I recently got back from a quick 3-day road trip from San Francisco down to Morro Bay and back, and I shot the whole thing on the Nikon ZF with manual focus glass—specifically the Thypoch 28mm and 50mm f/1.4. This video is a little unsponsored passion project where I share the photos and footage from the trip, plus the real-world “complications” (not quite issues) you’ll run into when you pair the ZF with fully manual lenses that don’t have electronic contacts. If you’ve been curious about going manual on a modern body, this is exactly what it feels like in practice. I also explain why I’ve actually grown to prefer these Thypoch lenses over autofocus on the ZF. The rendering is the big one: sharp but not clinically sharp, with micro-contrast that genuinely reminds me of Leica glass, plus really nice controlled flare, gorgeous f/1.4 bokeh, and a great starburst at f/16. Then I walk through the two setup tweaks that made the biggest difference for me: setting Non-CPU lens data so IBIS behaves properly, and remapping the focus check/zoom button so nailing focus is fast without shaking the camera. If you want that nostalgic film vibe with a modern workflow, this combo is a lot of fun.