Nikon announces Z5 fullframe Mirrorless using SDxx cards for memory media

[CvhKaar]

BTW:

 

"Thank you for contacting Nikon today in regards to the WR-R10 we do not currently have any information on when this product will be in stock again. I apologize for the inconvenience, if you have any further questions please feel free to contact customer support

[Dieter Schaefer]

What I find fascinating is that Nikon are rumored to come up with a base plate and vertical extension (in essence, an L bracket in two parts) for the Z50,

Here is a link to the base plate part.

As it says in the provided link, the part is for "A grip for Z series cameras that enhances the hold performance of Z 7, Z 6, and Z 5" - not the Z50.

 

It's rumored that the part will only be available in Japan, together with a vertical extension bracket Z-VP1: Z用縦位置ブラケット Z-VP1 - 用品/小物/ポーチ類/ケース等 | NikonDirect - ニコンダイレクト

Edited July 23, 2020 by Dieter Schaefer

[mike_halliwell]

Anyone know if the Z50 has the mounting locator holes just below the back lcd and the end opposite the grip... 'cos I can't see one!

 

All the other Zs do.....and that pin (singular ??) on the Z-GR1 has gotta go somewhere...:D

[mike_halliwell]

What's the point having an official Roadmap and then releasing things that have never even been on it?

 

Just daft......o_O

[ilkka_nissila]

As it says in the provided link, the part is for "A grip for Z series cameras that enhances the hold performance of Z 7, Z 6, and Z 5" - not the Z50.

 

Oh, I seem to have misspelled, I meant to type Z5. Since the Z5, Z6, and Z7 share the same optional battery pack, it makes sense that the L-bracket and plate would fit these cameras.

[ilkka_nissila]

yup, that is why i decided two years ago not to obtain aan SB-5000, very expensive and no better than any youngno flash in usability, so when my SB600's stop working it will be only off-brand flashes for me..

 

Well ... reports on dpreview and other forums say that D780 is incompatible with Godox flashes (TTL doesn't work or something like that) ... with the off-brand flashes things may work or may not. I was assisting a friend who was using Yongnuo triggers spending half of the time trying to get them to work. I really like the SB-5000's. Although I did have one which stopped working, Nikon gave me a new unit in replacement. Other than that broken unit, the SB-5000's have been very reliable, I can't remember any misfires. With my Elinchroms they fire most of the time, but sometimes they don't, if there are concrete walls around, and a receiver is placed behind the subjects, that unit may or may not fire. The Elinchrom radio triggering is not as reliable as it is on the Nikons.

 

What I like about Nikon is that they have service to back up their product. Same with Elinchrom - one of my Quadra batteries went dark (six months without being used), the local service for Elinchrom revived it for me without cost.

 

It is a bit puzzling that Nikon don't appear to have WR-R10's to sell. I'm sure it affects their SB-5000 sales as well.

[ilkka_nissila]

What's the point having an official Roadmap and then releasing things that have never even been on it?

 

The roadmap is meant to reassure customers that there will be lenses for the cameras that Nikon currently sell. It doesn't include lenses that mainly make sense on future cameras since mentioning those could work against promoting the sales of the currently available cameras. The DX lenses were not put on the roadmap until Nikon launched a DX Z camera. Same with the 24-50. Nikon did, however, say at the 2018 Z launch that there would be less expensive cameras (than the Z6/Z7) and non-S lenses, but they didn't give specifics. Some of these lenses are shown in the updated roadmap.

[ShunCheung]

What's the point having an official Roadmap and then releasing things that have never even been on it?

 

Just daft......o_O

That is totally expected. The roadmaps merely indicate the lenses Nikon is planning to release in a time frame. It doesn’t mean that is everything. For example, if the 2018 roadmap had shown DX lenses, that would have let the entire world know that there would be DX bodies in the same Z mount, within a certain time frame.

 

Likewise, if Nikon has some Z-mount 400mm/f2.8 on the roadmap, that would be an announcement that some sports oriented pro Z body similar to the Sony A9 II would be available by that time frame, and that would also affect D6 sales.

 

There are still trade secrets.

Edited July 23, 2020 by ShunCheung

[mike_halliwell]

There are still trade secrets.

The DX lenses were not put on the roadmap until Nikon launched a DX Z camera

I fully get that. Makes perfect business sense.

 

But why keep the TCs secret... until now? The only lens they would make sense to use on has been announced already, the 70-200mm S, they just have a problem with it.

 

To persuade prospective buyers of aforesaid lens, that it's worth waiting for 'cos you can put these nice shiny new TCs on it?

[mike_halliwell]

It's rumored that the part will only be available in Japan, together with a vertical extension bracket Z-VP1

Anyone in the real world knows a competent company with 3D scanning into CNC machining can replicate these within 24 hrs at 1/4 the selling price... if not less.

 

Precision stuff like lenses and sensors, not so much.

[Dieter Schaefer]

Anyone in the real world knows a competent company with 3D scanning into CNC machining can replicate these within 24 hrs at 1/4 the selling price... if not less.

Sony offers a grip extension (GPX1EM) for their A7/A9 bodies - for about $130 (and it doesn't have the Arca-Swiss dovetails); Meike offers the MKX1EM (with Arca-Swiss dovetails) for currently $40 (I paid $52 some 16 months ago). Unlike the Nikon version discussed above, the Meike grip needs to be taken off to access the battery compartment (Lennon makes one that can stay in place).

 

On the A7 and A7 II models, I used to have the battery grip - not the least because battery capacity was poor. On the A7RIII I happily use the grip extension now - less weight and bulk than the battery grip and it does help with holding the camera.

[ilkka_nissila]

I fully get that. Makes perfect business sense.

 

But why keep the TCs secret... until now? The only lens they would make sense to use on has been announced already, the 70-200mm S, they just have a problem with it.

 

To persuade prospective buyers of aforesaid lens, that it's worth waiting for 'cos you can put these nice shiny new TCs on it?

 

I don't generally like TCs but on the FL 70-200/2.8E the TC-14E III has worked well (stopped down to f/5.6 or smaller) and I've used it on landscape. It makes some sense to make these available now that the 70-200 Z is coming out. I don't think it was a "secret" but probably they only recently decided to make them. Since Canon's 70-200 RF is incompatible with TCs, this presents an opportunity for Nikon.

[rodeo_joe1]

Are those gray-market prices or some kind of "open box", demo units, not quite legitimate prices?

Here in the UK, the phrase 'grey market' doesn't hold quite the same stigma and contempt as it does in the US.

 

Our consumer protection and trading standards laws explicitly place the onus for supplying goods of 'merchantable quality' on the retailer of those goods. In addition to, but not replaceable by, any manufacturer's warranty. Our contract of sale is solely between the retailer (end seller) and the buyer. Therefore the wholesale or direct import source that the retailer chooses has little bearing on the legal protection that the UK buyer enjoys.

 

The fact that many online retailers choose to bypass management-heavy, protectionist and profiteering import cartels is only to the consumer's benefit.

 

As long as some parts of the world get preferential prices for goods, then 'grey' markets will exist, and people will continue to take advantage of value-differentials across geographical areas.

 

There's no doubt in my mind that the Sony a7riv that I received in return for just under £2500 is identical in authenticity, quality and 'newness' to anything that I might have bought from another source for more money.

 

Also, unlike Nikon in the US, Sony's UK agent's don't appear to have an embargo on supplying parts to repair grey-imported goods.

In the US, a new Sony A7R4 is currently $3198:

That's £2511 stirling at the current exchange rate. So hardly any big difference.

 

And a 'roadmap' of lenses isn't the same as real lenses, on sale and readily available. Lenses that can be seen, touched and for which independent reviews have been published.

[andylynn]

So, gray market cameras. What’s a reliable source you would go to for one of these cheap Sonys?

[mike_halliwell]

So, gray market cameras. What’s a reliable source you would go to for one of these cheap Sonys

Depends where you are!

 

There are some great grey offers in the States, but the duties imposed on entry to the UK negate pretty much any benefit....:-(

[andylynn]

Depends where you are!

 

There are some great grey offers in the States, but the duties imposed on entry to the UK negate pretty much any benefit....:-(

I wouldn’t buy a new great market camera in the states. No warranty, and most of the sellers are sketchy. You’re better off with a used camera from a good store that has a 6 month guarantee.

[ShunCheung]

It looks like Rodeo Joe is comparing gray-market Sony prices of products that have been out for several years and deeply discounted vs. full official prices of a new Nikon product that is not yet delivered.

 

But regardless, $1400 for the Z5 is a bit on the high side, especially when the Z6 is on sale, it is only $1600. The $200 gap is too small IMO. Some may prefer dual SD cards because they are cheaper and you do have redundancy. In the longer run, I think the Z5 will drop to $1200 to compete against the Canon RP and some of the old Sony that are still on the market. The Z5 has a lot more features than the Canon RP and deserves a higher price.

[rodeo_joe1]

It looks like Rodeo Joe is comparing gray-market Sony prices of products that have been out for several years and deeply discounted vs. full official prices of a new Nikon product that is not yet delivered.

True, but a price is a price.

If, in the UK, you look at what £1700 will buy you in a MILC, then a discounted Sony a7R3 would seem to offer you a lot more 'bang for your buck' than the untried and unknown Z5.

 

Also the 'not yet delivered' part will worry some buyers. How long will they have to wait? And will the camera prove to be what they expected?

 

IMHO introductory special offers would seem to be a more profitable route than dropping the price after 6 months or so. But presumably Nikon's marketing geniuses have done their sums correctly.

[BeBu Lamar]

It looks like Rodeo Joe is comparing gray-market Sony prices of products that have been out for several years and deeply discounted vs. full official prices of a new Nikon product that is not yet delivered.

 

But regardless, $1400 for the Z5 is a bit on the high side, especially when the Z6 is on sale, it is only $1600. The $200 gap is too small IMO. Some may prefer dual SD cards because they are cheaper and you do have redundancy. In the longer run, I think the Z5 will drop to $1200 to compete against the Canon RP and some of the old Sony that are still on the market. The Z5 has a lot more features than the Canon RP and deserves a higher price.

 

If I were to choose I would pick the Z6 instead. I don't care for dual card slot. I don't expect my equipment to fail but when things fails so be it. You can have a 100 card slot and when the time come it still fails.

[rodeo_joe1]

I don't care for dual card slot.

There are many more people that do, I suspect.

 

Personally, I don't care for the extra price and poor availability of XQD cards. I rarely need to rattle off enough shots in quick succession to test an SD card speed to its limits, and a read speed of 100 MB/s or thereabouts is adequately fast enough that downloading doesn't take longer than making a cup of tea or coffee.

[mike_halliwell]

There are many more people that do, I suspect.

OK, there's a big enough sample size here...;)

 

How many users here have been truly saved by the second card slot?

[BeBu Lamar]

There are many more people that do, I suspect.

 

Personally, I don't care for the extra price and poor availability of XQD cards. I rarely need to rattle off enough shots in quick succession to test an SD card speed to its limits, and a read speed of 100 MB/s or thereabouts is adequately fast enough that downloading doesn't take longer than making a cup of tea or coffee.

 

And so it works to my advantage because I can buy the 1 slot card cameras for less. Any way I don't expect any failure with my equipment but of course they do. When they do I actually more upset as to why they fail and how to fix it rather than the lost images.

Edited July 25, 2020 by BeBu Lamar

[ben_hutcherson]

OK, there's a big enough sample size here...;)

 

How many users here have been truly saved by the second card slot?

 

The last card "failure" I had was a relatively new 64gb Sandisk CF in my D800 last summer.

 

Fortunately, it was still readable-it just wouldn't accept any more images. I had several spare cards with me and swapped it, but if I hadn't I would have certainly been happy that there was also an SD card in the camera and I could keep going.

 

If the card had been completely unreadable, I would have been really happy to have the SD card in the camera.

 

That card was fine on a reformat, but I didn't trust it and requested a replacement from Sandisk, which was no trouble.

 

All of my dual slot cameras have two cards in them, even though it's been reported here that cameras like the D500 will bottleneck somewhat even with a UHS-II card in the SD slot. This hasn't been an issue for me on it, but if it came up I'd take my chances on only XQD.

 

The only single slot camera I use regularly is the Df, and I tend to prefer small cards changed frequently on the chance that one damaged card will wipe out an entire days/weeks shooting.

[joseph_smith3]

Since I do a lot of nature shooting with birds in flight, the second card has saved me a lot, not because of card failure, but because of the XQD card getting filled up and the second card allowed images to just go to the second card, the SD card. I usually use a 64 GB XQD card in my D500 and D850.

[Dieter Schaefer]

Personally, I don't care for the extra price and poor availability of XQD cards

SD UHS-II are even pricier while not performing at the same level as XQD cards. For most of my shooting, such performance is not strictly necessary; it's still a nice to have feature. I had too many cameras that slowed down or locked up completely when the internal memory filled; that's not a concern with the D500 and a fast-spec XQD card ever. A fast card like that allows the manufacturer to use smaller internal memory - which in turn reduces the cost of the camera.

 

K, there's a big enough sample size here...;)

How many users here have been truly saved by the second card slot?

So far, I have not (knock on wood) encountered such a scenario. In 16 years, I had one brand new CF card fail on its first outing (might even have been my fault as I can't recall whether or not I formatted it in camera first).

 

but because of the XQD card getting filled up and the second card allowed images to just go to the second card, the SD car

That's how I have set up my D500 - but I would very much prefer to be able to use backup mode. Can't because it essentially cripples the camera's performance. On the D810 and the A7R3, I have large (256GB) cards for backup - sufficient for many days of shooting.