It’s no secret that Nikon has been fighting, but that doesn’t stop the company from making all the stops near Z9, which has been officially announced to arrive before the end of 2021.
Located above the Z6 II and Z7 II, the Z9 will be Nikon’s new inspectable full-frame camera with a new CMOS sensor stacked in FX format and a new image processing engine. Like the DSC R5 and the Sony Alpha 1, the Z9 is said to support 8K video capture while catering to the needs of professional photographers and high-end enthusiasts.
In short, Nikon says the Z9 “will offer the best video and photography performance in Nikon history.”
It’s a bold statement now, but three years after launching its first full-frame mirrorless cameras on the Z6 and Z7, it looks like Nikon might be taking a step forward and couldn’t come at a more critical time.
Last fall, Nikon was is said to be in “straits” after being hit by one of the worst sales drops in recent history (due in large part to the pandemic), with Nikon’s relatively late entry into high-end mirrorless cameras allowing Sony to enter and become the dominant player in the segment.
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Unfortunately, because the Z9 was revealed to be part of one development announcement (which camera manufacturers use to briefly describe upcoming products), other specific details are relatively scarce. Judging by the official image, it seems Z9 will have built-in vertical grip and room for extra batteries, but that’s all we know for sure right now.
However, after a recent interview where one occurred The Nikon executive sat down with DP Review, it looks like the Z9 is shaping up as a quality workhorse designed to completely replace the D6, while offering a high standard durability and as described by Nikon in its development announcement: “final usability “.
The tricky part is that since the Canon EOS R5 has been available since last summer and Sony Alpha is expected to go on sale sometime this month, Nikon may once again be forced to put on the day when the Z9 will be officially released later this year. So with the forecast that Nikon will reveal more details as we approach fall, stay tuned for updates.