Will the Nikon Z9 Deliver?

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So now we are looking at 12x the amount of data that can be analyzed in both directions - they’d better have the mother of all processors in there... or possibly it will be 20mp, again, which will mean trade-off vs the A1 when AF dynamics won’t be so critical. I hope they put some serious processing power and at least 30mp in that z9, that’d be a class act.
My guess is they'll still only feed some of the pixel data into the AF processing but with a lot more flexibility than the sparse horizontal rows they're using now and the ability to create crosspoint style AF points from sensor data.
 
A) lets hope it works and its not another fizzer
B) We are going to get screwed because we usually pay any price for a new toy and the manufactures know it.
C) Even the Z8 will be on the nose, and Nikon Knows that you will want the high end glass to go with it so the glass will be jacked up on price, so get ready to mortgage the house LOL

All this so we can better enjoy our images more on Instagram Flicker, our PCs lap tops I pads.......of course if your printing large images and selling them or making a full time living from this all there is the exception where a small mortgage doesn't matter LOL.

Looking forward to seeing the Z9 Z8 everyone has all ready been conditioned on their Z6 Z7 who will upgrade not to be left behind, well done Nikon.

Only and opinion
Oz down Under
 
A) lets hope it works and its not another fizzer
B) We are going to get screwed because we usually pay any price for a new toy and the manufactures know it.
C) Even the Z8 will be on the nose, and Nikon Knows that you will want the high end glass to go with it so the glass will be jacked up on price, so get ready to mortgage the house LOL

All this so we can better enjoy our images more on Instagram Flicker, our PCs lap tops I pads.......of course if your printing large images and selling them or making a full time living from this all there is the exception where a small mortgage doesn't matter LOL.

Looking forward to seeing the Z9 Z8 everyone has all ready been conditioned on their Z6 Z7 who will upgrade not to be left behind, well done Nikon.

Only and opinion
Oz down Under
You only live once!
 
I got a lead on the original article from Peter at Nikon Rumors. While in Japanese, Chrome did a good job translating. Technology seems intriguing. WIsh I understood it better.

 
Let's turn back the clock to 2003-2006. This was the D2 era. Canon had the 1D series. Nikon was dead. It's cameras were low resolution noise machines ect. In 2007 that all changed with the D3/D300 (the latter which I gave to my son who still it shoots today). Nikon was back ect. Then Canon jumped in with the 5D and the 1DMK4 and Nikon was dead again. Falling behind. Can't keep up ect. In 2016 came the D5/500 and in 2017 the D850. I would put those cameras up against anything on the market today. August 2018 the Z6 and 7 are announced. Canon doesn't respond until July 2020 (almost 2 years) with the the R5 and 6. Was Canon dead during those two years? Of course not. The various Sonys are good to great cameras. Does the A1 change the continuing game of leapfrogging? Is this time time that Nikon will fail? Possibly, but history tells us it is unlikely. I am happy to see healthy competition in the marketplace between 3 competing brands. That said, if anyone wants to sell a Nikon 600 f/4, as long as it is a G lens or newer, I'm interested.
 
I was waiting patiently for a pro level mirrorless from Nikon (or at least something with the equivalent performance of a D850). I tried both the z7 and the z7ii and neither satisfied my needs. Then I got excited for a while about the z9 when it was just a rumour. Then they announced it and I thought "finally it's here". Then I read it wouldn't be released until some time in late 2021. Then I just gave up on waiting and bought an A1. It was hard (and expensive) to switch systems, but it was time for a change anyway. I'd been shooting Nikon for 20 years and figured it was a good time to end the relationship. And I'm pretty happy I did!
 
Some times engineers get carried away with optimizing a system that works well enough as is.
Well of course. Then again, maybe they're working on things we can't even imagine. For example subject recognition. So you focus on the soccer player in the yellow jersey with number 11 and the camera keeps tracking yellow jersey number 11 no matter where it is in the frame. That would be cool.
 
Well of course. Then again, maybe they're working on things we can't even imagine. For example subject recognition. So you focus on the soccer player in the yellow jersey with number 11 and the camera keeps tracking yellow jersey number 11 no matter where it is in the frame. That would be cool.
Yes it would be. Use to a room size supercomputer to do the calculations. Now a specialized chip
 
Well of course. Then again, maybe they're working on things we can't even imagine. For example subject recognition. So you focus on the soccer player in the yellow jersey with number 11 and the camera keeps tracking yellow jersey number 11 no matter where it is in the frame. That would be cool.

I'd be good with voice commands: "eagle" "sparrow" "coyote" "moose".
 
Unlikely for it to be 20mp considering Nikon have already announced the Z9 will have 8K in it.

So now we are looking at 12x the amount of data that can be analyzed in both directions - they’d better have the mother of all processors in there... or possibly it will be 20mp, again, which will mean trade-off vs the A1 when AF dynamics won’t be so critical. I hope they put some serious processing power and at least 30mp in that z9, that’d be a class act.

has anybody seen any credible report that the z9 is in the hands of select Pros yet? The canon R3 has been spotted in the wild so we know it’s being evaluated, but I have seen zip on the z9.
 
A) I think the Z9 will be interesting but not with out incidents that will need refining, based purely on history.
B) To BEST utilize all the anticipated horse power performance especially the long awaited focus and tracking feature your going to need hot good glass.
C) The body will be dearer than the D6 or it may be a surprise and Nikon will have a 200-500 moment which would really be nice if the Z9 was cheaper.
I anticipate the good glass will be loaded to the hilt, the money is made on the lenses, one body usually equals on average 4 lenses.
D) It wont be a surprise if a counter response from Canon and Sony is sitting on the shelf waiting, after all in the street they seem like worriers, but collectively they are a monopoly.
E) Nikon has been giving Sony and Canon space and a run our front and that's all cool, now it could be tag team time, this may be Nikons turn for how ever long it lasts.
F) I wish Nikon would drop into the Z9 a larger than 35mm sensor, a entry level medium format size would be awesome, instantly you have high iso dynamic range, just add speed and tracking.

Really I think laying back on a white beach next to turquoise warm water with my girl friend both of us soaking up some sun and space for 12 months and let this torment come to a head or end.

Meanwhile I will enjoy what I have and focus on sun surf and love................

I hope it all comes off for Nikon besides them being painfully slow, complicated, left behind, politically run.

Only an opinion

Oz down Under
 
I think there's likely to be a number of challenges in the all-auto-everything-all-the-time capabilities people want. Essentially, you turn the high-end camera experience into something more closely akin to a smartphone, which already does much of this, but the smartphone has a far better designed and thought out user interface than the camera does. It's all built around the touch screen - are you willing to do all your interactions through the touch screen?

With functions like bird eye AF, you have issues like identifying which bird, which eye, and oh you don't have enough depth of field when you focus there instead of an inch ahead of it. The 'track where the user looks' function also depends on the user being able to look steadily at one point and then press a button to mark the choice (one of the things that sunk the first implementation). The just-look-at-the-target function in aircraft targeting is actually a much simpler problem.

I'm not saying that this can't be worked out (I used to be an engineer) but I really do think that the implementation is going to be a lot dicier (and less effective, at least at first) than people expect.
 
I was waiting patiently for a pro level mirrorless from Nikon (or at least something with the equivalent performance of a D850). I tried both the z7 and the z7ii and neither satisfied my needs. Then I got excited for a while about the z9 when it was just a rumour. Then they announced it and I thought "finally it's here". Then I read it wouldn't be released until some time in late 2021. Then I just gave up on waiting and bought an A1. It was hard (and expensive) to switch systems, but it was time for a change anyway. I'd been shooting Nikon for 20 years and figured it was a good time to end the relationship. And I'm pretty happy I did!


Understand and agree with you about not waiting on Nikon who may deliver or may not, they may be revolutionary or it may be the same old BS.

Time is needed, I believe with the High end pro models Nikon generally puts out relatively trouble free models, the Z9 may be the exception to being issue free as its a new generation.

Go hard and enjoy your A1, don't wait for Nikon, as long as you get in and out of a system at the right moment switching can be easy and not a major bath.
If Nikon is revolutionary then hey you can always switch back LOL.

Oz down under..........
 
I got a lead on the original article from Peter at Nikon Rumors. While in Japanese, Chrome did a good job translating. Technology seems intriguing. WIsh I understood it better.


The Z9 and future Nikons have to be revolutionary or else........its over

Oz down under
 
All this new innovation is great, the new technology and the race to beat competitors each leap frogging the other, will we be rewarded ?
Will things be restricted due to patents.....???

Oz down under
 
Steve, as usual, makes several excellent points that most likely the Z9 (and any of the mirrorless) will perform better with native glass. That means my Nikon 500mm f/4 will probably not perform as well as a native lens (and for Nikon that doesn't exist at that focal length right now). So, my rather heavy investment in Nikon DSLR glass will likely be sub-par with a Z9.

Steve's other excellent point is to think about, if you switch to another system, is there a real benefit now, as in right now. For the Sony A1 with bird and animal eye focus tracking, the answer I believe is yes.

Finally, I look at the Sony 600mm f/4 and see that it is actually the same weight (or a tad lighter) than my Nikon 500mm. So, I would get extra reach AND no weight penalty!

The one thing that was keeping me holding on to the Nikon system was the Nikon 500mm pf f/5.6, which I really like. The D850 and that 500 pf is a very hand holdable system and I like the results (a lot) when there's sufficient light.

Now I have the Sony A1 and am super impressed. If I can get the sony 600mm then I will make the full switch over to Sony. I completely understand the point of why not wait and see....and so I'm not selling the Nikon system today....but likely after my first real wildlife shoot with the sony system in Dec.
 
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