The new Nikon mirrorless system

[Erik Lund]

The rangefinder cameras like Leica M actually has a quite a feature in that with most lenses you have a completely clear view directly of the whole scene and at the same time you can actually through the viewfinder see what is going on outside the image frame, this can be an extremely nice advantage for reportage and PJ style shooting. same as shooting a DX lens on a FX camera with the masking off, takes some getting used to but works,,, Just a heads up from the Leica M camp

[Per Inge Oestmoen]

The rangefinder cameras like Leica M actually has a quite a feature in that with most lenses you have a completely clear view directly of the whole scene and at the same time you can actually through the viewfinder see what is going on outside the image frame, this can be an extremely nice advantage for reportage and PJ style shooting. same as shooting a DX lens on a FX camera with the masking off, takes some getting used to but works,,, Just a heads up from the Leica M camp

Which only serves to emphasize that fact that optical viewfinders - in rangefinder cameras as well as DSLR systems - are permanently viable.

[MILLIREHM]

. same as shooting a DX lens on a FX camera with the masking off, takes some getting used to but works,,

Enjoyed that feature with D8xx series cameras, especially with cropped FX tele lenses.

[pluton]

Mirrorless appeals to the manufacturers because it's substantially cheaper to manufacture. Nikon will make a handsome profit per unit on the Z7 particularly.
 
After an hour spent operating a EVF-equipped camera in bright sunlight will make one grateful for returning to the OVF SLR.
A few minutes of trying to focus an OVF SLR camera in near-darkness will make the EVF seem a marvelous miracle.
I hope that both will be available well into the future.

[MILLIREHM]

It would be good to have the best of both worlds in a sustainable way
with the F and Z system as the best (but not optimal) crossover compatibility available. Thats great.

The example of D2X and F6 shows that sometimes parallel worlds are waning faster than expected, so I am feeling ambigous.

[pluton]

It would be good to have the best of both worlds in a sustainable way
with the F and Z system as the best (but not optimal) crossover compatibility available. Thats great.

The example of D2X and F6 shows that sometimes parallel worlds are waning faster than expected, so I am feeling ambigous.

Yes...it's purely a business decision and it could go faster than we'd like.  There may be only top of the line (D5/D850) choices for DSLR at some point.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Mirrorless appeals to the manufacturers because it's substantially cheaper to manufacture.

Is that really the case? Mirrorless requires greater processing power and faster read times from sensors (to make possible a near real time EVF and silent shooting, and because more data is to be processed for autofocus) and these chips cost a lot of money to develop, and the equipment to manufacture them is very expensive. Assembling DSLRs seems to be really cheap, judging from the prices at which they can be put out on the market.

Mirrorless appeals to companies like Sony, Panasonic etc. because they have a strong video background and they want to push the market towards convergence of still and video cameras because it is their area of strength. Mirrorless is kind of a video camera, just a bit slower frame rate but higher resolution.

Integrated circuit manufacture can be really expensive and it only becomes inexpensive per unit when the volumes are approaching billions such as in cell phones. Cameras are orders of magnitude smaller volume business and thus the cost of development of the ICs per unit can be high.

I would be happy to be proven wrong by data on the actual costs if anyone can present them. Please don't use something manufactured in a hundred million copies as evidence of the alleged inexpensiveness of something that is only manufactured in a hundred thousand copies.

In my opinion the optical viewfinder is a preferred solution to stills photography especially of moving subjects as long as the idea is to make individual frames instead of essentially a video feed. I sincerely do not believe that the prism and some motors etc. are more expensive to make than those stacked sensors and EVFs.

 

[Jacques Pochoy]

I would agree with Ilkka

Many photographer today "have" to deal with video (though it's a completely different media), for corporate or marriage and maybe even travel or events, mostly because of web access and presence for corporations' sites or blogs.

Others can still operate with still photography as "Art", wildlife, macro, fashion, even reportage, etc. because it's either printed in magazines or in photo books or again in galleries.

Mirrorless is an easy access to video (Z6) with the capacity of having great stills (Z7, Z6), for marriages and corporate, it's a light weight, multi purpose tool (even with the needed additions), but for wildlife, portraits, landscape and even street, the OVF is still for many an asset.

I don't think the SLR are dead or dying, as we do see the resurgence of film when many said it was dead and buried. Even youngsters who are already quite good with an iPhone try to learn film processing and buy (cheap) film cameras, not all of those jump to mirrorless and video !

The good news is that now we can have several tools and can choose the one we need (or can afford) 

[timh]

Joe McNally has done an interesting shoot with the Z7 - some great photos, and BTS photos and video.

https://blog.joemcnally.com/2018/09/04/shooting-aliens-with-the-nikon-z-7/

[pluton]

In my opinion the optical viewfinder is a preferred solution to stills photography especially of moving subjects as long as the idea is to make individual frames instead of essentially a video feed. I sincerely do not believe that the prism and some motors etc. are more expensive to make than those stacked sensors and EVFs.

I prefer [good] optical finders also, and I don't have a cost breakdown on the design/construction of, say, a D750 vs. a Z6.  But, the elimination of human employees almost always saves money., doesn't it?

[Ilkka Nissilä]

  But, the elimination of human employees almost always saves money., doesn't it?

I don't believe that.

I read that Mercedes moved from robot building of cards to largely human assembly (robots help with specific tasks such as welding) because it was easier to get humans to work around the many configuration options available in their cars than program the robots to deal with it.

Building things with machines may work well for large series, but if you have a rich variety of products then humans may be a good option.

Making ICs can take weeks or months with the many steps needed. Expensive machinery taking weeks or months to make components leads to real costs that have to be passed onto the consumer.

[CS]

Joe McNally has done an interesting shoot with the Z7 - some great photos, and BTS photos and video.

https://blog.joemcnally.com/2018/09/04/shooting-aliens-with-the-nikon-z-7/

Good catch, Tim!

[chambeshi]

Summary in DCW - N-Photo magazine

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/features/99-things-you-need-to-know-about-nikons-full-frame-mirrorless-camera-system?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=25566&utm_term=12242905&utm_content=423818

Also see this synopsis of 4 video reviews (in German) by Swiss photographer Stephan Wiesner. Honest in his disclaimers etc

http://taipeigeek.blogspot.com/2018/09/excellent-nikon-z7-reviews-by-stephan-wiesner-in-german.html

[Pistnbroke]

 
Just been to a one on one hands on review

Nikon Rep said 20,000 had been sold and that the stock was not yet packed having firmware updates before shipping ..??


The Good.

The black out is minimal in fact confirms in silent that you took a picture
The mechanical shutter is almost silent ..nothing to worry about more like a leaf shutter .
The viewfinder is good and bright ..excellent
General handling was great .
Battery life 1000+ on stills 4 hrs on video 4k
Grip was excellent and the function buttons came easy to the finger tips.
On off switch for the LCD was good


The Bad.

It £4000 so for me and the wife one each too expensive.
One card slot ..no good for weddings.
rubber covers over the connectors horrible...one piece
WOULD NOT WORK WITH TAMRON 150-400 (OR ANY G2)
WOULD NOT WORK WITH THE SAMYANG 14MM MANUAL FOCUS
Did not like rear thumbwheel..too difficult to tape up.
A little slow to come on when switched on.

So better than expected.

[MILLIREHM]

Thanks for the links

Summary in DCW - N-Photo magazine

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/features/99-things-you-need-to-know-about-nikons-full-frame-mirrorless-camera-system?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=25566&utm_term=12242905&utm_content=423818

Interesting and surprising for me was Nikons statements that the Z-mount offers advantages in Super-tele design. I am wondering what that might be. Z lenses roadmap is not reflecting tele sector at all, and the F line is filled with superb Supertele optics of all kind with some more to come.