NIKON

New Z8 mirrorless hybrid

Nikon has announced its new Z8 mirrorless hybrid which was designed to fit into the lineup between the Z7 Mark II and their flagship Z9.

In a lot of ways, the Z8 is a Z9 on a diet at a lower price.

In October 2021 Nikon announced its flagship hybrid mirrorless, the Z9. The headline specifications were that it could record 8K 60p RAW internally, 8K up to 30p internally, 4K UHD ProRes 422HQ up to 60p, and it didn’t have any overheating issues.

The new Z8 packs in a lot of the same features and functionality as the Z9 which certainly does make it an interesting proposition for anyone who needs to shoot a mix of video and stills.

Swing for the fences...The Z9 arguably shocked a lot of people when it was first announced, especially because of its video capabilities. Unlike Sony, Canon, and Panasonic, Nikon doesn’t have any digital cinema cameras to protect so they are able to swing for the fences without having to worry about one camera stepping on another’s toes.

In theory, this should allow them to offer video features and functionality that others can’t. Why Nikon didn’t do this a long time ago is still a mystery to me. The release of the Nikon Z6 and Z7 would have been a perfect time to swing for the fences with video functionality. Unfortunately, Nikon chose to bunt instead and that arguably cost them a ton of potential sales. Yes, the Z6 and Z7 were the first mirrorless hybrid cameras capable of outputting a RAW signal over HDMI, but the implementation of that was poorly done, and to make matters worse, you had to send your camera to Nikon and pay money to have it enabled.

For a long time, Nikon hasn’t even been in the conversation when it comes to talking about what mirrorless hybrid you could buy if you primarily wanted a camera for shooting video. That has now all changed with the Z9 and now the Z8.

People tend to forget that it was actually Nikon, and not Canon, who first introduced video recording in a DSLR. The Nikon D90 could record 23.98p movie clips with sound at up to 720p HD (1280 x 720 pixels) in Motion JPEG for a maximum of 5 minutes. The trouble was that Canon saw the opportunity with video recording in a DSLR and ran with it, while Nikon didn’t.

Times have changed...Despite the release of the Z8, Nikon still finds itself in a difficult position because a lot of potential buyers are already heavily invested in systems from Canon, Sony, and to a lesser extent Panasonic. Trying to get users of other systems to switch is an extremely hard task. A lot of shooters base their camera buying on what lenses they happen to own. Once someone is invested in a particular lens mount from a brand it is very hard to tempt them to go elsewhere unless they are using non-native lenses with an adapter. I don’t like investing in native lenses for video for this exact reason. Almost all of the glass I own can be moved around to different camera systems. This gives me increased flexibility, although this tactic isn’t going to be for everyone.

Sensor...The Z8 appears to be using the exact same sensor as its bigger brother the Z9. This is an FX-format 45.7MP BSI stacked CMOS CMOS sensor with a physical size of 35.9 mm x 23.9 mm. As you would expect, this is actually a Sony sensor.

The stacked design offers fast readout speeds and helps to reduce rolling shutter, and the BSI design is claimed to contribute to impressive clarity and minimal noise when working at higher sensitivities. At 45.7MP, it’s also a high-resolution chip that benefits landscape, portraiture, and other detail-oriented genres, as well as enables recording video at resolutions up to 8K. The sensor offers a native ISO 64-25600 range, that can be expanded to ISO 32-102400.

EXPEED 7 Image Processor...Complementing the sensor is the EXPEED 7 processing engine, which offers speeds that are claimed to be approximately 10x faster than a Z 7II. Again, this is the same processor used in the Z9. This engine works in conjunction with the stacked sensor for fast AF speeds, high burst shooting rates, a high buffer capacity, and good video performance.

A stacked sensor design reduces rolling shutter distortion so fast-moving subjects, like a golf club, tennis racket, or baseball bat, do not appear distorted when working with shutter speeds up to 1/32,000 sec.

AF calculations are done at a 120 fps rate to keep up with fast continuous shooting speeds.

The Z8 outputs two data streams from the stacked CMOS sensor: one for writing to the memory card and one for viewing. The viewing stream is unaffected by any capture processing, leaving a lag-free, uninterrupted view with absolutely no blackout.

The High Efficiency RAW file format maintains image quality akin to uncompressed raw files but with file sizes approximately 30% smaller for faster reading/writing to the memory card.

Videocentric?...Almost all hybrid mirrorless cameras that are being released these days have impressive video specifications. Nikon has never really pushed video functionality as one of the main selling points of its mirrorless cameras until the Z9 came along. The Z8 follows in the footsteps of the Z9.

As I mentioned earlier, Nikon was the first company to introduce video recording in a full-frame DSLR camera. They were also the first to have a mirrorless camera that was capable of outputting a RAW signal over HDMI that could be recorded as ProRes RAW.

At least, in my opinion, and this may sound controversial, the Z8 isn’t what I would consider a videocentric mirrorless hybrid. Why do I say that? Well, first and foremost it is more of a high-end flagship stills camera. Yes, it has impressive video specifications, however, it isn’t like a Panasonic S1H, Canon R5 C, or Panasonic GH6 which were all specifically designed with video shooters in mind.

I also think that the Z8 is lacking quite a lot of video assist features, it has basic audio capabilities, and it has no physical timecode In/Out. That’s not to say it isn’t a capable video solution, it is just that I personally think there are more video-centric options available.

Wide range of recording formats to choose from...One of the biggest appeals of the Nikon Z8 is that it can shoot in a wide array of codecs, resolutions, and frame rates. Being able to choose between recording in ProRes, H.265 4:2:2 10-bit, ProRes RAW and N-RAW gives this camera ton of flexibility.

Internal ProRes Recording...The Z9 was the first hybrid mirrorless camera that was able to record internally in ProRes 422 HQ, and the Z8 follows suit.

Yes, ProRes files do take up considerably more space than say an H.265 codec, but they are vastly easier to use and deal with in post. My primary cameras all record internally in ProRes so having another camera that can also do the same helps in my workflow.

The big benefits of ProRes files is that not only are they very robust, but they are also super easy to deal with.

When you are in ProRes you can choose either SDR or N-Log.

Now, there is a caveat when recording in ProRes. You are limited to capturing in resolutions of 4K UHD or HD, you can’t record 8K ProRes. In saying that, I don’t know how many people would want to record in 8K ProRes as the data rates would be ridiculously big and the amount of recording time you would get on a 1TB card would be very limited.

Price...The Z8 retails for $3,996.95 USD.

Nikon