ON TRIAL – NIKON Z 9
NIKON Z 9
Nikon always seems to be energised when it comes to designing prolevel cameras, but it’s excelled itself with the Z 9… fully leveraging all the advantages of the mirrorless camera configuration to create a masterpiece. The days of head-to-head battles with Canon may be over, but the Z 9 has wider appeal than for just users of Nikon’s pro DSLRs.
What might have happened if Nikon had done the Z 9 instead of the D6? Who knows? But it’s here now and it’s arguably the best pro camera Nikon has ever built (no, it is).
There’s a lot riding on Nikon’s Z 9. This is the mirrorless camera tasked with converting all the photographers still using the D4, D5 or D6 and, more than likely, still also very happy with them. While Nikon (unlike Canon) hasn’t said as much, the pro-level DSLR has had its day and it’s extremely unlikely there will be a D7. There are some very good reasons for adopting the mirrorless configuration and the Z 9 is a good advertisement for all of them, but there are always risks when asking a photographer to change systems. True, the mount adapters can help buy time when it comes to lenses but, ultimately, to take full advantages of mirrorless’s benefits, you have to go all the way. So, why not see what else is on offer?
That said, Nikon’s full-steam-ahead approach to growing the Z-mount lens line-up and – let’s get it out there right now – the sheer brilliance of the Z 9, is very likely to deter any defections… and Nikon has been pretty clever in making its mirrorless flagship hard to dislike. In fact, if anything, you could be tempted away from another brand, because the Z 9 is another of those ‘big bangs’ that Nikon has been known to deliver since it essentially invented this category back in 1959 with the original F… think F4, F5, D3 and D5.
Compared with its arch rival, Nikon has tended to err of the side of conservatism with its pro cameras, but ever so often it breaks out and surprises us all. While the Z 9 may look fairly familiar on the outside – especially if you’re a Nikon DSLR user – it’s a different story on the inside. There is significant thinking outside the box in terms of both the Z 9’s stills and video capabilities, but with professional photography now a very different animal to what it was not so very long ago, Nikon is right to make some bold decisions.
At the top of the list is the elimination of the traditional mechanical shutter, which is really something you’d have expected from Sony. Purists, take a deep breath… but, like the reflex mirror, the focal plane shutter is now really a mechanical hindrance. It’s noisy, creates vibrations and can’t work accurately at ultra-fast shutter speeds. The development of the stacked sensor architecture, which enables extremely fast read-outs, has prompted Nikon to go all the way, since the Z 9’s all-new
BSI CMOS imager deals with the key issues of rolling distortion and very low flash sync speeds. It also allows for a blackout-free viewfinder during high-speed shooting. Minus any moving parts, it isn’t subject to any physical wear and, of course, it’s completely silent – a simulated shutter noise is available if you want it – and there’s nothing to generate vibrations. All this is obviously very appealing if you’re a sports or wildlife photographer often using very long lenses… as is the top shutter speed of 1/32,000 second and,
while we’re at it, continuous shooting at 30fps for a burst of over 1,000 JPEGs with full AF/AE adjustment. This is at the sensor’s effective resolution of 45.7MP, but the JPEG quality is set to Normal with image size priority (rather than image quality priority). However, if you don’t need such big images, then at 11MP you can shoot at 120fps, which is essentially slow-mo 4K video… again with full AF/AE adjustment. By the way, while this sensor’s effective resolution is the same as that of the Z 7II’s, the total count is actually quite a lot higher – 52.4MP versus 46.9MP – and we’re not really sure what the extra 5.5 million pixels are doing.
How Fast?
While Canon has all but confirmed a higher-res EOS R1 model is in the pipeline, the Z 9 is the Z-mount mirrorless flagship full as far as Nikon is concerned… so it delivers both high res and high speed. The 120fps mode pragmatically recognises that sports photographers often don’t require big files even for print applications (and certainly don’t shoot in RAW), but they do want as much speed as possible, and you certainly aren’t going to miss much at this frame rate. Nikon calls these “press-ready stills”.
Mind you, if you do want to shoot RAW, the Z 9 is good for 20fps and, again, with burst lengths exceeding 1,000 frames if you use one of the new High Efficiency compression modes that deliver close to the same image quality as an uncompressed RAW file, but at one-third the file. There’s also a High Efficiency setting that halves the file size, thereby reducing the burst length to around 685 frames. The HE RAW modes employ a form of lossy compression designed to greatly speed things up post-camera. Consequently, the Z 9 doesn’t have an uncompressed RAW capture option, but it’s hard to see this causing too much angst among potential buyers. All the RAW file options capture 14-bit RGB colour (i.e. the 12-bit option from the DSLRs isn’t carried over). A recent firmware upgrade extends the burst length for RAW+JPEG capture too (with the High Efficiency RAW and JPEG Large/Basic settings), at 20fps for up to around 300 shots… which is 600 frames in total.
Nikon claims its sensor – designed in-house but made elsewhere – has the world’s fastest scanning speed at around 1/270 second, and quantifies this as for full -rame mirrorless cameras with 30MP resolution or higher, but the reality is that it’s currently the fastest in the full-frame category, full stop.
For the record, it’s 12 times faster than the Z 7II’s sensor which has the same effective resolution. The stacked arrangement incorporates a second silicon chip or layer behind the imaging layer featuring integrated integral memory – so the data can essentially be ‘marshalled’ prior to read-out, thus speeding things up considerably – and also enabling some on-sensor data processing capabilities.
Taking A View
Of course, the faster sensor needs a faster processor and Nikon says the new-generation Expeed 7 engine driving the Z 9 is 10 times faster than the dual Expeed 6 processors used in the Z 7II. In addition to the impressive shooting speeds for stills, the Z 9 can record 8K UHD video internally at 24/25/30p, and
The 120fps mode pragmatically recognises that sports photographers often don’t require big files even for print applications.”
4K UHD at up to 100/120p, plus (and another first) for 4K video up to 60fps, there’s the option of 10-bit ProRes 442 HQ recording internally (the rest of the camera’s video story is covered in the Making Movies panel).
Interestingly, the sensor actually outputs two data streams – one to the EVF and monitor, and one to the processor for eventual delivery to a memory card. Consequently, the viewing stream is unaffected by any processing, so it can have the look of an optical finder – a definite ploy to placate DSLR users – and is completely blackout free.
Five-axis in-body image stabilisation is provided via sensor shifting, giving up to five stops of correction for camera shake. New ‘Synchro VR’ can combine IBIS with the optical image stabilisation in selected Nikkor Z lenses for enhanced correction capabilities of six stops (or faster depending on the lens). There’s now a VR Lock facility that secures the mechanism – which is more than just switching it off – if the camera is likely to be subjected to extreme vibrations (such as driving over very rough terrain).
Another key component in a high speed digital ‘drive train’ is the memory card and the Z 9 has dual slots which, as with the D6, support CFexpress Type B and the older XQD devices. You’ll need the former to stretch the burst lengths to 1,000 frames and beyond.
File management options include overflow, backup, or separate storage of RAW and JPEG images. The second slot can be configured for storage of duplicate JPEG images at different sizes and quality settings. Additionally, images can be copied between cards. Unlike on the EOS R3, there’s no SD option, but having both card slots supporting the fastest data transfer speeds is obviously the priority here… and converts from the D6 (or the D5) will already have one or the other anyway.
To protect the sensor between lenses changes, there’s now a shutterlike shield – replacing the real shutter – which closes when the camera is switched off. Additionally, the sensor surface also has a fluorine coating to help repel dust and moisture if or when it is exposed to the outside world.
In The Toolbox
Not surprisingly, the Z 9 offers all the same in-camera image processing functions as the Mark II versions of the Z 6 and Z 7, starting with a choice of eight Picture Control presets that are supplemented by a further 20 Creative Picture Control settings. The latter are essentially special effects, but with the same choice of adjustment parameters as the standard presets, plus a total of 10 effect levels. The Picture Control adjustment parameters comprise Sharpening, Mid-Range Sharpening, Clarity, Contrast, Brightness, Saturation and Hue. For convenience, there’s a Quick Sharp setting that combines Sharpening, Mid-Range Sharpening and Clarity into one collective adjustment.
You can also tick the boxes for a multiple exposure facility (up to 10 shots with various exposure corrections) and an intervalometer to record up to 9,999 frames in a sequence. The self-timer is programmable for the delay time, the number of shots and the interval between shots.
There’s also the standard Nikon fare of Active D-Lighting (ADL) processing to expand the dynamic range which, on the Z 9, has a range of settings from Low to Extra High 2; noise reduction processing for both long exposures and high ISO settings; and a revised HDR Overlay function that combines two images, with each exposure adjusted to preserve more detail in the shadows and the highlights. The amount of exposure adjustment is set as HDR Strength from Low to Extra High, or there’s an Auto setting which works off the contrast range present in the scene.
The auto bracketing functions are for exposure, flash, exposure and flash, white balance, and ADL. Additionally, there’s a Focus Shift Shooting function that can capture up to 300 frames, adjusting the focus in each via a predetermined step from one (narrow) to 10 (wide). These frames can then be assembled post-camera for focus stacking. A handy Peaking Stack Image function gives a monochrome preview image to show the areas in focus before all the frames are combined. Within focus shift it’s also possible to vary the interval time between shots and employ exposure smoothing.
The manual lens corrections are for vignetting, distortion and diffraction, which compensates for the softening that occurs when shooting at very small apertures such as f/16 or f/22. Corrections for both lateral chromatic and spherical aberrations are performed automatically behind the scenes.
Up To Speed
The faster sensor and processor deliver significant enhancements to the Z 9’s autofocusing performance as the system is sampling at 120 times a second, so it can keep up with very fast-moving subjects at the 120fps/11MP shooting
speed. Hybrid phase/contrast detection uses 493 measuring points, providing 90% frame coverage, both horizontally and vertically.
There’s a total of nine area modes ranging in size from Pinpoint to Wide Area Large, and include three Dynamic Area options – Small, Medium and Large – where, if the subject moves, the focusing point automatically switches to any of the surrounding ones.
The Auto Area AF mode uses a total of 405 detection points, and the Z 9 is the first of Nikon’s mirrorless cameras to inherit the 3D Tracking AF capability from its top-end DSLRs and which simply follows whatever you ask it to with the initial focus lock-on. Additionally, there are new AI-based Subject Detection algorithms capable of recognising a total of nine specific objects broadly categorised as people, animals and vehicles. This last category covers cars, motorcycles, bicycles, trains and aircraft. Eye, face, head and body (well, more precisely, torsos) recognition is available when shooting human subjects; and eye, head and body for dogs, cats and birds (or, indeed, most animals in general). What’s more, in the Auto Area AF mode or Wide-Area AF Small/Large and with 3D Tracking AF enabled, the camera can detect the subject type automatically.
With subject detection switched off, 3D Tracking AF uses the focusing distance and colour to follow an object. Unlike on the D6 though, this tracking works across almost the entire frame, making it very much more useful. You can additionally fine-tune the tracking to better match the type of movement – essentially Steady or Erratic – and the response to a blocked shot – from Quick to Delayed.
Low-light sensitivity extends down to -6.5 EV (at ISO 100 and f/1.2) with normal operations and down to -8.5 EV in the Starlight View mode (which is Nikon’s new name for what was previously called Low Light AF).
Manual focusing can be assisted by a magnified image, a distance scale, and electronic rangefinder display or a focus peaking display in a choice of four colours – red, white, yellow or blue – with three intensity levels.
As noted at the outset, the Z 9 doesn’t have a mechanical shutter so, obviously, it doesn’t have the hybrid ‘electronic first curtain shutter’ capability either. This doesn’t matter now that flash sync is possible with the electronic shutter up to 1/200 second or 1/250 second in return for a small reduction in the effective guide number. The electronic shutter also supports high-speed sync (HSS) up to 1/8000 second. Incidentally, the Z 9 retains the traditional PC flash terminal. In the Program and semi-auto exposure control modes, the minimum timed shutter speed is 30 seconds, but there are both ‘B’ and ‘T’ options for longer exposures. However, in the manual mode, you can dial down all the way to 900 seconds, which is 15 minutes.
TTL metering is performed off the sensor with the choice of multi-zone ‘Matrix’ metering, centre-weighted average, highlight-weighted average and spot measurements. The multizone metering can be linked to face detection. As with Nikon’s high-end DSLRs, the degree of bias assigned to the central zone can be varied when using centre-weighted metering – now listed as Small or Standard (which correspond to 8mm or 12mm – or you can switch to a fullyaveraged measurement that uses the whole frame area equally. The auto exposure modes are supplemented by an AE lock, up to +/-5.0 EV of compensation and auto bracketing (over two, three, five, seven or nine frames and up to +/-3.0 EV of adjustment).
For white balance control there’s a choice of three auto correction modes called Keep White, Normal and Keep Warm, plus the Natural Light Auto setting that debuted with the Z system and essentially maintains a colour balance that looks natural to the human eye. The WB presets have been trimmed to eight with the elimination of some artificial lighting types that are now no longer common. The manual control options comprise six custom settings, fine-tuning and selectable colour temperatures over a range of 2,500 to 10,000 Kelvin. Additionally there’s auto bracketing for white balance.
In The Hand
As with the Canon EOS-1D X III and the EOS R3, the difference that mirrorless configurations makes to body size is very evident when comparing the Z 9 and the D6. Yes, having the integrated vertical grip makes the Z 9 bigger than any of its Z-mount siblings, but it’s still significantly smaller and lighter than the DSLR it’s intended to replace – by nearly 20% and 110g respectively. The integrated grip provides better integrity in terms of body strength and sealing than an add-on component and it’s arguably the mark of a pro-level camera intended for heavy-duty usage.
Sensibly, the Z 9 uses the same EN-EL18 series battery pack that’s been doing service in Nikon pro-level DSLRs since the D4. However, it’s a new higher-capacity ‘d’ version that’s potentially good for up to 770 shots when using the EVF or up to 740 when using the rear screen. The Z 9 is compatible with the all earlier versions, but in-camera recharging via USB-C is only available with the later ‘b’, ‘c’ and ‘d’ types. However, a separate battery charger is supplied.
The body construction is magnesium alloy – both chassis and covers – with weather sealing to the same level as the D6, but additionally insulated to enable operation in subzero temperatures down to -10º Celsius. The deep handgrip is supremely comfortable and the Z 9 carries on Nikon’s tradition of efficient ergonomics. The control layout inherits many elements from that of the D5/D6, including the familiar four-key dial-like cluster on the top panel for setting exposure modes, adjusting drive settings (the main selector for the drive modes is below), and configuring both the auto bracketing and the flash. On the other side of the top panel is a large info display with built-in illumination and, as per the top-end Nikon DSLRs, all the key controls also have backlighting.
The rear panel has both focus joysticks (one for each grip) and an eight-way keypad for navigation duties. It’s definitely old school with external controls cluttering up just about all the vacant real estate, but they’re logically arranged and consequently make for very easy access and operation. Importantly, there are conveniently located dedicated buttons for ISO and exposure compensation without you having to assign these key functions to a custom control. The dedicated AF mode button from the pro-level DSLRs is also provided, but it now it operates in conjunction with the input wheels. However, the Z 9 does offer significant scope for customisation via 13 on-camera controls – including the two joystick navigators – and the ‘L-Fn’ buttons that are provided on a number of Nikkor Z lenses. You can assign virtually anything that the Z 9 does to any of them, and they can be different for both shooting and playback. Additionally, the operation of the front and rear input wheels can be personalised, and the monitor-based ‘i Menu’ – which displays 12 function tiles – is also extensively customisable. It can be navigated conventionally or by simply tapping on the desired tile to really speeds things up. You can also create up to four Shooting Menu Banks provided primarily
The Z 9’s autofocusing system is sampling at 120 times a second so it can keep up with very fast-moving subjects.”
for saving settings related to shooting specific subjects or situations. They’re titled ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ out of the box, but you can rename them with titles of up to 20 characters in length… and you can now have four each for shooting stills and video.
The rear screen is a 3.2-inch TFT LCD panel with a resolution of 2.1 million dots, and adjustable for both colour balance and brightness (over 11 steps). There’s a complicated hinging arrangement to essentially provide four-way tilting, although it’s only to around 25º when tilting down in the vertical orientation (but up to 90º in the opposite direction). However, you can combine both the horizontal and vertical adjustments if you happen to need a weird angle when shooting in a tight spot. Most importantly, it looks like a lot stronger arrangement than the pivot of a fully-articulating screen.
The touch control implementation includes the main menus, the ‘i Menu’ displays, replay functions, read-outs (such as ISO), focus point selection and Touch AF (with or without automatic shutter release), but there’s still no AF touchpad for use with the EVF.
The EVF is essentially the same as that of the Z 7II and so uses a 1.27cm
OLED-type display with a resolution of 3.69 million dots and a magnification of 0.8x. It’s also adjustable for colour balance and brightness, but the latter is over 16 settings. Nikon claims it’s the world’s brightest at 3000 cd/m2. The eyepiece has a fluorine coating to help repel moisture and grease, and allow for easier cleaning.
The live view display – in both the viewfinder and the rear LCD – can be configured with capture settings, a realtime histogram, a dual-axis level display (with a choice of two designs) and, at last, there’s a 3x3 guide grid joining the previous 4x4 setting, plus you can select the 5:4, 1:1 and 16:9 aspect ratios for framing.
You can cycle through these options
Nikon has gone all out to exploit the benefits of the mirrorless configuration with spectacular results.”
using the Display button, which also accesses a comprehensive monitorbased info screen. There have been a few revisions to the menus, most notably the addition of a Network
Menu to collect the many and various connection options into one place. The Playback Menu loses its top billing, which is now, much more logically, given to the Photo Shooting Menu. Additionally, there have been some minor revisions to the graphics so, for example, the on/off indicators now have a little virtual ‘on’ lamp so it’s easier to see at a glance that a function is active.
The review/replay displays include pages of four, nine or 72 thumbnails, zooming up to 32x and a slide show with adjustable frame intervals. Individual images can be displayed full frame either with or without basic capture info or as thumbnails accompanied by a full set of brightness and RGB histograms, or a highlight warning. Additionally, the autofocus points or area used to take the shot can also be shown. Cycling through the replay options also brings up four pages of detailed capture data – including lens model and focal length – which are superimposed over the image.
The Z 9 is very well connected with USB-C (SuperSpeed USB), HDMI Type A (i.e. full size), stereo audio in and out, a 10-pin remote controller terminal, 1000BASE-T RJ-45 Ethernet and the PC flash terminal mentioned earlier.
The audio-in has camera power and the audio-out has adjustable volume. Wireless connection is via Wi-Fi (both 2.4 and 5GHz bands) and Bluetooth LE 5.0, the latter using Nikon’s SnapBridge app for image transfer, remote viewfinding and remote camera control. A GPS receiver is built-in with GPS, GLONASS and QZPP satellite networks support. Introduced with the Z 9 is the NX MobileAir app for FTP uploads to a 4G/5G smartphone via USB and NX Tether which, obviously, allows for tethered shooting. Press and sports photographers will also welcome the provision of voice memo recording,
IPTC data embedding and display, and a Kensington security lock to secure the camera if it’s being used in a remote setup and is possibly out of sight.
Speed And Performance
Loaded with a ProGrade 325GB CFexpress Type B memory card, the Z 9 captured 197 normalquality JPEGs in 6.56 seconds, representing a shooting speed of 30.03fps. The test files averaged 11.7MB in size. Switching to 20fps capture with best-quality
JPEGs (and with image quality priority switched on), a sequence of 370 frames was recorded in 18.455 seconds, giving a shooting speed of 20.04fps. These test files averaged 32.3MB in size, so that’s close to 12GB of data being numbercrunched in a jiffy. We simply chose an arbitrary point to stop the timing test... the camera would have happily gone on blazing away at 20fps and, of course, it was ready to go again immediately. Put simply, the Z 9 does exactly what it says on the tin when it comes to speed.
Also delivering on the promises is the autofocusing. It’s as revelatory as the D5’s system was back in 2016 and certainly a similar leap forward in terms of what we’ve been experiencing previously… responsiveness, speed and tracking reliability, especially when using one of the subject detection modes.
The caveat here is that there are now so many options that you really have to think carefully about the AF setup according the subject or the situation. In fact, Nikon has published a 26-page AF Setting Guide for sports photographers to match ideal settings to difference types of sports, but everybody will need to consider how they configure the AF to make the most of the remarkable capabilities on offer – focus mode, area mode, subject detection options, the tracking functionality and the various customising options (there are a total of 13 related to focusing operations) such as using ‘Alternating Points’ to speed up selection. It takes practise to determine what works best, but get it right and you’re not going to miss a shot even with the most challenging of scenarios, such as a fast-closing subject or one
that’s both closing on the camera and moving erratically. Of course, sports photographers are going to love it, but so are wildlife photographers who often have to deal with subjects that are much more unpredictable. The near full-frame AF tracking coverage is particularly advantageous here.
The Auto subject detection mode is a big plus in that it bypasses the need to set this up manually every time. Eye detection has been enhanced so it can work with much smaller targets, and the system will simply switch to face, head or body detection if it momentarily can’t find an eye because the subject has glanced down or away from the camera. Consequently, this is far more reliable than has been the case with all the other Z-mount cameras. The lowlight AF capabilities are exemplary with the camera still focusing accurately in conditions that are dark enough to hinder your ability to discern detailing on a subject with the naked eye.
With 45.7MP resolution to put to work with, the Z 9 delivers out-of-camera JPEGs bursting with exceptional sharpness and superbly crisp definition, along with beautifully smooth tonal gradations. Nikon’s colour science is up there with Fujifilm’s in terms of balancing expectations with realism while maintaining accuracy across the spectrum. The dynamic range is similar to that of the Z 7II – testing at around 12 stops at ISO 100 – and so sufficient to allow for at least three stops of underexposure to preserve very bright highlights and ensure the shadow areas are still pretty much noise-free after selective lightening when processing RAW files post-camera. The other major benefit of the high resolution is that it provides much more flexibility with cropping. Even in the DX format at 24x16 mm (i.e. APS-C), the image size is still 5408x3600 pixels… a shade under 19.5 megapixels.
The Z 9’s sensor employs dual-gain circuitry which essentially sets two base ISOs – one at ISO 64 and the other at ISO 500. The low ISO circuit optimises dynamic range while the high ISO circuit optimises sensitivity.
The dual base ISOs also mean that the noise characteristics at the sensitivity settings above ISO 500 are a little over three stops better than would normally be the case… i.e. at ISO 1600, they’re about the same as at ISO 200. Nikon has avoided going stratospheric with its high ISO extensions for the Z 9 – it was just silly on the D5 and D6 as they weren’t usable at any image size – and, of course, the pixels are smaller here with a lower signal-to-noise ratio, so the ISO 102,400 two-stop push looks a bit muddy and smudgy. Things look a lot better at ISO 51,200 and full native range is usable, but the best IQ at higher ISOs is delivered in the 800 to 6400 range, which means there’s plenty of room to move if you need to shoot at very fast shutter speeds, even in lowlight conditions.
The Verdict
If the Z 9 is primarily Nikon preaching to the converted, then you’d have to say it’s done more than enough to ensure they keep the faith, but this is undoubtedly a camera with the potential to also make new disciples. Given the nature of today’s pro market, they’re probably less likely to come from the ranks of Canon users, but Nikon can take some pride in the fact that the Z 9 has the measure of the other pro-level full-frame speedsters – the EOS R3 and Sony’s Alpha 1 along with the A9 II. Consequently, it has to be in the mix for anybody contemplating stepping up to full-fat, high-octane pro mirrorless camera.
Nikon has gone all out to exploit the benefits of the mirrorless configuration with spectacular results. It’s certainly reassuring to know that there’s still plenty of imagination, enthusiasm and creative thinking sloshing around in Nikon’s design and engineering departments. And there’s no mistaking this is a camera built by true photography enthusiasts… there’s just so much that’s intuitive and intimate about the way it works. The various tweaks to the user interface have just made it even better.
And what’s a conclusion if we don’t make some firm conclusions? So… the Z 9’s autofocusing is the best there is right now (although it’s a close run thing with the under-rated OM-D E-M1X) and so are the ergonomics… no camera with so much on offer makes it so easy to access and apply everything so efficiently. The viewfinder is also the best there is… never mind the on-paper numbers, it’s how Nikon delivers the
EVF feed – using the full resolution and frame rate with operations such as focusing – that makes a noticeable difference here. It’s just another of the key elements that make shooting with the Z 9 such an enjoyable – and engaging – experience.
We often measure camera desirability by just how much you want to pick it up and start shooting… but with the Z 9 it’s that you simply won’t want to put it down.