Z9specs out?

Evening everyone,

 

I hear the specs on the Z9 have been leaked and it is impressive. Some are saying it will replace the D6. I didn’t think the D6 has been out long enough to find all the bugs yet. Test samples out next month and on sale by years end.

 

Rick H.

Specs are specs, but the real deal breaker is something a bit less easy to quantify.

 

AF, both speed of first lock and ability to track, maybe lose it and re-acquire, are the most important features now for camera makers.

 

It's no good having 30fps stills or 4K120 vid of fuzzy BIFs.

 

100MP images are great but useless if they're OOF.

 

The Z6ii is no-where near as fast or consistant as my D500 or D850.

 

........and if you're referring to the Tony N Youtube vid, he says NikonRumors had leaked the spec. That didn't appear when I looked?

Does anyone hear rumor about the Z9 will be introduced with a new FTZ adapter that can AF screw driver lenses?

I've no idea what people will do with 100MP images. I accumulate images so fast it's already a storage problem, and I don't shoot as much as the people who will probably buy a Z9. IMO, the real issue right now is can Nikon really ship anything due to the chip shortage? If you look at all the stuff Thom hinted at recently, I don't see how even half of it is possible. BIFs? All they do is mess up my car. Edited July 20, 2021 by conrad_hoffman

a new FTZ adapter that can AF screw driver lenses

I'd be very surprised. I think that ship has sailed.

 

An FTZ-E with no mechanical connections, maybe!

BIFs? All they do is mess up my car.

 

LOL! So what fun will it be if the camera automatically always gets difficult subjects perfectly every time? On the other hand, if one makes a living shooting sports or wildlife, better cameras might help get the great shot. Having shot some sports, it is not much fun sorting through hundreds or (not me) thousands of images. I ran my D3s at 5FPS just to reduce clutter. But I have not depended on sports photos for a job in a long time, back to the manual focus and film days.

 

For me, I am always chasing the elusive combo of smile, face, eyes, and whatever makes a special photo of a person. Automated camera functions can help, but my chase will continue. And I can't tell much difference in 24 and 45MP.

Edited July 20, 2021 by robert_bouknight|1

I BIFs? All they do is mess up my car.

 

Ha! (Maybe that's the picture?)

I'd be very surprised. I think that ship has sailed.

 

An FTZ-E with no mechanical connections, maybe!

 

I don't think the latter is realistic as E lenses are only a few in number. G lenses are the most common. Screwdriver AF would be nice as D780 shows it works fine in LV with a motivated manufacturer and Sony last year introduced a bulgeless adapter that supports screwdriver Minolta/Sony lenses. Previously this level of support required quite a large adapter but no more. So clearly it is possible.

I don't think the latter is realistic as E lenses are only a few in number. G lenses are the most common. Screwdriver AF would be nice as D780 shows it works fine in LV with a motivated manufacturer and Sony last year introduced a bulgeless adapter that supports screwdriver Minolta/Sony lenses. Previously this level of support required quite a large adapter but no more. So clearly it is possible.

I don't know if it's true but I thought the rumor said that Nikon made this adapter so the Z9 can truly replace the D6 and has the same level of lens compatibility as the D6.

I think it's unlikely that the Z9 would replace the optical viewfinder cameras for everyone but the D6 and D780 sales were hit hard by the cancellation of many events including sports and other social events, and of course the expectation of new technology in the Z line and Nikon's competitors.

 

It seems that events with live audiences were largely replaced by teleconferencing and streaming, increasing the importance of video features in terms of the marketability of cameras. The Z9 will likely be more a general-purpose flagship than a sports / PJ camera that the D6 is. Nikon say they are working on the Z9 to surpass D6 but this doesn't necessarily mean surpass in all aspects. It could simply be "in general ability" or fps rate and resolution. The D5 has some advantage over the A1 in high ISO color sensitivity and dynamic range, AF and video capability. It seems unlikely that Nikon would be able to make a high-resolution, high-speed camera which surpasses the D6 in high ISO DR or color sensitivity. But the Z9 may be preferred by users that are left to buy cameras in the absence of events and sports. Fashion, wildlife photography, landscape etc. Of course, it could be that sports photographers change their mind about this also, though at least in those sports events I have been attending, it is still dominated by DSLR.

 

I personally think that the first pickup of the subject (that could be far out of focus) into focus is a clear DSLR advantage and maintaining subsequent shots in focus is an area where mirrorless cameras excel. This is unlikely to change with the Z9 IMO.

Edited July 20, 2021 by ilkka_nissila

I've no idea what people will do with 100MP images.

 

It's not very likely to have 100 MP as then a full-frame 8K (which is expected of the Z9) would require resampling and offer no full sensor readout raw. Nikon's Goto has talked about 100 MP being useful for cropping etc. but I don't think it's quite time for that yet. Making large prints would be mainly what it could do in a better way but 45 MP is already excellent.

 

Storage can be purchased with money.

 

IMO, the real issue right now is can Nikon really ship anything due to the chip shortage?

 

The only time I've experienced Nikon unable to ship products was in 2011 after the earthquake and flooding. In recent years, the Nikon products I've wanted to buy have been purchasable within days or weeks from the time I've been ready to buy. The trick is to know which stores to place the order at. I am sure there is chip shortage but still the trick of smaller stores with good relationship to the manufacturer seems to work.

 

BIFs? All they do is mess up my car.

 

Bird in flight photographers seem to be well represented in photography gear forums and youtube. :-)

It's not very likely to have 100 MP

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to imply the Z9 was going to be 100MP.

 

Just that what's the point in a huge pixel count if they are not in focus.

The Z6ii is no-where near as fast or consistant as my D500 or D850.

 

Which autofocus settings (AF area mode in particular) are you using on the Z6II?

I think I'd missed that the 'frontal' pic released by Nikon shows what looks like the standard PC and 10pin connector with the usual rubber covers.

 

However, it appears to be off-set at about 45 deg from the body and mounted on a quite a big bump? Could be weird perspective, but I don't think so?

 

I guess it saves internal space.

 

NR has some leaked pix of the back of the Z9. The view is that it is a deliberate leak...;)

Which autofocus settings (AF area mode in particular) are you using on the Z6II?

I seem to have tried them all!

 

The main issue is with BIF, when I can have a complete run of say 8 pix completely OOF despite having the AF covering the action. The final one is probably the sharpest, but still not usable.

 

Just yesterday, I have 5 frames of Black Kites feeding and it's just soft, soft, soft, soft and soft. With the Sigma 135mm 1.8 and Wide Area LARGE. 1/4000 f4 ISO 560. The RED box is covering the birds throughout, if anything, the better ones are as they separate and are drifting out of the box, with just a wing or leg remaining within it.

 

It's like a slow (mechanically) focusing lens, but it doesn't seem to happen on my D500 or D850.

 

There's also no Group Area AF, as such.

I seem to have tried them all!

 

The main issue is with BIF, when I can have a complete run of say 8 pix completely OOF despite having the AF covering the action. The final one is probably the sharpest, but still not usable.

 

Just yesterday, I have 5 frames of Black Kites feeding and it's just soft, soft, soft, soft and soft. With the Sigma 135mm 1.8 and Wide Area LARGE. 1/4000 f4 ISO 560. The RED box is covering the birds throughout, if anything, the better ones are as they separate and are drifting out of the box, with just a wing or leg remaining within it.

 

It's like a slow (mechanically) focusing lens, but it doesn't seem to happen on my D500 or D850.

 

There's also no Group Area AF, as such.

 

One issue may be that Sigma did not consider mirrorless AF technology in the design of the lens and Nikon didn't consider Sigma lenses in the design of the camera and adapter. But this is likely a problem that would show also when using native lenses.

 

In my experience with the Z6 II, to successfully use the AF, you have to keep the intire focus area the whole time within the subject; if even a small part of the rectangle is outside of the subject, there is a good chance the camera will focus on that especially if there is something detailed and well lit in that area of background. So I'd use the smallest focus areas you can, single point and maybe dynamic area. Don't use continuous high extended as the images shown in the viewfinder are from the past which makes it hard to hold the focus point on the subject. CH, CL, and S release modes are fine. CH+ is OK if the subject is large compared to the focus area and as long as the focus point doesn't drift off the subject. With these precautions I've had pretty good success in photographing moving subjects with the Z6 II. It's not as fast as the D850 but it has its own advantages, including better stabilization (in-camera combined with in-lens seems to give a noticeable advantage even with older VR lenses) and accuracy of AF (once it actually does focus on the subject, the result is pretty accurate).

 

There are some issues with the Z6 II AF, including the mentioned tendency to find background detail to focus on, and slowish and uncertain operation of the larger area modes. I recall reading that someone found that some of the video AF settings (which should be separate) g4 and g5 actually affect AF with still photography as well, and adjusting them could reduce the delay with which AF engages a moving subject, but I haven't tried this yet. And right, there is no group-area AF as such. And no cross-type phase-detect AF sensors yet, hopefully those will be implemented soon as it could help in photographing subjects where there is e.g. tall grass behind the subject (the camera will have a high tendency to focus on the grass whereas cross-type points with DSLRs do a better job in such situations).

 

Anyway, my recommendation is to use the smallest focus area you can keep completely within the subject all the time, avoid the extended mode and not to expect the camera to do what the manual says it should (i.e. prioritise the closest subject within the focus area), as if it does that it doesn't do it very well. This seems to be a common issue with mirrorless cameras that the foreground subject isn't prioritised enough.

Edited July 30, 2021 by ilkka_nissila

I tested the movie AF speed and delay and I didn't notice an effect of those settings on still photography AF. Perhaps it was a bug in an earlier model or FW.

There are some images of apparently the Z9 prototype seen at the current Tokyo Olympics:

 

https://twitter.com/Photolari/status/1421084920768835587/photo/1

 

This one has the F-mount 180-400mm zoom attached with an FTZ adapter. Notice that the Z9, unlike the D5 and D6, has no control buttons to the left of the back LCD. That is similar to the Z6 and Z7.

It appeared that they managed to put quite a bit of scratches on the back of the camera.

apparently the Z9 prototype

No AF point lock either.

 

The top left dial seems to have a Single, Burst (Used to be CL?) LOW, Burst (Used to be CH?) HIGH, TIMER... and what, MULTISHOT?

 

There's lots of chat about the taped up back screen too.......!

It appeared that they managed to put quite a bit of scratches on the back of the camera.

Those are not scratches. There is black gaffer tape around the rear LCD. It looks like that is not a fixed LCD, different from the D5 and D6.

 

Please keep in mind that is apparently a prototype Z9. I would imagine it is quite close to the final design by now, if Nikon is indeed going to release it within 2021, but the final product may still be somewhat different. And given Covid 19, the schedule can easily change.

... and the new pics do show the 10pin and PC socket 'block' to be at 45 deg to the body.

 

The battery end 'plug' looks like a normal BR-5 but with a bit of wrap around bodywork leading around the back

Those are not scratches. There is black gaffer tape around the rear LCD. It looks like that is not a fixed LCD, different from the D5 and D6.

 

Please keep in mind that is apparently a prototype Z9. I would imagine it is quite close to the final design by now, if Nikon is indeed going to release it within 2021, but the final product may still be somewhat different. And given Covid 19, the schedule can easily change.

Yeah I see now! So it has an articulating LCD.

So it has an articulating LCD

It looks that way with the 2 recessed tabs on the top edge to allow a fingernail to grip it and pull out and down/up.

 

There were hints it folds/hinges out to the right too??? I personally think that's unlikely.

It looks that way with the 2 recessed tabs on the top edge to allow a fingernail to grip it and pull out and down/up.

 

There were hints it folds/hinges out to the right too??? I personally think that's unlikely.

I don't know. The argument against it would be it would be less rugged but the argument for it would be great for vblogger. But then the Z9 is mostly the sport, wildlife action camera. I don't think vbloggers would buy it for their videos.