Nikon’s Z8 is a phenomenal mirrorless camera for the price

Nikon is arguably the world’s most well-known camera brand, but with the decline of DSLRs it has lagged behind Canon and Sony. In 2022, it released the Z9, a flagship mirrorless camera that could ultimately hold its personal against rivals, but the $five,500 value tag place it out of attain for most. To appeal to a wider audience, Nikon unveiled the Z8 final year with the similar sensor and practically the similar specs as the Z9 for $1,700 much less.

With a 45-megapixel stacked sensor and the most recent Expeed 7 image processor, the Z8 can do almost everything from sports to wildlife to scenic photography. It is also a highly effective video camera, supplying 8K RAW internal capture at up to 60 fps.

The only other model that can definitely examine in terms of speed, resolution and video is the Sony A1, but it fees a whopping $two,200 far more. To uncover out how the Z8 stacks up against that model and other people, I rented a Z8 and shot with it about Vancouver, Canada with my photographer cousin.

Physique and handling

Design and style-smart, you can assume of the Z8 as the Z9 with the battery grip chopped off. It is nevertheless a chunky camera at 910 grams (two pounds), although, compared to 737 grams for the Sony A1. That may suit pros or these who like a bigger camera physique, but the size and weight are not perfect for travel. By the way, a $346 battery grip (the MB-N12) with secondary controls is readily available for the Z8, successfully transforming it into a Z9 for far much less revenue.

The Z8 has a good significant grip and all the controls you’d count on, which includes a joystick, D-Pad style menu handle, switch for camera/video settings and front and rear dials. Nikon customers will delight in the layout as it really is largely comparable to previous models, but almost everything is just various sufficient that it may perhaps really feel awkward for customers coming from other brands.

In contrast to the A1, the Z8 options a show on major that shows crucial settings like shutter, aperture and battery life. Though it requires up space that could be utilised by buttons or dials, it really is a handy way to see almost everything at a glance and I miss it now on models that do not have it. If you do have to dive into the menus, they take a bit of finding utilised to, but perform effectively after you are more than the understanding curve.

One particular of the crucial unfavorable points is the lack of a completely articulating show. Alternatively, the rear three.two-inch two.36-million dot screen only tilts up and down and to the left or correct. That is also poor, simply because the Z8 could be a highly effective vlogging camera and a flip-out show is have to for that sort of perform (particularly as it tends to make solo shooting simpler).

The three.69 million-dot electronic viewfinder is a bit low-res for a camera in this value variety, particularly compared to the 9.four million-dot show on the Sony A1. Even Canon’s less expensive R5 has a five.76 million dot show that tends to make it substantially simpler to verify concentrate.

Battery life is on the weak side at 420 shots (a single to two hours of video shooting based on resolution), compared to 490 shots for the Canon R5 and 530 for the A1, according to CIPA ratings. Once more, although, you can practically double that with the battery grip. Other notable options incorporate UHS-II and CFexpress B memory card slots, a complete-sized HDMI port for external capture, as effectively as two separate USB-C ports for energy delivery and information.

Functionality

With the quickest higher-resolution stacked sensor out there, the Z8 is unbelievably rapid for a 45-megapixel camera. You can shoot RAW images at 20 fps, a bit slower than the A1’s 30 fps RAW capability, but the Z8 can shoot 30 fps in JPEG mode. It can manage 40 uncompressed RAW frames ahead of the buffer fills, but can retailer far more compressed pictures if you have a speedy CFexpress card.

The hybrid phase-detect autofocus is Nikon’s finest to date due to the upgraded image processor, stacked sensor and enormous quantity of AF tracking points. It presents trustworthy topic tracking, and the face, eye and animal detection is speedy and precise as effectively. In reality, the business has mentioned it really is practically identical to the far far more high-priced Z9 as of the most recent firmware.

That mentioned, the Z8’s AF is not pretty as reliable as Sony’s A1 when shooting at the highest speeds. It sometimes had problems tracking subjects, in specific these moving toward the camera, resulting in some out-of-concentrate shots. The Z8 (and Z9) is pretty sensitive to setup, so it really is finest to fine-tune the AF settings till it operates the way you want.

There’s no mechanical shutter, but the Z8’s sensor is speedy sufficient that rolling shutter is not an challenge, even on speedy-moving objects like airplane propellers. The five-axis in-physique stabilization reduces shake by six stops, sufficient to get sharp images down to a quarter second or so. That is superior to the A1, but falls way brief of the EOS R5’s eight stops.

Image high-quality

The Z8 has the similar exceptional sensor as the Z9, so of course image high-quality is identical in all respects. With 45.7 megapixels on tap, it delivers sharp images on par with the 50-megapixel A1 and second only to Sony’s 60 MP A7R V in the complete-frame realm. Dynamic variety is also outstanding, arguably a touch superior than the A1.

JPEG pictures are vibrant and punchy straight out of the camera, with the finest final results in terms of colors from the All-natural Light Auto white balance setting. Colors are precise, although skin-tones are not pretty as warm as Canon’s R3 or R5.

Meanwhile, the 14-bit RAW pictures hold lots of detail that can be teased out in Lightroom or ON1, especially in the highlights. Like the Z9, the Z8 no longer has an “uncompressed” selection, but now presents “lossless compression” and two higher-efficiency lossy modes. I ordinarily utilised the RAW setting with the highest compression, simply because it really is super effective and frankly, I can not see any distinction among that and lossless compressed RAW.

The Z8 performs reasonably effectively in low-light, also. Grain is effectively-controlled up to about ISO 6400, and shots are usable at ISO 12800. Beyond that, noise can develop into distracting. That lines up with Canon’s R5, but Sony’s A1 performs a bit superior in dim lighting.

Video

The Z8’s video specs are quite thoughts-blowing for a non-cinema camera and exceed the A1’s capabilities. You can shoot RAW video at up to 8K 60p in Nikon’s 12-bit N-RAW or 8K 30p with 12-bit ProRes RAW HQ internally, to CFexpress cards only, of course. It also captures 4K video oversampled from the complete width of the sensor at up to 60p, and complete-width 4K up to 120p — once again, all in RAW.

It is worth noting that Nikon lately bought RED cameras, so it now owns the RED RAW video patent that stymied so lots of other corporations, which includes Apple. It’ll be fascinating to see if Nikon loosens up that enforcement, and if the acquisition impacts the tech in its personal future models.

As with images, video autofocus is speedy and trustworthy, whilst undertaking a great job tracking subjects, faces and animals. It can manage difficult circumstances like subjects moving toward the camera, although once again, not pretty as effectively as the A1.

8K and 4K oversampled video is very sharp. Colors are precise, but once again, skin tones are not pretty as quite as on Canon’s most recent models. Dynamic variety is major-notch, especially in the ISO 400-800 level in ProRes mode, creating it effortless to adjust shadows and highlights in post. If you adore shooting ProRes footage, be positive to get some higher-capacity CFexpress cards, simply because the files can get enormous.

One particular location exactly where the Z9 bests the Z8 in video is with thermal functionality, as the Z9’s bigger physique makes it possible for for 125 minutes of 8K 60p recording compared to 90 for the Z8 ahead of overheating. There are quite handful of content material creators that will want to constantly shoot 8K video for that extended, on the other hand.

Wrap-up

Nikon’s Z8 is an very capable camera and shows that the business should really offer you as substantially speed and energy as attainable if it desires to catch up to Canon and Sony. For lots of hybrid shooters, the Z8 is a superior selection than Sony’s A1, especially when it comes to video.

Even though it does out-spec the Sony in a quantity of locations, the Z8’s autofocus is not pretty as great — and that is arguably the most crucial function on any camera. Shooters who call for a mechanical shutter (for flash photography, and so forth.) will also want to appear elsewhere. An additional 8K-capable complete-frame mirrorless model is Canon’s R5 that falls brief of each models in lots of regards, but is less expensive at $three,200.

A selection to purchase this camera may be primarily based on what technique and lenses you are currently into. Nevertheless, if I was beginning from scratch, I’d go for the Z8 more than Sony’s A1, as you get the camera plus a quite great lens for the similar quantity of revenue.

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