Nikon Z 6 & Z 7 Comments and Issues

[kers]

I must do something wrong then. I did change it to the record button so it's easier to access, but I have to change how many shots I want to actually have it on, and I have to set the nr of shots to 0 to be off.

PS. I also have to change the shooting mode to High so it can take all the shots with one shutter button press

i also have it under one button; I press and turn the back dial to turn it one
- you are right you have to choose multiple shots. It stops after the bracketing serie.

[John Camp]

So I'm thinking about adding a Z7 II to my Z6. I don't really *need* it, I just want it. However, I've seen on a rumors site that a Z9 may be here in late 2021. The rumored sensor is apparently very similar to the Z7, and not 60+, as was rumored this summer. The rumored images of the Z9 make it look like a DSLR -- large and heavy. I don't want large and heavy. What I'm curious about is, for you guys who read a lot about Nikon's plans...do you expect a larger "professional grade" Z9? Would it have any particular advantage over a Z7 -- if the images are correct, it appears to have a large battery compartment in its base. I also have a large battery compartment, called "pockets." I don't really need to shoot a thousand images without taking twelve seconds to replace a battery. What do you think? Would I lose much by going to the X7 II right now?   

[BernardLanguillier]

So I'm thinking about adding a Z7 II to my Z6. I don't really *need* it, I just want it. However, I've seen on a rumors site that a Z9 may be here in late 2021. The rumored sensor is apparently very similar to the Z7, and not 60+, as was rumored this summer. The rumored images of the Z9 make it look like a DSLR -- large and heavy. I don't want large and heavy. What I'm curious about is, for you guys who read a lot about Nikon's plans...do you expect a larger "professional grade" Z9? Would it have any particular advantage over a Z7 -- if the images are correct, it appears to have a large battery compartment in its base. I also have a large battery compartment, called "pockets." I don't really need to shoot a thousand images without taking twelve seconds to replace a battery. What do you think? Would I lose much by going to the X7 II right now?

I expect Nikon to release 2 pro grade bodies in 2021:
- a Z9 that would be a mirrorless D6 with best in class AF, probably 20+ mp
- a Z8 or Z9x that would rely on the same physical body but with a high res sensor, I foresee more than 60mp, but I could be wrong

They are likely to be physically larger than the Z6/Z7 but I would still expect small that DSLRs.

The Z7II is an amazing camera, great image quality, super fast AF, great UI,... there is no going wrong with it.

Cheers,
Bernard

[armand]

Having played with the Z7 a little more, in combo with the 24-200 and 14-24 2.8S,  I have several new comments and questions.

If I expose for highlights, I can easily get banding in the deep shadows. I hear the the ii versions are doing better, I wonder if it’s valid for Z5 also.

Focus is disappointing at times. It’s probably the lack of cross-type focus points, as it is sensitive only to vertical details. Often when the light went  down I had to tilt the camera or entirely switch to portrait in order to achieve focus. And this is with landscape shots. In a quick test at home the Oly E-M1iii was snappy where the Z7 couldn’t focus.

I still struggle with the stabilization, depends on how tired I was I could only get up to 2 stops of stabilization, sometimes not even that. I had to take 2-3 shot bursts to be certain, and this was with the 24-200 which has OIS.

Outside of banding the sensor remains quite good. Dynamic range is mostly very good, and keeps the colors well into higher ISOs.


Still on the fence about the 24-200. Multiple instances of subpar sharpness alternating with good enough, not sure if it’s a stabilization problem, a focus problem or just lack of sharpness at certain focal length/focus distance/aperture combo.
I’ll have to compare in an organized matter with the Oly 12-100.

[kers]

Having played with the Z7 a little more, in combo with the 24-200 and 14-24 2.8S,  I have several new comments and questions.
..

can you provide an example? - would like to see this...
PK

[armand]

can you provide an example? - would like to see this...
PK

Of banding?

For whatever reason my eyes are too tired and can't find as many examples right now, but I'll start with this.

First the original and then the mildly to moderate processed (exposure +1.14, contrast +5, highlights -76, shadows + 100, whites +11, blacks -13, no clarity or dehaze), with a 100% crop.
Then to make it more obvious on the crop, I made the exposure + 2.28, contrast +26, clarity +7, dehaze -7)

[armand]

It's not a great example but it shows banding showing up in the dark areas with shadows + 80-100 and exposure + 1.5-2

[kers]

Thanks, an extreme dark/light example, but it is clear. Not something to often worry about.
In these situations i always make more than one exposure with two stops difference.

[KLaban]

Makes me wonder how we ever managed with Velvia and 5 stops of exposure latitude!

[Dustbak]

Makes me wonder how we ever managed with Velvia and 5 stops of exposure latitude!

We didn't... we just didn't know better.

[Peter McLennan]

Camera image quality notwithstanding, the viewfinder is the most important part of the camera.  Any camera.

My Z6 II has one of the worst viewfinders I've ever used. EVF image quality aside, it suffers poor extraneous light exclusion and insufficient eye relief, especially for eyeglass wearers. For video use, it is very difficult to see the entire frame constantly. This is an absolute necessity for video shooting.

The video camera function offers near-zero indication of whether you're rolling or not. This inexcusable indiscretion results in rolling when you think you've cut and not rolling when you think you are. Operators get only a tiny red symbol at the top center of the frame - the absolute worst place to put it. Trust me. I operated film movie cameras for decades.  That's always where things creep into the frame.

Both of these problems are intolerable from an operator's perspective.

Even my phone beeps for focus confirmation and for when I'm rolling and when I've cut. With the phone, I never experience inadvertent footage of my feet that results from not cutting the camera properly.

The Nikon's still camera function already offers focus confirmation by beeping - even offering choice of beep sounds and its loudness. But neither audible roll/cut confirmation or focus confirmation are available on the video camera.  Why not?

Both of these deficiencies could be easily remedied by a firmware update.  Nikon could offer a user-selectable reduced-sized viewfinder image for the eye relief issue.  The sound hardware for roll/cut and focus confirmation already exists in the camera's stills mode.

In short, the Z6II is an acceptable stills camera and a horrible movie camera.

A long-time Nikon user, I frequently question whether any of Nikon's engineering team have ever actually used one of their cameras to make photographs, let alone shoot video.

[D Fuller]

Having played with the Z7 a little more, in combo with the 24-200 and 14-24 2.8S,  I have several new comments and questions.

If I expose for highlights, I can easily get banding in the deep shadows. I hear the the ii versions are doing better, I wonder if it’s valid for Z5 also.

Outside of banding the sensor remains quite good. Dynamic range is mostly very good, and keeps the colors well into higher ISOs.

Have you updated your Z7 firmware to current? One of the firmware updates made this banding issue all but undetectable. I regularly shoot for a client that manufactures plasma cutters, a subject that requires exposing for hilights, then lifting exposure by 3-4 stops to see into the rest of the image, pulling hilights, and raising shadows. Banding has never been a problem for this work.

What raw processor are you using? I’m processing in Capture One.

[KLaban]

Amazing improvements in eye-detect with the latest firmware (3.40) for the original Nikon Z7. Also available for the original Z6. Three years down the line and still updating.

Well done Nikon!