actually do trial and error. Third, there are times when it won't seem to work, and it's difficult to tell whether or not you did something wrong or the camera did. In general, it works well with well considered settings on a largish recognized subject that isn't moving too fast. 
• Nikon continues to think that Type A, Type B, etc. are meaningful names for options, probably because they don't know what the option actually is and how to describe it. For example, the shutter sound Type: one of the primary benefits of the five sounds is that people with frequency-based hearing issues can find a sound that they hear more clearly. However, this then gets strange when you start using high continuous bursts, as the sounds aren't that well thought out in terms of that. Nikon needs a Product Marketing Manager who knows what they're doing, and has enough authority over the engineers to keep them from just "doing some engineering things" and moving on to another problem.  
• People have asked for focus distance info forever, but be careful what you ask for. In manual focus, you're now shown a remarkably precise focus distance (e.g. 0.43m, or 43 centimeters). I can pretty much guarantee that the distance isn't exactly .43m, nor can you just measure a distance to subject and set that using this new gauge (partly because ED glass focuses differently at different temperatures). There's also a lot of lag in presenting you the current distance. The usual reason people ask for distance is to calculate DOF, which opens up another can of worms: which theory of DOF are you going to apply? 
• Yes, autofocus performance changed, but don't ask me how (yet). First up, we have the new Birds subject choice. That's something that seems to work like the Z9 change, but I still have more testing to do. But buried in the notes for the update are suggestions that other things changed, as well, particularly 3D-tracking. But one thing every Z8 user should note is that Nikon is now saying previous firmware versions didn't recognize AF fine-tuning options correctly when subjects were detected. I hate these vague and obscure "something changed" notes, as it takes me quite a bit of time to reverse engineer what really happened. Nikon really needs to let a couple of technically minded pros talk to the engineers in Tokyo, so that we can convey to Nikon users what Nikon marketing is incapable of. 
• Not noted by most was an interesting change. NX MobileAir can now download and upload Save menu settings files. It seems that this is Nikon's response to all us pros asking for a better solution for settings files. It isn't great, but it's a step. Simple ask: when we download from the camera, let us name that file; when we upload from the mobile device, let us pick a named file. Done. (Well mostly; this is still a two-step process that requires a USB-C cable and we want a one-step internal-to-the-camera process that can be controlled by buttons.)
• NikonUSA is back to being NikonUSA. Despite my asking for early access to the update and willingness to sign an NDA, that didn't happen. What also didn't happen is that NikonUSA marketing didn't even send me the press release when they did release the firmware update I knew was coming. 
• Sad to say, there are some clear bugs in the new firmware. Perhaps if Nikon had actually let me test the new software in beta (see previous bullet), they might have gotten fixed prior to release. I've found a half dozen instances so far—typically a sequence—which all seem to have a similar characteristic: a feature/button stops working temporarily (in extreme situations, the camera freezes). Cycling the power almost always "fixes" the problem. This indicates to me that a variable of some sort is not getting updated properly or a loop/condition is not correctly cleared. I've also heard from users about similar problems. Hopefully, they'll get fixed. 
• Yes, there are undocumented changes. I've found several already and am having to change wording nuance in my book. Moreover, there are some behavior differences that might trip some up. On the Z6/Z7, for instance, Exposure delay mode wouldn't allow AF-C focus to continue during the delay. On the Z8, it does (though I seem to detect a brief pause at the start of the delay).