Z 8 | Professional full-frame mirrorless stills/video hybrid camera | Nikon USA Model

Excellent camera on paper but in reality, it's more marketing than anything else on many aspects! The video image quality is superb but that doesn't make it a video camera but more a very good camera! So yes, the technical sheet makes you dream, 8k60 nraw, pro res raw, 4k oversampled, 4k120 without crop, almost zero rolling shutter, very good in low light and robust body but in reality and me who was looking for a camera for video mainly, I turned to Nikon, after having moved from Sony and Lumix but what a mistake! in my opinion and according to what I'm obviously looking for, Nikon is an excellent brand but they are years behind Lumix for video, autofocus on a gimbal with fast rear movements, are a disaster even with a native lens and specific settings, the Z8's autofocus is far behind Lumix S5IIX in video, except in low light, the body is made of plastic so it heats up a lot! I tried several types of cf express but where I am it's hot it's impossible to film a video shoot outdoors! In short Lumix's strong point is to make their cameras compatible with SSDs but Nikon will not do it because they will not be able to do it on their range above Z9, in any case for me it's a first on Nikon and the last time, paying 4000usd for a video camera, which limits you in your actions, it's not worth it. Bad AF video, overheating, cf express too expensive, N-log to rec709 weak compared to v-log and s-log3, believe me stay away from Nikon cameras for the moment!, I'll come back one day maybe but not now. UPDATE> Ok, I'm coming back to the z8's autofocus, I almost sold it and I still decided to buy the 50mm 1.4 z, a latest-gen native lens, to see how the AF works and I have to say that in video, it's now very, very good! it manages to surpass my s5IIX in autofocus, after some research, I saw a lot of possibilities to improve the camera that heats up, like a Zitay SSD to the express cf or Exascend pro or element pro cards for example with lower voltage 1.25v at 400mb/s, so this card should be the best for this camera, I'll get back to you on that soon but in practice in h265 or Nraw 4k 30p, you can film for more than 2 hours without the camera emitting a signal which is a pretty good sign! I also improved the Nlog to the rec709 on Davinci resolve because the one given by Nikon was bad! with just a few options on the software and the use of RED luts, it becomes very very good. in short, with patience... so I change my rating, only morons don't change their opinion.

Best Camera I have ever owned. Moving from a D850. Incredible for bird, wildlife and sports photography. The new 50mm lens is mind blowing. All my old lenses work great with the adapter.

Great mirrorless camers excellent for landscape and wildlife photography.

I've been a Nikon user for decades and come from the D850. The D850 is a great camera but the weight and clunk the mirror makes make it a problem at times. The Z8 solves those issues. It is also very nice that I can use all my D850 batteries. I got the Z 14-24mm f2.8 which is amazing. I will now refi my house and sell my fist born to get other Z lenses. I upgraded the software to version 2.0 which went smoothly. I set about configuring the camera to the way I shoot. The options for setting the way the shutter, viewfinder mode, histogram display and monitor interact are quite complex. I called Nikon when I got stuck. They have live help which I appreciate. They told me about the viewfinder mode button which I did not know existed. Beyond that they could not answer my questions and said that they would get back to me. They never did. So I went and did a flowchart of how all the factors noted above modify the camera's behavior. It took me about five hours of hard work but I got it all figured out. Hint: it all starts with setting playback menu > picture review on. Now, the photo I just took appears in the viewfinder which is great because on a sunny day, the monitor is hard to see. I can also press the ok button and see a histogram. Its hard to imagine that the Z8 could not be set up to satisfy even the most demanding user. The "user's manual" the camera comes with is a joke. It's tiny and contains only the barest information. You will need to go online for the real manual. There is a problem here. In many places, the manual refers to a "G Button" followed by "A" and "U". There is no such thing. It means nothing. I called and they told me (after a lot of "checking") that it was a "typo." Seems to me that a $4K complex camera from a big manufacturer could put more effort into the manual. I love the camera. It's a big step up from a DSLR.

I have been a long time shooter of the Nikon brand. I have been using their cameras since the old Nikon film SLR cameras. With the move to mirrorless, the first two generations left a lot to be desired. My Z5, and Z6 offered a nice experience but you really had to know your camera in order to deal with it’s less than perfect auto focusing issues. Trying to nail focus with those cameras had become an art form that had to be perfected. Then they released the $5500, beast of a camera, Z9. This camera gave us a taste of just how good a nikon with reliable auto focus and premium features could be. The problem with the Z9 was that the larger body and the much more expensive $5500 price tag did not appeal to most of us. I tested the Z9 out after preordering it and was not a fan of the full body size and weight so i cancelled the preorder and decided to wait for something great. Two and a half years later, they finally gave me what i wanted, the Z8. It had all the features and proven autofocus of the Z9 with a much more attractive price tag and stuffed it in a body that felt more like a D850 than the previous Z6-Z7II bodies. Finally i got a camera that was worthy of the Nikon name. The Z8 feels great in the hand and just looks how a professional camera should. It’s 45mp sensor gives you a ton of resolution for those that like to crop in or edit with full detail in post. The BSI CMOS sensor is stacked and renders a beautiful full frame image with colors that are synonymous to the Nikon brand. The images that come out of this camera are some of my favorites amongst all camera manufacturers. I shoot with Fujifilm, Sony and Canon, so i have a lot of experience and reference points with these brands. The shutterless design seemed like a gimmick that i did not think i was going to like when it was announced on the Z9. After doing a couple of shoots, it has really grown on me and now i see a lot of benefit in it. You can adjust the volume level of the artificial shutter sound. This is perfect for events where silence is important and the sound of a full frame shutter slapping could create an annoyance. There is a sensor shield that you can turn on to close when the camera is powered off. That allows you to change lenses in the field without the concerns of dust, dirt and droplets making its way onto your sensor. The Z8 boasts a good collection of frame rates for photography. Being able to shoot at 20 fps at full resolution and RAW is more than i will ever need. But there is a whopping 120 fps mode as well as 30 fps and 60 fps in JPEG only for those who really want to pinpoint the perfect moment of motion and do not need the flexibility of a RAW file. These frame rates are amazing and will definitely be something for me to play around with in the future. Unlike the Z9 the Z8 only has one Cfexpress type b card slot instead of the dual cfe slots. Instead it has an SD UHSII card slot as the second slot. For what i shoot, this is more than sufficient and works out well as i have a ton of SD cards just waiting to be used. The Cfexpress type B card has blistering fast writing speeds and is the best media on the market IMO. The Z8 has all the video specs of the Z9 but at a compromise. The smaller body does not handle heat as well and therefore will not give you the same record times as the Z9. The battery of the Z8 will also play a factor in these record times. 4K frames range from 24fps all the way to 120fps for amazing slow motion video. The Z8 also adopts the Z9’s ability to record in 8K. This future proofs your camera. I have recorded in 8K a handful of times just so that i could have the flexibility to zoom in and out of a shot and still be able to maintain a 4K image quality. Then i can render the entire file at 4K. Nikon made a bold statement when they created the Z8. They are no longer holding back when it comes to the features and performance of their newer released cameras. It’s a great time to be a Nikon shooter.

This camera does it all and does it well. I stepped up to this from the D850, which is a great platform as well but, the Z8 is so much more capable on the fly. Love it!

tiene todo lo que un fotógrafo necesita para trabajar y ser productivo en lo que hace. Nikonboy

Best camera ever!