Nikon releases the Z8 mirrorless camera

Nikon releases the Z8 mirrorless camera:

https://www.nikon.com/company/news/2023/0510_mirrorless_01.html

It's been 30 minutes since launch and Nauticam STILL don't have a housing for it!... (s)

The two specs I am most interested in - what is the fastest flash synch with the electronic shutter (might be slow - might be very fast)?

What are the specs of the EVF? As that is the critical feature for those coming from SLR.

Haven’t found info on either yet.

Alex

"The Z8 also has the same 3.69 million dot EVF as the Z9.” on Petapixel

I hear mention that flash synch is only 1/200th, but not from a reliable source. 

Alex

@Alex_Mustard
 

Typical specs, only electronic shutter, so 1/200 flash sync and a round about 3 mil EVF. First review said, its the same AF and has its problems when its compared to a Canon R5 or Sony A7RV. 

Still a very good body from Nikon, getting a high resolution stacked sensor for 4.000$ will make this system a best seller. Don't know how extrem the AF will be worse underwater. 

3690k-dot (Quad VGA) OLED
 

https://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/mirrorless-cameras/z-8.html#tab-ProductDetail-ProductTabs-TechSpecs

1/200th is a disappointment for underwater shooting. Wish it has been like the D70 electronic shutter and synch at any shutter speed.

For most Nikon topside shooters it pretty much hits all the marks. 

The limited battery life could be an issue underwater as it's trickier to change batteries. For weddings (she who must be obeyed) a Sony A9 with 24-70 2.8 is 350g lighter than the same with a Z8, and with better battery life and 450g lighter than the D850 with 24-70 she is currently using.

@Alex_Mustard I am looking forward to your review of this camera with a Nauticam UW housing! Especially the area of AF speed and accuracy underwater.

40 minutes ago, LarryHallas said:

@Alex_Mustard I am looking forward to your review of this camera with a Nauticam UW housing! Especially the area of AF speed and accuracy underwater.

I definitely want to try it. And if I like it, I’ll still consider getting one.

My best window for this is end of July - when I have workshop in Cayman. I don’t have many other trips this year which I’d want to dedicate to a review - which is a kind a review in itself. If it was amazing on paper I’d take it on any trip!  

2 hours ago, PeteAtkinson said:

It's been 30 minutes since launch and Nauticam STILL don't have a housing for it!... (s)

 

Here it is:

https://www.nauticam.com/products/na-z8-underwater-housing-for-the-nikon-z8-camera

I suspect we will get higher synch speeds with future electronic upgrades - faster stacked sensors and or faster CPUs. The D70 had a CCD sensor that enabled the higher synch speeds. I have shot zero flash pix with my Z9 so have not seen this as a problem. I have shot 4-digit ISOs of birds - so far so good. Not missing ISO 64 thus far. Maybe, if I copied some old slides or negatives….

I do not see a battery issue at least for warm water open circuit scuba. One of the vid reviewers got a couple 1000 shots on one charge. FYI, I have done >10K shots without draining the battery in my Z9 at coolish temperatures ~5 °C.

5 hours ago, JYk said:

@Alex_Mustard
 

First review said, its the same AF and has its problems when its compared to a Canon R5 or Sony A7RV.

For wildlife, Steve Perry reviewed this (Z9) and he's a critical wlidlife top side shooter. He says a7rv is marginally better. So what problems are there? Can you link to your source?

Also for underwater, I don't expect any company to invest any funding into AF systems tailored for underwater / fish. We're a drop in the ocean compared to topside shooters. But I do expect the system to work flawlessly with back button focus, AF-C and the usual methods++. Whilst Backscatter, in my opinion, finds more pros than cons with all cameras (given they sell them...) had the following to say about the Z9, which in theory should apply 1:1 to Z8: https://www.backscatter.com/reviews/post/Nikon-Z9-Underwater-Camera-Review#:~:text=The Nikon Z9 is a,great control placement and ergonomics.&text=The battery is significantly larger,mirrorless and DSLR Nikon cameras.

Quote

Nikon’s 3D tracking autofocus really started to shine on the Nikon D850 and from that point on is THE gold standard for tracking AF in the industry which other camera companies have since tried (with some success) to imitate. Unfortunately with the launch of the full-frame mirrorless Z series the autofocus system we all knew and loved disappeared and in its place was a much less familiar AF system that did not include the coveted 3D tracking AF. There was a way to initiate some AF tracking but it's slow and clunky to use and didn’t track anywhere near as good. For the Nikon Z9, Nikon brought back the 3D tracking AF and the functionality is basically the same as it is in the Nikon D850 and Nikon D6.
 

Nikon made some improvements to the AF system including 2 stops better lowlight sensitivity compared to Nikon D850 and the ability to use subject recognition, which you can set to auto, or for either people, animals, or vehicles. I tried animal which lists dogs, cats, and birds, but unfortunately no fish. Animal resulted in the camera not tracking very well on macro subjects. I switched subject recognition to auto and it worked much better with macro subjects. I never switched it back after that and it behaved more like the reliable 3D tracking I’m used to with previous Nikon cameras for both macro and wide-angle.

You may want to read the Backscatter review for the Sony A1 in which they say that the Sony 90mm macro is now the best focusing macro in the market. In the recent Sony A7R V review Backscatter said the the camera had the best auto focus of any camera they have used to date. Keep in mind that these are all reviews largely done by the same one or two reviewers that have been hard core Nikon D850 fans for years. 

Regarding Alex main issues the electronic shutter only allows for a max sync of 1/200th which is an issue for many and the EVF is not in the same league as the one in the Sony A1 and A7R V cameras. 

We all know that Nikon has an excellent reputation but I think they are struggling to keep up with Canon R5 and Sony A7R V which are all at the same price point +/- on release.

All totally fair points @Phil Rudin!

@Alex_Mustard I hope you don't mind me asking, but in your review of the Sony A7RV, you mentioned:
 

Quote

The original Mirrorless I reviewed, the Oly EM-5 had a 1.4 million dot EVF. The Nikon Z6/7/9 and Mk2 versions all have a 3.7 million dot EVF. Canon’s R5 has a 5.8 million dot EVF as does the Sony a7R IV. The a7R V weighs in with 9.4 million dots.

Shooting with an EVF is a different experience from shooting with an optical viewfinder. And while the Sony a7R V clearly has one of the best around, it still does not quite live up to an optical viewfinder with those high dynamic range scenes. That said, I was very happy shooting it, and with the classic dynamic range challenge I could see exactly where the fish was on the reef and also where the background silhouetted diver was posing against the sun. It is the first time I can say that about a mirrorless I have tried

Did you ever try out the Z6, Z7 or Z9 for comparison? Whilst I would love the Z9 for top side wildlife, I fear the 3.7 million dot EVF may be an annoyance for underwater macro for darker areas.

29 minutes ago, Phil Rudin said:

You may want to read the Backscatter review for the Sony A1 in which they say that the Sony 90mm macro is now the best focusing macro in the market. In the recent Sony A7R V review Backscatter said the the camera had the best auto focus of any camera they have used to date. 

For me the features of the Z8, especially the improvement in AF is a game changer. I have far too much invested in Nikon Z glass and Nauticam N120 ports to switch to Sony. With the Z8, I can now have good underwater AF whilst maintaining my significant investment. Also, I agree Sony may have better AF above water, I don’t think there have been enough comparisons to the AF of the Z9 to the A7R V underwater. There are just not that many Z9 UW reviews. I am looking forward to more reviews on the Z8 UW AF by more shooters for a head-to-head comparison to Sony A7R V UW AF.

One of the vids I watched earlier today mentioned that the Nikon EVF (Z9 and Z8) was far brighter than any of the other mirrorless cameras. Having more resolution (in the EVF) means more data to transfer and thus likely to have a slower refresh rate causing other problems. Nikon seems to have made a good compromise here. I see no issues in my Z9's EVF.

A potential user error is to assume the AF of a new camera works the same as one from the past - Thom Hogan discussed this recently in his blog. One has to spend some time learning a new camera. There are a lot of AF options. I have been mostly using what I think of as the "fallen obelisk" also used in the D6 - a hybrid between 2001(the movie) and Easter Island - in combination with subject detection. The next to the skinniest fallen obelisk version as there are several choices. I have used both animal and auto subject detect. I used the later to shoot a helicopter recently - it works!

20 minutes ago, LarryHallas said:

For me the features of the Z8, especially the improvement in AF is a game changer. I have far too much invested in Nikon Z glass and Nauticam N120 ports to switch to Sony. With the Z8, I can now have good underwater AF whilst maintaining my significant investment. 

The Nikon Z8 and the Nauticam housing offer a really significant saving over the Z9, which is hard to argue against. As we quibble over details of the specs, it is important to remember that ultimately this is a hugely capable camera at very attractive price. Especially as so much of people’s existing glass (both lenses and ports) just carries straight across.  

The most negative thing I have seen on the Z8 (re. Ricci) is the battery compartment design - the lack of a lock. I have accidentally opened the one on my Z6 many times. The second most negative thing is the unequal cards.