Nikon officially announces the Nikon Z 9, and it’s a remarkable $5499

[AlanF]

The faster Nikon brings the advancements of the Z9 (mainly the processor and AF) to their Z6 and Z7 the better off they will be. Biggest problem is they are beholden to Sony sensors and you know Sony cameras always get them exclusively 6 months in advance!

Has it been announced who makes the sensor for the Z9?

 

[Finn]

Has it been announced who makes the sensor for the Z9?

No, but it is most certainly Sony Semi. The leading CMOS chip manufacture in the world for ILC

 

[AlanF]

No, but it is most certainly Sony Semi. The leading CMOS chip manufacture in the world for ILC

It's all speculation, read this: https://www.zsystemuser.com/nikon-z-system-news-and/who-will-make-nikons-next.html

 

[Finn]

It's all speculation, read this: https://www.zsystemuser.com/nikon-z-system-news-and/who-will-make-nikons-next.html

I have read that article. We won't know for sure until someone does a teardown and looks at the sensor directly but I would be shocked if it is not a Sony Semi sensor with custom Nikon specifications, which is how all the other brands besides Canon do their "custom" sensors.

 

[H. Jones]

Ah yes, the Z9, a "revolutionary" flagship "sports/action" camera with a buffer of.... 40 raw images?? On a $250 CF Express Type B, none the less.

And yet people wonder why Canon released the R3 at 24 megapixels. There's still a choice between resolution or buffer at this point, and buffer makes a huge difference when you can capture every second of action without hearing that dreadful sound of the shutter slowing down.

It doesn't matter what image quality you have for the images you don't capture because you hit the buffer.

Source: https://www.dpreview.com/videos/4113018773/dpreview-tv-nikon-z9-first-impressions-review

 

[Jordan23]

Ah yes, the Z9, a "revolutionary" flagship "sports/action" camera with a buffer of.... 40 raw images?? On a $250 CF Express Type B, none the less.


Source: https://www.dpreview.com/videos/4113018773/dpreview-tv-nikon-z9-first-impressions-review

DP used a slow card, and Ricci here gives a much more informed view, and his findings are in line with the Z9 manual which says 79 uncompressed raws.
Still quite low, but I doubt there'll be much difference between lossless and lossy raw for the types of shooting that need 20fps.
Once you drop to one of the lossy raws (still 14bit) the buffer is virtual endless (500+/1000+).

 

[SnowMiku]

I suspect that within about 3 years, all new high end MILCs will feature purely electronic shutters.

Mechanical shutters are DOOOOMED.

I think within the next 5-10 years the entry level models will only have the electronic shutter as well.

 

[Deleted member 381342]

View attachment 201057

Ah yes, the Z9, a "revolutionary" flagship "sports/action" camera with a buffer of.... 40 raw images?? On a $250 CF Express Type B, none the less.

And yet people wonder why Canon released the R3 at 24 megapixels. There's still a choice between resolution or buffer at this point, and buffer makes a huge difference when you can capture every second of action without hearing that dreadful sound of the shutter slowing down.

It doesn't matter what image quality you have for the images you don't capture because you hit the buffer.

Source: https://www.dpreview.com/videos/4113018773/dpreview-tv-nikon-z9-first-impressions-review

No, just no. Please don't spread this fud. The camera does well more than 40 RAW images. It is very dependent on having good CF Express cards, basically it needs the ones with 1450 MB/s write and not the cheap ones with 1000 MB/s write. We also have new cards due next year with faster write speeds.


As an aside, the DPR guys also complained there is no SD card slot

 

[AlanF]

No, just no. Please don't spread this fud. The camera does well more than 40 RAW images. It is very dependent on having good CF Express cards, basically it needs the ones with 1450 MB/s write and not the cheap ones with 1000 MB/s write. We also have new cards due next year with faster write speeds.


As an aside, the DPR guys also complained there is no SD card slot

It needs the fastest Delkin or Prograde. Never mind if you use Sandisk or Lexar - you can fry eggs for breakfast on them as they slowly become filled.

 

[Deleted member 381342]

It needs the fastest Delkin or Prograde. Never mind if you use Sandisk or Lexar - you can fry eggs for breakfast on them as they slowly become filled.

I have some ProGrade 325 GB ones and some Sony tough. The Sony cards should be acceptable. We’ll also see what next years cards bring, but I won’t be disappointed with the cards I have just now and being able to clear the buffer in what looks like 1.5 seconds.

 

[unfocused]

...I won’t be disappointed with the cards I have just now and being able to clear the buffer in what looks like 1.5 seconds.

When shooting sports, 1.5 seconds is an eternity. I learned that just by experimenting with the R5 (Switching off with the 1DX III). There are few things as frustrating as looking down at your camera and seeing the little flashing red light while it waits to clear the buffer.

 

[Finn]

Buffer is perfectly acceptable with a fast, quality CFX card. Angelbird will be releasing newer 660GB cards with fast reliable writing speeds. The buffer will basically be unlimited as you burst fire with a second or two in-between bursts.

 

[SHAMwow]

I think the mechanical shutter in the R3 is there purely for the more conservative users that aren’t trusting of the electronic shutter. Frankly not having a mechanical shutter is making me a wee bit nervous with the Z9 and that all the RAW is compressed. But in saying that, I am sure I’ll get better images from it than from my Z6 or at least as good and with so many shots over ISO 1000 to get high shutter speeds it’ll be irrelevant if it is 12bit or 14bit or 14bit lossless compressed for me. If I want more IQ I can shoot at ISO 64.

Yes, but I think its simpler than that. Canon doesn't have a fast enough readout. There were still some oblong sports balls, so they kept the shutter out of necessity really.

 

[koenkooi]

Well, no one in the industry offers low res RAW anymore at this point [..]

No one ever did, since after downscaling it isn't RAW anymore. On Canon cameras, mRAW and sRAW were downscaled, debayered TIFFs. Better than JPEGs, but most certainly not RAW.
The newer R camera *do* offer lower res, cropped RAWs, though.

 

[Deleted member 381342]

When shooting sports, 1.5 seconds is an eternity. I learned that just by experimenting with the R5 (Switching off with the 1DX III). There are few things as frustrating as looking down at your camera and seeing the little flashing red light while it waits to clear the buffer.

Well on sports H* and H are getting thousands or 'fill up the card' numbers of shots. What we need to see is how H* looks compared to lossless as both are 14 bit, I imagine it'll be more than good enough ether way. Nikon are known for outstanding image quality.

 

[LSXPhotog]

The R5 will give you an APS-c raw file at around 17 MP. A FF raw file cannot be low resolution (unless you pixel skip) or it isn't actually a raw file anymore. RAW is exactly that, the raw data from each pixel.

Previous generations of Canon cameras like my old 5D Mark III has mRAW and sRAW options which would create a CR2 file at smaller resolutions when needed. I have a time and place I’ll use APS-C mode on the R5, but I didn’t buy an R5 to shoot it as an APS-C camera. It’s just unfortunate that I don’t have an option for smaller resolutions at all in RAW.

 

[neuroanatomist]

Previous generations of Canon cameras like my old 5D Mark III has mRAW and sRAW options which would create a CR2 file at smaller resolutions when needed.

mRAW and sRAW are not RAW. Close, but not.

http://www.dougkerr.net/Pumpkin/articles/sRaw.pdf

 

[ISv]

The Empire strikes back!

This will make a lot of happy campers among Nikon fans.

Well! I'm a Nikon shutter but I really don't care who is the very best in this exact time! From my point of view the most essential thing is to have the concurrence going on and companies struggling to have the upper hand !

 

[koenkooi]

Previous generations of Canon cameras like my old 5D Mark III has mRAW and sRAW options which would create a CR2 file at smaller resolutions when needed. I have a time and place I’ll use APS-C mode on the R5, but I didn’t buy an R5 to shoot it as an APS-C camera. It’s just unfortunate that I don’t have an option for smaller resolutions at all in RAW.

I wish the HDR mode in the R5 didn't come with so much restrictions (no hi-speed evf, no anti-flicker and mode), otherwise HEIF could be a replacement for people wanting m/sRAW. It's downscaled and debayered, just like m/sRAW and has much better-than-JPEG colours and bitdepth.
Seeing how many people fell for the "It has RAW in its name, so it must be RAW" trick Canon pulled, they should rename HEIF to hRAW or something similar.
Some of the R3 (p)reviews imply that turning on HEIF doesn't come with the drawbacks the R5 has, we'll have to wait for proper reviews or the manual to be available to see if that's true.

I also wish the photo ecosystem would support HEIF better, I'd love to have LR Classic export HEIFs instead of JPEGs.

 

[Dragon]

Previous generations of Canon cameras like my old 5D Mark III has mRAW and sRAW options which would create a CR2 file at smaller resolutions when needed. I have a time and place I’ll use APS-C mode on the R5, but I didn’t buy an R5 to shoot it as an APS-C camera. It’s just unfortunate that I don’t have an option for smaller resolutions at all in RAW.

You will likely not see Sraw and Mraw come back as the methodology used would probably not work so well with the rather extreme levels of correction used now in DLO for some of the new lenses.