After a lot of rumour and speculation, Nikon has now officially announced the new Nikon Z8 mirrorless camera (buy here). While having some specs in common with the Nikon Z7 II (buy here), the Z8 appears to be the true successor to the Nikon D850 (buy here), whereas the Nikon Z7 II mostly seemed like D850 level specs shoved into a mirrorless body.
The Nikon Z8 features a 45.7-megapixel stacked CMOS sensor, but this one shoots 8K video at up to 60 frames per second. It also features internal 10-Bit ProRes 422, as well as 12-Bit N-RAW and ProRes Raw recording. Nikon says it’s smaller and lighter than both the Nikon Z9 (buy here) and Nikon D850 bodies and sports a blackout-free EVF with a 4-way tilting LCD.
It shoots up to 20 frames per second, but there is a caveat here. That speed is with an electronic shutter, not a mechanical shutter. Its maximum speed with the mechanical shutter is… Well, it doesn’t have a mechanical shutter. It’s 100% electronic with shutter speeds ranging from 1/32,000 sec to 900 seconds. You get 275 shots on a full battery charge, which seems a little low, considering you can potentially burn through that in under 14 seconds.
The Nikon Z8 features intelligent subject tracking and autofocus, with modes for people (head, face, upper body), eye, animal, vehicle and airplane tracking modes. It has 493 AF points covering about 90% of the view, with AF detection ranging from -7 to +19 EV. The LCD on the back is a 3.2″ 2.1M-dot 4-axis tilting display, and the EVF is a 3.69M-dot OLED capable of putting out 3,000 nits of brightness for when you’re shooting in super sunny conditions at 60 or 120Hz.
When it comes to video, it shoots 8.3K at up to 60 frames per second in 12-Bit N-RAW only, or 8K 30p, 4K UHD at up to 120p in N-RAW, ProRes RAW (internally), ProRes 422 HQ, H.265, H.264 (1080p Full HD only) with N-Log and HLG. And it all gets saved to either UHS-II SD or CFexpress Type B through its dual card slots.
The Z8 has 5-axis in-body image stabilisation with Synchro VR – basically, hybrid stabilisation combining the sensor and stabilised lenses – for a total of up to 6 stops of stabilising power. It has USB-PD charging to recharge your battery in the camera. It actually sports two USB-C ports. One for power and one for communication when tethering or transferring files. It also has Bluetooth and both 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFI for remote control and file transfer.
Availability and Price
The Nikon Z8 body only is available to pre-order now for $3,996.95. It’s also available in a kit with the Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 lens to pre-order for $5,096.95. The Nikon MB-N12 Power Battery Pack is available to pre-order for £346.95, the Nikon MC-N10 Remote Grip is available to buy now for $426.95, and the Nikon EP-8B AC adapter is available to pre-order now for $66.95. Shipping is expected to begin on May 25th.
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