Today's headline categorizes what I'd say about still cameras from Nikon today: the Z System pretty much has a mirrorless camera for everyone, and virtually all of it is highly competitive.
That's not what I hear from others. The complaints about "where's the Z7III," "where's the D500 replacement?", and "where's global shutter?" pretty much all fail to properly assess the current lineup. (The answers to those questions are: Z8, Z8, and not really needed.)
Don't get me wrong. I'm looking forward to the products Nikon makes next. They've shown good discipline and insight into what's really needed by their loyal customers, even if they don't produce exactly what the customer asks for. I long ago learned that the customer is the worst designer, so what the consumer requests isn't always what should be built. It's taken awhile to dislodge Nikon from their paternal "we always know best" attitude in design, but the Z9 generation shows that they're finally listening to and considering the pain points their customers actually have. That's produced a current lineup that's pretty darned good from bottom to top.
Behind my thoughts are a couple of premises you need to know about:
- Any sub-US$1000 product is going to be compromised. Because of tariffs, that number probably is now US$1200.
- When a product is compromised, you're not going to get exactly what you ask for, period.
You'll note that the above bullets pretty much defines DX now: whatever DX camera you get will have compromises inherent in it. Perhaps Nikon will create a higher-end DX camera at some point, but I'm no longer sure that they need to. If such a future DX product ends up US$1500 or more, it's competing with a highly capable FX one.
Which brings me to Nikon's current primary FX lineup: Zf, Z5II, Z6III, Z8. That's legacy, all-purpose, some added performance, and total performance, respectively. All take remarkably good photos. The four, taken together, probably address 80% of Nikon's customer base, maybe more.
Can I imagine a better four? Sure, but would I really be making the cameras better in ways that would make enough people want to update? I'm not certain about that. But let me take a stab at it:
- Zf — Biggest need is lenses with aperture rings and more customization capabilities (the Zf has no U# user settings, nor Banks, and a limited number of customizable buttons).
- Z5II — Short term it's all about how low can the price go. Long term the most significant thing to address would be the rolling shutter, so eventually slide in the partially-stacked sensor.
- Z6III — The pieces are there, but the execution is a little sloppy. Panasonic seems to be using the same image sensor now and getting better dynamic range and less jittery deep shadows on video, for instance. The bigger, brighter EVF doesn't always show up in useful ways.
- Z8 — #1 need: raw Pre-Release Capture. The Z6III EVF would be nice to have. Fixing user settings/banks and rethinking Recall shooting function would be useful.
Notice how I didn't ask for more pixels or faster frame rates? ;~)
It's clear to me that most of us will be riding the current horses for awhile and enjoying it. Perhaps the next generation opens up some more capabilities and performance, and I'd be fine with that happening at the Z9II level, but the current FX Four are really all I need. They likely are all you need, too.
Enjoy the ride.
