Nikon Z6 features 4K N-LOG, 10bit HDMI output and 120fps 1080p

[Snowbro]

All the videos we have seen have been on the z7, I hope the z6 can auto focus without issues in video since it is supposed to be slower. 

[deezid]

Am I the only one who thinks the examples shown in this thread look horrible?
Some of these look like shot on a phone in terms of aliasing, overprocessing, bad dynamic range, lack of texture etc...

I would rather get the Fuji X-T3 or BM Pocket 4K which look way more organic/filmic or even wait for the Panasonic full-frame offering.

[Castorp]

I think it’s also important to stress that 1 slot doesn’t necessarily equal 1 slot.

1 XQD is order of magnitude more reliable than 1 SD.

The discussion right now is as if the Nikon Z and Canon R were equals with their 1 slot but they’re not at all. 

I also feel the lens line up Nikon starts with is much more practical and promising than Canons. 

Rather than the traditional high/low - a cheap not so good but small 1.8 OR a great, large and expensive 1.4/1.2 Nikon seems to deliver a larger than usual 1.8, priced in the middle with absolutely top class optical performance and weather sealing. 

I always preferred the way Leica did this. The Summilux aren’t necessarily better than the Summicron. They’re just faster and subsequently more expensive.

The new Canon RF 35mm isn’t an L lens. It’s the same old ‘sell inferior slower glass at lower price’. 

In contrast, the 35mm 1.8 S is S-line, which is th Z counterpart to L lenses. It’s larger than a typical 35mm 1.8 suggesting more lenses and higher optical performance. It’s weather sealed.

But it’s not huge and heavy, I’d say it’s a good compromise. Both price wise and size wise. Compare with a Sony 35mm f1.4.

Same goes for the 24-70 f4 S. rumour has it it’s as sharp or better than the 24-70 f2.8 G Nikkor. Sure a 24-105 has a longer range but it’s bigger and heavier and importantly isn’t consistent with 2.8 zooms. Many have two zooms. A slower f4 is nice to have for travel and personal use. I for one am pretty happy about consistency, that way my visualisation isn’t fucked with. 

Nikons strategy doesn’t look as sexy on paper as Canons. But looks much much more intelligent to me. Like, who really wants to carry that f2 zoom? Who really wants to carry that 1.2 or spend over two grand on it? I sure do not. I think Nikon’s 0.95 is equally ridiculous - it’s to make headlines. Those fast lenses sell systems. They make people feel excited. They entertain a fantasy. The same reasons car makers are involved in racing. 

I think, I hope, that Nikon has a sleeper hit in its 24-70 f4 and it’s two f1.8 primes. 

Photography is coming home.

[Emanuel]

51 minutes ago, deezid said:

Am I the only one who thinks the examples shown in this thread look horrible?
Some of these look like shot on a phone in terms of aliasing, overprocessing, bad dynamic range, lack of texture etc...

I would rather get the Fuji X-T3 or BM Pocket 4K which look way more organic/filmic or even wait for the Panasonic full-frame offering.

Funny the way our opinion usually matches, Dennis... (E : -)

[Django]

53 minutes ago, Castorp said:

The new Canon RF 35mm isn’t an L lens. It’s the same old ‘sell inferior slower glass at lower price’. 

In contrast, the 35mm 1.8 S is S-line, which is th Z counterpart to L lenses. It’s larger than a typical 35mm 1.8 suggesting more lenses and higher optical performance. It’s weather sealed.

 

FYI both lenses share an 11 element 9 group design. Canon's RF35mm is said to have "remarkably similar MTF characteristics to those of the excellent EF35mm f/1.4L lens" in a smaller, lighter package. It can focus closer than Nikons and also has IS, Macro & extra control ring. All that for $300 cheaper.

[Castorp]

38 minutes ago, Django said:

FYI both lenses share an 11 element 9 group design. Canon's RF35mm is said to have "remarkably similar MTF characteristics to those of the excellent EF35mm f/1.4L lens" in a smaller, lighter package. It can focus closer than Nikons and also has IS, Macro & extra control ring. All that for $300 cheaper.

Sounds great. However, an L lens it is not. It is also very small but of course might still be great.

Typically more corrected lenses are a bit larger. And indeed, as I wrote, the new Nikkors are larger than typical 1.8 lenses. I don’t think that’s because Nikon can’t make small and cheap lenses like the Nikkor 50mm 1.8G or actually Nikon’s whole line up of 1.8G primes - all inexpensive and really good. 

I’m pretty certain this new 50mm is in another league from either the 50mm 1.8G or the 1.4G for that matter. 

It’s very possible the Canon 35 is great. Usually though, something has to give, either size or price or a combination. It’s a balance of things and as I wrote I think the S lenses balance appears to be extremely clever. At least to me. YMMV. 

I’m pretty certain there is a lot less glass in the Canon 35. It’s smaller and they have to fit both macro and IS in there. The macro would suggest some optical compromise has been made (or else why not make all normal lenses macro lenses?) Is it weather sealed? 

[Django]

No it isn't an L lens. it's also not priced like an L lens. it is said to have similar MFT characteristics to the 35mm 1.4L lens.

But i'm not going to speculate/argue what unreleased lens is best. Just dropping the info i got. And imo at $499 the RF 35mm seems like a hell of a deal.

FWIW i do own the 35mm F1.4 L and will surely purchase the RF 35mm 1.8 Macro IS. Not expecting it to beat it, but it'll be a fine addition.

As for the Nikon Z primes, I'm sure they're perfectly good too. Nikkor rarely disappoints.  

 

[Danyyyel]

Face tracking test

 

[Danyyyel]

I don't understand german and only rely on translation, but this guy has been doing some of the best test of the z7.

 

[gethin]

21 hours ago, deezid said:

Am I the only one who thinks the examples shown in this thread look horrible?
Some of these look like shot on a phone in terms of aliasing, overprocessing, bad dynamic range, lack of texture etc...

I would rather get the Fuji X-T3 or BM Pocket 4K which look way more organic/filmic or even wait for the Panasonic full-frame offering.

they'are not brilliantly shot, i've not seen aliasing, but I've only been watching on my laptop.

the point about the zeds to me is that they are finally up there with the sonys, but they are nikons.  I stuck with nikon because for what I do they were the best fit for stills. I went nikon d5300 then gh5 for vid. I thought about switching to sony, but losing AF, or ditching my glass did not appeal.  Being able to shoot something similar to sony quality vid, and keep my glass makes it a no-brainer. I'm sure there will be aspects that piss me off, but I'm also sure it'll piss me off less than not having AF,  (or having to buy into yet another line of lenses).   For a lot of jobbing pros who shoot stills and vid, speed and the "good enough" factor are important.  I dont like it, but I learnt it the hard way: I always strive for better quality but in the last 2 years I jumped from low bitrate 1080 to 4K, with much more tortuous grading, without increasing my prices.  And the pressure to race to the bottom is huge.  In 10 years you might have AI shooting and editing the vids. They'll be crap, but they'll be way cheaper than me.

yes agree the xt3 looks very nice. I've not seen an blackmagic footage that's been pushed around yet though. Want to see how the noisy those shadows are

[Simon Young]

Very impressive subject tracking with the Z7 methinks. Works beautifully. And the rolling shutter also seems well controlled. I’m getting more and more anxious to see what the Z6 will bring in terms of video.

[Geoff CB]

On ‎9‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 8:12 PM, Danyyyel said:

Face tracking test

 

This is very impressive.

[sanveer]

I noticed almost all the video released is with the Z7.

Since the Z6 is even better with video (according to Nikon themselves), with less moire and aliasing and rolling shutter, I am guessing we should be pleasantly surprised, once Nikon releases footage from that. 

[Danyyyel]

39 minutes ago, sanveer said:

I noticed almost all the video released is with the Z7.

Since the Z6 is even better with video (according to Nikon themselves), with less moire and aliasing and rolling shutter, I am guessing we should be pleasantly surprised, once Nikon releases footage from that. 

They want to promote the z7 for now because they are delivering now. One person said that they had a z6 on show at one of the Nikon meeting but they could not use it because the Rep said it's firmware was still in beta, in some way it makes some sense, they must be putting all their effort in the z7 for the imminent launch.

[Simon Young]

This german speaking dude has done the most extensive testing of the Z7 so far. He put the camera to work during two weeks. The talking head part in this video is shot with the S-lens, 35mm at f2.0. Focus sticks to his face like glue. It’s shot without an ND filter, hence the wonky motion cadence, in auto white balance and standard color (not flat).

He says he prefers the Canon and Fuji skin tones but that the Nikon is probably more accurate but that this footage might look strange because he’s very sunburnt after climbing mountains in Switzerland.

He’s praising the view finder and the lcd-screen, very responsive it seems, but he’s not too keen on the size of the house (too small) the size of the glass (too big albeit very sharp) and he’s very disappointed that there are no separate video settings - it’s cumbersome to constantly change exposure settings manually between video and stills. 

Other than that he overall thinks it’s a very fun camera to use, but in the end suggests those who are not invested in the Nikon system to wait for next generation.

[Danyyyel]

25 minutes ago, Simon Young said:

This german speaking dude has done the most extensive testing of the Z7 so far. He put the camera to work during two weeks. The talking head part in this video is shot with the S-lens, 35mm at f2.0. Focus sticks to his face like glue. It’s shot without an ND filter, hence the wonky motion cadence, in auto white balance and standard color (not flat).

He says he prefers the Canon and Fuji skin tones but that the Nikon is probably more accurate but that this footage might look strange because he’s very sunburnt after climbing mountains in Switzerland.

He’s praising the view finder and the lcd-screen, very responsive it seems, but he’s not too keen on the size of the house (too small) the size of the glass (too big albeit very sharp) and he’s very disappointed that there are no separate video settings - it’s cumbersome to constantly change exposure settings manually between video and stills. 

Other than that he overall thinks it’s a very fun camera to use, but in the end suggests those who are not invested in the Nikon system to wait for next generation.

With the Canon he would look like an alien LOL. Anything about autofocus, I also saw somewhere where you could either join the two setting photo/video or separate them. But his gripe is typical photo shooter centric, because any hybrid shooter would know that you would have to have an ND filter (or close aperture) and shoot at 1/50 -1/60 for video. You can't expect to have quality video if you just switch your 1/200-2000 photo shutter speed setting and shoot video.

[Simon Young]

51 minutes ago, Danyyyel said:

With the Canon he would look like an alien LOL. Anything about autofocus, I also saw somewhere where you could either join the two setting photo/video or separate them. But his gripe is typical photo shooter centric, because any hybrid shooter would know that you would have to have an ND filter (or close aperture) and shoot at 1/50 -1/60 for video. You can't expect to have quality video if you just switch your 1/200-2000 photo shutter speed setting and shoot video.

What do you mean with any of the above? He says in the video that he’s normally using nd filters, hence his shutter speed stays at 1/50th but when he want to shoot videos he then has to remove the nd an increase the shutter speed. He would like two separate settings in camer that you could switch between. Maybe there are ways around it, he just hasn’t figured it out.

He also states that he is very much a hybrid shooter - video is prioritized to him when it comes to mirror less cameras. He says that he does find the Nikon a lot more useful to his preferred specs than the x-t3, which lacks ibis.

[Geoff CB]

Tried out the Z7 today at Allen's Camera in NJ, came away extremely impressed. Very responsive (quick to turn on, no hesitation in the menus) , beautiful EVF, great IBIS (smoother than Sony) and the video tracking for me was better than what I saw in the A7III. 24-70 was very sharp and focused well, but lacked character for me in it's rendering. 35 1.8 was incredible, razor sharp, great rendering. They did not have the 50mm there.

What floored me the most was video AF with my Nikon AF-s glass. It was excellent! The focus motors are not quiet, but the focus was smooth and didn't hunt at all. Would not hesitate to use for event work. The adapter seemed rock solid when mounted on the camera.

Obviously would need to use for an extended period of time to see other issues, but so far I think they have a winner.

[Andrew Reid]

Good news Geoff!!

So the F mount adapter is pretty good then? Do you have the 58mm F1.4G?

[Danyyyel]

7 hours ago, Simon Young said:

What do you mean with any of the above? He says in the video that he’s normally using nd filters, hence his shutter speed stays at 1/50th but when he want to shoot videos he then has to remove the nd an increase the shutter speed. He would like two separate settings in camer that you could switch between. Maybe there are ways around it, he just hasn’t figured it out.

He also states that he is very much a hybrid shooter - video is prioritized to him when it comes to mirror less cameras. He says that he does find the Nikon a lot more useful to his preferred specs than the x-t3, which lacks ibis.

My bad, I misread you, I am pretty sure you have this functionality Nikon for video and photo setting different. Another solution is use a fader ND. The big advantage now is that you can use viewfinder to set exposure.