The Nikon Z6 and Z7 are understandably big news. It’s the first time Nikon has ventured into the full frame CSC market, and from my first impressions at Photokina 2018 I have to say I was impressed and an evening with Nikon Z7 showed that Nikon seemed to have got the design spot on.
However, it’s only when you get it home and try it out in the real world that you can get a true feeling for how the camera really performs. Luckily we have the full review of the Nikon Z7 just here, so check out what Angela has to say and check out whether the camera really is as good as it seems.
During our coverage, we’ve received the usual flow of emails asking direct questions about the two cameras so I caught-up with Tim Carter, Nikon’s European product manager to get the low down.
If there are any further questions that you would like to ask then please pop me an email to ali@camerajabber.com.
There have been quite some questions over the Nikon z series battery life, are you able to tell me how many JPEG and RAW shots I’ll be able to shoot on one battery?
In all mirrorless cameras, the battery life is heavily affected by how you shoot. Depending on how much you use the EVF and screen means the number of shots you can get on a single charge really can vary. We have seen real-world use getting anything from 300 to over 2000 shots on a single charge.
Video is a big feature for all CSC’s, similar to the first questions what is the battery life when shooting at 1080p 60fps, and 4k 30fps?
Our Nikon School have run tests on this and we achieved over 2 hours of 4K recording on a single battery.
Slot wars is a term recently used by one of our YouTube views, what are the benefits of XQD over dual slot SD?
It was very clear that we needed the faster write speed of an XQD card so we did not affect the performance of the camera. Due to the small size of the camera we could only fit one XQD card slot in. Failures in XQD are practically unheard of so we are confident most users of the Z series will be fine. If people really need two card slots we also have the option of the very capable D850 which has two slots, albeit in a larger form factor.
We’ve recently seen Cfast CFexpress cards with the same form factor as XQD will these be compatible and what are benefits?
Express cards will be the next generation that we expect to be widely adopted by the industry. They offer write speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second from launch this year and the potential up to 8 gigabits a second. They are designed for use in industrial machines and are therefore extremely tough, durable and reliable. The Z series will be able to use these with a forthcoming firmware update in the future.
What benefits are there for having the large mount opening, won’t this just attract more dust?
The larger mount allows our lens designers to design higher quality lenses with a smaller physical size. This means the Z series really can produce next generation optical performance when coupled with a Z mount lens. The wider mount allows more light to reach the edges of the sensor meaning the new lenses are super sharp, right to edge of the frame, even wide open.
Do the Z6 and Z7 feature an optical low pass filter/anti-aliasing filter?
The Z6 has an optical low pass filter which, together with the full frame 4K readout means it makes a fantastic choice for video. The Z7 does not have one.
Can I control the cameras through an app?
Yes, Snapbridge 2.5 allows you to control the cameras shooting mode (P/S/A/M), shutter speed, aperture, ISO sensitivity, exposure compensation, and white balance from your phone or tablet and see the live view image on the screen.
Are the Z cameras suitable for tethered studio use?
Yes, both models can be tethered with the USB-C cable or via Wi-Fi with a PC or Mac.
Can you film with N-Log onto XQD or is an external HDMI Output device required?
10bit N-Log is only available when recording externally via the HDMI port.
How much control do you have over the audio settings and quality in camera?
In camera you can adjust the microphone sensitivity and access the attenuator. You can also use an external microphone if needed.
What is movie e-VR?
This is electronic vibration reduction while shooting movies, it applies a very slight crop around the frame and electronically stabilises the video. The works in conjunction with the in body image stabilisation and can be used when recording 4K.