Rumors: New Nikon Z9 Firmware Update With Enhanced AF Acquisition Coming Soon (or not 🙂)

[JAJohnson]

My take is this is an internal company FW update designed to showcase the PZ lenses and it may or may not be released in the future. Given the product cycle and competition, it's difficult to say whether FW updates are on the horizon or whether new features will be relegated to newer bodies.

A year ago I borrowed the DX PZ lens to test it with the Z9. The power zoom capability worked fine then, so nothing new there. As @Cameron T said, what's new is shutter angle and maybe other video-centric additions. Availability during first quarter of 2025, perhaps? We'll see.

 

[jpgrove]

According to NR

New Nikon Z9 firmware update version 5.10 spotted at a trade show - Nikon Rumors

Nikon Z9 firmware update version 5.10 was spotted at the Inter BEE 2024 trade show in Japan (reported here). The last officially released Z9 firmware update was version 5.0. Here is what to expect – new shutter angle for video: New control options for PZ lenses (rotate angles, direction): See...

nikonrumors.com

This is widely believed to be a development firmware and possibly specific to the features required for the lens.

 

[wotan1]

I continue to believe for many reasons that a firmware upgrade will happen.

When? No clue.

 

[ssheipel]

A .1 upgrade is coming says Nikon Rumors; photos of it on a camera at a trade show. Me, I think firmware 6.0 will come in the replacement for the Z9, which should be announced (for shipping a year from now) early next year.

 

[MatthewK]

I'll throw my rumor theory into the ring

Nikon is holding back the Z9 firmware until Canon & Sony both announce/ship their new flagships so as to steal some of the hype and convince the weak-willed not to jump ship. Guessing we'll see the FW after Nov 20 and before Christmas, and if we're lucky, before Black Friday/Cyber Monday... so next week.

Z8 will get nearly the same updates, but will NOT get RAW PreCapture due to heat management of the smaller body, whereas the Z9 is built for it. Potentially the Z8 will get PC in HE or HE*, but at the same time I don't believe Nikon will do a half-baked solution. Sorry, Z8 owners, but at least it'll get AF improvements though!

Going forward, I feel they'll begin to differentiate the lines more: Z9 II will drop to 24mpx, get GS and the top-tier AF so as to compete with the other flagships, while the Z8 II will stay in the 45mpx realm with the standard ES implementation we see now, but will be a smidge behind the Z9 II in terms of overall performance (AF, FPS, etc)

Or, Nikon stands pat, lets S and C pull further ahead, and then shocks the world next year with all new bodies with these features.

 

[Cameron T]

I'll throw my rumor theory into the ring

Nikon is holding back the Z9 firmware until Canon & Sony both announce/ship their new flagships so as to steal some of the hype and convince the weak-willed not to jump ship. Guessing we'll see the FW after Nov 20 and before Christmas, and if we're lucky, before Black Friday/Cyber Monday... so next week.

Z8 will get nearly the same updates, but will NOT get RAW PreCapture due to heat management of the smaller body, whereas the Z9 is built for it. Potentially the Z8 will get PC in HE or HE*, but at the same time I don't believe Nikon will do a half-baked solution. Sorry, Z8 owners, but at least it'll get AF improvements though!

I can almost believe all of this

Going forward, I feel they'll begin to differentiate the lines more: Z9 II will drop to 24mpx, get GS

These I'm not sure of, I don't think nikon would go backwards. I think they'd do a 45mp gs before going backwards, but I don't think they want to do that just yet either.

and the top-tier AF so as to compete with the other flagships,

imo, already does, but as we've seen, mileage may vary

 

[wotan1]

I notice Steve is being vewwy vewwy quiet. Is he hunting software updates?

I'll throw my rumor theory into the ring

Nikon is holding back the Z9 firmware until Canon & Sony both announce/ship their new flagships so as to steal some of the hype and convince the weak-willed not to jump ship. Guessing we'll see the FW after Nov 20 and before Christmas, and if we're lucky, before Black Friday/Cyber Monday... so next week.

Z8 will get nearly the same updates, but will NOT get RAW PreCapture due to heat management of the smaller body, whereas the Z9 is built for it. Potentially the Z8 will get PC in HE or HE*, but at the same time I don't believe Nikon will do a half-baked solution. Sorry, Z8 owners, but at least it'll get AF improvements though!

Going forward, I feel they'll begin to differentiate the lines more: Z9 II will drop to 24mpx, get GS and the top-tier AF so as to compete with the other flagships, while the Z8 II will stay in the 45mpx realm with the standard ES implementation we see now, but will be a smidge behind the Z9 II in terms of overall performance (AF, FPS, etc)

Or, Nikon stands pat, lets S and C pull further ahead, and then shocks the world next year with all new bodies with these features.

If the Z9ii went to 24 mp I would not buy it. I prefer the higher mp as I frequently crop or go dx to get extra reach and the higher mp content is important to me.

 

[TurtleCat]

I don’t see the Z9 going backwards in pixels. I think it will stay the same. The Z8 or Z7-3, on the other hand, could move higher. I also think Nikon is holding their cards and waiting to divert attention from Sony’s upcoming announcements. I hope non-Jpeg precapture comes to the Z8. They could do raw, maybe 12 bit for speed and size. I’d be happy with HE, though.

 

[JAJohnson]

Nikon is holding back the Z9 firmware until Canon & Sony both announce/ship their new flagships so as to steal some of the hype and convince the weak-willed not to jump ship. Guessing we'll see the FW after Nov 20 and before Christmas, and if we're lucky, before Black Friday/Cyber Monday... so next week.

Z8 will get nearly the same updates, but will NOT get RAW PreCapture due to heat management of the smaller body, whereas the Z9 is built for it. Potentially the Z8 will get PC in HE or HE*, but at the same time I don't believe Nikon will do a half-baked solution. Sorry, Z8 owners, but at least it'll get AF improvements though!

I expect enhancements to the Z8II to improve heat dissipation and it will retain most of the performance capabilities of the Z9II. I expect a Z8II to be released six to nine months following availability of the Z9II.

Regarding new Z9 FW:

Going forward, I feel they'll begin to differentiate the lines more: Z9 II will drop to 24mpx, get GS

Z9II with a 24MP sensor? Not a chance. Z9II will remain Nikon's flagship camera in nearly every way possible. Its sensor will exceed the Z9 sensor in readout speed and probably in resolution. Of course, we can expect numerous enhancements for stills and video.

 

[jpgrove]

I'll throw my rumor theory into the ring

Nikon is holding back the Z9 firmware until Canon & Sony both announce/ship their new flagships so as to steal some of the hype and convince the weak-willed not to jump ship. Guessing we'll see the FW after Nov 20 and before Christmas, and if we're lucky, before Black Friday/Cyber Monday... so next week.

Z8 will get nearly the same updates, but will NOT get RAW PreCapture due to heat management of the smaller body, whereas the Z9 is built for it. Potentially the Z8 will get PC in HE or HE*, but at the same time I don't believe Nikon will do a half-baked solution. Sorry, Z8 owners, but at least it'll get AF improvements though!

Going forward, I feel they'll begin to differentiate the lines more: Z9 II will drop to 24mpx, get GS and the top-tier AF so as to compete with the other flagships, while the Z8 II will stay in the 45mpx realm with the standard ES implementation we see now, but will be a smidge behind the Z9 II in terms of overall performance (AF, FPS, etc)

Or, Nikon stands pat, lets S and C pull further ahead, and then shocks the world next year with all new bodies with these features.

Next week is highly likely possibly Thursday, but seems logical before the usual Black Friday/Cyber Monday madness starts ;-)

We also need an update to Studio NX and the other software, unless the Z50 II was already baked into the previous updates.

Precapture raw isn't a heat issue, it's a memory issue; for which the Z9 currently still has a leak in. As for a MK II who knows. But I agree that in order to seperate the models (Z8 and Z9) firmware seems like a logical way to go.

Nikon knows the importance users have in firmware.

When people start comparing to other brands it get a bit silly, only people with deep pockets can shift brands each time a better model comes out, and while Nikon make a great deal of RnD money back from those users, they are not the main bread winners.

Nikon also knows that it needs to keep the Z9 community happy, because they are the main cash cow to recover RnD money, put everything into a cheaper body and they won't sell as many top of the range cameras.

 

[ajrmd]

I'll throw my rumor theory into the ring

Nikon is holding back the Z9 firmware until Canon & Sony both announce/ship their new flagships so as to steal some of the hype and convince the weak-willed not to jump ship. Guessing we'll see the FW after Nov 20 and before Christmas, and if we're lucky, before Black Friday/Cyber Monday... so next week.

Z8 will get nearly the same updates, but will NOT get RAW PreCapture due to heat management of the smaller body, whereas the Z9 is built for it. Potentially the Z8 will get PC in HE or HE*, but at the same time I don't believe Nikon will do a half-baked solution. Sorry, Z8 owners, but at least it'll get AF improvements though!

Going forward, I feel they'll begin to differentiate the lines more: Z9 II will drop to 24mpx, get GS and the top-tier AF so as to compete with the other flagships, while the Z8 II will stay in the 45mpx realm with the standard ES implementation we see now, but will be a smidge behind the Z9 II in terms of overall performance (AF, FPS, etc)

Or, Nikon stands pat, lets S and C pull further ahead, and then shocks the world next year with all new bodies with these features.

Has Nikon held back FW announcements to steal hype? Canon has already announced theirs and Sony has released teasers. Your timeline isn't too far off though I suspect that any FW releases would take advantage of Nikon's PZ 28-135 and cloud.

With respect to RAW pre-capture, I have no clue whether Nikon can or will add it to the existing bodies. It makes some economic sense for them to include this in the Z9II and Z8II. Alternatively, they could adopt a Sony/Canon pay for performance FW model. I doubt that RAW pre-capture would be predicated on heat because it usually takes advantage of the video pipeline. The Z8 should be able to handle that.

Your next assertion is one I would be hard pressed to imagine. Perhaps if Nikon was releasing a universal shutter, they might do so in a 24 MP body, though it would be otherwise unprecedented for them to reduce the MP.

Also, your "Or" doesn't seem very plausible either. I suspect they would likely release a Z9II with some advanced features including RAW pre-capture and improved AF.

 

[Wes Peterson]

I'll throw my rumor theory into the ring

Nikon is holding back the Z9 firmware until Canon & Sony both announce/ship their new flagships so as to steal some of the hype and convince the weak-willed not to jump ship. Guessing we'll see the FW after Nov 20 and before Christmas, and if we're lucky, before Black Friday/Cyber Monday... so next week.

Z8 will get nearly the same updates, but will NOT get RAW PreCapture due to heat management of the smaller body, whereas the Z9 is built for it. Potentially the Z8 will get PC in HE or HE*, but at the same time I don't believe Nikon will do a half-baked solution. Sorry, Z8 owners, but at least it'll get AF improvements though!

Going forward, I feel they'll begin to differentiate the lines more: Z9 II will drop to 24mpx, get GS and the top-tier AF so as to compete with the other flagships, while the Z8 II will stay in the 45mpx realm with the standard ES implementation we see now, but will be a smidge behind the Z9 II in terms of overall performance (AF, FPS, etc)

Or, Nikon stands pat, lets S and C pull further ahead, and then shocks the world next year with all new bodies with these features.

One of the biggest "selling points" of the Z9 is 8k60RAW internal without overheating. Cant do that with 24mp

 

[MatthewK]

guess we'll see!

 

[John Navitsky]

i think one "problem" with raw pre-capture is a bit of how nikon appears to define the use case. if you look at their settings that go to about 1 second pre and max (~4s) after, these are long times. as someone who really would just like 1/10 second to 1/4 second before and after you can see we're thinking about different problems. and nikon tends to try to solve use cases, not just add features. so if in their mind they need a couple of seconds worth of buffer, but they only have 20 frames of buffer, they might say "we shouldn't do it at all", where i'd be happy to have a small amount of buffer.

 

[jpgrove]

guess we'll see!

I don't think we'll have long to wait, and I also think the FW has been in Ambassadors hands for a while, so I also expect some YouTube/Social Media releases alongside to support the FW update.

 

[Tom Reynolds]

John-

I think you would ultimately NOT be happy. Pre-capture settings should be between .3 and .5 sec but you need a deep buffer to catch subsequent action. On the OM-1 mark 1 the buffer was about 100 frames so @ 50 f/s my setting was 20 pre, unlimited which worked out to about 80 shots. With this limitation I needed to be intentional using pre-capture and my normal setup was not pre-capture.

The OM-1 mark 2 doubled the buffer so not my normal method is pre-capture so I can follow a BIF or some other action.

I might add that Jan Wegener reviewed the Canon R5-2 and also concluded what I and many other OM-1 shooters concluded-shoot in pre-capture all the time

 

[John Navitsky]

It is possible that I haven't wrapped my head around this in a wholistic way when thinking about how the buffer limitations would impact the end result. But definitely I'm pretty sure i'd be happy with 1/4s on each end for my specific use case.

 

[Lee R]

I doubt it's a buffer issue at all especially if HE* or HE is used. The Z8/9 have pretty large buffer capacity.

It would be pretty smart to drop Pre-capture at 20 FPS in RAW just after Sony announces the A1ii and exceed the R5ii by a bit. That would leave those two more expensive with a little faster framerate but not much else advantage wise at a much higher price point.

They can add more framerate from that point in the Z9/8 ii series.

 

[fcotterill]

This is widely believed to be a development firmware and possibly specific to the features required for the lens.

At this stage it's a pre release demo build of the Z9 firmware, to demonstrate the preproduction video lens, with which Nikon possibly will showcase additional video controls.

Speculation but we can expect RED technology to trickle across into at least their flagship Z mount camera.

The second PZ zoom is close to release, and logically Nikon will release v5.1 at the same time, with new shutter controls etc

 

[Wes Peterson]

i think one "problem" with raw pre-capture is a bit of how nikon appears to define the use case. if you look at their settings that go to about 1 second pre and max (~4s) after, these are long times. as someone who really would just like 1/10 second to 1/4 second before and after you can see we're thinking about different problems. and nikon tends to try to solve use cases, not just add features. so if in their mind they need a couple of seconds worth of buffer, but they only have 20 frames of buffer, they might say "we shouldn't do it at all", where i'd be happy to have a small amount of buffer.

Id be happy with 3 extra frames at the beginning honestly, I dont need ANY at the end. Thats a setting I would have enabled almost all the time.

 

[mjais]

I cannot imagine either that the Z9 II will see a drop in resolution. I believe it will either have the same as the Z9 or get even more megapixels.
If Nikon wants to introduce a lower megapixel global shutter camera, I think they will use another model for that, maybe with the same body as the Z9 II.

I currently shoot with two Z8s, I've never used a Z9 but I would be interested in a Z9 II if it has some significant improvements over the Z8 like more resolution and/or a much higher frame rate (in a few situations this could be very useful) and maybe also significant AF improvements (not that I an not happy with the Z8 AF, most of the times it works perfectly for me.)

I assumed that Nikon already has the Z9 II fully designed and the specs clear and are now developing the software for it and testing it, so they can launch it in the 2nd half of 2025 or early 2026.
Of course, I am just guessing, but this seems somewhat realistic to me.

 

[jpgrove]

I believe sensor DR and Firmware are the areas which most users are interested in, I really dont see any reason to continue to push the MP range you dont gain a huge amount going to 61mp?

 

[pxPHIL]

From my initial comment. Nikon Z9 pixel shift will not be strictly necessary for me...but...with my landscape photography in mind I would dearly love to have this option handy in my back pocket. Damn it.....the Z8 Zf and Z6-3 already have it. I'm feeling very left out ..and let down by this omission.

Now coming up to December 2024. Am I the only Nikon Z9 user who is still bemoaning the lack of Pixel Shift? I find it very difficult to believe that Nikon will not be bringing this to the Z9. It is there on the ZF, Z6-111and Z8. I am really feeling very abandoned by Nikon. Have I missed any important Nikon announcements on this issue?

 

[jpgrove]

Now coming up to December 2024. Am I the only Nikon Z9 user who is still bemoaning the lack of Pixel Shift? I find it very difficult to believe that Nikon will not be bringing this to the Z9. It is there on the ZF, Z6-111and Z8. I am really feeling very abandoned by Nikon. Have I missed any important Nikon announcements on this issue?

The problem is that rumours earlier have stated all sorts of things, I don't feel abandoned at all and its entirely possible that some of the features that people believe may come to a Z9 might actually be for its replacement for nothing other than commercial reasons.

Unfortunately rumour, speculation have all fuelled a fire that we wouldn't know about without rumour sites.

But I am sure that many of the ambassadors, reviewers and long term YouTubers will have had access to something over the past few months and we can only wait it out and see what, if anything, is published over the next few weeks.

 

[ajrmd]

We're in the midst of major retailing so it is unlikely that a FW release will be coming any time soon. Nonetheless, it doesn't diminish the functionality of the current bodies, and it is probable that we'll see a FW update in the next couple of months.