Official Nikon Z8 Launch And Discussion Thread

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EricBowles said:
The camera is pretty quick to provide a warning, but there are tiers of warnings for both the card and the camera. If the camera is the issue, there is a setting to let it run hotter than normal so it does not shut down. You can also slow the frame rate slightly - maybe to 12-15 fps - and it will run cooler. Using 4k video is also a good option if you are running hot because of the card or because you don't really need 8k video.
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I went out shooting birds again yesterday with the Z8 and experienced the hot card warning when using the (previously used) Angelbird AV Pro Mk2 1TB card and the AV Pro SX 160GB card. I was not shooting continuously for long bursts but rather short bursts after intervals of 5 - 10 minutes. The warning did not affect my shooting in any way but it's a bit of possible concern. I did think about changing to the next tier of warning but decided against it as it did not curtail my shooting in any way.

I did get a warning (once) about the Z8 not being able to access the CFE card and being advised to change cards (in one instance). I simply pulled out the card and put it in again and it all went fine after that.

Perhaps I will try slowing down the frame rate to 12 - 15 fps like you suggested. It might help. I do shoot the occasional video at 4K and each clip is usually short, under a minute. Thanks for your suggestions.

I'm just sharing my observations/experience. I am quite happy with the Z8.
 
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John Navitsky said:
@Sree tbh, i don't think i'd trust a card that gets hot card warnings when only shooting stills
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@John Navitsky I have used both cards on my Z9 for numerous shoots (the 160 GB card for nearly a year now and the 1TB card for about 2 months) with absolutely no issues. So I was very surprised to see the hot card warnings on the Z8. I will use the cards on my Z9 again soon to see if there are card issues. Thanks for your alert, I will monitor the situation.

(Off topic a bit) The Z8 was meant for my travels and occasions when I want a lighter setup than with the Z9. It replaces my D850. I do not intend to get the grip as I want a smaller lighter body for use in many instances. Shooting the Z9 + 600/f4 TC handheld can be very tiring so I was hoping that the Z8 will ease the burden a bit. (I do use a tripod if I have to but for some really fast action shots handheld gives me way more keepers.)
 
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Sree said:
@John Navitsky I have used both cards on my Z9 for numerous shoots (the 160 GB card for nearly a year now and the 1TB card for about 2 months) with absolutely no issues. So I was very surprised to see the hot card warnings on the Z8. I will use the cards on my Z9 again soon to see if there are card issues. Thanks for your alert, I will monitor the situation.

(Off topic a bit) The Z8 was meant for my travels and occasions when I want a lighter setup than with the Z9. It replaces my D850. I do not intend to get the grip as I want a smaller lighter body for use in many instances. Shooting the Z9 + 600/f4 TC handheld can be very tiring so I was hoping that the Z8 will ease the burden a bit. (I do use a tripod if I have to but for some really fast action shots handheld gives me way more keepers.)
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Sounds like you have some good options if necessary. You can slow the frame rate slightly to reduce the heat, or you can adjust the warning to a higher temperature for occasional use at higher temperature.

The Z9 has a larger body used to dissipate heat. The Z8 is pushing the limits of technology a bit more since it is a smaller sized body with the same horsepower as the Z9.

I'm glad to see Nikon has separate warnings for the card and camera overheating. It makes it easier to monitor and address any issues.
 
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for the record, more links here

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Many Nikonians, especially those experienced with the Z9, will nod knowingly when, this reviewer describes his learning curve - the importance of optimizing AF setups(s) - Custom Area modes particularly. This was in addition to realizing, that to get the best results with razor sharp images demands using more than one Auto focusing mode and 6:28 "actually kind of switch between two or three different autofocusing modes..."

 
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fcotterill said:
"....All I can say is that Nikon is looking into whether they can provide High efficiency raw support for pre-release capture in some way.... "

The Z8 “Complaints" | Thom Hogan

The Z8 complaints I've heard so far
www.zsystemuser.com
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I read in you link :

"HEIF uses a different color space than Nikon typically uses (BT.2000 instead of sRGB), plus Nikon’s implementation is straight hybrid log gamma, which is completely different way of placing tonal values in the digital numbers within the file than Nikon uses for JPEG. What’s happening is that programs that seem to understand a Z8 Lossless compressed NEF just fine will suddenly do weird things in some converters if you were recording that raw file using a setting of NEF+HEIF."

What does this mean ? Is raw different when shooting Raw+Jpg than when shooting raw+Heif, or does this mean basic demosaiced raw (shooted as raw+heif) is different than what is seen on the back of the camera (which, I think, is heif), so unexpected.
 
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fcotterill said:
"....All I can say is that Nikon is looking into whether they can provide High efficiency raw support for pre-release capture in some way.... "

The Z8 “Complaints" | Thom Hogan

The Z8 complaints I've heard so far
www.zsystemuser.com
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Hope it might be HE* Raw (and even regular HE raw would be better than jpeg). I’d even be interested in it if it were limited to 20 fps and/or 0.5 seconds to allow enough room in the buffer. Another very useful item would be allowing pre-release capture to be turned on and off with a programmed button (or as part of RSF).

One thing Thom recently pointed out about pre-release capture I had not previously understood. Apparently once the in camera buffer fills, pre-release capture stops and you have to restart it by letting up on the shutter button and half-pressing again. I had assumed that camera would continually update the buffer, discarding the oldest image to add a new one. But apparently it does not do that.

Not sure how the OM pre-release capture works. I assumed it continually cycled new images in and old images out of the buffer. But maybe it does not.
 
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fcotterill said:
"....All I can say is that Nikon is looking into whether they can provide High efficiency raw support for pre-release capture in some way.... "

The Z8 “Complaints" | Thom Hogan

The Z8 complaints I've heard so far
www.zsystemuser.com
Click to expand...
I'd aso like to see Nikon add raw support for pre-release capture. They've made it virtually seamless to use -- selecting a C30/60/120 option automatically records Jpegs (even if you have the camera set to record raw) and dialing back to 20fps or lower restores raw recording. Raw pre-release would be nicer tho...

I've no complaints about battery compatibility....Nikon has no obligations regarding aftermarket batteries. The En-EL15 is less than 2% of the cost of the cam so I just bought a couple extras.

I do wish it had 2 CFe slots but I'll fly with just the CFe slot occupied (and another card in my pocket, along with a battery).
 
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BillW said:
Hope it might be HE* Raw (and even regular HE raw would be better than jpeg). I’d even be interested in it if it were limited to 20 fps and/or 0.5 seconds to allow enough room in the buffer. Another very useful item would be allowing pre-release capture to be turned on and off with a programmed button (or as part of RSF).
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All you have to do to enable pre-release is set shutter speed to a C30/60/120 setting and fire away....Pre-release then works as set in d4 (Z9) or d3 (Z8) Pre Release Capture Options.
 
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BillW said:
One thing Thom recently pointed out about pre-release capture I had not previously understood. Apparently once the in camera buffer fills, pre-release capture stops and you have to restart it by letting up on the shutter button and half-pressing again. I had assumed that camera would continually update the buffer, discarding the oldest image to add a new one. But apparently it does not do that.
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yah, it's a weird (and disappointing) implementation. you'd think they'd just implement a circular buffer
 
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Geoff_G said:
All you have to do to enable pre-release is set shutter speed to a C30/60/120 setting and fire away....Pre-release then works as set in d4 (Z9) or d3 (Z8) Pre Release Capture Options.
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Yes, that’s what I do now. Would like to be able to turn it on or off with a single button press.
 
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BillW said:
Hope it might be HE* Raw (and even regular HE raw would be better than jpeg). I’d even be interested in it if it were limited to 20 fps and/or 0.5 seconds to allow enough room in the buffer. Another very useful item would be allowing pre-release capture to be turned on and off with a programmed button (or as part of RSF).

One thing Thom recently pointed out about pre-release capture I had not previously understood. Apparently once the in camera buffer fills, pre-release capture stops and you have to restart it by letting up on the shutter button and half-pressing again. I had assumed that camera would continually update the buffer, discarding the oldest image to add a new one. But apparently it does not do that.

Not sure how the OM pre-release capture works. I assumed it continually cycled new images in and old images out of the buffer. But maybe it does not.
Click to expand...
The operation of pre-release capture is better than I implied in my post. Looked back at Thom's Z9 ebook (firmware version 3.01) page 759 and the Nikon Z9 Reference guide (firmware version 2.10) page 636. Pre-release capture will work for 30 seconds before the shutter release is fully pressed. If the shutter button is not fully pressed within 30 seonds of starting pre-release capture, pre-release capture will be cancelled (and you get a ! icon in the vewfinder) and has to be restarted. So the buffer may be working in a circular fashion, but not indefinitely.
 
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BillW said:
The operation of pre-release capture is better than I implied in my post. Looked back at Thom's Z9 ebook (firmware version 3.01) page 759 and the Nikon Z9 Reference guide (firmware version 2.10) page 636. Pre-release capture will work for 30 seconds before the shutter release is fully pressed. If the shutter button is not fully pressed within 30 seonds of starting pre-release capture, pre-release capture will be cancelled (and you get a ! icon in the vewfinder) and has to be restarted. So the buffer may be working in a circular fashion, but not indefinitely.
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yah, it's still weird. otoh, it could be something like they are worried about accidentally wearing out the cache memory or maybe the cache memory can overheat if pushed REALLY hard. but 30s seems very low
 
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BillW said:
Pre-release capture will work for 30 seconds before the shutter release is fully pressed.
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30 Sec? I thought pre-release was to capture the moment that just passed..a bird taking off for example....But 30 Sec? That's not for a slow trigger finger.....I must be missing something.
 
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Geoff_G said:
30 Sec? I thought pre-release was to capture the moment that just passed..a bird taking off for example....But 30 Sec? That's not for a slow trigger finger.....I must be missing something.
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The 30 seconds is the limit the precapture can be active with half pressing the shutter before pressing the shutter button to actually take the photo. Once the shutter button is fully pressed, it only captures the preselected duration for precapture (Up to 1 second). If you don’t press the shutter button to capture images with that 30 seconds, it times out and you need to release the half press and half press again to initiate the precapture again.
 
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abc123brian said:
The 30 seconds is the limit the precapture can be active with half pressing the shutter before pressing the shutter button to actually take the photo. Once the shutter button is fully pressed, it only captures the preselected duration for precapture (Up to 1 second). If you don’t press the shutter button to capture images with that 30 seconds, it times out and you need to release the half press and half press again to initiate the precapture again.
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Thanks Brian. You've made it understandable.
 
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abc123brian said:
The 30 seconds is the limit the precapture can be active with half pressing the shutter before pressing the shutter button to actually take the photo. Once the shutter button is fully pressed, it only captures the preselected duration for precapture (Up to 1 second). If you don’t press the shutter button to capture images with that 30 seconds, it times out and you need to release the half press and half press again to initiate the precapture again.
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That part I got. What I didn't get is why that is 30s long. But after thinking about it for a bit I can see the value of it 'being so long". It's not a feature I've used before but I will be....Thanks!
 
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Geoff_G said:
That part I got. What I didn't get is why that is 30s long. But after thinking about it for a bit I can see the value of it 'being so long". It's not a feature I've used before but I will be....Thanks!
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as John Navitsky said, it may even be too much short.
It depends how long you have to wait with your finger on the button for the expected event happens.
 
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JoPoV said:
as John Navitsky said, it may even be too much short.
It depends how long you have to wait with your finger on the button for the expected event happens.
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Yeah, premature button pushing results in a penalty....always a catch.

But I was expecting something along the lines of a 3 second buffer that just kept 3 seconds worth of pre-release images, dumping older ones as new ones come in...until the shot is taken. There would be 3 seconds worth of pre-release images but no premature button pushing penalty...
 
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