Mirrorless cameras are here to stay, to take over the world and to change it. To deny that the focus of users – professionals and amateurs – as well as the market has shifted towards mirrorless, just silly. And oddly enough, the industry heavyweights were the latest to introduce their mirrorless full-frame cameras. At the end of 2018, Nikon released its first full-frame mirrorless cameras under the loud slogan Mirrorless reinvented.
Nikon decided to make an impression by releasing two full-frame cameras at once – one with a relatively small resolution sensor and a reasonable price Nikon Z6 and an impressive in resolution more expensive Nikon Z7. In this test, we take a look at the older Nikon Z7 and see how Nikon has tried to reinvent mirrorless cameras.
Nikon Z7 photo gallery
Body and ergonomics
The camera is lightweight, rubberized, they say Nikon finally did away with natural rubber, and now the pads won’t come off , with a deep grip. Moreover, the rubber in the camera is not only outside, but also inside – the button is protected from moisture and dust no worse than the Nikon D850. The body itself is made of magnesium alloy and, while lightweight, should be able to withstand substantial mechanical loads.
The camera body is low enough that the grip doesn’t fit your little finger. It upset me at first but then I found myself not paying attention to this anymore after a week of shooting. Even with its small size the camera feels good in your hand and the lenses don’t weigh you down. Speaking of size. I had a chance to compare the Z7 to its classmates. it turns out that the size and weight of the body of the new Nikon camera is comparable to the size of a cropped mirrorless camera.
The shutter, exposure compensation and video recording buttons stay where they are. For those who have had time to work with Nikon D850 familiar will be the location of the ISO button, which is here, under the right index finger. The front control dial remains the same, too. But the back grip, which fits under the right thumb, came on the Z7 from the younger cameras – flat, with a fine notch. A similar dial is on the Nikon D5500, and in my experience with this camera I can say that in summer it is easy to turn this dial, but with gloves it is difficult to effectively turn the fine knurled wheel.
On top of the camera, to the left of the “pentaprism” is a mode dial – fully automatic, four manual and three custom modes that you can customize to your liking.
To the right of the pentaprism is a small square OLED screen, which displays basic shooting information – exposure, exposure compensation, ISO, number of remaining frames, battery power. Accustomed to the fact that a screen like this on a DSLR displays the number of frames even if the camera is off? Get used to it. Also, this screen turns off when you’re working with the camera menus. Thanks to the OLED technology the screen turns out very bright and, unlike LCD, it does not need additional backlighting. The backlight switch is missing from the trigger lever for a reason – this camera just doesn’t need it.
The buttons for viewing and deleting photos, as well as AF-ON, remained in their places – to the left and right of the viewfinder, respectively.
Next to the viewfinder, there’s a lever to switch from photo to video mode, as well as a button to control the display. Pressing this button displays shooting information, histogram and virtual level.
The latter is a very useful thing, but the way it is implemented in the Z7 I did not really like. The camera tilt level horizontally and vertically takes up the center of the frame and detracts from the picture. I’m sure it would be more convenient to display the level with two markers on the edges of the frame, as it is done on the same Nikon D850.
In addition to the multiselector with the usual OK button in the center, the Z7 has a small joystick that’s especially handy for selecting the focus point. Finally a thing of the past is the Lock switch, which was always next to the multiselector, took up a lot of space and was not only useless, but also harmful.
Button “
i
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It’s right there next to it, and that’s a button you’ll have to love. The philosophy behind working with the Z7 is that the quickest way to adjust a lot of camera functions, from picture quality and white balance to PictureControl modes is to use the ” button
i
“
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The bottom block contains the menu, zoom in, zoom out, and shooting mode buttons – a switch between delayed shutter, high-speed, and high-speed. And these modes, or rather the logic of switching them, frustrated me. If you set it to high speed, it stays on until you don’t want it to. And the delayed shutter mode will disappear once the camera goes to sleep mode. I saw the same situation on my Nikon D5500, an amateur camera. Not a great comparison for a mirrorless flagship.
When you first pick up the Z7 it seems like there are very few buttons. It is confusing that there is no button for bracketing, white balance, and that the AF mode lever has disappeared without a trace. Partially compensate for the lack of controls can be quick menus – for example, the menu button “
i”.
I usually shoot with auto white balance and I don’t change it very often. Oh, so I don’t really need a separate button for it. Likewise with image quality – I’ve made one RAW setting and then never went back to picture quality selection.
But the most important functions for which there is no separate button can be put on the Fn1 and Fn2 programmable buttons. The buttons are between the lens and the camera grip, and are very different tactilely, so you definitely won’t mix up the first and second programmable buttons. When I use the camera I set one of these buttons to select the autofocus mode and the other to control bracketing by default the Fn2 button controls autofocus .
Viewfinder and screen
Viewfinder is bright and contrasty. Resolution 3.68 million pixels high, but not enough to make you forget you’re looking at a digital picture. The viewfinder also displays all your shooting information, a live histogram, virtual horizon, highlights, and a bunch of other useful stuff. The output of the peaks – the points that will be in focus.
On the side of the “pentaprism” is a button to toggle between the viewfinder and the screen. There’s an auto switch mode, viewfinder priority, and modes where the image is rendered solely to the screen or viewfinder. Displaying the image through the viewfinder only saves on battery power, which is especially important for mirrorless cameras.
The electronic viewfinder is ideal if you’re not used to framing from the screen, or if you’re shooting on a sunny day and glare interferes with the main screen. Also in the bright light in the viewfinder it’s much easier to see the pictures you’ve taken. It’s handy, isn’t it?.
But not as handy as the Nikon Z7’s main touchscreen. The tilt-up touch screen is the most important part of any mirrorless camera. And the Z7 is no exception. The bright, contrasty and high-resolution display of the new mirrorless camera is not just a duplicate of the viewfinder. This is a key control. All the basic settings can be set in a couple of taps. Naturally, both the electronic viewfinder and the display show the real picture you get after you press the shutter button – you can immediately see the exposure, depth of focus while the aperture repeater button , and white balance.
And, of course, the refusal of the mirror in favor of the display, we can say goodbye to the back-and front-focus, and forget about the lens alignment for a particular camera.
The display is so strongly integrated into all aspects of working with the new camera that I will remember more than once what and how you can do with this display in other parts of the review.
Nikon Z7 + Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S,24 mm, f/5.0, 1/400, ISO 200
These are the people in the Siyab bazaar in Samarkand I shot almost up close. But I didn’t bring the camera up to my face to frame by the viewfinder – that would definitely disrupt the natural behavior of these people. Instead, I shot from waist level, judging the frame by the screen and focusing by touching the image
On the left side of the camera, as usual, are all the connectors. It’s nice to see SS-USB give way to the new high-speed USB-C, HDMI Type C for external recorders, and a jack for an external microphone and headphones. There is also a jack for the remote control, but not for the “adult” MC-36a, but for the “stand-in” – the remote control MC-DC2, which is simpler. An expected choice when you consider that the ten-point connector is many years old and takes up too much space, especially when there’s a battle for grams and millimeters.
If you don’t want to buy a remote, your phone can be your remote. The Z7 is equipped with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and can be linked to a phone that has SnapBridge software installed. The program allows you to download files in 2 MP or full resolution, as well as use the phone as a remote – remotely change settings and take pictures.
Nikon Z7 Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S,35 mm, f/13, 1/160, ISO 100
I took this photo with my camera control via SnapBridge on my phone. The camera was on the wall of the ancient city of Jumpyk-Kala, about 15-20 meters away from me.
I used my phone screen to see how well I was standing in the frame, and took a picture by pressing the shutter in
New mount and lenses
The Nikon F mount dates back to 1959, and with slight modifications it survives to this day. It’s time for the legendary elder to move. Nikon has designed a new Z-mount specifically for its mirrorless Z series, the largest one on the market. The mount is really enormous and the distance from lens mounting plane to sensor is a microscopic 16 mm. The company claims this will make lenses with the highest optical quality, sharpness across the entire frame, and minimal distortion.
The lens that should show the full power of the new mount should be the Nikkor S Noct 58 f/0 fixx.95. This lens wasn’t available at the time of the test, so I tested the camera with the stock 24-70 f/4 lens and the 35 f/1 fixie.8. The first is a fusion of compactness, autofocus speed and picture quality. A great full-frame prime, yet small lens that’s sharp even at the most open aperture. For me, it was the perfect tool for street photography. And when you consider that the minimum focusing distance is only 30 cm, you can shoot even very close ups with this baby. At dusk it’s a little short on aperture, but if it were f/2.8, you could immediately forget about compactness.
But the 35 f/1.8 was a real eye opener. It’s not a lens, it’s fire! At 1.8 it gives great sharpness and very soft bokeh. The lens is so sharp that you would be afraid to take a picture of an old guy and his beard is so real that you could cut into every hair on it. It’s a great lens, I highly recommend it.
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I was very pleased that all the lenses are very quiet thanks to the new stepper motor. I often worried if the camera was focused on a new spot and it was only the green focus point indication that gave me peace of mind that it was in focus. Fast, accurate and silent autofocus is especially important when shooting video, because now you can trust the autofocus to adjust sharpness and not worry that you can hear the motor noise in the video.
Very few lenses with the new lens mount available for test and purchase. But the fleet of optics for the Nikon F mount is too early to write off. For Nikon’s older lenses they made a Nikon FTZ adapter which lets you attach any AF-S lens to your new camera. Lenses with their own motor retain fast and accurate autofocus, as well as exposure metering. With non-motorized lenses, you can only focus manually, made much easier by the Focus Aid system which displays the places you’ve focused on with red dots on the screen. For all the old lenses has a big bonus – thanks to the built-in matrix stabilization any lens mounted on the Nikon Z7 becomes stabilized.
Nikkor 70-200mm f/2 lens.8G ED AF-S VR II, mounted on a Nikon Z7 via an FTZ adapter
I used two lenses during the test – AF-S Nikkor 14-24 f/2.8 and AF-S Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VR, and every one of them worked perfectly with the camera through the adapter. I can recommend both of these lenses for this camera as a basic, fast wide-angle and telephoto lens for a transitional period until Nikon releases optics for the new mount. I didn’t notice any problems with focusing or exposure metering. Exactly the same way third-party lenses worked without problems.
And while we’re on the subject of autofocus, the Nikon Z7 features the already familiar Nikon D850 shift focus function. For landscape and subject matter photographers, this technique is better known as focus-stacking. With this technique, we shoot a series of stills, shifting the focus slightly so that the sharpness zones overlap. Then we assemble a single sharpened photo from this series, sharpening the entire frame.
In the mirrorless camera, the stacking is shot in semi-automatic mode – we can set the number of frames and step size in abstract units from one to ten. After you start shooting, the camera will begin capturing a series of frames, shifting the focus by a set amount each time. The relation between shift value and abstract pitch units you have to find out for yourself, based on experience. The camera will save the finished batch of photos in a separate folder if you wish . You have to stitch together a set of files into a final picture yourself. To find out exactly how, you can read the stacking masterclass from the review on the Nikon D850 – read the masterclass
Nikon Z7. Focus Shift Shooting
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Series of shots taken with Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED AF-S VR II mounted on Nikon Z7 via FTZ adapter
f/10, 1/400, ISO 200
Matrix and processor
The Nikon Z7 has a full-frame 45.7 megapixel backlit sensor. With all this power comes the latest EXPEED 6 processor. Among other things, it is responsible for the fact that the camera turns on and gives a signal to the viewfinder or the screen in 1.5 seconds yes, I caught it . Too long if you compare it to a DSLR, but for a mirrorless camera it’s an achievement. Generally speaking, when you work with mirrorless cameras, you realize much more clearly the importance of a powerful processor. All the delights of fast and accurate autofocus – also on his conscience. As well as the ability to record 4K video.
New image processor and sensor help achieve very low noise, even at high ISO. So I got a very acceptable noise level at ISO up to 1250, and up to ISO 6400 noise was in a very acceptable range. Of course, it is still difficult to consider Hi values as working values, but they are not a mixture of noise, and these values can in principle be used as a last resort. In practice, I have reportage shots taken at ISO 8000, and I don’t consider them a flaw.
Nikon Z7. Evening shots
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Nikon Z7. Daytime Photo
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Nikon Z7. ISO – Sharpness
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Nikon Z7 Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4
Nikon Z7 + Nikkor Z 35 f/1.8 S f/4.0, 1/80, ISO 8000
The only light in this scene is from the fire in the oven. The picture has a very acceptable noise level for this high ISO
For challenging scenes where ambient light can change dramatically, there’s a flexible Auto ISO function.
New processor also controls distortion and vignetting. Photos taken with the Nikon Z7 may seem to suffer from less distortion, chromatic aberration, and vignetting, but that’s a little harmless trick. The camera records the lens profile in the photograph, which is automatically applied when the RAW file is developed.
I liked the raw files from the Nikon Z7. Each RAW file weighs in at 58 MB with a resolution of 8256 x 5504 45.4 million . But if that is a lot of resolution for you, you can record medium 6192 x 4128 or small 4128 x 2752 RAW files. Either way they will be drawn, with a lot of information in the highlights and shadows. But it’s important to update your RAW converter, whatever it is, before you start processing. My basic Adobe Camera RAW converter without updating opened RAW files from the Z7 with faded colors and very high noise levels, even in photos taken at ISO 64.
The EXPEED 6 processor is also responsible for Active D-Lighting, which is supposed to dim the unnecessarily bright parts of the image and brighten the dark parts. It traditionally doesn’t do much good in photography – it’s much easier to shoot a few frames and stitch together an image with an expanded dynamic range. But when shooting video it can be justified to use D-lighting to get a picture with a wider dynamic range.
Nikon Z7. Active D-Lighting
0 – Off
1 – Moderate
2 – Normal
3 – Amplified
5 – Auto
4 – Overpowered
Nikon Z7 Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4
PictureControl capabilities have been expanded. Now in addition to the standard presets “standard” “neutral” “saturated” “monochrome” “portrait” “landscape” and “even” there are also creative, such as “dream” “Sunday” “gloom” “drama” “toy” and many more. About 20 creative presets are available in total, but if that’s not enough for you, you can customize and save your.
Nikon Z7. Picture Control
1 – Auto
2 – Standard
3 – Neutral
4 – Vivid
5 – Monochrome
6 – Portrait
7 – Landscape
8 – Flat
9 – Sleep
10 – Morning
12 – Sunday
11 – Pop
13 – Gloomy
14 – Dramatic
15 – Silence
16 – Bleach
17 – Melancholy
18 – Pure
19 – Denim
20 – Toy
21 – Sepia
22 – Blue
23 – Red
24 – Pink
25 – Charcoal
26 – Graphite
27 – Two tones
28 – Soot
Nikon Z7 Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4
The camera also has five-axis sensor stabilization system. Nikon claims stabilizer can compensate for 5.5 stops of exposure. This is very difficult to check, because the appearance of shakiness in a photograph depends on too many factors, including purely individual. But I can say that the built-in stabilization system allowed me to get sharp shots at 70mm at a shutter speed of ¼ seconds, which is very cool.
Autofocus and Speed Shooting
There’s a poem to be written about the Nikon Z7’s excellent autofocus. But in short: it’s cool, very cool! With single-point aiming, 493 phase points work, scattered almost all over the frame 90 percent . In other modes, the contrast points are connected. So in most shooting situations, hybrid autofocus works and the camera is pointed clearly and confidently, the light hitting range is wide.
The Z7 focused really well, even in very challenging conditions, such as when it was dark and you could see the human face only lit up by the reflections of a flame.
Nikon Z7 + Nikkor Z 35 f/1.8 S f/4.0, 1/100, ISO 8000
The woman’s face is illuminated only by the light of a burning stove flame. It was enough for the autofocus to catch and hold focus on her face
DSC_3661: Tracking autofocus deserves special mention – it really does. Single focus mode allows you to focus on the field, pin, narrow, medium and wide.
But the best part is what the camera does in tracking mode. It has all the same autofocus modes available as the one-shot. But here’s the tricky part. You can select the focus point not only with the multi selector or joystick, but also by touching the screen. And if you touch it in auto focus point selection mode, the camera will lock on to the selected object, and follow it by moving the focus point through the frame. The analogue of the 3D focus on a DSLR, and it works just fine.
Nikon Z7 Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S f/4, 1/160, 2000
I set the camera to track the potter’s face, and when he bent down to put a vase, the camera tracked that movement
Good continuous shooting with this type of autofocus. And it’s here. In Extended High Speed Shooting mode, the camera can shoot up to 9 frames per second with autofocus intact, but with exposure metering turned off. All photos are dumped into the buffer, which in Nikon Z7 is pretty small – only 12 frames if you shoot 14-bit RAW. But this is compensated for by the fact that from the buffer they are sent straight to the XQD memory card. In any case you can shoot with Nikon Z7 in bursts of 3 seconds, after which the camera loses a lot of its speed. It takes about 4 seconds for the buffer to clear completely, but during that time, the camera can still shoot, but at a slower speed.
Nikon Z7. Continuous Shooting – CL
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Nikon Z7. Continuous Shooting – CH
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There’s only one memory card slot in the Z7, and that’s the expensive XQD card. Good news is that the prices of these cards have been going down lately and may well crawl up to a sane level in the foreseeable future.
Shooting video
Remember what I just told you about autofocus in photography? So, all this is also true for shooting video. So that’s pretty much it. A lot of times I would set the autofocus on monitor, poke the face of the hero on the screen, press the shutter button to get the autofocus to work and get a great focus when I was shooting a video. And the silent autofocus on the new lenses got rid of the motor chirping during shooting.
But it’s not just the autofocus that makes the camera so happy. It captures 4K video though only at 30 fps for now and Full HD up to 120 fps yes, real slow motion, looks pretty cool . Time-lapse photography with fine-tuning, and you can shoot not only individual frames but also video in 4K. I’d like to say a special thanks to those who have moved the frame size settings right into the video parameter menu. It used to be that you had to adjust global video settings. Life is a little easier now.
And if you decide to shoot Time-lapse stills, good for you, the Z7’s sensor resolution lets you shoot 8K video. Which no one really needs in full resolution, but it’s cool to zoom in and out or slider in post-processing.
The built-in matrix stabilization is very cool and makes any lens stabilized, including old manual lenses. But if you can’t get enough of it, you can turn on the digital one. It can, however, work a little weird from time to time – it makes the edges of the frame unpleasantly float.
For color fans, there’s not only PictureControl, but also shooting in 10-bit N-log, which allows you to save maximum information for later postdocs.
Of course, there are jacks for external microphone and headphones.
It’s nice to see the Nikon turning into a full-fledged camera for shooting uncomplicated video. With that kind of feature set, the Z7 would be good enough for travel-blogging or small instructional videos.
See all test clips
Clash of worlds. Comparison to DSLRs.
Nikon’s new mirrorless camera is pretty good. But the question I was asking myself, while working with this camera during a tour in Uzbekistan, is what the global difference between the two systems? Am I ready to give up the mirror?? Let’s run through the major differences that the modern market is most focused on.
The compact size of the camera, optics and pivoting viewfinder combine to make the Nikon Z7 a very good tool for street photography. I felt a lot more comfortable staying inconspicuous when filming in the streets and bazaars of Uzbekistan. People react much more sensitively to a big camera you hold in front of their faces. The small camera, which you hold somewhere at chest level and frame along the tilted screen, attracts much less attention and allows you to shoot people almost right up close without disturbing their natural behavior. So that’s where the mirrorless camera gets the credit. But there’s a catch.
Nikon Z7 with Nikkor-Z 35 f/1 lens.The 8 weighs about 1100 grams. Nikon D850 with AF-S Nikkor 35 f/1.8 drive about 1300 grams. The difference in weight is only 200 grams. Yes, it’s there, but not as dramatic as people say.
The main way to lose weight is to get rid of the optical viewfinder that camera designers are so insistent on getting rid of. There’s more to it than that, by the way. The mirror somehow protects the sensor from dust. Try changing lenses on a mirrorless camera in a dust storm, and you’ll see what I mean. And yet you can’t say enough about the mirror – it’s a parasite, a barrier to evolution. But now I’ve hit on one very important point that not many people talk about.
I really care about the live image of the optical viewfinder. As long as you’re shooting by light, where the scene fits in the dynamic range, you’re fine. But I do a lot of shooting against the light with bracketing – with a focus on post-processing. And it’s very important for me to see all the details of my future photos through the peephole of the viewfinder. Deep shadows, bright lights – the optical viewfinder captures them all without distortion. And in that situation, when I need to make a shot, for example, with a lot of details in the sky and a lot of nuances on the ground, the optical viewfinder will show them to me “as is”.
The digital viewfinder is praised for showing the image as it will appear in the picture. That is, with a narrow dynamic range. It means the digital viewfinder will turn dark areas into a solid black blur and bright skies into a solid whiteout. You just can’t see the clouds on a mirror like that. We’ll have to put in a positive exposure correction first to look at the shadows. Then negative to make sure all the clouds are in place. And it’s good if my intuition helped me get between the two lights and get the shot right. And if you don’t? I had to correct it, and then I had to look again at the shadows and the lights. It becomes many times more difficult to frame in such conditions. And longer. And at sunset, when the light is gone, every minute is precious.
Nikon Z7, Nikkor 24-70 f/4, f/13, 1/25, ISO 64
In this shooting situation I lacked the dynamic range of the digital viewfinder and screen. The sky looked whitened, and the texture on the rocks blended into a single dark tone
However, even when shooting against the sun there is one significant advantage – through the electronic viewfinder to look at the sun is safe, unlike the optical.
If we’re parsing the weight of the camera, it’s not really fair to talk about just the weight of the “body” and the lens. I have to consider a complete kit, which includes batteries. The Nikon Z7 runs on the familiar EN-EL15, the same battery that powered the eight hundred series cameras. But for a mirrorless camera it is recommended to use a more modern version – EN-EL15b. I only had a version marked “a” or no markings at all. From one charge of this battery I was able to shoot 750-800 frames, which is not much compared to a DSLR, but ok for a mirrorless camera. The conclusion is simple – mirrorless shooters have to take more batteries with them, which means the weight gain is reduced even more. As a consolation bonus the new batteries marked “b” can be charged via USB-C directly in the camera from a power bank. This isn’t going to work with my old batteries.
But no matter what mirrorless camera fans say about weight, their main strength lies elsewhere. The short working length is cool. A stabilized sensor is even cooler. But most importantly, mirrorless cameras are much more reliant on software and firmware than DSLRs. Try to remember how often firmware is released for DSLRs? And when was the last time you upgraded your DSLR?? I did it about three years ago. You can’t do that with a mirrorless camera. Here software makes a big difference in AF speed, stabilizer performance, new focus modes and intelligent shooting modes. Face and eye recognition, live composite mode, automatic stacking gluing jewellery photographers will thank you very much . These modes, by the way, have long been available from competitors, and Nikon should seriously hurry up with the release of new firmware. Fortunately, developing new firmware and putting it on an already good camera is much easier than developing a new system from scratch.
Conclusions
Nikon makes a very good camera. Quality, very comfortable, with its own nuances. But for now, it’s just a Nikon camera without a mirror. The survival of the Z system now very much depends on several factors. First, how quickly Nikon will release new firmware and fill the new platform with cool features and smart modes. Secondly, how quickly Nikon will be able to bring the new Z-mount to market, and whether the new large mount will live up to the high expectations placed on it.
So far the roadmap for new lens releases looks good, but the release of the new 14-24 f/2.8 in 2020 is a long time away. However, basic working lenses like the 24-70 f/2.8 and 70-200 f/2.8 is promised to hit the market as early as 2019, and landscape photographers will be temporarily appeased with a compromise 14-30 f/4.
New cameras lay a strong foundation for Nikon’s mirrorless lineup. Big sensor, high speed, fast processor, high capacity battery. Now it’s already good. In the long run, that’s just fine.
The entire gallery of photos Nikon Z7
Nikon Z7. Camera Features
Nikon’s first full-frame mirrorless camera.
The company already tried to enter the mirrorless market with the good Nikon 1 system, which was even in demand by people. But not enough for the direction to develop. The new Z7 and Z6 cameras have huge potential to become serious players in the full-frame mirrorless market.
Stabilized high-definition sensor.
Nikon Z7 uses the new 45.7 megapixel sensor with backlit pixels. It makes you get photos with very low noise. The camera gives a very good picture up to ISO 1250, and up to ISO 6400 the noise level is acceptable. This makes the Nikon Z7 a worthy camera not only for low-light reportage photography, but also for night landscape photography, where low noise at high ISOs is a very important factor.
In addition, the Nikon Z7 sensor is stabilized, which automatically turns any lens into a stabilized lens. I was able to get really sharp shots with my 70 mm lens at shutter speeds up to .. ¼ .
Nikon Z7 RAW files “stretch” perfectly in graphics editors.
Fast and accurate autofocus.
The camera has a new autofocus system. 493 phase-exposure autofocus sensors cover almost the entire area of the frame. Autofocus works pretty accurately even in low light. Trailing autofocus can keep a chosen subject in focus by tracking its movement through the frame.
Auto focus in still and movie mode working equally well
Shooting at up to 9 frames per second.
Capture images at up to 9fps in extended burst mode while maintaining autofocus, and 5.5fps in high-speed mode. The photos from the relatively small buffer are recorded very quickly to the XQD memory card, allowing you to shoot in bursts of up to 50 frames.
Focus Shift Shooting Mode.
Nikon Z7 allows you to automatically shoot frames-preparations for future stitching technology. This technology produces a photo with a depth of field from the foreground, no matter how close it is, to infinity. The stitching itself needs to be done manually.
Autonomy, battery life
Good battery life. The new camera can be equipped with the old EN-EL15 battery, and then the battery life on a single charge with the stabilizer and the display is about 750-800 shots, which by the standards of mirrorless cameras is normal. But if you put the new EN-EL15b battery in the Z7, you can shoot up to 1900 frames on a single charge, which is very cool. In addition, the new battery can be charged directly in the camera from a wall outlet or power bank via the USB-C connector.
New lens mount and lineup.
Nikon has created a new record-setting Z-mount for its mirrorless cameras, with the camera sensor positioned as close as possible to the lens mounting plane. All this makes it possible to improve picture quality and create lenses with very high aperture ratio – up to f/0.95.
The new S-series lenses achieve premium optical quality throughout the entire zoom range, delivering beautiful images even at the maximum aperture and focusing almost silently.
Extensive video shooting options.
The Nikon Z7 lets you not only shoot 4K video and exposure-corrected timelapses, but also 8K timelapses in interval shooting mode and even slow motion video at up to 120fps. Built-in matrix and digital stabilization help get smooth camera movement and suppress vibration when shooting.
How does the Nikon Z7 perform in terms of speed and evolutionary improvements?
How does the Nikon Z7 test results compare to previous models in terms of evolution and speed?