Nikon officially announces the Z7-Z6 cameras

Nikon finally announced the Nikon Z7 (specs here) and Nikon Z6 (specs here). You can see a full review and new coverage on MirrorlessRumors.com.

It says a lot about this company that they basically match the Sony camera performance without adding any ulterior new features. The goal was clearly to keep their own Nikon DSLR base to not buy Sony. And I think they will achieve this. But it’s disappointing to see that the goal was NOT to innovate. The Z7-Z6 really look like a Sony camera with Nikon design. Some might be happy with that (and I appreciate good ergonomic). But it also confirms that in future innovation will come as usual from Sony with Nikon improving their cameras 1-2 year after Sony.

What’s good on the new Nikon Z:
– Well rounded products (ergonomic and usability)
– True weathersealing
– Has Intervalometer
– 4k 2:2:2 (external)
– the 0,95 autofocus lens (but it’s manual focus only!).
– Nice 50mm f/1.2 autofocus lens coming in 2020

What’s not so good on the new Nikon Z:
– Z7 costs $400 more than the Sony A7rIII
– By end of 2020 Nikon will have 15 Z lenses. Sony currently has 29 lenses in the range (I am not counting in the Zeiss-Tamron-Sigma-Samyang lenses).
– No Eye AF
– Nikon Z6 (310 shots) has nearly half the battery life of the A7III
– Sony A7III and A7rIII have dual card slots (Nikon has 1 XQD slot).
– 18/23 shot buffer (at 12 bit compressed RAW)
– Only 5.5 FPS with auto exposure
– they made a huge mount to accomodate larger, expensive and manual focus only f/0,95 lens.
– Only fast autofocus prime is coming in 2020 (50mm f/1.2). And no fast portrait lens on roadmap yet.

Here is the hands-on video by DpreviewTV:

The Nikon lens roadmap:

This is the 58mm f/0,95 manual focusing lens: