Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “The most surprising camera I have used in years”.
Over a year after its release – and I still can’t stop thinking about this camera at nearly three pounds or 1 340 grams – the Nikon z9 is a beast with more buttons and features that I’ve been able to test in the nearly two months that I’ve had with It but this camera is about so much more than that with the z9 Nikon finally put itself in the professional mirrorless camera race and in a lot of ways. This camera is now winning before we get started buds. There’S one kind of issue here. Whenever I edit a full frame, I put the sound that that camera shutter makes, when you see a photo from that camera, so, for example, in this article, it’ll kind of be like this Nikon.
You owe me an apology. This camera’s, fake shutter sound, is awful. What is that? It’S like a a bad chirp, this camera, it doesn’t have a mechanical shutter. It only has an electronic shutter, so it doesn’t really make a sound when you take a photo Nikon in place of that. Put this fake, sound in that’s so bad.
There is this video of Nikon representatives in Japan, clicking the shutter, and you hear a meow, that’s sweet. That also makes me think that maybe down the line we’ll be able to customize our shutter sounds – or at least I hope so it’d be nice to have some. Like old Nikon shutters in there, so maybe like an F5 or a d1x come on that would be sick. All right on with the video. The design of the z9 is nothing. New.
Nikon has used similar Hardware layout on its top of the line professional models. Since the 35 millimeter Nikon F5 film body that was released in 1996 same Circle, viewfinder ring same dial, layout, same grips, same power button and even the same battery compartment. It changed where the camera’s nameplate is, and the touch of red accent stylings. But those may be the biggest visual departures and there’s good reason for the same design. The F5 informed the layout of the Nikon D1 that was released in 1999.. The D1 was Nikon’s first DSLR, the company designed and built entirely in-house, and it set the tone for Nikon’s step into the professional digital era of Photography.
The single digit d-line of nikons was a beloved system and 23 years later that same Hardware, design is the best part of the z9 Nikon did exactly the opposite of what all other mirrorless camera manufacturers have been doing for years. Instead of going compact, it made a heavy bulky chunky. Ass mirrorless camera can does have the EOS R3, that has a tall body, but that camera is 500 more expensive. One pound lighter and its specs are not nearly as Peak camera as the z9s.
The z9 has a new full-frame, 45.7 megapixel stacked CMOS sensor that, thanks to a new x-speed 7 image processor, can shoot Raw photos at 20 frames per second for well over a thousand frames assuming you’re using a fast enough card. There’S also improved autofocus with readings up to 120 frames per second and a 3D Focus tracking mode that allows for faster, more accurate subject tracking across the frame. Mirrorless cameras ushered in the age of incredible autofocus, but unfortunately Nikon and their Z series thus far has always lagged behind Sony. The king of autofocus with the z9, though Nikon, has taken huge strides forward in this department, except in low light. I find that the camera often hunts for subjects and it’s doing a pretty good job here, but in my experience out in the real world I find that I have a lot of trouble finding folks, if they’re underexposed and good light, though Nikon has really improved. How well it holds on to subjects as they move across the frame, and I especially love the small arrows that appear next to the boxes that are around my eyes to show that you can switch between which eye is in focus.
Thank you in post, there’s an impressive amount of room for Recovery in the highlights, regardless of iso, but once you are shooting over 8000 ISO recovering details in the shadows gives photos a film s grain. The information is there, but the grain takes all of the sharpness away. Now your exposure folks, because even with the z9, you won’t be able to bring those High ISO Shadows back at night when properly exposed, blacks are deep and sharp. Colors are true to life and the detail level is simply unreal, but none of that is shocking. It’S 2023 and high-end mirrorless cameras take really incredible photos. So what is important is how this camera feels wildly different to use.
Unlike most mirrorless cameras, the Nikon z9 is not particularly easy to use, but that’s a good thing. This camera really forces you to get to know it first and more importantly, it forces you to make it your own. There are lists upon lists of features that can be mapped to any one of nine customizable buttons within four custom setting Banks.
I mean look at the custom button function chart for this camera insane. Most folks will find this confusing and over complicated, fair if you’re not comfortable with camera menus or you simply don’t want to nerd out over camera settings or you just don’t have 5 500, then this camera is not for you and, while you’ll still be able to Take stunning photos without fully harnessing each and every facet of this camera’s customizability you’ll not be getting the most out of the system, because this camera is for working professional photographers, who will undoubtedly make the most of every feature and learn how to use it as a Tool to do their jobs, or it’s for Lucky, camera nerds like me, who just want to find the fastest way to take really high quality photos, and it’s that that inspired me to carry this camera every wear, despite it weighing an absolute ton and this body shape It makes perfect sense when you think about the incredibly long lenses that a lot of professional photographers will put on this thing. There’S customizable buttons for just about every finger, there’s rubber flaps that are a bit hard to open but make it feel really secure. I’Ve used this camera in all sorts of weather conditions and never once worried about damaging it. There’S a 3.2 inch LCD screen that comes out real far feels real sturdy and definitely clears the eyepiece.
You can also rotate it 90 degrees, which is super sweet, but you, unfortunately can’t rotate it to face the front of the camera, maybe on the next one, Nikon there’s also really deep Contours and a good rubber. Matte finish to the side. My co-worker Antonio recently reviewed the Sony a7r Mark V and, while that camera has incredible specs its Contours are uncomfortable for long periods of time, I think any hand would feel comfortable holding the Nikon z9. My two complaints about the hardware with this camera is that the card slot cover is stiff to the point of being hard to open and everything about this body shape lends itself to putting long lenses on the front to balance it out, something that a wildlife photographer Or Sports photographer might use, but as a video first person, this body shape just didn’t inspire me to take video with it, so the Nikon z9 can shoot 12-bit, 8K 60 frames per second or 4K 120 frames per second in nraw, which is Nikon’s raw video format.
You can also shoot in prores raw 10 bit up to 5K 30 frames per second, that puts other Flagship specs from Sony’s, A1 or Canon’s R5. To shame. Nikon is in a unique position, though. Unlike its competitors, Sony Canon even Panasonic, it doesn’t have any dedicated video camera lines, so it can throw all its top end photo and video specs into one camera.
The 8K footage from the z9 is crisp clear and will absolutely devour card and hard drive space. The larger problem, though, is that I edit in Premiere Pro and Adobe, does not yet support the Nev file format that the enroll codec produces. So I thought I would shoot in the highest prores option, which is 4K, but I found that the oversampled 4K was ever so slightly, not as crisp as the h.265 8K UHD footage. So I ended up filming 10-bit h265. 8K.
24 frames per second in end log. So if you have the computing power, the hard drive space and the right editing software or you just want to transcode all your footage, which bless your soul. Then the 8K and raw footage from the z9 is going to look incredible.
But for me until Adobe supports any v files, I’m going to be sticking to the h.265 10-bit footage, which has the added bonus of smaller file sizes. Something noticeable is that the system turns on quickly and you can begin recording immediately, but the record button is small and can be hard to completely press down. I ended up reverse, triggering or starting to record. When I thought I was stopping a lot.
The only way to know your recording is a red box that comes up around the screen or a very small green LED on the back of the camera. It would be great to have another LED on the top or even the front. Previous cameras in the Z, lineup were less than impressive when compared to their competition, felt like Nikon was always chasing and never catching, and I had almost written the brand off entirely in the mirrorless World when they announced the z9 and even then I was skeptical that The z9 would, you know, really make a Mark here, but when I opened the box – and I felt the heft of this camera, I felt the familiar button layout and as soon as I started using it, I knew that Nikon was onto something mirrorless. Cameras have historically always felt small, fragile and increasingly dumbed down for more mainstream audiences. The z9 is different in all of those departments and while that makes it not the right camera for many folks, it serves the working professional audience that seeks the most badass camera money.
Can buy in order to do their job, not to mention the specs of the z9 are simply out of this world, but Nikon didn’t stop with the release of the z9 since its release, they have been rolling out. Firmware updates that, while back in April added 8K internal recording and have increased, auto focus speeds not to mention all the lenses that they’re putting out there’s been a whole host of telephoto lenses that are both massive and fast. That Sports, photographers and Wildlife photographers are going to love and man. It’S all of this that has made me so excited about the z9, and it makes me even more excited to see how the competition is going to answer so clearly, my biggest issue with this camera is the fake, shutter sound. So here’s what we thought might be better shutter sounds buds. .