Nikon Z8
part 1

In this review:

Introduction

As narrated here in more detail, my first digital system cameras were, in succession, Nikon D70s, D200 and D300s. Afterwards, I switched to Olympus Micro 4/3 because Nikon was dragging its feet against adopting mirrorless camera technology. Years later, with Nikon still dallying, I flanked my Olympus/OM System cameras with mirrorless Sony full-frame cameras (A7R II and a modified A7 II).

My interest in Sony cameras was quenched by discovering at my own expense that Sony's only macro lens of reasonable focal length (90 mm f/2.8), although expensive, is rather poor in the macro range. This lens remained my only purchase of Sony native lenses, and eventually I sold it on eBay. Although I do have quite a few specialty lenses of other brands to use on my A7R II, I did not use this camera often enough. I still have a relatively frequent need for a high-resolution mirrorless camera, and in mid-2025 I started to look for a more versatile replacement for my Sony A7R II.

Since Nikon's failed experiment with the Nikon 1 system, I had not paid much attention to new Nikon products. I gradually sold all my AF lenses in Nikon mounts, no longer practical to use on my new equipment.

I was aware of the Nikon Z system, but only in a general sense – I knew it existed, but little more. For several years I regarded the Z system as too slowly growing and, in most cases, too expensive compared to even the flagship Olympus/OM System cameras. It seemed to me that Nikon was not wholeheartedly embracing mirrorless, and was instead trying to keep both feet planted firmly in DSLR country. Two decades later, it still does so with one foot, with six current DSLR bodies and no less than 40 DSLR lenses still in production. On the other hand, the Nikon Z system has continued to slowly grow. At the time of writing, it has already surpassed the Nikon DSLR offerings with 14 current mirrorless bodies and 44 Z lenses (counting also DX lenses, lens editions differing only in exterior appearance, and one power zoom lens).

The search for a Sony successor

A matter of preferences

Some people love cats, others prefer dogs. I used to like Nikon film cameras even though I did not use them, but never held any affection toward Canon. I had several reasons, besides an instinctive repulsion:

1. I hated the Canon FD lens attachment. With the male bayonet attached to the camera, a female bayonet at the rear of the lens and a rotating ring to lock the lens in place, it felt fiddly and was just the opposite of what a bayonet lens mount should look like. Canon finally replaced the FD mount with the more conventional EF mount, because the FD bayonet was a dead end and prevented the adoption of modern lens technology. The newer Canon lens bayonet failed to capture my interest because I had already committed to the Olympus OM system.
2. At the time I became a Nikon DSLR user, I was working in Japan. At that time, the Japanese overwhelmingly preferred Nikon over Canon SLRs and DSLRs. Nikon was everywhere, and Canon was a niche brand. Additionally, Nikon legacy equipment was easy to find and largely usable on Nikon current cameras (or at least, cameras above the base consumer level), while legacy Canon equipment in FD mount could not be used on modern Canon cameras.
3. I don't like the drooping, rounded lines of the topmost part of Canon DSLRs, combined with the "sawed-off", totally flat bottom with barely smoothed edges. To me, these cameras look like a half-molten ice cream warmed up in a microwave oven.
4. Canon seemed to try and camouflage its early mirrorless cameras as DSLRs, by copying the external shape of the latter. My opinion is that the shape of a camera should be dictated mostly by ergonomic needs. A mirrorless camera does not need to parrot an SLR/DSLR. It should instead leverage the higher freedom afforded by the lack of a mirror well and optical viewfinder to place its external features where they are most ergonomic.
5. Canon RF lenses, on average, in the EU seem to be more expensive than corresponding Nikon Z lenses. Some Canon lenses seem to offer more functionality. For example, the Canon 100 mm macro reaches 1.4x and has a bokeh control ring, but is about 40% more expensive than the Nikon Z 105 mm macro (1x magnification and no bokeh adjustment).

Not all is bad in the Canon camp, of course. The Canon R5 did look a little smarter than earlier Canon mirrorless (but the R5 II veered back toward the "typical" Canon look, and the R6 even more so). The Canon EF to RF adapters allow full use of legacy and current EF lenses on Canon mirrorless. There is also a Canon EF to RF adapter with a slot for drop-in filters, including an externally adjustable polarizer and an externally adjustable variable ND filter. Worth of note is also that three high-end Canon mirrorless models use eye-movement detection in the eyepiece to steer the AF area along the direction of sight of the photographer.

I recognize that there may be a market for nostalgic photographers who enjoy a modern mirrorless camera with the external looks of a film camera from the 20th century. I prefer by far to feel in my hands a camera with a grip that lets me hold on comfortably with my right hand, and places viewfinder, LCD screen and physical controls where they are most usable. A retro-looking mirrorless camera that feels uncomfortable in my hands is not for me.

When it comes to the choice of camera brand, I do understand that all photographers start out as inexperienced. Many base their initial choice of camera brand on hearsay, published reviews, and/or recommendations of supposedly more experienced photographers. Afterwards, many simply continue to use their initial choice of camera brand. The reasons can vary, e.g. habit and resistance against learning something new (a.k.a. "brand loyalty"), plain luck (the chosen camera brand happens to fulfill all of one's subsequent needs), financial inertia (having invested in expensive equipment), or "not my choice" (the camera brand is mandated by the employer, or other camera brands are frowned upon by important customers).

According to the Nikkei Financial Quarterly report, from 2021 to 2024 Canon has been the highest DSLR selling brand (by number of sold cameras), followed by Nikon in second place and Pentax in third place. On the other hand, in the mirrorless market, from 2022 to 2024 Canon has been the highest seller, followed by Sony, and Nikon in third place. In 2021 the picture was different, with Sony in first place, followed by Canon, Fujifilm, and Nikon in fourth place.

The relative size of the Nikon DSLR and mirrorless markets is also highly significant. In 2024, Nikon sold 70,000 DSLRs and 760,000 mirrorless (in 2021, it was 440,000 DSLRs and 290,000 mirrorless). The trend away from Nikon DSLRs and toward Nikon mirrorless is undeniable. Among the top-four camera brands, Pentax is the only brand that did not experience decreasing year-on-year sales of DSLRs between 2021 and 2024, with a constant 10,000 sales per year, no doubt helped by the fact that they are not (yet) selling mirrorless cameras.

In comparison, Olympus/OM System was the largest seller of mirrorless system cameras in 2014, but decreased in sales from 200,000 mirrorless cameras and 5th place in 2021 (the year when OM System took over the Olympus camera business) to 130,000 and sixth place in 2024. OM System is still reported to be making a loss from its camera business. At the same time, the company is still recognized for its excellence in photomacrography and in-camera computational imaging, and for its relatively small and lightweight cameras and lenses.

In terms of total number of camera sales (including all types of cameras but excluding mobile phones and tablets), the ranking in terms of sold units for 2024 is:
1 - Canon (44%)
2 - Sony (29%)
3 - Nikon (12%)
...
6 - OM System (2%)

Back to the problem of finding a successor to my Sony A7R II:

Canon?

As discussed in the preceding section, I am not a Canon person, and I did not look for a new camera in that particular rabbit hole.

Olympus/OM System?

I have been using Olympus/OM System since 2012, updating my main camera approximately every other time Olympus/OM System introduced a new flagship model. My stated goal, however, this time is a new high-resolution camera model, and Olympus/OM System has been "stuck" at 20 Mpixel for the last 10 years. Also, I already own an OM-1. The current OM-1 II flagship is just too similar to the OM-1 to be a candidate for an upgrade. The only new camera rumored to be a possible future announcement by OM System is a slightly updated OM-1X. I would rather draw the line at bulky cameras with a double grip. In the past I did equip my E-M5 with a battery grip, but eventually sold this grip because I much preferred to use the camera without it.

Concerns about OM System remaining in the camera business for another five or ten years are also reasonable. I expect to keep the planned Sony A7R II replacement for that long. It would not make much sense for me to purchase a hypothetical new OM System camera knowing that there is a real possibility that, within a few years, the only native lenses for this camera will be those on the second-hand market.

Panasonic?

I am not convinced by the Panasonic S full-frame cameras and lenses. I believe that Panasonic is stretching its resources too thin by simultaneously developing two mutually incompatible systems (S and Micro 4/3), with the result that both systems are growing too slowly. For example, the last time Panasonic announced a new Micro 4/3 lens was, at the time of writing, two years ago almost to the day. It takes more than this to compete with the likes of Nikon, Canon and Sony. In fact, Panasonic's yearly total camera sales have decreased by a small amount during the last four years.Together with OM System's financial losses (see above), this does not bode well for the future of Micro 4/3 as a whole.

When it comes to still imaging and computational photography, Olympus/OM System has a clear edge over Panasonic Micro 4/3, although Panasonic must be credited for daring to exceed 20 Mpixels in their latest Micro 4/3 cameras.

Fujifilm X?

The Fujifilm X system is centered on APS-C sensors. Three models in this series have sensors slightly exceeding 40 Mpixel. They are far less expensive than Canon, Sony and Nikon flagship mirrorless. Their lens lineup includes three macro lenses (30, 60 and 80 mm), and telephoto lenses up to a 150-600 mm f/5.6-8. However, my stated goal is full-frame. Also, the Fujifilm X system is neither among the most popular mirrorless, nor among the first to enter the mirrorless field. This means Fujifilm has far less resources to invest in research and product development, compared to the "big three" full-frame mirrorless brands, as well as Panasonic and Olympus/OM System.

Sony?

For several years, I have been using two full-frame Sony Alpha cameras, albeit less frequently than Micro 4/3. Newer Sony cameras are getting more and more expensive without offering proportionally useful advantages to me, and Sony still has zero good macro lenses in its mirrorless FE system, which is important to me.

The new Sony 100 mm f/2.8 macro 1.4x was announced three months after I had purchased my new camera and most of its lenses, as discussed below. It is an interesting lens, especially if it turns out to be optically better than their 90 mm macro, but I doubt it would have been enough to make me decide to keep my Sony camera. However, as they say, that's history. Kudos to Sony for implicitly admitting that their 90 mm macro needed replacing.

I believe that the Sony E mount was designed only for APS-C, because the Sony leadership at the time did not believe in full frame. This explains its comparatively narrow mount flange diameter (a little narrower than the diagonal of a full-frame sensor). A little later, the same leadership changed its mind about full frame but decided to use the Sony E mount also for the latter, just to avoid changing mount. Full frame lenses can be designed - barely - to use the narrow E mount, but this mount is a built-in liability that restricts lens designers to conservative optical designs. Sony FE was fine ten or fifteen years ago, when there were no full-frame mirrorless alternatives, but this has changed.

The model of my main Sony camera was introduced 10 years ago, and my present lack of Sony native lenses gives me the freedom to switch to another system without worrying about selling a set of used Sony lenses. Therefore, this is the right time for me to change camera brand.

Nikon?

This largely left Nikon as my main alternative. Their professional and semi-pro Z cameras are far from cheap, but Canon, Sony and Panasonic S (and even Panasonic Micro 4/3) are quickly catching up with, or have surpassed, pro-level Nikon Z cameras in price and weight.

I have quite a few high-performance manual photomacrography and special-purpose lenses. Two decades ago, I decided to standardize on Nikon F adapters for these lenses. As a consequence, today all these F-adapted lenses are easily used on Nikon Z cameras with F-to-Z adapters.

Three quibbles with Nikon versus other systems:

• Nikkor lenses, like Sony lenses, zoom toward higher focal lengths by turning their zoom rings clockwise (as seen from the rear of the camera – this is how I hold a camera while zooming). Olympus, Canon and Sigma turn it counter-clockwise.
• Nikkor lenses dismount by turning them clockwise (as seen from the front of the camera – this is how I hold the camera while swapping lenses, because I want to see what I am doing). Olympus, Sony and Canon turn it counter-clockwise.
• Nikkor macro lenses for system cameras (thankfully, in the Z system, Nikon dropped the questionable "Micro" denomination of their macro lenses they used for half a century or so) display the effective aperture, not the nominal aperture like everybody else.

Different camera brands do things differently, and photographers just have to learn these different ways. Different countries make you drive on different sides of the street, which is far more dangerous if you make a mistake. Different countries also use different AC voltages and frequencies, which can fry your equipment and start a fire. Not to speak of different languages and writing systems.

Which Nikon Z?

To replace the Sony 42.4 Mpixel native resolution, only a Z camera with 45.7 Mpixel sensor is adequate. At present, this includes the Nikon Z9, Z8 and Z7 II.

The area of a sensel controls the amount of photons collected by the sensel during an exposure, at the same illumination intensity, lens aperture, exposure time and subject magnification. In practice, with backside-illuminated sensors (i.e. virtually the totality of current camera sensors), almost none of the surface between adjacent sensels is "wasted" by conductors or other electronic circuitry, and the percentage of active sensor surface occupied by sensels is close to 100%. In general, a larger sensel is less "noisy" and displays a higher dynamic range at low illumination levels and higher ISO, but in good illumination and lower ISO it is much more difficult to detect a difference in image quality of sensors of different sensel sizes, in part because the post-processing applied by the camera firmware takes into account the specific characteristics of the camera's sensor, as well as the characteristics of human visual perception.

It can be interesting to compare the sensel area of different camera sensors in the Nikon Z system. The Z9, Z8 and Z7 II have 4.35 μm sensels, i.e. each sensel covers an 18,92 μm² area. The Z6 III (full-frame 24.5 Mpixel) has 5.94 μm sensels (35.28 μm², or 187% the area of the Z9/Z8/Z7 II - in practice almost twice the area). The Z50 II (APS-C 20.9 Mpixel) has 4.2 μm sensels (17,6 μm², or just a little less than the Z9/Z8/Z7 II - almost the same in practice).

As a comparison, Micro 4/3 at 20 Mpixel has 3.35 μm sensels, and each sensel covers an 11,22 μm² area. This corresponds to 59% of the area of a Z9/Z8/Z7 II sensel, 32.2% of the area of a Z6 III sensel, and 63.8% of the area of a Z50 II sensel. In other words, the sensel area of 20 Mpixel Micro 4/3 is substantially less than any of these Z cameras, and in particular of the Z6 III.

Many other factors should be considered in the choice of a camera, of course. Among the obvious ones are the capabilities implemented in the camera firmware and hardware (vastly different e.g. in the Z9/Z8/Z7 II versus Z50 in spite of the similar sensel sizes, e.g. the Z50 II offers no sensor-based image stabilization). Fully using the image-resolution capabilities of a high-sensel-density sensor also requires shooting at a lower f/ aperture (around f/8 in the Z9/8/7 II and Z50, versus f/11 in the Z6 III). On the other hand, a higher-pixel-count image can be downsampled to a higher degree if necessary (it is not always necessary, or feasible, to record images at the limit of the sensor's resolution). The physical size and weight of the camera is also a relevant factor (a Z9 weighs over two-and-a-half times as much as a Z50 II). Price is also an important factor for most photographers. For some photographers, even the external looks of a camera are important (many camera lines offer a choice between utilitarian/ergonomic looks and retro looks).

The Z7 II is the smallest and cheapest camera of the current Z models with the same native pixel count. It is a bit old (introduced in 2020), and probably due for a successor in 2026 (it was rumored to come in 2025, but did not happen). It is also the least capable and technologically most conservative of the three, e.g. it does not use a stacked sensor.

The Z9, introduced in 2021, is the most expensive and, on paper, the most capable of the three, and far above my target price range. With a built-in double grip, it is also way too large and heavy for me. A Z9 II was rumored to come in late 2025, but did not materialize. A firmware update for the Z9 arrived, instead, but it did not bring the Z9 up to the new Z8 capabilities in all respects (e.g. no pixel-shift shooting).

The Z8, introduced in 2023, is the most recent among these models. It has a very similar, slightly updated sensor and almost all the capabilities of the Z9 in a body just a bit bigger than the Z 7 II, with a single grip like the Z7 II and a price and weight intermediate between the Z7 II and Z9. Since it has been available for two years, it can be found on the second-hand market. Its firmware updates have added new functionality, and its production line has solved a couple of initial hardware problems. Also, being relatively new, it is probably not due for a version II for a few more years.

In multiple ways, the Z8 is a legitimate heir of the Z9, rather than a scaled-down model of the latter. Between these two cameras, the Z8 is the logical choice for those who can live without built-in double grip, GPS receiver, wired Ethernet and dual CF Express card slots, but don't want to give up the imaging performance and speed of the G9 (see below). Additionally, new capabilities via firmware updates used to come out for the Z9 first, and only afterward for the Z8. The latest major update for the Z8, instead, contains multiple new features that have not (yet) been added to the Z9, but can be useful to me. In the end, I decided for the Z8.

Keep one or two camera systems?

I do not plan to immediately leave the Micro 4/3 system, because I already have a complete set of cameras, lenses and accessories. Micro 4/3 has a significant weight and size advantage on a Z8. The Z8 has far more capabilities than the OM System OM-1, but the OM-1 has an edge in in-camera computational photography. In particular, the OM-1 capabilities in hand-held pixel-shift enhanced resolution, hand-held HDR, hand-held in-camera focus stacking and (with the 90 mm macro) hand-held extreme macro with effective image stabilization have no corresponding functions among Nikon Z cameras.

My decision to use two camera systems might change in the future, e.g. if OM System should pack up and close shop, or/and if Nikon came up with small and more advanced cameras than OM System. Nikon does have the technical potential for doing this within the Z system. They recently showed this capability, first by developing the large, heavy and expensive Z9 flagship, and just 26 months later the Z8 – much smaller, 430 g lighter, much cheaper, but equally capable in almost all respects.

Slimming away another 300 grams and adding to a theoretical Z8 successor sophisticated computational imaging features could take this hypothetical camera dangerously close to the OM-1 in appeal, but with the advantage of full frame. This would require a more powerful CPU and larger RAM than the Z8, given the 45 Mpixel sensor. The OM-1 small size and computational prowess are helped by the fact that it only has 20 Mpixel.

Nikon has recently added significant functionality to the Z8 via firmware updates, in particular multiple functions that use pixel shifting and multiple exposures. The Z8 records a set of pixel-shifted or focus-shifted pictures, but does not combine them into a final image in-camera. They can be combined on a PC with NX Studio or third-party software.

NX Studio is free, but its use requires registering for a Nikon ID. The latter is also free, but requires scrolling through numerous and very long legal agreement forms. Afterwards one can enter the Nikon ID on the NX Studio opening screen, go through another stack of legal agreement forms, and finally start to use NX Studio.

Note that getting a Nikon ID apparently is not the same thing as registering for free access to the Nikon Support web site, which I had already done.

Occasionally, even after registering and accepting all legal agreements, and also registering on Nikon Support, some of the contents of the Nikon Support web site remain off-limits. For example, I experienced this while looking for technical data of camera batteries. The text was displayed, but the pictures were off-limits.

Nikkor Z lenses?

The Nikon Z 24-120 mm f/4 S is my choice of a medium zoom for the z8, for reasons explained here.

Do I need other Z lenses?

With the medium wideangle, mid-range and short telephoto focal lengths covered by the 24-120, I have additional use-cases to take care of. These needs may be covered by Z lenses, or in some cases by legacy lenses on lens adapters. First, however, it is best to summarize which, and to what extent, legacy Nikkor lenses in F mount are compatible with the Z8.

Compatibility of legacy lenses

Legacy lenses in Nikon F mount can be used on Z cameras via a Nikon F to Z adapter, which I discuss in detail on another page of this review. For the moment, I should mention that the Nikon FTZ and FTZ II adapters provide autofocus on Z cameras only with legacy AF-I, AF-S (and AF-S G) and AF-P lenses. No other Nikkor lenses in F mount will autofocus on these adapters (no lenses from the AF and AF-D series, in spite of being capable of AF on some Nikon DSLRs, nor lenses from the various AI and pre-AI series).

In addition, these Nikon adapters communicate electronically with all legacy Nikon F lenses that contain a CPU (which can be distinguished by having about five or more electrical contacts on their bayonet mounts). The practical usefulness of CPU-equipped lenses is that, with these Nikon adapters:

• The lens tells its focal length to the Z camera, which is necessary for the camera to provide a correct sensor-based VR.
• The camera can apply lens-specific corrections for geometric distortion and vignetting (at least in JPG images), as long as the lens model is known to the camera. This may not work with some third-party lenses, even if equipped with a CPU.
• The lens data and model ID is stored in the EXIF data, and can be used by software that post-processes the images.
• DX lenses are recognized as such, and the camera automatically switches to APS-C crop mode.
• In G lenses, the camera electronically controls the lens aperture via the adapter.

For lenses without a CPU, the photographer must create a custom lens profile for each lens, and switch to it manually after mounting the lens in question on a Z camera, because the camera has no way to detect which lens is mounted. These lenses do not actually need an expensive FTZ or FTZ II adapter, and can use a much cheaper "dumb" third-party adapter without electronics. On the other hand, if you own an FTZ and/or FTZ II, nothing prevents you from using it with both CPU and non-CPU lenses.

MonsterAdapter is a small Chinese company developing lens adapters, mostly for Sony cameras. This company apparently has no manufacturing facilities and outsources production of these adapters to other Chinese companies.

Their newest product is the LA-FZ1, which adapts legacy Nikon F lenses capable of autofocus to Z cameras. The LA-FZ1 is so far unique because it contains a motor to operate the mechanical "screwdriver" autofocus of the AF and AF-D series of lenses. Judging from Facebook posts by this company and by early testers/adopters, the technical challenges of developing this new adapter seem to be placing a stress on the company's limited personnel resources. These technical problems seem to be solvable by firmware upgrades to the adapter (via a built-in USB3 socket).

Most of the technical information about the LA-FZ1 seems to have been published on Nikon Rumors. The LA-FZ1 is currently advertised on eBay but not on Amazon.de and Amazon.se. I don't see it on MonsterAdapter's web site, either. Compatibility with some legacy Nikon lenses is still being worked out, with the company's priority being the lenses with mechanical AF (a reasonable decision, since AF with these lenses is not supported by Nikon's own lens adapters).

The LA-FZ1 is apparently quite expensive (about twice as much as the Nikon FTZ II), but it may be attractive for owners of the many Nikon lenses with AF not supported by Nikon adapters, as well as photographers interested in purchasing and using some of these unsupported lenses. Among the lenses with AF not supported by Nikon adapters, for instance, are the large majority of AF-capable Nikon legacy macro lenses, as well as several optically excellent long telephoto lenses.

I believe that the long-term concern with the LA-FZ1 is whether, and how often, firmware updates of Z cameras are going to break the functionality of the LA-FZ1, and how quickly MonsterAdapter can fix these problems. We have already seen how a recent Nikon firmware upgrade of the Z8 broke the functionality of Tamron Z lenses, even though these lenses are apparently developed and produced with Nikon's blessing (or forbearing), and in this case Nikon did fix the problem. It seems that MonsterAdapter has no agreement or collaboration with Nikon, and is even having problems finding some of the Nikon legacy lenses their adapter is expected to work with, so it is likely that any introduced or newly discovered incompatibility will have to be fixed by MonsterAdapter without Nikon's help.

My use cases for other lenses

• A super-wideangle to use when the 24 mm end of the 24-120 is not sufficiently wide. This is best covered by a single prime lens, sufficiently small and lightweight, chosen among the legacy Nikon F lenses. My choice for this lens is a second-hand Nikkor AF 20 mm f/2.8.
• A reasonably fast prime for night photography, also chosen among the small and lightweight legacy Nikon F lenses. My choice is a second-hand AF-S Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8 G. It shares the same FTZ lens adapter as the AF Nikkor 20 mm, and adds to a camera bag less than half of the volume of the Nikkor Z 50 mm f/1.4 and no perceivable weight. I have no trouble accepting that the Z lens is optically better, but the AF-S lens provides a fully acceptable image quality and full integration with the Z8 for one-tenth of the price. For an even smaller (albeit not lighter) 50 mm, one could give up AF and a little optical quality, and choose an AI f/1.8 model with built-in CPU.
• A super-telephoto zoom of good quality, for bird and wildlife photography. The Nikkor Z 180-600 mm f/5.6-6.3 VR is my choice, complemented by a TC-1.4x teleconverter.
• A good, small and lightweight macro lens to complement my existing macro lenses usable on the Z8. After some mental debating, my choice is the Laowa 85 mm f/5.6 2x. I supplemented it with a second-hand AF-S Micro Nikkor 105 mm f/2.8 G VR, not so much for using its AF capabilities for single-image shooting, but rather for focus bracketing and other camera capabilities that require an AF lens.

More Z lenses?

I am considering no additional Z lenses at this time, because with the above lenses and 1.4x teleconverter I have an almost continuous 20 to 840 mm focal length range, and a magnification range from 0x to 5x in photomacrography, not counting macroscopes and microscopes. I keep my eyes open for legacy Nikkor lenses on eBay, just in case.

The Nikon Z lens road-map published by Nikon a few years ago shows only one lens that is not yet available. This does not mean that Nikon will stop introducing new Nikkor Z lenses after this one. I would welcome a successor of the Micro Nikkor 200 mm f/4, for example, as well as a 2x macro lens. Nikon macro lenses are still "stuck" at 1x, while OM System, Canon and Sony went past this artificial limitation.

Nikon announced in September 2025 that they will continue to introduce new Z cameras, and will expand the range of Z lenses to over 50 models by the end of fiscal year 2025. At the time of writing, they have 44. In itself, it is a good thing that they recently acquired Red and introduced a movie-centric full-frame Z camera. Hopefully they will not divert excessive resources from still-image-centric cameras and lenses to movie-centric ones.

Full-frame or APS-C?

APS-C is located halfway between full frame and Micro 4/3 in sensor area. APS-C allows a moderately lower lens cost and weight than full-frame, and at the same time has roughly twice the sensor area as Micro 4/3.

Nikon calls full-frame FX, and APS-C cameras and their lenses DX. Most of the recent Nikon FX cameras can operate in DX mode. All my earlier Nikon DSLRs were DX, and the D200 and D300s in their time were good enough for some professional use, I am not impressed, instead, by current native DX Z cameras, and not interested in purchasing one. I would rather use the Z8 in DX crop mode when necessary, even though it "only" has 19 Mpixel (19.4, to be more precise). On the other hand, I might be interested in a 32 to 40 Mpixel pro-level DX camera (in practice, a DX mini-Z8 or mini-Z7) to add to my Z8. This pro DX would be great for wildlife and bird photography with long FX telephoto lenses, as an alternative to using a teleconverter when the native lens focal length is not quite enough on an FX camera. Such a pro DX camera, however, does not exist at present.

19 Mpixel may not sound like much today, but we should not forget that the Nikon full-frame D6 DSLR flagship, like the earlier D5, has slightly less than 21 Mpixel, and the current Micro 4/3 OM System OM-1 II flagship, like the three preceding OM System and Olympus flagships, have 20 Mpixel. Even a 24 Mpixel camera like the Z6 III and Z5 II is not so different, in practice, from 20 Mpixel.

As an example that a resolution around 20 Mpixel suffices for professional use, one week ago, at the marriage of my younger daughter, the hired professional photographer used two D6 cameras on a dual strap with a zoom lens on each, and nothing else. It did help that the event was carried out outdoors and in a sunlit greenhouse modified for use as a dining room at the countryside venue - no dimly lit churches and tacky hotel banquet rooms that needed flooding with strobe light.

The Nikon D6 was discontinued in May 2025, but is still listed by Nikon among current products. No successor has been announced in the same DSLR series. It may mean that Nikon has finally accepted that DSLRs are no longer the mainstay of professional photographers. The data transfer speed of the Z9 and Z8 sensor (3.7 ms for a 35.7 Mpixel full-sensor raw still image, compared to 65.5 ms for the 35.7 Mpixel Z7 II in electronic shutter mode) is so high that a low-megapixel "fast" camera like the D5 and D6 no longer makes so much sense.

Incidentally, in the full-frame Nikon Z family only the Z7, Z8 and Z9 lines of cameras can realistically be used in APS-C crop mode, because of their native 45.7 Mpixel resolution. The 19 Mpixels of these Nikon cameras in DX mode capture almost twice as much light as a Micro 4/3 sensor (because the APS-C sensor area is almost twice the Micro 4/3 area), which improves results in difficult illumination conditions or with extreme subject contrast.

The Z6 camera line, with its 24 Mpixel native full-frame sensor, only provides 10.3 Mpixel in DX mode. This feels a little too little for frequent use today.

Like all Nikon Z cameras, the Z8 automatically switches from FX to DX format when using a CPU-equipped DX lens. Overriding this behavior is not possible. It is possible, instead, to optionally use FX lenses in DX crop mode. This saves space on the memory card and time in some types of computation-intensive post-processing, compared to cropping in post-production. On the other hand, with birds in flight and other fast-moving subjects, shooting in 45.7 Mpixel full-frame and manually cropping to APS-C or a comparable format in post-production helps to save images that, shot directly in APS-C mode, would be lost when the subject strays partly outside the frame.

The Z8 in DX mode magnifies the APS-C image to fill the viewfinder or LCD screen. It does not offer the option of an FX live view with a frame or shaded area outside the DX coverage, which could potentially help to keep a fast moving subject within the DX part of the sensor. But then again, it is far more flexible to shoot in FX mode and manually crop to DX or thereabouts in post-production.

Documentation

One of the things I like about Nikon as a company is that they write plenty of good technical literature about their Z system, and make it freely available to download without exasperating tollbooths. This literature answered all of my questions about the capabilities of the different Z models and informed my final choice of the Z8. While all other Z cameras with single grips are cheaper than the Z8, and some of them are really capable, I decided that the Z8 would be a camera I would not eventually outgrow in just a few years, regardless of any new directions my future photography interests might take.

One specific Z8 book that may be good to keep in the camera bag, especially while familiarizing with the Z8, is the "Nikon Z8 pocket guide" produced by Rockynook. I can find no information on who wrote it. It is notebook-sized and printed on card stock rather than paper (not waterproof, though), published in April 2024 and not updated for the numerous changes in v. 3 firmware. It is only 42 pages, and therefore only offers a summarized selection of features, but it is easier to carry in a cramped and/or small camera bag than a tablet with a copy of the Reference guide PDF, and better than relying only on one's memory. If you buy only the paper version, or only the digital version, it is quite cheap.

If you need specific, detailed information about the Z8, I suggest you do the following, in the order:

1 - If you are using the camera menu, look for a question mark icon near the top right corner of the screen. If there is one, tap it with a finger to display a general, very concise help about the current menu. Alternatively, click the ? button (same as the magnifier− button, near the bottom right of the LCD screen)

2 - Search for the information you need in the Nikon Z8 online Reference Guide, or the PDF version of the same guide. It can be a good idea to save a copy of the PDF version for future offline access, but searching the online HTML version is usually more efficient. I don't know whether the online version is kept updated. The PDF version is not, or infrequently. Updates for new firmware versions are published as separate PDF documents instead.

3 - Search for the information in the other Nikon Z8 documents. Most of them are only available in PDF format. In addition to the Reference Guide and its updates mentioned above, a few Technical Guides on specialized topics are available.

4 - Search for answers on www.nikonimgsupport.com. If the information you need is not there, proceed with the next steps.

5 - Purchase, or borrow from a public library or a friend, a Z8 book by one of the well-known authors, in particular for the Z8: Thom Hogan (currently updated for firmware v.3.10), and Steve Perry (currently updated for firmware v 3.01). The Thom Hogan book aims to be a complete guide to the Z8, while the Steve Perry book targets especially wildlife photographers. There is also a Z8 book by David Busch, which I do not own. At the time of writing, it is not yet updated for firmware v 3. See a rather critical review here. Do not buy sight-unseen any Z8 books by unknown authors advertised online, because the large majority are AI-generated scams not worth paying for (see below). Before buying, check the customer reviews and pass up on any book with few or no reviews, or with mainly negative reviews.

6 - Try searching (first), and then asking on a specialized Nikon Z site or a serious photography bulletin board (see below). I would stay away from generic Q/A sites like Quora or Reddit. On these two web sites and a few comparable ones, only a few contributors are knowledgable, and the bulk of the replies to requests for technical help are wild guesses made by clueless posters. Also, the Google Gemini AI suggestions that Google displays by default at the top of search results are mostly correct, but on at least three occasions I caught it giving incomplete or wrong information about the Nikon Z system (for example, it apparently did not know that it is impossible to mount most Nikkor Z lenses on a Nikkor Z teleconverter because the latter have an intentionally incompatible lens mount, and it believed that there is only one type of "Nikon Z standard lens mount"). Uncritically listening to this type of advice can lead to purchasing the wrong equipment.

A relatively new problem with large online bookstores like Amazon is that they perform no quality control on the books they sell. Several of the books on Z cameras currently sold on EU Amazon sites, for example, are actually AI-generated slop published with little or no human editing. Purchasing and reading these books would be a total waste of your time, let alone money. Read the buyer feedback before ordering, especially neutral and negative feedback. If a Z8 book by an unknown author has little or no buyer feedback, pass it up. The Z8 is not so new that people are only now beginning to publish books about it.

As a concrete example of books to avoid, "Nikon Z8 guide" by Sammy Grimes (ISBN 979-8344016245), advertised on amazon.co.uk, amazon.ie and amazon.ca, has the picture of an imaginary camera (AI-generated, certainly not a Z8) on the cover, and the book describes several features, menu items and physical controls not present on the Z8, or implemented differently than described.

"Nikon Z8 User Guide for Beginners and Seniors" by Roberto Quinn (ISBN 979-8289402684), currently advertised on amazon.de, is a variation on the same scam.

"Mastering the Nikon Z8" By John Prowess (ISBN 979-8287044244), also on amazon.de, once more shows the wrong camera on its cover, and leaves no hope of providing dependable information. And these are just three of many such books.

Amazon takes down some of these listings when flagged by customers, but new ones pop up shortly thereafter with slightly different titles, authors and ISBN. The consistent display of the same giveaways suggests that most or all of these books are produced in bulk by the same scammer, or group of scammers, by leveraging the anonymity afforded by the print-on-demand industry and the sloppiness of online shops that publish any and all ads submitted by sellers. In case you wonder, purchases of digital media on Amazon are not refundable, so the scammers get to keep your money.

The ISBN numbers above, which I copied from Amazon, are unmasked as fake by doing a simple and free control online. This is yet another giveaway, and together with the AI-generated cover pictures, probably the easiest way to see through these scams. Amazon apparently does not bother to verify these ISBN numbers. Yet another giveway is that many of these books have no author name visible anywhere, and some have such unlikely names that they must be invented (two of them have the word "lens" in the author's name, for example).

Since I wrote the above "gray box" I found further examples on Amazon, including a few fake Z8 books in German on amazon.de. On amazon.com, the phenomenon of fake books on the Z8 has run out of control, and a search for books on "Nikon Z8" maxes out after returning 99 results (not only Z8 books, but also Nikon books and Nikon Z books). The fake Z8 books among the results outnumber the real Z8 books by 10-20 to 1.

Another variant of the same type of scam copied the cover of the 2021 book by Darrell Young "Mastering the Nikon Z6 II / Z7 II" (at the left in the above figure). Darrell's book, like his several other camera books, is well-written and illustrated, and contains useful technical information. Pictures of the original cover can be downloaded from many online bookstores, but in this case it looks like the fake cover was made by scanning a used, printed copy of the book (plenty of small parallel scratches are easily visible, the kind of scratches left by carelessly sliding a printed book across a rough surface). Don't ask me how I got my hands on this fake book. Suffice to say, I did buy the Thom Hogan and Steve Perry Z8 books, but none of the fake books.

The copied cover was poorly photoshopped to remove the original background and text, then slightly modified by moving the two cameras (probably with the help of AI to fill-in the missing detail). Nonetheless, the image is still identifiable as a copy of the original cover thanks to multiple details like the light reflections on the lenses and camera bodies, which are highly dependent on the photographic setup used to take the original picture, and virtually impossible to exactly duplicate even if one should intentionally try.

The fake book on the right has a much lower number of pages than the original, and is printed in a way-too-large font in order to try and make up for the scanty content. The text is written by an AI raised on a diet of sales blurb and web pages, and is nowhere near the original in depth of technical detail. The few illustrations are extremely small, their subjects mostly unrecognizable, and look like the output of an office photocopier in urgent need of a new toner cartridge. As a whole, the fake book may have been put together using a mobile phone or tablet, rather than a computer.

My question is whether it really pays off to produce so many fake books. Each of these books takes some time and effort to produce, and it will not sell, at best, more than four of five copies before negative feedback begins to accumulate. There are so many of these books by now, that the large majority of them never have a chance to sell a single copy. There might have been an economic reward for the first scammer who got the idea of fake camera books, but the potential market is already oversaturated, a typical example of greedy fraudsters killing the market that they originally set out to exploit. Some respectable authors like the two mentioned above, for example, are already avoiding Amazon and eBay, and selling their Z8 books exclusively from their own web sites or through well-known photography sites.

Getting to know the Z8

Currently, the Nikon Z series of mirrorless system cameras contains two professional models, the Z9 and Z8. The Z9 was introduced in 2021, and the Z8 in 2023. The Z8 is, therefore, one of the latest Z models introduced by Nikon, but is already mature, and its firmware is already at version 3.0.1. Plenty of independent reviews of the Z8 are available on the web, and plenty of independent information on how to use the Z8 is available in books, magazines and web sites.

I purchased the Z8 without previously holding one in my hands, because few shops stock this model in Sweden (perhaps because judged to be too expensive to appeal to consumers), and none in my town. Before ordering this camera, however, I had extensively read its reference manual and plenty of independent literature, and had been impressed by the large choice of capabilities and settings, far superior to any camera I owned or used in the past except in computational imaging (where Olympus/OM System still is the leader). The Z8 does not have in-camera focus stacking, for example. It does offer focus bracketing, and the stack of images can be processed on a PC by focus stacking software (see below).

Unlike the Sony E lens mount (see above), the Nikon Z lens mount is quite wide (nearly 51 mm in flange aperture), and is probably one of the widest among current full-frame mirrorless. A comparison of Nikon Z and Nikon F front caps (above picture) tells the story. At a diameter of approximately 43 mm of the flange aperture, the Nikon F is of roughly average diameter, and similar to e.g. the legacy Olympus OM. Nikon measures the mount diameter differently (apparently without including the bayonet lugs), and gives 55 mm for the Z mount, versus 44 mm for the F mount.

The common legacy M42 and M39 lens mounts are approximately 41 and 38 mm, respectively (M screw diameters are measured on the outside of the thread, the flange aperture diameter on the inside of the thread).

Most Nikkor Z native lenses are designed to take advantage of the large flange aperture and short registration distance (16 mm, versus 18 mm of Sony E, 19.5 mm of Micro 4/3 and 20 mm of Canon RF). Even a lens with the commonplace specifications of the Nikkor Z 50 mm f/2.8 Macro does. Its front optical element is small, as expected (smaller than usual for comparable lenses designed for DSLRs, and close to the theoretical diameter of 18 mm), but the rear element is close to the sensor and wider than expected from the lens speed. Even the plastic-bayonet Nikkor Z 28 mm f/2.8 has a huge rear element, at least twice the diameter of the front element. This is just the opposite of how retrofocus wideangles for SLRs and DSLRs used to be designed, with huge front elements and tiny rear elements.

Useful Nikon web sites

The most useful web site is probably the Nikon Service and Support site. You can access large portions of this site, including equipment manuals, firmware and software, even before creating a member account and before registering a Nikon product.

If you plan to be more than just a user of Nikon cameras and lenses, the Nikon Self Service Repair web site gives access to service manuals, including the repair manual for the Z8. It contains detailed disassembly drawings and instructions, but no proper repair or reassembly instructions. From the same link you will reach the Parts and Tools order system.

In the rather distant past, Nikonians.org was a useful and free site for Nikon information. At some point, it was paywalled, and I abandoned it. I visited it again a few days ago, and the forums and part of the articles seem to be free once more (you need to register for a free bottom tier account, and afterwards are immediately nagged about the advantages of a paid tier). I doubt whether it would be worth paying to access the rest of the information, since a couple of good Z8 books very likely provide a higher information/money ratio. The free part of this site is still worth a visit once in a while, but the average quality of the forums is lower than what I remember from the days when the site was completely free. A large number of posts these days seem to be by photographers boasting of their latest purchases or pre-orders and congratulating each other for them, rather than providing actionable information (the boasting is not as preponderant as on some other sites that I will not mention, but still noticeable). Several of the freely accessible tables and summaries of Nikon camera and lens technology on this site are in sore need of updating.

fredmiranda.com is another free site worth following. It hosts numerous forums, including a Nikon forum that seems to deal almost exclusively with Z cameras and lenses. The general quality of posts seems higher than on the preceding site. I had problems with the registration of a new account. After I filled the long registration form and clicked the final button, it said "something went wrong" and presented me with a totally empty registration form – twice in a row. Then I filled in what seemed to be the most important fields (the form does not say which fields are obligatory, nor does it say when you exceed the maximum length of a field), and this time the form was accepted. After a few hours I received an e-mail with a link to "complete your registration", valid 72 hours. The link brought me back to the – by now – familiar empty registration form. I filled it completely, hit the button and it said something like "this user's approval is still pending", and that is the last I heard of it. Hopefully you will be luckier. You only need to register if you want to post, BTW.

The free DPReview site publishes useful reviews of Nikon products and has well-attended forums. It is perhaps the best among the free forums I discuss here. A brief recent scare that this site was going to close apparently caused some source of financing to loosen the drawstrings of their purses, and the site was saved, at least for now.

Thom Hogan authors zsystemuser.com, specializing on the Nikon Z system. It is a good and free complement to his Z8 book.

kenrockwell.com is another free site I visit now and then. I am aware that some photographers criticise his writing style and quality of information, but I can live with it.

nikonrumors.com may be worth visiting to keep informed on upcoming releases of Nikon camera products and "leaked" information about them.

Useful reviews of the Z8

Since the introduction of the Z8 in 2023, several written reviews of this camera have been published. The following examples are in no particular order. You can find many more on the Internet, but the quality and the level of detail vary a lot.

• DPReview
• Ken Rockwell, and also his Z8 user guide
• Thom Hogan
• Andy Westlake

On this page, I am not going to repeat once more the same information that has already been published multiple times in other reviews of the Z8 on other web sites. Specifically, I will not attempt to write a complete review of all the Z8 capabilities. A large book is necessary for this, and as it happens, this book is already provided for free by Nikon (the Reference Guide discussed above). Instead, I concentrate on a few selected items of information that I find interesting and/or useful. My current main use of the Z8 is in close-up and macro photography in a studio/lab setting, mostly with special lenses, with some travel, nature, family, pet and bird photography thrown into the mix. Therefore, these are the applications I have concentrated on. I do not shoot video at present, so I will completely ignore this aspect in my discussion.

A number of video reviews of the Z8 is available, but this is not my favorite format. I find watching video reviews as slow as molasses, compared to reading text. For me, written text and illustrations are the simplest and most efficient way to communicate technical information. For this reason, I am not linking to any Z8 video reviews. If you miss them, you can find several on e.g. YouTube.

Nikon manufacturing of Z cameras and lenses

The Z8 is currently assembled in Thailand. It was initially assembled in Japan. Most of the Nikon Z lenses are assembled in Vietnam, some in Thailand, a few (e.g. the 50 mm f/2.8 macro) in China. My FTZ II adapter is assembled in China, my FTZ adapter in Thailand.

For years, Nikon has been gradually moving its production largely out of Japan and into China first, and subsequently out of China and into Vietnam and Thailand, like other Japanese camera and electronics companies. Moving out of China is probably a wise decision, because a country that bullies its neighbors with political and military power, and subordinates business to these goals, is inherently a risky place to conduct business (in many different ways).

Price and purchase pitfalls

The Z8, body-only, retails for very roughly 1,500 € less than the Z9. A second-hand Z8 in like-new condition can save you another 500 €. As a whole, the Z8 costs roughly twice as much as the recently released Z6 III, which uses some of the technology used in the Z9 and Z8. Actual prices can be lower or higher than this by hundreds of €, so you need to shop around.

Sales campaigns by Nikon and by large mail-order photography shops can cut between 100 and 400 € from ordinary prices of new equipment, and directly compete with second-hand equipment from e.g. eBay. As always, be careful when ordering, especially online. Low-price offers may involve various types of misrepresentation (e.g. gray import not covered by a warranty in your nation or region) down to plain fraud (e.g. bait-and-switch schemes to convince you to pay more than the advertised price or to accept a different camera than you ordered, or discovering that the seller has accepted your payment but but does not have the camera in stock and likely never will, etc.).

A gray-import camera may also mean that the language you intend to use in the menu system may not be available on the camera you receive. Nikon does restrict the range of available languages, depending on the national/regional version of the camera. My Z8 is an EU version and the firmware allows choosing among 21 European languages, but they do not include any East Asian language. Conversely, a Far East version of the Z8 very likely does not provide Finnish and Romanian versions of the menus. Even though you may plan to use only the English version of the menus, like I do, a camera that has languages from countries on the other side of the world, instead of those of your and neighboring countries, will likely have a lower second-hand value when the time comes to finance a newer and better camera.

Amazon.de does not currently feature offers of the Z8. Prices at Amazon in other EU countries, for example on amazon.se, are often significantly higher than on amazon.de. Incidentally, if you live in an EU country you can choose to order online on any Amazon web site in another EU country, as a way to choose the best price. Amazon always honors the price advertised on the web site where you place your order. It may not ship, however, to another continent or geographic area. Often Amazon EU ships your order from one of the largest EU Amazon warehouses, regardless of which national Amazon web site you order it from. Your camera may arrive from Germany even if you order it on amazon.it or amazon.se. Depending of where you place your order, you pay a different price for the same item shipped from the same location to the same destination.

Do not forget to check the mail-order prices from the official Nikon shop in your country. They may not be as high as you might fear.

Given the sum involved, I would recommend against buying a second-hand Z8 directly from an unknown private person sight-unseen by mail order, and recommend going instead through a large and reputable second-hand camera shop that knows what it sells, has tested and graded the camera, and sells it with at least a one-year warranty. You will spend more than on some private offerings, but risk less. Also, second-hand Z8 cameras are often offered at advantageous prices by Japan-based eBay sellers with excellent buyer feedback. Importing them to Sweden by mail increases their actual price by 25% in sales tax. This often makes these offers from Japan no longer competitive (beside the problem with the firmware missing almost all EU languages).

I purchased my second-hand Z8 from a camera shop in Germany via eBay. The camera came with original accessories, original packaging, shutter actuation count of 63 and no detectable sign of use (see below a short discussion of the shutter counter in the Z8). It may have been used only as a demo camera in a shop. Among serious German shops, out of personal experience I would recommend Foto Erhardt.

Physical appearance, Z8 vs. other Z models

Differences between Z8 and Z9

The Z8 is an offshoot of the Z9. Therefore, these two cameras should be compared first. First of all, the two cameras share very similar fully stacked CMOS sensors with backlit photodiode array, physical Bayer filter and 493 phase focus sensors, but devoid of a physical anti-aliasing filter. Therefore, all specifications directly related to the sensor are virtually the same. The two cameras share also the same Expeed 7 graphic processor and a large part of the internal electronics.

A stacked sensor consists of two separately-made silicon LSI chips of equal sizes, stacked on top of each other and joined by a large number of microscopic solder balls. Each solder ball is an electrical connection, used to transfer power or as a very short, very fast communication line between the two chips. The outermost chip contains the array of photodiodes, which is typically backside-illuminated.

The outermost chip contains a deeper layer of capacitors associated with each photodiode, addressing circuits for reading the data out of the sensels, and in the case of the Z8 each row of sensels has its own ADC (analog to digital converter). The lower layer of the Z8 sensor differs from typical stacked sensors by having two independent data lines to the outside, one used by live view and the other to move data to the Expeed 7 processor. This avoids blackouts in live view whenever a picture's data must be moved out of the sensor (except during long exposures).

Some recent cameras, like the Nikon Z6 III, use a "partially stacked" sensor, in which one or more (two in the Z6 III) smaller chips are stacked on the sensor, outside the margins of the photodiode array. These added chips contain processing circuitry, but connect only to the main chip, not directly to the camera's data bus. This architecture is intermediate between a traditional single-chip sensor and a fully stacked sensor. A side effect of the partially stacked architecture is that the main chip surface must increase, in order to provide additional surface outside the photodiode array. Performance and cost are intermediate between non-stacked and fully stacked sensors.

Typically, backside-illuminated sensors (whether stacked or not) are back-thinned by removing silicon substrate from the back of the chip, to reduce the thickness of silicon between the chip surface exposed to light and the underlying photodiodes.

Segregating the sensor functionality across two chips stacked on each other allows better light-collecting efficiency than a single-chip sensor (because the photodiode array does not share chip area with complex processing logic), and faster processing than an entirely off-sensor graphic processor. Backside illumination of the photodiode array further increases the light-collecting efficiency of the photodiodes by moving all interconnections to the opposite side of the chip.

A number of differences between the Z8 and Z9 can be seen by comparing the cameras and their menus and specification lists. The following table intentionally does not lists specifications that are identical or very close in the two camera models.

In the Z8, a minor cosmetic redesign of a couple of controls completes the list of differences from the Z9. The same cosmetic changes were introduced in the Z6 III.

The Z8 is substantially cheaper than the Z9. You can buy one or two good Nikkor Z lenses with the difference.

For complete lists of specifications, see Z8 specifications and Z9 specifications, respectively, on DPReview.

At the time of writing, the Z8 offers a few significant capabilities added with firmware updates, that are not available on the Z9. It is possible that firmware updates for the Z9 are winding down or are over, in preparation for the future Z9 II expected in late 2025 or early 2026.

In the worse case for Z9 owners, Nikon may be deliberately witholding upgrades from the Z9, in order to artificially emphasize the difference between Z9 and Z9 II. After all, the new hardware cannot be so different after just four years, so the main difference will be the firmware and perhaps the amount of RAM. This may backfire, because many current Z9 owners may see through the trick and think twice before purchasing a Z9 II with another built-in four-years obsolescence. Perhaps Nikon is planning to sweeten the bitter pill with a last, largely symbolic firmware update for the Z9 around the time of releasing the Z9 II.

A few years ago OM System played roughly the same trick on OM-1 owners, by introducing the OM-1 II with twice the amount of RAM and new firmware functions, same sensor, same graphic processor and same LCD/viewfinder/body, and using the increased RAM to justify why they did not provide the same new functions via firmware update to the OM-1 owners.

The Z9 finally received a firmware update in mid-December 2025. However, this update does not bring the Z9 up to the same capabilities as the Z8. For example, the December update did not add pixel shift shooting to the Z9. Time is running short before the introduction of the Z9 II.

I can see three alternatives, of which only one appealing:
1- Is Nikon holding on to the remaining missing pieces of the expected update and release them as a final Z9 update at the same time as the release of the Z9 II?
2- Will the Z9 II turn out to be just a Z9 with newer graphic processor and more RAM, same sensor and same basic hardware capabilities as the Z9 (perhaps with an extra USB3 connector and the LCD screen of the Z6 III just to make a couple of visible changes), and therefore the missing capabilities will only become available on the Z9 II because otherwise photographers who already own a Z9 will have no real reason to buy a Z9 II?
3- Will the Z9 II be called Z10 instead, and be smaller, lighter and cheaper than the Z9, but technically so much ahead of the Z9 that photographers who already own a Z9 will have no choice but to buy one or two Z10s, and put their Z9 on a shelf?
My best bet is that reality will be somewhere between these three alternatives, but closer to alternative #2.

Anti-aliasing and moiré

The lack of a physical anti-aliasing filter in the Z8 means that anti-aliasing must be performed by software. This is more versatile than hardware for the same function. Hardware anti-aliasing is performed by two sheets of birefringent material cemented together with optical axes perpendicular to each other. This filter is typically cemented at the rear of the NIR- and NUV-cut filter, and in practice distributes the incoming light that hits one points of the outer surface of the anti-aliasing filter into four parallel beams, each offset from the others by the same distance (on the order of one sensel diameter) in a square pattern. Unavoidably, this introduces an amount of blurring.

In practice, anti-aliasing must prevent the formation of artifacts, while at the same time removing as little sharpness as possible. Neither antialiasing nor the subsequent sharpening, however, can completely achieve their goals. At both stages, the anti-aliasing process can introduce - or fail to remove - image artifacts. One type of artifact that is difficult to completely remove is color-banding moiré, which is a consequence of interference between a fine detail of the subject and the Bayer pattern of color filters. This artifact usually takes the form of alternating color bands of magenta and green. This is very visible in the above figure.

Another type of artifact is often created by sharpening, when the original image contains fine detail at a scale close to one pixel, and sharpening can create artificial detail that was not originally present. In the above image, this artifact appears as a network or bright and dark features arranged in a mesh of vertical and horizontal lines. In the subject, however, there are only fine horizontal lines (the slats of a Venetian blind), but no vertical ones. I verified this by looking at the blinds with binoculars: these are not the typical Venetian blinds with each slat being a thin metal blade, but instead a single, zig-zag folded plastic/cloth sheet (but still, no vertical lines whatsoever).

The above figure shows both types of artifact. Note that the windows in the bottom row of the figure display coarser Venetian blinds, and no artifacts.

A high-resolution lens and perfect focus, naturally, increase the probability of both types of problem. Chance also plays a role, since detail at one-pixel scale can produce a high-contrast pattern or a featureless surface, depending on how it overlaps the raster of individual pixels.

With different weather, the same windows display almost no color banding and network artifacts. This is probably caused by a more diffuse illumination from an overcast sky.

Differences of Z8 from Z5 II, Z6 III, Z7 II

Except for the Z5 II and Z50 II, all these cameras share with the Z8 an LCD screen at the top of the camera, at the right of the viewfinder, which Nikon calls Control Panel. This screen is rather dim in the Z8 and brighter in lower models. It displays the main active camera settings. The Z6 III has a button near this screen to control its background illumination, not present in the other cameras.

In the Z8 and Z9, both the main (rear) and the secondary (front) command dials are hidden within the camera body, except for a part of their edge. This is the same style used in current Nikon DSLRs except the D3500. In the Z7, Z6 and Z5 lines, the top of the main dial is completely exposed and smooth, roughly like in the D3500 DSLR. This difference is largely aesthetic, rather than functional. It results in a thinner main dial in the Z8 and Z9, and makes the rightmost part of their top plate look less crowded with controls. The secondary dial looks pretty much the same in all Z models.

The Z8 and Z9 have a round rubber eyecup and rather deeply recessed viewfinder optics. The other Z cameras have smaller rectangular rubber eyecups, apparently shallower viewfinder optics, and (with the exception of the Z30) lower viewfinder humps atop their camera bodies. The "boxy" viewfinder hump shape of most Z cameras breaks with the tradition of rounded or roof-shaped viewfinder humps of earlier cameras, and makes Z cameras easily recognizable from a distance. The Z50 II, however, has a more muted, rounded hump than the original Z50. We will have to wait and see whether other new models will follow suit.

Among the current Z cameras, only the Z50 II has a pop-up electronic flash built into the viewfinder hump.

The Z8 and Z9, and no other Z camera, have a Focus mode button near the bottom of the left side of the camera. This control is discussed below.

The Z8 is bulkier (especially taller) and heavier than any of the "lower" Nikon Z camera models, and is superior to all of them in several capabilities.

The Z7 II shares a 45.7 Mpixel count with the Z8 and Z9. The Z7 II sensor, however, is not stacked.

The Nikon red accent on the camera grip, prominent when looking at the front of a Nikon DSLR, in the Z cameras (including the Z8) is more subdued and has been largely moved to the side of the grip.

Differences in capabilities, Z8/Z9 vs. other Z models

The main differences in hardware that make the Z8/Z9 much more capable than the other Z cameras up to the Z6 II and Z 7 II are the stacked sensor and Expeed 7 processor of the former.

The stacked sensor of the Z8 and Z9 provides two independent, simultaneously operating data transfer channels, one from the sensor to the graphic processor, the other from the sensor to the live view. Among other advantages, this architecture effectively avoids live view blackouts except during long exposures.

The Z8 and Z9 use an Expeed 7 processor, which is one order of magnitude (i.e. 10 times) faster than the Expeed 6. The Z6 II and Z 7 II use two Expeed 6 processors, and in practice the data processing speed of the Z8 and Z9 is said to be roughly between 5 and 10 times faster than this dual Expeed 6 architecture. While the two Expeed 6 processors can execute two independent tasks up to twice as fast as a single Expeed 6, there is a performance penalty when the two processors must cooperate and communicate during a shared task. This is where an architecture using a single Expeed 7 has a clearer advantage.

The Z6 III somewhat blurs the performance divide between the two groups of cameras. By following its usual top-down product development practice, Nikon first introduced the stacked sensor and Expeed 7 in flagship cameras, and afterwards begun to introduce the same or similar improvements in "lower" camera models. The Z6 III did not receive the same sensor of the Z8 and Z9, but a "partially stacked" sensor with intermediate performance between the z8/z9 fully stacked sensor and the non-stacked sensors of the Z6 II and Z7 II.

I do not know how, and to what extent, the partially stacked sensor of the Z6 III improves performance above the Z6 II.

Future Z models

The Zf received an Expeed 7 processor already in 2023. The Z6 III likewise inherited the processor from the Z8/Z9 in 2024. While some of the hardware of the Z6 III is not as efficient as the Z8/Z9, the new processor and sensor, together with firmware improvements, do make the Z6 III substantially more capable than the Z6 II. It is logical to expect that the future Z7 III will likewise use an Expeed 7.

Nothing is known about the sensor of the Z7 III. It should be a 45 Mpixel sensor, so it cannot be the same sensor as the Z6 III. The three main alternatives are:

• The same sensor as the Z7 II, with only the Expeed 7 and some additional firmware improvements setting apart the Z7 III from the Z7 II. This would require a rather modest price increase.
• A new partially stacked 45 mpixel sensor, expensive to develop but in the long run cheaper than the sensor of the Z8 and Z9. It would be a better match for the Expeed 7 than the current Z7 II sensor, but would also increase the price of the Z7 III by a larger amount.
• The same sensor as the Z8/Z9, which is already available but the least likely and most expensive alternative. However, is it really necessary for Nikon to release an expensive, scaled-down competitor of the Z8 when there is already a choice among Z9, Z8, Z7 II and Z6 III?

To date, virtually nothing is known of the rumored successor to the Z9. A few technically inclined photographers have expressed a doubt that this Z9 II will be a substantial improvement on the Z9, because it is expected to be announced a bit too early for large improvements on the latter to be feasible. It might become feasible if the actual release of the Z9 II is delayed until the last few months of 2026 or early/mid 2027. On the other hand, updates to the Z9 firmware seem to have ceased, and it seems unlikely that Nikon will continue to sell the Z9 for another year or more without any updates. If no updates are indeed planned for the Z9, it should indicate that a Z9 II will be released much earlier, in the next few months.

After opening the box

Once you have received your Z8, fully charge the battery in the MH-25a charger that comes with the camera. Alternatively, put the battery in the camera and charge it by connecting the camera to a USB3 PD power supply. Either way, leave the camera off and have the patience to wait for the battery to become fully charged. You cannot use the camera and simultaneously charge the battery in-camera. You cannot operate the camera powered by a USB3 PD supply without a battery in the camera, either.

Once the battery is fully charged and in the camera, turn on the camera, and do the initial configuration (language, time etc.) as described in the User Guide. If necessary, you should probably also update the camera firmware to the latest version (see below).

Z8 service advisories

In the summer of 2023, Nikon issued two service advisories affecting some of the Z8 that had been manufactured up to that point. One advisory reports that some lenses cannot lock properly on the Z8 because of a defect in the camera's lens mount, the other that the two metal strap lugs of the camera can break off the camera body under strong or repeated stress. The above link gives instructions on how to check whether your Z8 is affected, based on the camera serial number. If it is, you should then contact Nikon support for further instructions.

Nikon offers to repair these problems for free (or at least it did when it issued the advisories).

To date (late summer 2025), Nikon has issued no further service advisory for the Z8. This means, in practice, that it is very unlikely that a Z8 purchased new in a shop in 2025 is affected by the above advisories.

Part 2