Official Nikon Z8 Launch And Discussion Thread

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feralgma said:
I have a z7ii , that I don't love for birds, a D850, and my main bird camera D500. How steep is my learning curve going to be as I've preordered the z8? Should I grab the z9 guide and extrapolate from that, or will there be something out soon?
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Not a bad idea, but since you already have a mirrorless body, it won't be as large of a transition as it was for me going straight from DSLRs. Having said that, I've found the transition quite smooth other than two troubling mirrorless AF tendencies. I shoot birds a lot and have found the Z9 locks on backgrounds more easily and is harder to unlock it than with DSLRs. Also, I've found that focusing on a small isolated subject when refocusing from a more distant subject typically requires an AF work around such as a manual focus nudge, refocusing on a nearby subject that fills the frame, or using the lens memory reset function set to focus at a closer distance and then aim and shoot at your intended target. The AF seems to work much better when focusing on subjects more distant than the current focus distance than refocusing to a small closer subject. Though still annoying, both of these niggles have been improved with firmware updates. And with some Z lenses, like the 800 PF, recalling a pre-set focus distance with a control button on the camera is exremelty helpful. I've programmed the fn2 button to recall focus distance at the MFD of the lens, and can then point at my songbird subjects and expect the lens to find them most of the time. For shooting BIF, the focus distance could set at about the range you'd want to acquire the bird.

I will say that it's a joy to have fast accurate AF when using lens/TC combos having f/8 (or smaller) maximum apertures. And it's nice to not to have to fine-tune AF like I've had to with my DSLRs and f mount lenses. BTW, my f mount lenses work just as well on the Z9 and lens/TC combos work even better. I've also adapted quickly to the Z9's AF after making a couple adjustments to the brightness and color (making it a bit warmer).
 
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ARClark said:
I must have missed something. Where is it said that the Z8 grip doesn't fit properly?
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it is not that it actually doesn’t fit the camera but that it doesn’t appear to line up nice with the sides of the camera. It looks like it was an afterthought instead of a well thought out design. Look at photos of the camera with grip attached.
 
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Thanks, @abc123brian and others that have pointed this out, I'm glad I'm not alone. It does look like an afterthought. Not only that, it's so much bigger than the vertical grips for the D500 and D850. Those grips look svelte and proportional, they almost blend into the camera. The one for the Z8? Looks blocky and bulky. As someone pointed out, it makes the Z8 quite a bit taller than the Z9, whereas I saw a photo of a gripped D500 (which I own) next to a D4s, and they were darn close in size. Can't say I like the looks of the grip for the Z8, and I personally prefer a gripped body. Might have to spring for the Z9?

Edit: I should mention the "mismatch/afterthought" look is only part of my concern. Bigger is the size - my gripped D500 fits pretty tightly in my ThinkTank Streetwalker Harddrive, the way I have it set up. I'm not sure a gripped Z8 would fit!
 
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BlackRockArt said:
The Canon photographers friends ain't gonna jump over, I am POSITIVE on this.

The RF mount system is a closed & locked garden.

Oliver
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I feel like the cost of switching systems (and selling items) generally outweighs the benefits of switching systems. The trade-off may change if you're purchasing a 400/600mm with TC built in. Those lenses are the real reason to consider Nikon IMHO
 
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MikeJ said:
Thanks, @abc123brian and others that have pointed this out, I'm glad I'm not alone. It does look like an afterthought. Not only that, it's so much bigger than the vertical grips for the D500 and D850. Those grips look svelte and proportional, they almost blend into the camera. The one for the Z8? Looks blocky and bulky. As someone pointed out, it makes the Z8 quite a bit taller than the Z9, whereas I saw a photo of a gripped D500 (which I own) next to a D4s, and they were darn close in size. Can't say I like the looks of the grip for the Z8, and I personally prefer a gripped body. Might have to spring for the Z9?
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Will be interesting to see what the inevitable third party grips look like a few months from now. I wonder to what extent having a grip for two of the EN-El15 batteries vs a single EN-EL18 makes a difference in the size and shape?
 
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ARClark said:
Also, I've found that focusing on a small isolated subject when refocusing from a more distant subject typically requires an AF work around such as a manual focus nudge, refocusing on a nearby subject that fills the frame, or using the lens memory reset function set to focus at a closer distance and then aim and shoot at your intended target.
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I found that same issue with the z7ii. I nearly lost my mind having to show it a feeder 6 times manually before it got a clue and would sometimes 'see' it. UGH
 
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feralgma said:
I have a z7ii , that I don't love for birds, a D850, and my main bird camera D500. How steep is my learning curve going to be as I've preordered the z8? Should I grab the z9 guide and extrapolate from that, or will there be something out soon?
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I think you will do well with your Z8. You have a couple of things that give you a head start. You shoot Nikon. I was shooting a D500 & D850 when I got my first Z body (a Z7) some years back and it felt like a Nikon to me. Much to learn, but much familiar. Second, you already have a Z body. I was principally using a Z7II before I got my Z9 last year. My familiarity with the Z7II helped with using the Z9.

That said there are significant differences between the Z7II and the Z9. I assume there will be similar differences between the Z7II and Z8. I think two areas in particular will need some study and practice: autofocus and customization. (Video is also enhanced with the Z9 and I assume the Z8, but I don’t know enough there to offer suggestions — trying to learn more myself.)

The Z9’s — and I assume the Z8’s — autofocus system is more complex and also more capable than that of the Z7II. You may find that you want to switch AF areas more frequently (and it is easier to do so with a Z9/Z8, as you can customize buttons to do this). Certain AF areas can be customized, which is very useful in some situations. Subject recognition can be very helpful.

The Z9 — and I assume the Z8 — also offers a lot more customization, including programmable buttons, than you get with the Z7II. This can be very useful, but requires some thought and you may find that you want to adjust your customization choices as you work with the new camera.

Steve’s books on Z9 setup and Nikon Z mirrorless autofocus should be very helpful. I’m not sure if Steve will do a separate Z8 setup book or add it to the Z9 book. But it sounds like the Z8 will be similar enough to the Z9 that the existing books will be quite helpful.

I’d also recommend Thom Hogan’s Z9 book or a Z8 book if he does one. Thom’s books cover a broader range of topics that Steve’s and I find them complimentary to Steve’s books. Both have been very useful to me.

Finally, you will likely want at least one fast CF Express Type B card to use with the Z8 if you plan on photographing BIF and other fast action. I’ve generally used Delkin Black and Prograde Cobalt cards in my Z9 and expect they would work well for the Z8. They come in a number of capacities, depending on what you want or need. They are faster than the Sandisk Extreme CF Express cards that I used with my Z7II.

Good luck. I’ve ordered a Z8 to pair with my Z9.
 
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Finally catching up with the announcement and comments on other forums, it seems the only gripe is really that Nikon hasn’t made any significant improvement from z9 to z8… and I just have a hard time seeing it that way. I think Nikon made two massive improvements that bode quite well for their future.

1. They actually listened to customers and delivered exactly what people asked for. A smaller z9 that would be a true successor to the d850. I don’t know how you can look at the z8 and think that Nikon did not hit the mark on that one. Considering their history of ignoring customers, that’s a massive culture shift in a corporation run by engineers.

2. They cut the price roughly 30% with probably the lowest level of sacrifice they could achieve versus the flagship. Something very few other brands have ever dared do.

I don’t shoot nikon anymore but I have to tip my hat to them and hope my brand of choice takes a page from Nikon’s playbook on this one.
 
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FB101 said:
Finally catching up with the announcement and comments on other forums, it seems the only gripe is really that Nikon hasn’t made any significant improvement from z9 to z8… and I just have a hard time seeing it that way. I think Nikon made two massive improvements that bode quite well for their future.

1. They actually listened to customers and delivered exactly what people asked for. A smaller z9 that would be a true successor to the d850. I don’t know how you can look at the z8 and think that Nikon did not hit the mark on that one. Considering their history of ignoring customers, that’s a massive culture shift in a corporation run by engineers.

2. They cut the price roughly 30% with probably the lowest level of sacrifice they could achieve versus the flagship. Something very few other brands have ever dared do.

I don’t shoot nikon anymore but I have to tip my hat to them and hope my brand of choice takes a page from Nikon’s playbook on this one.
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I think the internet response is very different from the real world one.

My local store has a bunch of people on their list waiting for one as they come in.

I also agree that nikon did a really fantastic job here, and it'll serve them pretty well to nail a market segment that had been left wanting for a while.
 
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arbitrage said:
Z8 vs A1 price difference more than makes up for 600TC vs 600GM+1.4TC price difference.

Competition is strong.
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You are quite right. When looking at a system, Sony and Nikon don’t charge the same way but the overall cost is about the same. The killer with sony are the CF type A cards… if you have 5 or 6 of those, it adds up quick… ☹️
 
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FB101 said:
You are quite right. When looking at a system, Sony and Nikon don’t charge the same way but the overall cost is about the same. The killer with sony are the CF type A cards… if you have 5 or 6 of those, it adds up quick… ☹️
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The A1 has a big enough buffer that the CFA cards really aren't all that necessary. I did some fairly serious BIF shooting and although I had one CFA I used high speed SD cards just because it was simpler downloading to laptop. Don't recall ever choking the camera.
 
bronaldo said:
I feel like the cost of switching systems (and selling items) generally outweighs the benefits of switching systems. The trade-off may change if you're purchasing a 400/600mm with TC built in. Those lenses are the real reason to consider Nikon IMHO
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It's a hearts and minds thing. I bet a lot of folks settle on a lens system early and stick with it forever.
 
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MikeJ said:
Thanks, @abc123brian and others that have pointed this out, I'm glad I'm not alone. It does look like an afterthought. Not only that, it's so much bigger than the vertical grips for the D500 and D850. Those grips look svelte and proportional, they almost blend into the camera. The one for the Z8? Looks blocky and bulky. As someone pointed out, it makes the Z8 quite a bit taller than the Z9, whereas I saw a photo of a gripped D500 (which I own) next to a D4s, and they were darn close in size. Can't say I like the looks of the grip for the Z8, and I personally prefer a gripped body. Might have to spring for the Z9?

Edit: I should mention the "mismatch/afterthought" look is only part of my concern. Bigger is the size - my gripped D500 fits pretty tightly in my ThinkTank Streetwalker Harddrive, the way I have it set up. I'm not sure a gripped Z8 would fit!
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Agree with your points about the Z8 grip. After watching Ricci's video on the Z8 grip, I was blown away in a negative way with the appearance of that grip. Frankly, I think what Nikon might have done was take the same grip and the casting or molding that they use to make the grip for the Z6-II/Z7-II grip and just change some the connection contacts and other minor changes to save manufacturing costs. IOW, they went 'cheap' to make the grip. Ricci himself said in his "grip" video that the Z8 grip and the aforementioned Z6-II/Z7-II grips look almost identical except for the contacts, etc. Moreover, besides making the whole Z8+Grip combo ugly as sin, the more compelling issue is the size of a gripped Z8 is crazy. Seems to me that if one likes to use a grip, the Z9 makes more sense, even if there's a bit more cost involved.

Not that anyone cares, but having just bought a second Z9 a month ago, I am happy with two identical cameras with identical controls. That said, I am happy for those of you who will buy the Z8 and wish you good shooting.
 
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FB101 said:
You are quite right. When looking at a system, Sony and Nikon don’t charge the same way but the overall cost is about the same. The killer with sony are the CF type A cards… if you have 5 or 6 of those, it adds up quick… ☹️
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Yes Cfe-A is expensive....that is until Angelbird just released their 1TB card for $500. If they release some smaller capacity cards at a similar $/GB that will be down to Cfe-B prices or better even.
And the nice thing about A1 is it does really well with V90 SD cards. I shot V90 SD for more than a year without many issues. Although I do prefer the CFe-A for those few times I want to really push into the buffer and have it clear quickly.
 
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arbitrage said:
Yes Cfe-A is expensive....that is until Angelbird just released their 1TB card for $500. If they release some smaller capacity cards at a similar $/GB that will be down to Cfe-B prices or better even.
And the nice thing about A1 is it does really well with V90 SD cards. I shot V90 SD for more than a year without many issues. Although I do prefer the CFe-A for those few times I want to really push into the buffer and have it clear quickly.
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Did you try V90s with the a7RV?
 
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bronaldo said:
Did you try V90s with the a7RV?
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Yes. I only shot on V90 while I had the A7RV. I left my CFe-A in the A1. No issues with SD at 10FPS. And you really can't run long bursts with the A7RV as the blackout/laggy view forces you to shoot very short bursts. I'd typically burst 3-5 shots, pause, reacquire, burst 3-5 shots...etc.
I didn't test how deep the buffer is on SD but I'm sure there must be some online/YT reviews discussing it.
 
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