Nikon Z9 3.0 Review: CAMERA OF THE YEAR?!?!

Tony Northrup reviews the Nikon Z9 firmware 3.0 and it's more powerful than EVER! Nikon is now offering a virtual 2X zoom in 4k/30 mode. The autofocus is improved... in some situations, but WORSE in others!

But the biggest news is the new 60 FPS mode with a 1.5X crop. It's AMAZING for wildlife photographers! It's still a little buggy, but it autofocus in this mode is about as good as the amazing Sony a1!

0:00 Introduction
0:30 Video 2X zoom
0:57 60 FPS APS-C JPGs
5:50 Autofocus improvements
7:39 Summary

[randykirby]

I'm in. Gonna get one. Of coarse my wife will divorce me but it was good while it lasted I guess.

[ketilknudsen]

Tony. You can toggle between single point, wide area, 3d-tracking, FX/DX direct switch by using one press F1, F2 and F3 and have 3D tracking on the release button. Example: Shutter releaser has 3D-tracking. Press F1 and you switch to single point, which immediately gives focus on subject. Remove the press on F1 and you are back in 3D instantly. Great for close ups. For birds far away: PressF2 and get wide area AF. Remove when in focus, and you are back in 3D. Works Incredibly fast and well. Set up is easily done in f2 customs controls. For birds in horisontal flight, use the horisontal AF wide area.

[chrishilton]

Few comments for you:

1. Your experiences with hunting autofocus do NOT match mine when shooting with the Z9 and a native Z lens, specifically the Z 70-200mm and the Z 400mm f/4.5. When I watch your EVF it seems like you're shooting a completely different piece of gear. I've shot a lot less images than you have on the Z9 and I'm just not seeing these behaviors at all.

2. I would suggest you look into the Hybrid Handoff mode of shooting the Z9. Yes it is a touch more complicated than just 3D tracking on but it does work. While that might be considered a work-around I'd suggest that method is just a craftsman learning to use the tool.

3. Your experiences with DX mode crop are closer to mine. In fact I've been shooting like that with the Z9 and the Z7II and I see a gains on both in keeper rates. I suspect you're correct in that there is more autofocus math going on when in DX mode resulting in better hit rates. If that's the case, why doesn't Nikon use a cropped portion of the sensor to do autofocus math for the full frame images and put the burden on the shooter to get the subject in the frame more accurately? This leads me to the next point...

4. If you're having trouble keeping subjects in frame while in DX mode it might not be the camera that's at fault. Get good! PS - I've been working on this a LOT lately and I'm lacking in this area right now.

5. Finally, let me help you with that title: Nikon Z9 3.0 Review: CAMERA OF THE YEAR. That is a period there. There isn't a single offering from any other brand that delivers as much feature rich pro level performance in a body at that price point. I know it pains you to say it but I think at this point you have to admit 2022 is the year for Nikon shooters. Next year it might be another brand but right now, no one is close.

[batuhancokmar]

Getting the shot at 4:33 with a film camera would have required years of experience in the wild, superhuman reflexes, rock solid patience, and days worth of attempts. Today I can now rent a Z9, set it on some high shutter and auto everything else, turn on burst 60/120fps mode with pre buffer and give it to my mom... She can take THAT photo on her first try; despite the fact she never ever used any camera in her life, no SLR not even a point-and shoot film camera. If I shot that photo with one of my film cameras, I'd be really, really bragging about it. With my DSLR, I'd still be somewhat proud of it but with Z9... Is it really fair to say photographer took the photo, when all he did was to take a frame from a high frame-rate short video? Technology is cool, but at the same time terrifying for truely talented photographers... Imagine what will future hold:

1- In 10 years, high-end cameras will likely have faster storage and be able to record 60-120fps raw indefinetely, like recording video. This is already within reach of current tech.
2- Autofocus technology is already beyond wildest expectations of photographers from just 10 years ago. 10 years into future, every high end camera will likely nail razor-sharp focus on all 120 of these shots.
3- There is no mechanical shutter to wear down on Z9. If storage write speed/endurance allows, why bother with pre-buffer? There will be a mode that makes cameras work like security cameras. It'll start taking pictures for hours until "photographer" turns it off. Then the "photographer" will pick the instant he liked most.
4- By that point, top end medium format camera sensors will reach 200MP+ mark easily, so framing won't be important. Zoom out, don't take risks, crop later. This is already what event photographers are doing under most circumstances.
5- Auto-rotating trackers for following people around exist today. High speed trackers to photograph very fast flying objects (like missiles!) also exist today. In 10 years, its not hard to imagine tripods with auto-trackers fast and smart enough to track birds or a soccer ball, and automatically do the panning for the "photographer".

So who the photographer will be then? He'll the guy who points his camera in the general direction of its subject, press a button, then pick an instant from thousands of alternatives, then finally crop whatever he likes to get the framing and the look he wants... He'll probably feed it into AI to retouch the skin, remove grain and sharpen the result. Then, best photographers will be the guys with best equipment, not the best talent.

[arvidjohansson]

It is exiting to imagine what technology Nikon will trickle down to future models. Nikon is currently supporting third party lenses and are rather frequent in software updates for the Z9. It is almost like they care about getting more people to buy the Nikon Z-mount cameras.

[hautehussey]

Using 3d tracking on a completely blown out subject? It’s a disservice to say it’s worse in that situation because that’s clearly a case of it trying to not bounce off to something else as much. Which is where the improvements were made, and what we want it to do.
I wonder if he had switched to 3d, with the handoff technique, if it would’ve still went to the background on that bird against the trees complaint.

[watron]

Autofocus in Z9 in low light is a real disaster. In single mode, it searches for focus by moving the lens non-stop. In continus mode it is much better. The green LED even seems to make focus detection worse. Moreover, any lens covers its field of light. Are people blind at Nikon? How many versions do you need to finally make the camera OK?

[ridealongwithrandy]

I want a Z9 so bad, but not in my financial future.

[FabulousPepper]

The camera and Z lenses together form an amazing combination indeed !

[duncanwallace]

It seems better NOT to activate focus until the yellow box appears. Even if the subject is slightly out of focus, wait for the box. It's counter-intuitive. You have the focus at a point where you would start taking photos, let the bird fly into the focus range, wait for the yellow box, then activate.

The best way to quickly bring the camera back into focus if it's wildly out (like the feeder examples), is by using a single focus point, which can be toggled on and off with a lens button.

Maybe your better results in DX 60fps mode are because it uses fewer focus points. This might be replicated in FF by using wide area large.

I've never been in love with 3d tracking on any Nikon camera. It just seems a bit random compared with focus points and areas.

[OkwyUgonweze]

Can you actually take tone to learn the Z9 af ?
Configure the af patterns to different buttons then apply them as required .

[jpdeardenphotography]

I have olympus om-d e-m1 mk3 and use pro capture all the time once half pressed get 35 shots before and 64 after so total 99 raw. Got some amazing shots using it

[swistedfilms]

Did you try taking off the viewfinder recorder? Matt Granger found that attaching that reduced his frame rate. It's worth finding out of that was taxing the processor to the point of missing focus.

[Anon-zlne]

I think some of the issues experienced were a result of his shooting techniques, not the camera itself. One can shoot in auto ISO but set limits on how high the ISO will go. Or in bright situations you can shoot in aperture priority, lock the ISO and let the camera adjust the shutter speed.

Also, expecting the autofocus to quickly go from being locked on something at infinity focus to something much closer with no assistance is not reasonable. Neither is expecting the camera to instantly lock onto a distant bird flying in front of trees. I have had a lot of success photographing birds, particularly hummingbirds (which is incredibly difficult) with my Z7II much less a Z9.

Technique really matters. Expecting the camera to overcome bad technique, lack of knowledge of different AF modes and when to use them isn't reasonable either.

[HaimGreen]

Well, this is a very positive atmosphere review, even though nothing is perfect and they still have work to do, it’s a better way to deal with imperfection, rather than to say Nikon sucks, so very appreciate it..

[brv]

did you test with a Z-lens or the shown d-slr version?

[nevakee]

One thing that should be mentionned is Lens, I thing nikon has right now advantage on this with their big prime with build in tc.

[tonytech]

I own a 12-year old Panasonic camcorder that has that pre-recording feature. It's a life-saver.

[Optidorf]

5:51 Legend has that this lens was used by the Ottomans for taking down the fortified walls of Constantinople

[himalayareaders]

For the coming trickling down of higher tech to every z cameras, 3D tracking, evolutionary af which would improve both performance in videos and stills shooting, especially the previous.