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Let’s recap what we learned the last 24 hours about the new Nikon Z system…
Before I move to this a short statement:
1) Yes the Nikon Z cameras are nice and have some superior aspects like handling, weathersealing, clearer EVF… For Sony this is a “dangerous” camera because it will convince most of the current Nikon shooters to not switch over to Sony. It means Sony has to convince them with rock solid and unique features from now on.
2) Nikon copied and pasted Sony tech without to risk to add anything new. Contrary to their slogan “mirrorless reinvented” the Z series is a factual statement that they are NOT willing to give you (customer) anything more than they are forced to. Without Sony, Olympus, Fuji and Panasonic on the market there would be no Z cameras today, they would not add 5axis stabilization, or good 4K recording. We still would have the same reiteration of DSLR cameras with small incremental updates. If everyone would buy Canon and Nikon cameras only…the earth would stop spinning and stand still :)
Now that people is testing the new Nikon Z7 and Z6 cameras some quirks are being discovered by Dpreview, Gordon Laing, Thom Hogan, Dan Watson and others:
1) Both the Nikon Z7 and Z6 have blackout screen when you take a shot.
2) The Z7 shoots 9fps with battery grip only(!!!) and with locked exposure. Without tbattery grip and no locked exposure and with live feedback on it shoots 5.5fps (similar for Z6).
3) Z7 has max 2.5 seconds buffer at 12 bit compressed RAW. That means around 22 shots (similar for Z6).
4) Buffer clears very slow like the 5 year old Sony A7 cameras :)
5) 330 shots according to CIPA (Son7 A7III is rated 650 shots at CIPA)
6) Nikon confirmed that they will NOT share the lens mount information to third parties as Sony does. This means Sigma, Tamron and Tokina will have to do reverse engineering and autofocus should be therefore slower.
7) One card slot. It’s not a deal breaker for me personally but it might be for PRO’s working on the field that don’t wanna risk their money. Not only because of possible (although very rare) electronic failure. If you have a backup card you can separate the card after the shooting by putting one card in one bag and the other one in another bag.
8) XQD. They are as good or better than the best SD cards. But good luck finding them for cheap if you don’t need all that speed.
9) no exposure compensation dial (which I do use a lot)
10) No Eye AF and missing focus control buttons
11) No f/1.4 primes on roadmap, no macro on roadmap and ridiculous f/0,95 hype ($6,000, huge lens and manual focus only).
What Sony has to learn from the Nikon Z:
1) handling matters, please improve grip control and menu system on the next generation A7-A9 cameras
2) We need true weathersealing
3) Use all space on the camera to add controls (like on Sony A9) or a top screen.
4) We need APP support back in camera. Please open the system for third-party developers…this would be huge!
5) And where is our Timelapse functionality gone? Hello?
Comment this post with your suggestions for the next generation A7-A9 cameras!