Z9 it is....

[Kjellis]

I still feel that the coming Z9 with your 500E lens is a vastly better proposition than the Canon R6 with the 500II, even if it takes half a year of patience. The R6 is ony 20mp, does not have a stacked sensor, does not have an integrated grip, and does not take your 500E.

Believe me, I have jumped around my own fair bit, e.g. not suffering 6 months of waiting for the 500PF when it was impossible to get. I have learned my lesson I guess, just stick with what you like and wait a bit longer, otherwise chances are that you will be changing back like I did a few times. I could easily buy a Nikon Z9 for all the money thát cost me I can tell you.

I’m really hoping you’re right and crossing fingers that the Z9 will work flawlessly with my 500E. I would also really like a new FTZ adaptor that is round and not as plasticy as it is nowI don’t think I will make a decision until I see what the Z9 brings.

 

[eaj101]

You might want to take into consideration that all camera makers are experiencing major supply chain problems. The A1 and a9ii have seen delays and backlogs, much of what Canon has 'announced' isn't shipping in volume yet, and we've seen Nikon struggling to ship as well. This is going to go on until the pandemic-induced glitches get worked out (engineers can't travel to factories, worldwide semiconductor shortages...) You could do a lot worse than buying a used D500 and holding on for a while.

 

[Woodpecker]

Belonging to the generation that had the privilege to shoot Fuji FinePix S2pro, S3pro and S5pro I know that a lot of brains are orbiting around the idea of enhancing the dynamic range of camera sensors for a lot of time now and some of us know that even the first attempts going in a direction of what Nikon is now trying to do with the stacked sensor were rendering excellent results, outperforming the conventional sensors by a couple of F-stops in dynamic range. So I'm really curious about what the Z9 will be able to do with this new sensor. Shooting with really Hi ISO in difficult scenarios means loosing quite some dynamic range and thus IQ these days or at least requires extra time in post. If then the Z9 finally also catches up to the mirrorless competion and thus compensates the drawbacks against DSLRs that are still existing, I think this machine will be really tempting ... and for many people including myself probably the final turnaround for completely changing towards mirrorless withoug having to change the brand.

On the other hand that it usually takes several years until normal people can actually buy things that Nikon has put on the market, I am still following the the Z story looking at the Z6/Z7 part of the game and what these cameras will be able to "learn" via firmware in the future. May be there's even a Z8 that is not just as horribly expensive .

Maybe we are running out of nature and wildlife here before the Z9 finally materializes.

That said, looking at the prices that were initially called for the D850 when it came out and compare it with the introductory price level of the Z7 - at least here - I could imagine that the Z9 will be still be considerably cheaper than the D6 as the top level DSLR. And this is not more but logical, because the same logic known from conventional versus E-cars also applies to DSLR versus mirrorless. These cameras are much easier to manufacture, having much less parts with especially missing out on all the moving bits and pieces as well as the drive(s) required for it.

Until then I'll be happy continue shooting my D4s and D850 hoping to get good enough to be worth it holding a Z9 in my hands, hoping that it becomes available before I reach the state of becoming organic waste .

 

[fcotterill]

Interview with an Executive of Nikon Japan. Published on Thursday, machine translation struggles with some of the prose...

ニコンIJ・若尾氏が語る、「人とつながり、喜びを共有できるカメラの真の楽しさ、美しさをもっと多くの人に知ってもらいたい」 - PHILE WEB

ニコンIJ・若尾氏が語る、「人とつながり、喜びを共有できるカメラの真の楽しさ、美しさをもっと多くの人に知ってもらいたい」

www.phileweb.com

Nikon: Team Developing the Z9 Understands its Grand Expectations

"The Z9 is being developed as a camera that photographers of all genres can use with satisfaction."

petapixel.com