Nikon Z9 rumored specs just leaked !

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Gottshotz

Gottshotz

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Nikon Rumors have just leaked (from a reliable source ?) some pretty exciting specs for the new 46 MP Z9 mirrorless Pro camera said to arrive next fall, 2021. Interesting that they decided to do this announcement exactly a week before the official launch of their Z6 II and Z7 II cameras. Are they trying to protect the sales of the new Z7 as the Z9 will be almost twice the price ?
 
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Jason said:
Seems like an odd marketing strategy if true. A patient person would skip the Z7II and save their pennies for the Z9.
Of course how many of us are patient :LOL:
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Yes I agree--it seemed bizarre timing to me. I would have thought that Nikon's poor financial state would have dictated giving the Z6II and more particularly the Z7II a clear run at generating the max income before teasing with the prospect of another 45 MP (albeit pro model) in a years time.
 
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One reliable guideline is the tendency of Nikon to stick to traditions. Since the 1960s, they have targeted many of their flagship products to shoot international sports. Launches of their pro DSLRs are timed for the Olympics on a 4 yr cycle. This predictability has become a tradition. Lowlight imaging challenges 45mp sensors. This is why the D6 persists with 20mp, which was a relatively minor advance from the 16mp D4 to the D5. All these "Pro-sensors" sacrifice Dynamic Range for industry-leading lowlight performance. We have known that sensor technology has levelled off since before the D5/D850 sensors, hitting limits in controlling noise etc. So these constraints inherent in matured sensor technology are not speculation.

If this Pro MILC is aimed at Pro Sports (with a 400 f2.8S no less) a high resolution sensor will be a handicap... A 46mp sensor of a Pro sports camera questions this Rumour but it may be picking up only bits and pieces of the entire spec sheet (a moving target in any case). But I would speculate the "Z9" might extend a recent Z System trend we see in the distinct Z6 and Z7 lines, and now going to vII. The complimentary specs of the sensors in the Z7 (D850) vs Z6 (D780/D5/D6) work well for many photographers.

In summary, assuming we will see a Z9 for Pro Sports and other challenging lowlight subjects, Nikon will repeat a Twinning. Thus, package the same AF, haptics and menus etc into a Z8. Wallets permitting, we will then have the highest-spec DR, tolerate cropping etc etc; these features combined with Z9/D6 standard AFC will be most impressive! It'll be ideal to shoot macro, landscapes etc, as well as wildlife, or high resolution anywhere. As with the D850, a 45mp Z8 will be a hit for outdoor genres. Both will be Professional cameras, with Z6 and Z7 as (somewhat) more affordable prosumer options. [There are sound reasons Joe McNally quipped "...the D850 is the camera of totality"]

For all forthcoming higher end Z cameras, Nikon's persisting with twinned models will be a shrewd and cost-effective tactic. This can only widen market appeal, focus complementary products for specific clients; and obviously, it streamlines production costs by sharing a majority of parts, Firmware etc (as we see in the v1 Z prosumer cameras and soon in the vII Zeds) . So a complimentary pair of Z9 and Z8 is possible: pioneering vIII technology. And it will be logically cost effective to clone off upgrades - not least vIII specs into the future Z6 and Z7 in 2023 etc.
 
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While I have a feeling the timing is probably about right on when the Z9 is going to be released, I tend to agree about the specs being a bit suspect. It seems odd they would go for a higher res camera as their primary pro body - they've never done it before (although they have had high res pro bodies in addition to the standard modes - the "X" variants).

That said, you pretty much need 40MP+ if you want to do 8K video - which is in the rumored specs for this camera. So, if they want a pro body that can do 8K video, then, yup, they'll probably go with their 46MP sensor.

I wonder if Mayne we'll see two versions of the Z9 - a Z9 @24Mp or so for low light / fast action and a Z9x for higher res work and 8K video. Either way, I'm VERY interested in this camera.

What's even more intriguing though, for me anyway, is they are talking about the first big prime - a 400 2.8S. I usually shoot longer glass, but at least it's a start.
 
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Yah Steve, as I hypothesized they are probably going to repeat a twinning of Pro, as Nikon has with its Prosumer Z MILCs. If this ever happens, it will be interesting if siblings ie staggered releases or real twins sharing the same birthday.
According to Nikon's own answers in a French interview, the sports pros do not rate high end video as major specification/feature, so it's been a sideline in the D5 and D6. Apparently, the primary reason is shooting motion footage is off limits legally at these Pro sports events. But perhaps next year will see a fork in the road ie twinned Pro Z MILCs.

EDIT: Furthermore, an interview/lab visit by Imaging Resource went into some details about Nikon's sensor design lab, and specifically the team effort at big cost to design the D5 sensor. There were rumours Nikon also designed its D850 sensor. If these sensor in this Pro FX ILC, it can only be one revolutionary sensor. It will be unlike anything yet designed if it's going to maximize DR at ISO64 and then deliver low-noise images at ISO25600 ie ISO 64 – 25,600, Hi1, Hi2. But the D5 / D6 sensor is officially rated ISO 100 to 102400. Intriguing to ask how this "Z9" is going to deliver the goods in lowlight?
 
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My hope is that the Nikon Z9 delivers the AF performance, sensible AF system, high fps, and blackout free shooting needed. I had planned to switch to mirrorless a year ago but in my opinion Nikon has not delivered the goods to retire my D500s with any of the Z cameras. I have zero interest in a rumored D580 or D880. At this point in my mind it is the soon to be announced SONY A9 III with phenomenal rumored specifications or the Nikon Z9. My preference is to stick with Nikon BUT Nikon has to finally deliver the mail. Either way I will be shooting with a mirrorless system in about a year. I will wait until Nikon announces the Z9 but hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.
 
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fyi
This is only speculation at this stage (verging into clickbait), but he's probably correct on most of these points IMHO. Exceptions being many of the same individuals will still own multiple cameras.
Above all, high quality images in lowlight is still the key question - so Thom's Point #1 is still the proverbial pachyderm in the outdoor studio. My planning to get a D5 (D6) is for decent IQ @ ISO12 800 in the gloaming, and even 256 000 (with NR in post)

"... Rumors—and not just about the upcoming Sony A9 iteration—seem to indicate that the days of low pixel count but high speed are nearing an end. Nikon's upcoming high-end mirrorless camera is also rumored to be a high pixel count camera. Meanwhile, the recent Canon R5 will happily fire away its 45mp at 20 fps. ..."

Did Something Change? | Sans Mirror | Thom Hogan

Something changed in the top level camera designs
sansmirror.com sansmirror.com
 
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RockvilleBob said:
My hope is that the Nikon Z9 delivers the AF performance, sensible AF system, high fps, and blackout free shooting needed. I had planned to switch to mirrorless a year ago but in my opinion Nikon has not delivered the goods to retire my D500s with any of the Z cameras. I have zero interest in a rumored D580 or D880. At this point in my mind it is the soon to be announced SONY A9 III with phenomenal rumored specifications or the Nikon Z9. My preference is to stick with Nikon BUT Nikon has to finally deliver the mail. Either way I will be shooting with a mirrorless system in about a year. I will wait until Nikon announces the Z9 but hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.
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Nikons third iterations have been remarkably good so far (D3, D850), let’s hope history repeats itself
 
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While I am very happy I switched to Nikon cameras when the D500 came out and while I really like my Nikon lenses, the Z cameras have left me scratching my head in bewilderment. I am taking a wait and see attitude especially since it took two years to come up with the Z II cameras which were introduced with a lot of hype and little substance when it comes to autofocus tracking and fps throughput. The design of the FTZ adapter degrades AF on F mount lenses. Therefore going to the Z9 means acquiring new glass. Going to a SONY A9 III also requires new glass. If people can be fluent in multiple languages I can deal with two menu systems. My hope is for less pizazz and more substance in the Z9, specifically industry leading: AF, subject tracking, and handling F mount lenses with a new, well engineered, adapter. In the meantime I know the capability of my Nikon cameras exceeds my ability and I will continue to enjoy them until this time next year or when the Z9 is announced. However at this time next year I will be shooting with a mirrorless system, the Nikon Z9 or the SONY A9 III.
 
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I currently shoot with a D500 & love it, can someone tell me what advantages someone like me would gain from making the move from DSLR to mirrorless?
The one factor that I really like though is the silent shooting capability of the mirrorless system, but is that enough of a reason for the type of shooting I do being a novice & amateur to make that costly move?
Not having been blessed with children (“well!, none that I know of!”) has put me in the fortunate position of being able to spoil myself from time to time, but I don’t want to move to the mirrorless system just because everyone else is.

Please help a very confused markymark!
 
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markymark said:
I currently shoot with a D500 & love it, can someone tell me what advantages someone like me would gain from making the move from DSLR to mirrorless?
The one factor that I really like though is the silent shooting capability of the mirrorless system, but is that enough of a reason for the type of shooting I do being a novice & amateur to make that costly move?
Not having been blessed with children (“well!, none that I know of!”) has put me in the fortunate position of being able to spoil myself from time to time, but I don’t want to move to the mirrorless system just because everyone else is.

Please help a very confused markymark!
Click to expand...

A main benefit I see for me is shooting when light changes fast and fairly often. This happened to me on an outing I took that involved travel and only allowed one day for shooting. The light changed due to fast moving dense clouds. I was shooting AutoISO and it was reaching its limits. Fortunately I was with a guide shooting a mirrorless system who was able to see the histogram in his viewfinder as conditions quickly changed and called it to my attention. So seeing the histogram as I shoot is a major plus for me as I contemplate a switch to mirrorless. When the light rapidly changes during local outings and images are not ideal - no big deal - I go back to shoot another day. When traveling or encountering a one time situation I look forward to seeing the histogram in the viewfinder.

The other change is a better AF system that does not rely on a flapping mirror and two different light paths for AF. There would be no fine focus adjustment, AF is done on the sensor.

My D500 AF is terrific, I expect AF and tracking from a mirrorless system to be even better without a prism splitting light paths, add another split of light between a sensor and AF processor and a mirror flapping around.

If designers were starting today with two choices a system that involves no flapping mirror, a pentaprism and dual paths for AF versus a system that does all the work right on the sensor there would be an obvious choice. For this reason I sense most future cameras will be mirrorless, keep it simple. This change to mirrorless also potentially involves new lenses. Manufacturers are mostly investing in developing lenses for mirrorless cameras.

So while I feel my current D500's are not far behind the curve in terms of AF today, I feel they will fall behind as newer improved technology and software replaces DSLR technology and the DSLR will go the way of the twin reflex camera, probably at a fairly good pace.

I am looking to add more lenses and do not want to invest in lenses that will not perform optimally on future camera bodies. Therefore I am not buying lenses until I decide which mirrorless camera to use in the future.

I do other photography besides wildlife. For much of that photography the benefits of making a change to morrorless are negligible, virtually nill especialy when I use mirror up and live view. So I plan to keep my existing gear for those photography outings and look to mirrorless for wildlife and action photography. I will be using two systems for some time to come.
 
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markymark said:
I currently shoot with a D500 & love it, can someone tell me what advantages someone like me would gain from making the move from DSLR to mirrorless?
The one factor that I really like though is the silent shooting capability of the mirrorless system, but is that enough of a reason for the type of shooting I do being a novice & amateur to make that costly move?
Not having been blessed with children (“well!, none that I know of!”) has put me in the fortunate position of being able to spoil myself from time to time, but I don’t want to move to the mirrorless system just because everyone else is.

Please help a very confused markymark!
Click to expand...

I did a list:

Top 10 Mirrorless Advantages

In the post, Are You Shooting Mirrorless Yet, I mentioned that I'm happily shooting both DSLRs and mirrorless at the moment, but in the not-so-distant future I can see myself shooting 100% mirrorless all the time. This generated a great question - besides weight, what's the advantage to...
bcgforums.com bcgforums.com
 
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Steve said:
I did a list:

Top 10 Mirrorless Advantages

In the post, Are You Shooting Mirrorless Yet, I mentioned that I'm happily shooting both DSLRs and mirrorless at the moment, but in the not-so-distant future I can see myself shooting 100% mirrorless all the time. This generated a great question - besides weight, what's the advantage to...
bcgforums.com bcgforums.com
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply Steve.
Could I still use my old lenses on a mirrorless body using an adaptor without too many issues?
 
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"With BSI and other advances, the light collection on a full frame sensor is about the same whether the sensor has 20, 24, 36, or 45mp." Thom Hogan - http://www.sansmirror.com/newsviews-2/did-something-change.html
That's a seismic shift for us.
Though I shoot Sony 24 (A9) and 42 (A7R III) mpix cameras and we're not quite there yet. The A9 AE can pretty much be left to itself while the 7R III needs to be driven with high contrast subjects.
 
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While I was in Norway, in 2019, photographing polar bears, I used a fellow photographer's Sony 9 mirrorless camera, and was amazed at the tracking capability. But, the menus for me were not intuitive. Then on my recent trip to Alaska 2020, another photog was shooting with the Canon R5 and a Canon 100-400mm RF lens. I was quite impressed with the quality of his shots plus the capability to use an AF tracking system (in camera) on wildlife and birds. My question: Does the Nikon Z7ii or Z6ii have a similar AF tracking for wildlife/birds capability? Will the new Z9 have that same AF tracking system? I would like to stay with Nikon but I have not been impressed with Nikon's mirrorless cameras.
 
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Ziggy said:
"With BSI and other advances, the light collection on a full frame sensor is about the same whether the sensor has 20, 24, 36, or 45mp." Thom Hogan - http://www.sansmirror.com/newsviews-2/did-something-change.html
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting Thom's 'Did Something Change' post. I have to say after reading it though, I don't understand his point. The paragraph continues, "If you're talking about output that isn't stretching pixels out into visibility (e.g. almost all news reporting and even sports photography such as the Sports Illustrated magazine spreads), then the visible noise is the same. But what about cropping to get the sports image, you ask? Same thing applies, as if you don't have enough lens, you'd be cropping both a 20mp and a 45mp image."
OK - visible noise is the same. what about cropping.. "as if you don't have enough lens,..", you'd be cropping either 20 or 45 mp image. Then he goes on to say the only thing he doesn't like about the Canon R6 is it's only 20mp..
So I'm confused by his message: visible noise across the mp sensor range is now the same, cropping the 20 or the 45 is the same (how? just for visible noise, but we know that's not the only factor?). Then he goes on to say something I have no difficulty with - the only thing he doesn't like about the R6 is it's only 20mp.. What am I missing?
 
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Having slept on this attention-getting story, our friend Thom overlooks sensor technology levelled off ~5 years ago with the D5 sensor (also in D6). According to Nikon they designed this 20mp in-house but it's mass produced by other facilities...Nikon R&D invested considerable efforts in optimizing its specs for lowlight etc.

The noise suppression of BSI sensors eg 24mp Z6 (2018) don't quite match that in the D5's. Comparing data plots of NR/DR etc in PhotonstoPhotos leads one to conclude sensor technology has levelled off wrt to lowlight quality of the images, processed into RAWs in-silico. The trade off are in pixel size vs ISO (ie Read-noise). Refined Lithography has enabled tinier pixels (ie 60mp on a FX sensor) but the penalties escalate at higher ISOs.

This is the trade off we cannot escape in striving to get more Pixels/Duck in less and less light (and is also relatively tolerant of cropping in Posts-processing). New noise-suppression algorithms in PP software are a solution, but they are not ideal, compared to a low noise-sensor such as D6 or Z7.

What the article is claiming requires a most impressive leap upward in micro-electronics i.e. a D850 sensor with types-D5 image quality at IS0 25000. Nothing in current ILC FX sensors points to this contra Thom. It will be delight to learn if such a sensor exists/is pending ;) :)

fcotterill said:
fyi
This is only speculation at this stage (verging into clickbait), but he's probably correct on most of these points IMHO. Exceptions being many of the same individuals will still own multiple cameras.
Above all, high quality images in lowlight is still the key question - so Thom's Point #1 is still the proverbial pachyderm in the outdoor studio. My planning to get a D5 (D6) is for decent IQ @ ISO12 800 in the gloaming, and even 256 000 (with NR in post)

"... Rumors—and not just about the upcoming Sony A9 iteration—seem to indicate that the days of low pixel count but high speed are nearing an end. Nikon's upcoming high-end mirrorless camera is also rumored to be a high pixel count camera. Meanwhile, the recent Canon R5 will happily fire away its 45mp at 20 fps. ..."

Did Something Change? | Sans Mirror | Thom Hogan

Something changed in the top level camera designs
sansmirror.com sansmirror.com
Click to expand...
txstone said:
Thanks for posting Thom's 'Did Something Change' post. I have to say after reading it though, I don't understand his point. The paragraph continues, "If you're talking about output that isn't stretching pixels out into visibility (e.g. almost all news reporting and even sports photography such as the Sports Illustrated magazine spreads), then the visible noise is the same. But what about cropping to get the sports image, you ask? Same thing applies, as if you don't have enough lens, you'd be cropping both a 20mp and a 45mp image."
OK - visible noise is the same. what about cropping.. "as if you don't have enough lens,..", you'd be cropping either 20 or 45 mp image. Then he goes on to say the only thing he doesn't like about the Canon R6 is it's only 20mp..
So I'm confused by his message: visible noise across the mp sensor range is now the same, cropping the 20 or the 45 is the same (how? just for visible noise, but we know that's not the only factor?). Then he goes on to say something I have no difficulty with - the only thing he doesn't like about the R6 is it's only 20mp.. What am I missing?
Click to expand...
 
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