Focus Confirmation on Manual Focus Lenses: How Nikon Hobbled a Great Feature

The Nikon Zf is a phenomenal camera for manual focus photography. Whether you’re mounting vintage AI-S glass or modern manual focus lenses like the Voigtlander Z-mount series, these lenses feel right on this camera. The ergonomics, the tactile feedback, the deliberate nature of manual focusing—it all clicks. There’s just one problem: Nikon has artificially restricted one of the camera’s most useful features in a way that makes no technical sense.

The Nikon Zf: A Love Letter to Nostalgia Photography

After ten digital Nikons spanning two decades, I finally made the leap to mirrorless. Not because I had to, but because the Zf made me want to.

My D850 was—and still is—a magnificent camera. For years, I watched the mirrorless revolution with interest but without urgency. The technology was impressive, but something wasn’t quite right. The experience felt clinical, disconnected from the tactile pleasure that drew me to photography in the first place. So I waited.

The Nikon 28-50mm f/3.5 AI-S is one of those lenses that flies completely under the radar. It’s not the lens that gets talked about in vintage Nikon forums, it doesn’t command high prices on the used market, and most photographers have never even heard of it. And that’s exactly what makes it such a gem.

A Quirky Little Zoom

Let’s be honest - this lens is quirky. It’s a compact zoom from an era when “compact zoom” often meant compromises. The f/3.5 maximum aperture isn’t going to wow anyone, and there’s definitely some pincushion distortion at the wide end. But here’s the thing: once you get past the spec sheet, this lens really delivers.