The specifications for the upcoming Nikon Z 9 leak out ahead of the official announcement

Canon Rumors Guy

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Nikon is readying what can be assumed is their flagship professional mirrorless camera, the Nikon Z 9. An announcement for this camera is expected some time in the next couple of months.
It looks like Nikon is going in a very different direction than Sony’s flagship Alpha 1, and Canon’s EOS R3. The EOS R3 is NOT going to be Canon’s flagship mirrorless camera, as I expect we’ll hear more about the Canon EOS R1 later in 2022.
The Nikon Z 9 was in use at the Tokyo Olympics, but it looks like all EXIF data had been scrubbed from any images taken with the camera. This camera looks to be a true flagship professional mirrorless camera, over the toy that is the Sony Alpha 1.
Nikon released a lackluster flagship DSLR in the Nikon D6, which didn’t offer much in the way of advancement from the previous Nikon D5. It looks like they put a lot of R&D dollars in the new Nikon Z 9 and other Z mount...

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Z9 will probably have 18 months unchallenged before R1 makes an appearance. Specs looks fantastic and if it's $6K (which I doubt) that would be enough for me to entirely abandon Canon. I'm already commited to Sony and use a D500 but have a lot still of Canon glass still. Nikon won't be doing stupidly slow superteles either. Now I'm not ruling out Canon, but R3 whilst no doubt superb camera at only 24MP leaves me underwhelmed as a birder. I also prefer Sony and Nikon's lens line-up to Canon's. Also Nikon have PF lenses that are affordable and superb and rumours of more to come. Z9 + 500 PF will be awesome as I'll have the same reach as my D500, but with no doubt much better AF overall and D500 is already excellent. Nikon will also have next 400 f/2.8 and 600 f/4 that will no doubt be light like the Sony and Canon versions.

Trouble I see, like the R3, the Z9 will be almost impossible to buy for a long time. Pros will get priority and snap up the first allocation and I hate to be an early adopter.
 
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jam05

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If there's one thing that this announcement is going to do for me then it's to make me look much deeper into Nikon's offering before I commit to the RF system. [I'm deeply invested in the EF system]

In-body GPS receiver and 45MP: none of Canon's current nor announced gear hits both of these boxes. It's a bit sad as many, many years ago I picked Canon over Nikon based on what I perceived as color accuracy. I particularly disliked the "too much red" Nikon suffered from (back then). I've never considered any other brand since then. Yet going from EF to RF (without adapters) is so costly, that I should think really hard about it. And with adapters: well EF to Z adapters exist.
Most all high end cameras have gps. Pretty common and yes, the R5 is is already 45mp releleased in 2020. These Nikon flagship specs are merely catching up to the R5. Which the R5 and R3 are not.
 
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jam05

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In the same way that the Z fc is far behind the R3, will Nikon ever
Most all high end cameras have gps. Pretty common and yes, the R5 is is already 45mp releleased in 2020. These Nikon flagship specs are merely catching up to the R5. Which the R5 and R3 are not.
If the specs are true, it looks like the R3 will fall far behind the Z9. Hopefully, the R1 will be able to recover.
Where have you been for that last six months? The R3 is not the 1Dx3 replacement. The Z9 just catches up to the 5D replacement R5 released in 2020.
 
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I would be all over the Z9 except for the fact as mentioned above this will be close to impossible to get one and then the Z Mount lens lineup is still missing the long primes. Yes they have all been announced yet the delivery maybe a longggggg wait. This is where Canon has the edge in availability. I still wish the R3 was 45mp
 
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If the specs are true, it looks like the R3 will fall far behind the Z9. Hopefully, the R1 will be able to recover.
Funny how gear-heads look at specs and apparently don't actually care about how well those specs work. Nikon, Canon and Sony will all have 30 fps - but...will that be with AF set for each shot or just the 1st? How many fps with certain lenses? How well does the AF work - how many keepers out of those 30 shots? How well will tracking actually work - or will shooting in continuous mode give you better results than tracking as it does now for all the cameras? Can you set the camera to prioritize shots in focus for your bursts? Lots of questions will be asked for many of the other specs as well.

My guess is that - for most photographers - rather than gear-heads - it's much more about the lenses. If you can afford any of these flagship - or near flagship type cameras, their differences are so minor that it seems like complete foolishness to switch systems if you already have the lenses that you want. And if your system doesn't have the lenses you want (or can afford), then you will likely choose the camera system based on the lenses that will best suit your needs.

If your results are "far behind" using the R3, Z9, A1 or any other top level camera, it's certainly not due to the camera. That's my opinion.
 
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LSXPhotog

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Two things about this new rumor excite me.
1.) First and foremost, I’m excited for Nikon to actually not only catch up, but potentially surpass the competition. I’ve spoken with many of my Nikon shooting friends over the past couple years and their mirrorless offering DOES NOT seem to appeal to many of them, as none of the ones I’m friends with bought into it…and many of them even considered Canon. haha
2.) This means we are really going to see the R3 at the price point I actually think it’s going to fall into, $4500-5200. The breadcrumbs are there. The R3 is a competitor for the A9 ($4500) and not the A1. Canon has made that clear with their statements about it being placed below the 1DXIII and above the R5. So that tells me they do not intend to price the camera at the 1DX price. All these clowns online keep posting the price at $6000 to $6500 and I just don’t see that happening. Especially with the Z 9 now?!? Canon will be the laughing stock of the photo world if it prices a 24mp camera up against a 45- and 50-mp cameras…that’s not going to happen. But it might happen…it’s Canon. LOL
 
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Two things about this new rumor excite me.
1.) First and foremost, I’m excited for Nikon to actually not only catch up, but potentially surpass the competition. I’ve spoken with many of my Nikon shooting friends over the past couple years and their mirrorless offering DOES NOT seem to appeal to many of them, as none of the ones I’m friends with bought into it…and many of them even considered Canon. haha
2.) This means we are really going to see the R3 at the price point I actually think it’s going to fall into, $4500-5200. The breadcrumbs are there. The R3 is a competitor for the A9 ($4500) and not the A1. Canon has made that clear with their statements about it being placed below the 1DXIII and above the R5. So that tells me they do not intend to price the camera at the 1DX price. All these clowns online keep posting the price at $6000 to $6500 and I just don’t see that happening. Especially with the Z 9 now?!? Canon will be the laughing stock of the photo world if it prices a 24mp camera up against a 45- and 50-mp cameras…that’s not going to happen. But it might happen…it’s Canon. LOL
Nikon have never failed to make great cameras, yes they have made some duds along the way too, but the D800 and D850 were class leading DSLR’s.

What they do seem to do is spend too much money and effort on diversions that don’t catch on, the 1 series was a dead end and the high end P&S they announced but never released just as the P&S market tanked were financial and resource drains, and they are comparatively slow to adopt the features that the market does want, I’m thinking FF DSLR’s in particular.
 
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