Nikon Mirrorless Cameras

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becca2525

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I currently have a D850 and I find that working with it as I have aged is becoming cumbersome and I find it increasingly too heavy to want to use for a long period of time, can you recommend Nikon mirrorless cameras that I may want to research? I just watched your review on the 6iii and I have liked that so far, but I do not know much about the mirrorless cameras. Thank you.
 
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If you prefer to have a full frame camera, a Nikon Z8 or Z6III are your options. The Z8 is a bit larger and heavier than the Z6III. It has a 47MP sensor vs a 24MP sensor in the Z6III. And, of course, the Z8 is more expensive: list price is $4,000 for the Z8 and $2500 for the Z6III.

One of the Z8 videos from @Steve is below.

 
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Thank you for the info...I do like the Z8, but the last time I spent this kind of money on a camera, it wasn't worth hardly anything right after purchasing it. So I really hate spending those funds for a camera that won't hold its value at all. I am referring to my D850 I had purchased prior to mirrorless taking off.
 
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Cameras are similar to cars in that once you purchase they only go down in price. How much depends on things like what you bought, when in the product lifecycle, the general popularity of the item, etc. You might find that the Nikon Zf or Z6III may be more to your liking in size/weight and price. Lots of performance and lots to like.
 
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Depending on what you shoot, the little Z50ii is worth a look. For the price it seems ridiculously capable, particularly in twin lens kit form. Nikon offers excellent additional lightweight lens options that tend to depreciate more slowly than camera bodies. It can augment your d850. Otherwise, if size and weight are paramount it would be prudent to also investigate the Sony range.
 
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Well, if you are upgrading just for weight savings, I don't think going from a D850 to a Z8 is going to make a huge difference. The Z8 is about 100 grams lighter than the D850. However, some of the Z lenses are lighter than their F-mount counterparts, so if you start acquiring some Z-mount glass, you will start to notice a bigger weight savings.

What kind of photography do you like to do? The Z8 (and the Z9) are tremendous for wildlife photography and video, among other things. If you are a landscape photographer, one of the biggest benefits will be the EVF and it's ablility to give you a WYSIWYG preview of your shot. There are other technology improvements that will help out a landscape photographer as well.

The D850 is a very good DSLR camera. I had a D850 as well, and it was my favorite camera for a number of years. But ultimately I relized that the future of camera technology was moving decidely in the direction of mirrorless cameras, and that will open up a whole lot of improvements in focusing modes, subject detection and tracking, better optics and image acuity and much more. So I sold my D850 and eventually all of my F-mount glass (except the 500 PF) and moved over entirely to mirrorless.

So I would suggest you look closely at the reasons that you want to move to mirrorless from your D850. If it is primarily for weight savings, then the Z6iii, or Z7ii (among others), should give you the weight savings you are looking for and get you into the mirrorless arena,

If you are a wildlife shooter, I would urge you to strongly consider the Nikon Z8. It is very similar to the D850 in ergonomics and form factor, but will be a huge improvement in autofocus modes and subject tracking capabilities, among others.
 
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If you find the D850 gets too heavy, the Z8 is only a fraction lighter and may give you the same issue. The Z6iii is a bit lighter still but has similar latest generation autofocus if you do moving wildlife AND you don't need a high megapixel count. If you want the same megapixels you have now and don't do fast action, get the Z7ii which is even lighter and is currently a thousand bucks off.
 
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I should add that some Nikon Z lenses are not lighter than F mount; my Z 70-200 f2.8 weighs the same. Sony has some good lightweight bodies and lenses so you may want to look there as well.
 
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TurtleCat said:
Cameras are similar to cars in that once you purchase they only go down in price. How much depends on things like what you bought, when in the product lifecycle, the general popularity of the item, etc. You might find that the Nikon Zf or Z6III may be more to your liking in size/weight and price. Lots of performance and lots to like.
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Thank you, I have been looking at the Z6iii and I am lean towards it, I especially like the high resolution viewfinder. The video and photos Steve shot were impressive in the short time he had with the camera.
 
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TurtleCat said:
Cameras are similar to cars in that once you purchase they only go down in price. How much depends on things like what you bought, when in the product lifecycle, the general popularity of the item, etc. You might find that the Nikon Zf or Z6III may be more to your liking in size/weight and price. Lots of performance and lots to like.
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I have owned so many model cameras over the years, and yes I do know they depreciate like cars do, I was just voicing my frustration after spending to upgrade finally to the D850 only to have mirrorless take over and do much of what my D850 does, but are much lighter. The weight of a camera never concerned me, but now my body is starting to yell back that it is not liking it, so I have been listening and trying to find a comparable compromise.
 
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SoCalRick said:
Well, if you are upgrading just for weight savings, I don't think going from a D850 to a Z8 is going to make a huge difference. The Z8 is about 100 grams lighter than the D850. However, some of the Z lenses are lighter than their F-mount counterparts, so if you start acquiring some Z-mount glass, you will start to notice a bigger weight savings.

What kind of photography do you like to do? The Z8 (and the Z9) are tremendous for wildlife photography and video, among others. If you are a landscape shooter, one of the biggest benefits will be the EVF and it's ablility to give you a WYSIWYG preview of your shot. There are other technology improvements that will help out a landscape shooter as well.

The D850 is a very good DSLR camera. I had a D850 as well, and it was my favorite camera for a number of years. But ultimately I relized that the future of camera technology was going in the mirrorless direction, and it was going to open up a whole lot of improvements in focusing modes, subject detection and tracking, better optics and image acuity and much more. So I sold my D850 and eventually all of my F-mount glass (except the 500 PF) and moved over entirely to mirrorless.

So I would suggest you look closely at the reasons that you want to move to mirrorless from your D850. If it is primarily for weight savings, then the Z6iii, or Z7ii (among others), should give you the weight savings you are looking for and get you into the mirrorless arena,

If you are a wildlife shooter, I would urge you to strongly consider the Nikon Z8. It is very similar to the D850 in ergonomics and form factor, but will be a huge improvement in autofocus modes and subject tracking capabilities, among others.
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Thank you for such detail. I do love my D850. I guess I really hadn't been paying attention to how fast the mirrorless cameras were taking over the DSLRs when I finally purchased mine. This is part of the reason I started looking into selling my cameras and found out how little it would fetch, it would be cheaper to keep it as a second camera. I do like the Z6iii after watching Steve's video about it, but I wish it still had the higher megapixel that my D850 has. I do a lot of wildlife [bird] photography and macros, and landscapes on occasion. I think the best bet is to visit my local camera store and pick a couple up and see if there is that much of a noticeable difference in the weights, to sacrifice the quality needs I am looking for.
 
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Strictly for weight savings with mirrorless within Nikon the choices re either the Z7ii or Z6iii. Z8 is going to be pretty much the same as the D850.

The Z7ii is an incredibly light and compact camera yet it has a full 47 mp sensor and takes great images. The problem however is that it is older generation technology and lacks the autofocus sophistication of the Z8/9. The Z6iii has all the sophistication but it is a 24 mp camera so you lose the high resolution.

The z7ii works fine as a camera for things like landscaping. But if you are looking for the advantages of the latest rapid frame rate capabilities and sophisticated autofocus you need to go to the Z6iii or put up with the weight of the Z8.

The latest Z technology is a major game changer. As nice as the D850 is as a camera the Z8/9 does so much more.
 
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becca2525 said:
Thank you for the info...I do like the Z8, but the last time I spent this kind of money on a camera, it wasn't worth hardly anything right after purchasing it. So I really hate spending those funds for a camera that won't hold its value at all. I am referring to my D850 I had purchased prior to mirrorless taking off.
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I would consider buying a refurbished unit directly from Nikon.
 
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becca2525 said:
I currently have a D850 and I find that working with it as I have aged is becoming cumbersome and I find it increasingly too heavy to want to use for a long period of time, can you recommend Nikon mirrorless cameras that I may want to research? I just watched your review on the 6iii and I have liked that so far, but I do not know much about the mirrorless cameras. Thank you.
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Before jumping to MILC, you might want to research lenses that you wish to use and compare the weights of these to their DSLR counterparts. I shoot D850 and I agree its hefty. The Zf is lighter but the lens weight could add to that. I agree the Z8 may be a more versatile body, but it's only a matter of a few ounces. I once tried a Zfc which is light (half the weight of a D850 or Z8 but it's a smaller body and a crop sensor.
 
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As to DSLR depreciation, I was late to the party and am not willing to sacrifice so much money to switch (5 bodies and more than a dozen lenses) to MILC. I can't so far find what I could do a lot better with an MILC system and my bodies combined have more shutter clicks remaining than I will have breath to use them.
 
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I currently own the Z8 and Z6ii. The difference in weight, which matters to me, is about 1/2 pound. If you want to print bigger than 13x19, you will want the Z8. If you don't need the image size, you will be happy with the Z6iii. I am in my 70's can walk all day with my Z6ii. When I owned the D850, I could get tired after a couple of hours (10 years ago).

If you buy one of the Z cameras, you swill love it. The quality of the image, low light sensitivity, eye-tracking autofocus and overall handling (customizable LCD screen menus and controls) are outstanding.

I would suggest renting one to see how you like it.
 
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becca2525 said:
I have owned so many model cameras over the years, and yes I do know they depreciate like cars do, I was just voicing my frustration after spending to upgrade finally to the D850 only to have mirrorless take over and do much of what my D850 does, but are much lighter. The weight of a camera never concerned me, but now my body is starting to yell back that it is not liking it, so I have been listening and trying to find a comparable compromise.
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Might be a silly suggestion, but have you tried something like a Black Rapid Curve shoulder strap. It was a game changer for me as I started to find the weight of the camera and lenses to heavy to hang around my neck
 
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I recommend renting a camera and lens, of the camera you may be interested in, and give it a good try. I tried that with the z9 and found that it was not for me. Did It a couple times until I found the one I liked. That way I did not loose a lot of money buying something I did not like.
 
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MikeCrapo said:
I recommend renting a camera and lens, of the camera you may be interested in, and give it a good try. I tried that with the z9 and found that it was not for me. Did It a couple times until I found the one I liked. That way I did not loose a lot of money buying something I did not like.
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Renting is a good idea.

Be aware however that these cameras are complicated to set up and run. You may want to do some advance study and take some time to configure the camera's menus.

Steve Perry;s setup guides are excellent.
 
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