The Nikon Z9 - A Sony Fanboy's Reaction

I've been caught talking smack about Nikon in the past, but did the new Z9 validate my concerns, or end up finding me with my foot in my mouth? Let's talk about that!

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[WesPerry]

I am aware there’s a decent chance that the sensor was made by Tower and not Sony. At this point all we have is rumours on that, though. But also: that was just supposed to be a side note and really isn’t the point here. Don’t let my possible error get in the way of the actual message please 😂

[MichaelAres]

We are so spoiled now with AF, that with the Z9 catching up, it’s the best flagship ever as it gives the most features at a cheaper price point compared to Sony and Canon. That’s a huge win in my book.

[airjaff]

Sony just builds the sensor, Nikon designs them. It's like when when you take a photo, you you use a printer to print the photo. The printer just listens to what you tell it to do

[cliffordconklin]

Great video. It is so refreshing to hear positive points and to put aspects in perspective. This would be the case for any brand. You continually confirm why I follow your channel.

[DrNick]

I used Nikon before and now Sony A1. Its good to see Nikon comes out with Z9 with comparable AF, but lower price tag. Good competition between Sony, Nikon and Canon

[lassepetersen]

Hey Wes!

Amazing how your channel has grown over time, the sky is still the limit. :-)
Keep up with the great videos i watch a lot of them even after having switched back to Nikon. Especially videos about gear that goes for both brands like filters, speedlights etc. The only really bad thing about having switched back to Nikon, is missing out of your coverage on new lenses and cameras.

As a former Sony A9II and now Nikon Z9 user i can say that the Z9 is on par autofocus wise.
It's a different beast with a different approach to autofocus. But it is absolutely just as good and in some cases even better. Quite an incredible achievement.

But what really makes the Z9 for me over the absolutely stunning A1 is the options you get with the compatibility of all the F-mount glass available. They work even better than they did on the DSLR cameras and opens up a whole "new" lineup of options for the Z9.

I have to say though while it's nice with these new type B memory cards for the Z9. They are crazy expensive and you have to make sure to get the right one (in the jungle of misinformation) because it does affect the performance of the camera if you get a slower one. But i guess if you put out the money for this type of camera, you will have to spare some for the memory cards as well.

Keep up the great work!

-Lasse

[johnvanderploeg]

Great video! I am a Nikon fanboy and can’t wait for my z9. The a1 is an excellent camera as well, but I agree completely, Sony needs to move to cf express type b. The price of type a cards is ridiculous, especially if you look at angelbird type b cards!

[feederbrian]

I have an A1. Great camera. But if the Z9 had released last year... it really does drive more value for its price. Internal 8K RAW video? Unbelievable.

[IAmRch]

A lot of people don't know this but sports shooters that submit their images only use jpg. No raw, no raw+jpg, just jpg. I have said this before. In the future stills cameras will not exist. They will be video cameras and you will pull screen grabs from the video. You press the shutter button and it will take video that is raw images put together and you will select your screen grab. Phones are already doing this. Full size cameras need to catch up.

[robertasmith]

My husband and I both shoot Weddings together- I went from Canons into Sony, and now a mix of both brands for me with the Canon R5.
My husband has been a die hard Nikon loyalist who for years shot by the "F8 and be there " motto- when he might want a shallow DOF with lots of bokeh, he would by necessity have me do those shots because his bodies would never give us enough material to sort through with the eyes in critical focus, while my Sonys and the R5 would do it with ease- our biggest problem with the Sony bodies and the R5 was sorting thru thousands of shots in perfect focus with perhaps 1 or 2 % soft while we would sort thru hundreds of Nikon shots with approx a 10-15% AF soft or out of focus rate.
The work flow difference was dramatic.Now that he's got the Z9, we see a dramatic increase in AF keepers and numbers of total shots, yet we both agree that the Z9 is still a bit behind the Sony A, 9 ii, ( we don't have a A1 yet) and Canon R5 ( and the R5 is about 1800 dollar's less while using a sensor that isn't BSI)
It's clearly Nikons best AF body, but now we're also experiencing the same HSS problems that we've been reading about on one forum by multiple users and we're hoping for a fix or we'll be forced to sell it.
All in all, even he admits that stubborn brand loyalty may have really hurt us and he missed out on several years of the other brands advantages

[stevenwaldstein]

Well we will see. I have the Sony Alpha 1 and decided to purchase the Z9 to do some actual head to head tests. From YouTubers, except one, I only see AF tests of them running around in front of the camera or asking an attractive model, with eye makeup, to walk fast to test AF. I personally don’t shoot video so 8K or 4K60 won’t be compared. I know for some that is important and not discounting it but I have my priorities. Admit it will take some time since I haven’t shot Nikon digital before so I’ve really got to learn how best to set it up before I consider the comparisons valid. We will see. Still trying to get my hands on the proper lens to do the comparison. Will start with 24-70/2.8 and 50mm primes but then hope to get Z glass for 100-400. Will also be comparing the Canon R5. Wish me luck.
.

[MyContestPix]

Hey Wes, keep these videos on the Z9 coming!! That's why I just subscribed to your channel! LOL!!

Got mine a few months a go and I was interested if you could run side by side comparisons shooting small birds or something that would test the autofocus system.

[mainmain]

It’s made by Tower Semiconductor. Pretty well known

[Realletsplaygrey]

We are so spoiled with AF for sure. No no on, Sony and Canon all have phenomenal cameras now

[sloppy--]

Nice reaction!
Quick note about the z9 af: i think i have seen 3 a1 vs r3 vs z9 af comparison videos so far, and each of them had a different winner lol. Seems like these cameras have gotten so good, they outperform the average photographer, and what "matters" more in this case is what you are used to (sony's real time tracking or whatever, nikons 3d af from the d5/d500/d850, or whatever canon was doing).

[eric]

The R3 has some AF limitations that the Z9 doesn't so i wouldn't go all has in the R3 just yet. If the eye disappears in the EVF on the R3, it tracks the AF to the backfiring and foreground missing shots where the Z9 stays on the head and then instant locks the eye again one is viable

[nicholaswave]

Where did you get the info that Z9 has lower autofocus performance than A1 and R3? (Because all the sources I saw, Z9 is better). And if you have seen where Z6 started and where it is now in terms of autofocus (mindblowing difference with firmware update only) - you know that Z9 will probably outperform the future R1 as well. Nikon's experience and vision has no match in the market.

[lukecerritelli]

Wow those are some big claims about Sony. Sony are often not the first to do anything they just make it seem like they are the first. Sony also don’t design sensors for the main camera manufacturers, other manufacturers use the Sony facilities. The machines that make the sensors are in fact made by Nikon.

Canon and Nikon have 2 major benefits over Sony. 1st is reliability and the 2nd the lens mounts. Sony have done a good job after 4 generations to move away from the consumer style APSC bodies

[billyisreal]

I sold all my Sony gear and jumped on the Nikon ban wagon I been waiting for years for my dream camera and the Nikon Z9 is the one 45 megapixels, large lens mount for more light, dual cfexpress slots and much more to me Sony is behind and will have some catching up to do Nikon and Canon are starting to push the bar high with more lenses coming for their big mounts

[sjm.photos]

fab video. so far 10000 shots taken in loads of different situations i have not used the mechanical shutter yet at all. so for me the A1 is one hell of an economical camera with almost zero wear. and yep the cf express card in the A1 my 80gb card can do 13 minutes of 4k 600mbps video lol