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Nikon Introduces Mirrorless Z System


ShunCheung

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Nikon | New Products Global Launch Event

 

The new Z mount has a 55mm diameter, which is 1mm wider than Canon's EOS EF mount (54mm). The flange-to-sensor distance is 16mm, which is 2mm shorter than Sony A mirrorless. In other words, with a very thin adapter, you can mount Sony A lenses onto Nikon Z, but you cannot mount Nikon Z lenses onto Sony mirrorless and focus to infinity.

 

News articles on Nikon's world-wide web site:

Please keep in mind that the 58mm/f0.95 S Noct lens will be officially introduced later on, probably in 2019, and it is manual focus only.

Edited by ShunCheung
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Mirrorless Z mount lens road map from the live stream.

 

Nikon breaks with its tradition and provides a road map for its up-coming lenses. I guess that is necessary since there are only 3 Z mount lenses to begin with. But I wouldn't take this schedule too literally. Plans could change.

 

However, it looks like Nikon is relying on adapting F-mount super-tele onto mirrorless in the next couple of years. The longest lens in this road map is the 70-200mm/f2.8 work horse lens.

 

LensRoadMap.thumb.jpg.bcc1d4af4b4452b58b09521c39ae2ca7.jpg

Edited by ShunCheung
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Prices in the US, in US$:

  • Z7, 45MP, body only $3399.95
  • Z7 with 24-70mm/f4 S kit lens $3999.95
  • Z6, 24MP, body only $1999.95 (or 1995.95??)
  • Z6 with 24-70mm/f4 S kit lens $2599.95

In other words, you pay $600 extra to get the kit lens with a body

  • 24-70mm/f4 S lens $999.95 by itself
  • 35mm/f1.8 S lens $849.95
  • 50mm/f1.8 S lens $599.95
  • FTZ adapter $249.95, and another $100 off when purchased with either a Z6 or Z7 body before December 31, 2018

The F mount 500mm/f5.6 E PF AF-S VR is $3599.95. That price is a bit cheaper than what I had anticipated.

 

The Z6 is priced to compete against the Sony A7III, but that 50mm/f1.8 S lens is quite expensive.

 

I have not much information about that 58mm/f0.95 S Noct lens, but I am sure that it will be several thousand dollars. And it looks huge too and it is manual focus only, no AF.

 

This is an image from Nikon showing the front side of the FTZ adapter mounted on a Z7

 

FTZ_front34l.thumb.jpg.f7619a4ac513e85f98c1d74c89881e6d.jpg

Edited by ShunCheung
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The F mount 500mm/f5.6 E PF AF-S VR is $3599.95. That price is a bit cheaper than what I had anticipated.

I said "at least $3500 and no more than $4000" - I win:D

Got the weight too: at most 1.5kg (it's 1.46kg).

 

Good to see a lens road map - and a sensible one too. f/2.8 trio within two years - a lot faster than Sony.

 

14-30/4 is a bit of a surprise.

 

I'd rather get the 500/5.6 than the Z7 (or Z6):rolleyes:

Edited by Dieter Schaefer
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Weatherproofing is very interesting. The top plate LCD simplifies controls, with (likely) operation similar to existing Nikon DSLR's - hold button, turn dial. Compatibility with existing accessories, such as flash, is compelling. All of the above distinguish the Z7 from the Sony A9 and A7Riii. So far resolution, EVF and AF are on a par with Sony, but the high-speed lags by 50%. It will be interesting to learn about battery life. So far only 3 native lenses, compared to 6 or 7 or more at the launch of the A7. I can't say f/1.8 in a 35 mm or 50 mm lens excites me. f/0.95 excites me even less - too reminiscent of the aperture wars in the late 50's.

 

The use of stepper motors for AF means manual focus is by wire. Mechanical focus is intrinsic to the AF-S design (inverted stator) Compatibility with Sony lenses will depend on the sensor cover thickness. That's a tough one for Nikon. Too thick, and legacy lenses won't work right in the corners. Too thin, and Sony lenses won't work right either. Boosting Sony lenses is probably not in the cards.

 

The Z7 will have a price estimated at $3960 at today's exchange rate.

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BTW, both the Z6 and Z7 have only one memory card slot, and it is XQD.

 

Since I am a strong advocate of using dual memory cards in the backup mode, that is disappointing news. My guess is that Nikon is trying to save space, but they should be able to squeeze in an extra SD slot. Another short-term issue is that XQD cards have been in short supply since Micron discontinued the Lexar product line last year. At least Delkin is getting into that market:

Delkin to Introduce XQD Cards

 

Nikon mentioned to me that the Z6 and Z7 will have a firmware upgrade later on so that they can also use future CFexpress cards, which have the same size as XQD and can be inserted into the XQD card slot.

 

The Z6 and Z7 are the very first Nikon cameras that must use XQD cards. All prior DSLRs that have an XQD slot also have either a CF or SD slot. The D5 has an interchangeable module (by a technician) so that one can use two XQD or two CF cards.

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I said "at least $3500 and no more than $4000" - I win:D

Got the weight too: at most 1.5kg (it's 1.46kg).

 

Good to see a lens road map - and a sensible one too. f/2.8 trio within two years - a lot faster than Sony.

 

14-30/4 is a bit of a surprise.

I would imagine both the 14-30mm/f4 and 14-24mm/f2.8 will have a bulging front element. Personally I would like to see a 16-35mm/f2.8 or f4 that can accept conventional front filters.

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FTZ info from NikonUSA website: Full AF/AE supported when using FX or DX AF-S Type G/D/E, AF-P type G/E, AF-I type D and AF-S / AF-I Teleconverters

As expected.

 

So for some time to come, the "advantage" of the smaller and lighter mirrorless over the "outdated" and "obsolete" DSLR is that the weight and size advantage is eaten up by carrying around an adapter to convert the Z mount to an F mount? Trading a mirror box and prism for an adapter.

 

Now waiting for the real-life reviews. If positive, I may get both a Z6 and Z7 in due time - probably after their successors have been released:(

Edited by Dieter Schaefer
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Interesting to see how this develops.

 

Clearly it's not your cheaper DX option for the typical household on vacation for eg.

 

To me, this is a newer mirrorless style camera for the serious amateur and upwards crowd. In the future, who knows, if this does replace dSLR in a lot of ways it could fill that spot. The F mount lens adapter thingy - only works properly with AF-S lenses. AF-D lenses won't autofocus. AF-D lenses will have more functionality with a dSLR body. Manual lenses will be manual but have image stabilisation but I don't imagine in total there will be significant users.

 

AF-D and AF Nikkor lenses will mount on the adapter and work with all metering modes, but will not autofocus. There's no AI lever on the adapter, though, so anything from before the mid 1980s will mount but will have increasing restrictions over which metering modes are available.

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/0039746111/what-s-the-nikon-z-like-with-adapted-lenses?slide=9

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Well, Hmmm? It's not like there are major breakthroughs here, particularly after all of the mystery hype I'm just wondering what's new? And to provide only one card slot is to me a disappointment. A good point was made earlier as to the size of the adapter, that's a pretty big lens adapter and I guess I'm a little confused at the fact that the distance to sensor is short, but the adapter looks as if its longer than what we're accustomed to. Maybe a side view will prove differently, I don't know. Price point? No second card slot? XQD only? Why? For now I'll continue to romance my XT-2. Maybe Nikon should re-think these long drawn out mysterious count down hype teaser thingies.
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Sony's A7r the lenses are not petite either so I guess that is ok but think that is kinda what was expected, Nikon always said it was going to be a full frame mirrorless. This is like a dSLR that is more modern with a mirrorless style. If the adapter works shouldn't pose too much issues either after all F mount lenses are just as large as Sony's FF lenses.

 

To those who do more street and travel maybe there are other options to consider. With so much competition in that space maybe Nikon was wise to not compete there.

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FT-Z is UK pre-order at a whopping £269. and I thought the FT-1 was stupidly priced.

 

The Z6 and Z7 cost more in pounds than dollars....:( I know the pound isn't so strong at the moment, but it's still over 1.25.

 

The Z6 body costs $1999 or £2200. $1999 at 1.25/£ is £1600. Thanks Nikon that's £600 more on a body.

 

Bizarrely, that makes importing it and paying all the duties still cheaper than the price here.

 

...and £600 for a standard lens....Ha ha ha....:mad:

Edited by mike_halliwell
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Heimbrandt, what the Euro price for the Z6 + FT-Z combo there?

 

One En-EL15a gets you 15 mins of video. That's barely half way to that 'allowed' by the body itself.

 

The difference in body prices is interesting too.

 

Effectively the $1400 difference between Z6 and Z7 is simply the difference between a 24 MP and 45MP sensor. The cameras are identical apart from that.

 

...and the 500mm VR PF is £3700 or $4625, so

 

"That price is a bit cheaper than what I had anticipated."

 

That's more than a THOUSAND dollars more here in the UK...it kinda sucks!!

 

What are the pricing wombles doing???

Edited by mike_halliwell
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Effectively the $1400 difference between Z6 and Z7 is simply the difference between a 24 MP and 45MP sensor. The cameras are identical apart from that.

 

Performance may also differ. The Z7 can do 9fps only with exposure and focus fixed during the sequence (if I understood correctly) and 5.5 fps with autofocus and autoexposure. I would imagine/hope the Z6 could do better, but let's wait and see. It is likely a processing issue with the amount of data that the 45MP sensor generates (both image and AF data). I am hoping the Z6 sensor read time is faster than the Z7's because it would permit less rolling shutter when silent shooting, but only time will tell how it performs. Silent shutter is the main capability I'm interested in but if the read time is the typical 1/15s then I may not be willing to spend the money.

 

I am pleased to hear that the AF with F mount AF-S Nikkors appears ok, though 35/1.8 AF-S FX is reportedly is a bit noisy if continuously focusing in video mode (according to dpreview staff comments). Newer lenses such as the 24-70/2.8E and 70-200/2.8E are likely to jitter less and be quieter than some other lenses. I think dpreview's complaints about the interface to AF are a bit odd - after all the focusing is not based on the combination of separate RGB sensor and AF sensor modules but on the main imaging sensor which gives different kind of data and so the algorithms, AF area modes and features are understandably different. They say that the camera in auto area mode tracked a toddler indoors with the 35/1.8 S so that's promising. I think users just have to learn a new system rather than expect that it mimics DSLR AF.

 

Reported lack of dual card slots is suggesting that Nikon have changed their policy and no longer think that this level (advanced amateur/enthusiast/semi-pro) of camera should need dual cards (the D7500 also has only one slot). This I imagine is a strange choice when Nikon are the one who made dual cards popular in this class.

 

The 500 PF pricing here (4300€) was right in the middle of my guess (3500 to 5000 EUR). I think the Nikon samples look good, I like the rowing woman photo, it has a tranquility to it. The weight at 1.46kg is a bit higher than I had guessed but understandable given that it has tripod mount etc. I think the actual price will likely be a bit lower than the suggested price as it usually is. I can wait (I know people will chuckle when I show up with some 500 PF Wednesday photos before long).

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I am not sure about competing with Sony but the 2 cameras sure give the D750 and D850 a run for the money. So unless you like the DSLR better (which I do, I don't like the Mirrorless) the Z6 and Z7 are better deal than D750 and D850. That even in the case that you will have to use mostly F mount lenses.

 

The FTZ adapter seems to have the aperture coupling to control G lenses aperture.

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Well, Hmmm? It's not like there are major breakthroughs here, particularly after all of the mystery hype I'm just wondering what's new? And to provide only one card slot is to me a disappointment. A good point was made earlier as to the size of the adapter, that's a pretty big lens adapter and I guess I'm a little confused at the fact that the distance to sensor is short, but the adapter looks as if its longer than what we're accustomed to. Maybe a side view will prove differently, I don't know. Price point? No second card slot? XQD only? Why? For now I'll continue to romance my XT-2. Maybe Nikon should re-think these long drawn out mysterious count down hype teaser thingies.

 

I don't think the teasers implied much; there were basically few features demonstrated except touch screen and adapter to F mount lenses, which were expected. I think the hype was mostly due to web sites who live from the hype surrounding new releases. What is exciting in my opinion is that there will be new fast primes (even f/1.2 and f/0.95); the cameras seem to support F mount lenses quite well, the sensor based image stabilizer is now taken up by Nikon, and there are no significant bad news that I could find (apart from the single card slot which they probably will correct in a later model).

 

Thankfully at least the card slot is XQD so we don't have to struggle with too small buffer and the reliability should be good. Interesting that apart from Sony, Delkin, also Nikon are apparently going to introduce their own XQD cards. Was there any word about CF express compatibility?

 

The adapter is longer than usual because the camera's flange distance (distance from sensor to mount) is shorter. So the adapter has to make up for the difference. Also there is the motor to control G lens aperture, that is often missing from third party adapters.

 

To me the roadmap to lenses is better than expected and pretty sound. There are 20mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm f/1.8 primes; smart choices from Nikon as these are rational and practical maximum apertures and should fit well with a smaller mirrorless body (compared to DSLR). Also two f/4 zooms and the inevitable two f/2.8 zooms. Finally the exotic 50/1.2 and 58/0.95. I quite like the way they are starting the system.

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the 2 cameras sure give the D750 and D850 a run for the money.

 

That's not clear to me. The D850 can do 45 MP images at 9fps with full autofocus and autoexposure whereas, as far as I know, the Z7 can only do 5.5fps with autofocus and autoexposure between shots, and 9fps with settings fixed. The D850 has dual card slots. The nominal battery capacities (CIPA) are 330 shots with the Z7 and 1840 shots with the D850 (using the EN-EL15a/b).

 

In terms of autofocus, each system likely has advantages and disadvantages; the Z7 probably does better face detect AF if the subject can be anywhere in the frame (since the PDAF sensor in the D850 is limited to a smaller area of the frame whereas in the mirrorless camera the focus points extend further out), but for tracking approaching subjects I would expect the D850 (and especially the D5) to be better, but obviously this is something we find out over time. The interface for initiating subject tracking in the Z7 seems to require some additional OK button presses whereas with the DSLRs you just move the point around and go.

 

However, in the mirrorless camera the AF tracking on the video side should be a lot better than on the DSLR, since Nikon do not use embedded PDAF points in their DSLRs and the LV AF on the Nikon DSLRs is a subject of infamy. The Z7 video specs include 10-bit NLog output which should be interesting to those who use external recorders and want to maximize the stored information.

 

Also, there is in-camera stabilization which I am sure will make a lot of people happy. I don't personally care much as I use fast shutter speeds when hand holding and rarely use slow speeds without tripod. I don't actually mind using the tripod, I like the control, stability and certainty that it brings with it. Also I have VR in key lenses especially on the telephoto side and one normal zooms.

 

Finally there is the matter of the viewfinder. I read an estimate that 1/15s would be the sensor read time which means there is a delay. How the viewfinder experience is will have to be determined.

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