Just watched the Z8 video. How exciting. They are bringing the Z7III to market but rebranding it the Z8! BH is hyping the Z8 as the "top of the Nikon line". Absolutely disappointing and totally pathetic but totally unshocking.
The only other sign that speaks more clearly about this obvious step backwards is Nikons financial reports. This camera and Nikons earning reports both send one message loud and clear. The handwriting just got spray painted a subway wall. We are only a few years away from Nikons only profitable products being medical and specialty science optics.
SAMSUNG, SONY and Apple CFOs ae laughing their butts off today watching as the Niktanic Corporation speeds up to flank speed as it approach's it's last iceberg.
The takeaway I got from the video review is that Nikon thinks that taking the Z9 concept and making it inferior is the wave of the future in their business model. The Z8 sounds like the economy Corvette that Chevrolet built and renamed the Corvair once upon a time. Nobody who ever saw a Corvette was interested in a Corvair. I especially enjoyed Nikons idea to strip memory card capability and a few other "minor" sacrifices to go back to smaller, much cheaper batteries. It would seem that Nikon's cut of the 250 dollar battery market was significantly less than anticipated so the answer was to concede defeat and downgrade camera systems that required more current. Sheer brilliance.
Got to love the practice of replacing excellence with mediocrity in marketing to suit the Dollars Store camera shopping mentality in hopes that more employees won't have to be laid off or factories closed. It appears to me like the surest sign that Nikon is preparing to tap out of the fight. And that anyone who bought the Z9 bought the last superior quality, advanced camera body that the Nikon Imaging Products Business will ever produce. The announcement of the Z8 is one of the surest signs I can imagine that the resale value of Z9 bodies will remain eternally high and they may be worth more used than they were new when the Z9 is eventually discontinued and the only option is the Z7 MKIII/Z8 MKI.
In fairness the Z9 hype got Nikon back up to around 9 dollars a share and the Z8 release drama has the stock surging to double digits at over 10.50 up from the low of 6.05 cents in 2020. The price will plummet towards the all time low of a few years ago of around 6 bucks a share when Z8 sales decline after any initial sales enthusiasm. If Nikon is lucky the stock will find support at 6 bucks but if it doesn't, with no new mass market Z excitement the next forecast might call for NINOY stock to level out at 2 or 3 bucks a share. If Nikon stock collapses, it will reflect the unimaginative effort and the quality reduction required to produce the Z8.
Maybe I have screwed up expectations of past great corporations, but if what Steve is holding in his hands in the video is what Nikon views as the savior leading all Nikon users to the promised land the only words that come to mind are absolutely pathetic.
But, oh well. I already have a Z7, Z7II and a Z9 and this lame offering has nothing to interest anyone who has ever touched a Z9 or a Z7II for that matter. On the plus side, the Z8 release may be a great factor in driving down used Z6 and Z7 prices down for those who want to move into the mirrorless world from DSLR so it may be not a totally useless addition the Z series.
