digiDirect's video: Nikon Z9 Hands-On Review

We review the new flagship mirrorless camera from Nikon, featuring 3D Tracking AF, 8K video and a professional body. Learn more about the Z9: https://bit.ly/Z9camera Like us on Facebook: http://fb.com/digidirect Follow us on Instagram @digidirect and Twitter @digidirect_AU Intro - 0:00 Body - 0:29 Sensor & Image Quality - 1:55 Vibration Reduction - 2:33 Autofocus - 2:48 Subject Detection & Burst Shooting - 3:40 Video - 4:19 Summary - 5:10 Today we’re looking at the Nikon Z9, Nikon’s flagship mirrorless camera. This camera is similar in idea to something like the D6, in that it’s a large body camera with peak specs and performance aimed at professional photographers. But it’s a Z series camera, meaning it’s mirrorless and it uses the Z series lenses. The Z9 has that large body style, complete with vertical grip. It’s 20% smaller than a D6, but about the same weight. Whether that’s good or bad really depends on your preference - some people like a larger camera, while others would prefer small size and weight. In any case the camera is extremely solidly built and loaded with backlit buttons, dials, and other manual controls. There’s also a dedicated AF mode button like on many of the D series DSLRs that allows you to quickly change AF modes and areas. There’s a top LCD screen for all your information, and of course the main LCD screen. Now, this is actually not a fully articulating screen, so it doesn’t flip all the way around. There’s a 3.69 million dot viewfinder, and mic, headphone, ethernet, USB-c and a full size HDMI port. It also has dual CF Express Type B card slots, which also work with XQD. There’s a shield over the sensor to protect against dust when exposed. The camera uses EN-EL18d batteries, although will work with all previous EN-EL18 versions. The battery life here is extremely long, it’s unlikely you’ll exhaust the battery in one shooting session. It also has the ability to charge the battery in camera via USB The Z9 has a 45 MP BSI Stacked full frame sensor. That’s a high resolution sensor to capture a lot of detail. Interestingly, the Z9 has no mechanical shutter, it is electronic shutter only. That being said, there’s not much negative impact to that decision. The electronic shutter is fast, and has a sync speed of about 1/200th of a second, so it will suit fine for flash photography. Rolling shutter is also quite well controlled. The Z9 has in-body vibration reduction that will combine with the VR on the Z series lenses. It’s not the most robust IBIS system on the market, but it does a good job at keeping handheld shots steady if there’s not a lot of movement, and is certainly a welcome feature. Being a sports focused camera, autofocus and burst shooting capabilities are obviously quite important. The biggest headline here is that 3D Tracking makes it’s debut in a Nikon mirrorless camera. This is an autofocus tracking system that was a defining feature of the Nikon high end DSLR range, and it’s better than ever here. The 3D Tracking is extremely robust and sticky, able to switch targets as needed and able to hold tracking through obstructions. It’s general performance is improved over the DSLR implementations, and it can track across the entire frame, rather than just the central area like on the DSLRs. There’s also AF subject detection that can automatically detect people, including face, eyes and torso, as well as dogs, cats, birds, planes, trains and bikes. For burst shooting, you can shoot 20 fps RAW. This increases to 30 fps when shooting JPG, or 120 fps if shooting 11 MP JPGs. The buffer depends on the shooting and compression settings, but it’s very high, typically at around 150+ shots but maxing out at about 1000 shots with their High Efficiency Compression or JPG. The Z9 is also a very impressive video shooter. Headlining that is the ability to shoot 8K 30 fps. and you can shoot 8K for long periods of time, without worrying about record limits or overheating. There will even be a firmware update coming this year that allows 8K 60. You can also shoot 4K at up to 120 fps. And if you’re shooting 4K 30 or below, it’s shot in 8K and downsampled, giving a very high amount of detail. There’s also internal 10-bit recording, and even the option to record ProRes 422 HQ. You can shoot N-log internally, and there is no video record limit. The only downside to video in my opinion is the lack of a fully articulating screen. Overall, the Nikon Z9 is certainly a spiritual successor to Nikon’s topline DSLR range, but leveraging the advantages that the mirrorless format brings. There’s a lot of very high powered features here, notably the exceptional 3D Tracking system and 8K video, built into a professional body. Nikon has always done very well in this category, and sports shooters, journalists and the like have a very strong contender in the Z9.