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NIKON Z 8
SIMPLY ZEE BEST FATEFUL EIGHT Nikon’s lean, mean Z 8 mirrorless is a better fit for hybrid shooters and filmmakers than the flagship Z 9 – and at a better price W hen Nikon launched its flagship Z 9 around 18 months ago, it released a stunning camera “The camera is easy to use, with an intuitive button layout”
and overheating. Despite its high price – a whopping £5299/$5497 body only – it flew off the shelves to photographers who saw it as a successor to the professional D6 in a smaller, lighter body with more features, spec and higher resolution. What attracted professional stills shooters actively turned off filmmakers, though, despite stunning video spec. The larger and bulkier body is not what filmmakers expect, and can be a problem when used on gimbals or rigs as it’s often too tall to fit and makes balancing an issue. It’s also no lightweight, at 1340g/2.9lb for the body with battery and memory. When we tested the Z 9, we said it should be the camera to put Nikon back on the map, and it certainly did that for photographers and hybrid shooters. But with the price and form factor, it didn’t move the needle for pure filmmakers. To do that, it needed to be a smaller, more conventional mirrorless shape and size – ideally costing less. Enter the Z 8, which is pretty much that. At £3999/$3997, it’s a whole lot cheaper, smaller and lighter, yet still retains the stacked sensor, super-speedy processor and impressive codecs from the Z 9. It even has two USB-C sockets, one for charging and one for data, where the Z 9 has just one. But the bigger camera has a LAN Ethernet port, ideal for sports shooters in big stadiums getting files back to base. The Z 9 also has built-in GPS. If these features are important to Z 8 users, there are workarounds using a USB-to-Ethernet adapter and Bluetooth – so all is not lost. Of course, the Z 9 boasts a larger battery and built-in vertical grip with some extra control buttons filmmakers, but now with vertical videos becoming more in demand, it is starting to emerge as desirable. So for £349/$346, you can buy Nikon’s vertical grip – which takes a second for shooting in portrait mode. This used to be of little use for
that revitalised the fortunes of a company which had struggled to make a serious dent in the world of the high-end mirrorless. It quickly became the firm’s biggest-selling pro camera since the D3 DSLR line over a decade ago, particularly loved by stills shooters who appreciate the superfast stacked sensor. That allows the Z 9 to rattle through fast frame rates at up to 30fps in stills and 4K/120p with no viewfinder lag and incredible AF. It also captures highly detailed photos and video files thanks to its 8K, 46-megapixel sensor. Fast 120p in 4K 4:2:2 10-bit can be captured to the internal CFexpress Type B or XQD cards, too. A major firmware upgrade added the holy grail of filmmaking codecs – internal Raw capture. Rival firm Red kicked up a fuss with lawsuits to protect its beloved Raw processes, but Nikon stuck to its guns and Raw remains. The firmware also introduced a choice of high- and normal-resolution Raw files and 4K/60p oversampled mode. The Z 9 is a real do-it-all camera. And thanks to a large, pro-DSLR-type body, there are no real problems with battery life
battery. This means that the Z 8 with grip is still around a grand less than the Z 9, though offers just about the same functionality and ergonomics – except weather sealing isn’t quite as good. Of course, you can run it without a grip and it’s far better for filmmaking on gimbals and sliders. Like the Z 9, this is an easy-to- use camera with an intuitive button layout. Most of the main buttons are on the right side of the back panel. Simple menus and an ‘i’ button make it easy to quickly see and adjust all your settings. There isn’t a quick audio setting switch, as found on Fujifilm and Panasonic’s flagship models, but the new Nikon does
ALL THE GEAR With a VND filter, follow focus and external monitor, the Nikon Z 8 is stunning for shooting movies
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PRO MOVIEMAKER
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