Reviews |Nikon Z7 price, specs, release date announced

Nikon Z7 price, specs, release date announced

Nikon Z7 price, specs, release date announced
News

The Nikon Z7 full-frame mirrorless camera has been announced, priced at £3,399. Its release date is set for September 2018.

Nikon has announced two full-frame mirrorless cameras, the Nikon Z7 and Y. The Nikon Z7 is the higher resolution of the two with a 45.7MP backside illuminated (BSI) sensor that is similar, but not identical to the Nikon D850’s.

This sensor is paired with a new Expeed 6 processing engine that enables a maximum continuous shooting speed of 9fps (frames per second). Sensitivity may also be set in the range of ISO 64-25,600.

A key difference from the Nikon D850’s sensor is that the Nikon Z7’s chip has phase detection pixels to enable 493 phase detection AF points. These operate during stills and video shooting.

Nikon is pitching the Nikon Z7 at high-end Nikon photographers. It’s natural competitor is the Sony A7R III.

Nikon D850’s mirrorless partner

Nikon views the Nikon Z7 as the mirrorless partner to the D850. According to Nikon UK’s Jeremy Gilbert, the performance of the mirrorless camera is as good, if not better than that of its DSLR sibling. It’s also weatherproofed to the same standard.

As it has no mirror, the Nikon Z7 has an electronic viewfinder rather than an optical one like the D850. This is a QVGA 3.6million-dot finder with 100% coverage and 0.8x magnification. There are also Nikon optics in the EVF and this, according to Nikon, makes it the best electronic viewfinder around.

Like the D850, the Nikon Z7 has a 3.2-inch 2,100,000-dot tilting touch-screen that can be used for composing images, navigating the menu and making setting selections. There’s also a small LCD on the top-plate for checking settings.

Nikon has given the Nikon Z7 a 5 axis, 5EV stabilisation system that will work with the VR in lenses mounted via an adapter.

New Lens Mount

Nikon has introduced a new lens mount with the Nikon Z7 and Y. At 55mm in diameter, it’s much bigger than the F-mount (47mm) used in SLRs like the D850.

However, as the flange depth is reduced to just 16mm, the new camera is much slimmer than its DSLR counterpart.

That new mount enables maximum apertures of up to f/0.95.

Nikon Z7 Key Features

In a move that will surprise some, Nikon has given the Nikon Z7 a single XQD card port. This will be updatable to CFexpress in the future. This card has been used to promote speed.

The Nikon Z7 can also record 4K UHD video with Full HD video recording being possible at up to 120p. With an external recorder connected via the HDMI port, it’s possible to record 10bit video with N-Log for better colour and wider dynamic range. Video recorded internally is 8bit and N-Log is not available.

As you’d expect, Timecode, focus peaking and zebra display are all available.

Like the D850, 8K Timelapse shooting is also possible with the Z7, but the movies must be created using software post capture.

Nikon’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth system, SnapBridge, is built-in for connecting the camera to a smartphone or tablet, but the Wi-Fi system can also be used directly. What’s more, a dedicated CPU is built-in to improve the stability of the connection. The camera also works with the Nikon WT-7 wireless adapter.

The Nikon Z7 uses a new version of the Nikon EN-EL15 battery, dubbed EN-EL15b, but it can accept the EN-EL15a batteries used in the D850.

Further good news is that the Nikon Z7 is completely compatible with Nikon’s Speedlight system.

Nikon Z7 Price

The Nikon Z7 price tag is set for £3,399. There are also Nikon Z7 kit prices as follows:

  • Z7 plus 24-70mm f/4 £3,999
  • Z7 plus FTZ adapter £3,499
  • Z7 plus 24-70mm f/4 and adapter £4,099

Nikon Z Release Date

The Nikon Z7 will go on sale at the end of September along with two of the lenses.

Two Nikon S-line lenses the 24-70mm f/4, and 35mm f/1.8 will also go on sale at the same time priced at £999 and £849 respectively.

An adaptor that allows Nikon F-mount lenses to be used on the Nikon Z7 will also be available from day one at a price tag of £269.

The mount adaptor is compatible with approximately 360 lenses (AE). It’s also seamlessly compatible with over 90 lenses (AF & AE) – just about the entire range of existing lenses.