This site uses income-earning affiliate links. When you click a link to a product on this website and make a purchase, I may receive a commission.
I recently spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get my Mac Studio to recognize my Viltrox NF-Z adapter that allows you to mount Nikon F lenses on your Nikon Z camera, so I’m going to tell you how to fix it so you don’t suffer the same fate. Why do I want to connect it to my Mac? To update the firmware.
TLDR: You need a USB-A to USB-C cable. It won’t work with a C to C or thunderbolt cable.
Long version: I’ve updated the firmware on my Viltrox lenses before using a USB-C to USB-C cable plugged into my Mac Studio, so that’s the first thing I tried. The adapter wouldn’t show up in finder. I tried it connected to the camera, not connected to the camera, camera powered on, camera powered off, nothing.
I didn’t immediately think the cable was the culprit since a couple of months ago I updated some Viltrox lenses using literally that exact same cable. I gave up for a bit and went to searching on the internet.
I couldn’t find much information, but a couple of people said they had to try multiple cables before they got one that worked. I started trying different cables. Another C to C cable. A thunderbolt cable. Finally I decided to try USB A to USB C, and that finally worked.
The trick here is that a lot of A to C cables are just charging cables and won’t transmit any data, so it’s entirely possible you can grab an A to C cable and plug it in and it still won’t do anything. You need to specifically make sure it’s an A to C cable that also is a data cable. I’ve verified personally that this one from Amazon does work.
So there you have it, if you’re pulling your hair out wondering why you can’t update the firmware on your Viltrox NF-Z, you need to go find a USB A to USB C cable that supports data transfer. Why that’s the only cable that works while their lenses seem to accept any USB C cable, I have no clue, and I guess if you’re using a modern Mac laptop you need some kind of dongle.
Hopefully this post saves someone some time and frustration.
