I made a brief post on dpreview recently that bears repeating and further explanation here. Today's firmware announcement also plays into that.
There continues to be a great deal of discussion about "where's the Z9 firmware update that matches Z6III/Z8/Zf?" Two schools of thought seem to exist about that: (1) it will never come because a Z9II is imminent; and (2) it should come because Nikon is disrespecting their best customers. I was firmly in camp #2. Today, it "sort of" came. While the Z9 is now closer to the Z8 in features, it still is missing a few components (see previous article for that).
#1 seemed to imply two things that I find unlikely: (a) that a Z9II won't be all that much different than a Z9, and (b) if Nikon were to update the Z9 firmware again with the (now) missing bits then a Z9II wouldn't sell.
I call BS on (a). I also call BS on (b).
Think about what a Z9II could (probably: should) include:
- An updated image sensor. Bandwidth keeps increasing with each sensor generation, which has implications: less rolling shutter, more video capabilities, better support for on-sensor electronics. One of which could be a dual set of ADCs for DGO (see next article).
- An updated EXPEED8 chip. These systems on a chip keep gaining speed and lower power consumption due to making them on smaller process size fabs. These days they're also gaining neural processors (NPUs) for AI tasks, and more software intellectual property encoded as hardware (e.g. the intoPIX components Nikon is using for high end video).
- Updated CFe. The 4.0 standard isn't just about pure speed increases. The new VPG standards do allow for much higher bitrates on video. But more importantly, believe it or not, CFe 4.0 cards use less costly memory chips (TLC NAND). Who wouldn't want better performance at lower cost?
- Better displays. This one is really easy to expect: use the Z6III EVF, which has more dots and is brighter than the Z9's current one, plus use the ZR's Rear LCD, which has more size (and thus is better for touch controls) and is brighter than the Z9's current one.
- Added connections. Add the ZR's audio connections on the hot shoe and the Z8's second USB-C port so that a Z9II can be simultaneously powered while communicating.
No one can convince me that Nikon's engineering teams haven't been aware of all five of the above bullets for quite some time. A long enough time that all five could (and should) make it into a Z9II.
We haven't even gotten to items like retraining the AF detection systems, improving and adding to the UI, let alone adding new features and functions, and we already have a far better Z9II with those five hardware changes than we'd ever get from firmware updates to the Z9. Are you telling me that a high-practicing pro (or amateur that can afford it) is going to not buy a Z9II because they don't want more dynamic range, less rolling shutter, better displays, faster storage, and more convenient connection abilities? Again, we haven't even gotten to the functional aspects held in the UI nor the re-training of the AF system.
Thing is, when I buy that Z9II I'm going to want my Z9 to be the best possible backup to it that it can be, which requires that Nikon update its firmware with the missing bits. Today's update helps. I'll need to evaluate it more to know how much.
Yes, I know I've been the photographer who cried wolf about this, but it was a real wolf we needed to be afraid of. Nikon has just gotten back to the point where they can not only be proud of their full camera lineup again, but should be justifiably pointing to the Z System camera lineup as the most current and complete. Except for the Z9 until today. Oops. Possible self goal.
When you couple that almost Z9 self goal with a couple of other smaller misfires (e.g. where is Nikon Imaging Cloud and downloadable Recipes for the Z8 and Z9?), you start to wonder if they bit off more than they could chew. The problem I see is that if Nikon had that problem with the Z9 generation, why wouldn't we expect the same types of failures in the Z9II generation? In other words, Nikon is in danger of eroding the user confidence that they just built up again.
The list is short for Z9 generation shortcomings:
- The Z9 firmware updates are still missing some key elements.
- The Z8 never connected to Nikon Imaging Cloud.
- The Z30 and Zfc never made it to the Z9 generation.
- New features such as "grain" were not well thought out, and not added to all cameras. Too much looking at Fujifilm and not thinking for yourself, Nikon.
A few years from now, I don't want to have a similar Z9II generation shortcoming list. It's time for Nikon engineering to get fully on top of their game, to listen to the user base, and to build their reputation further up, not begin eroding it downward. Ship firmware 6.00 for the Z9!
