Emanuel

So much for me not watching reviews, but I am glad I found this which just seems a bit slower and more grounded.
While there is a lot of similar ground covered from earlier reviews, things that stand out to me in this one are
lots of great imagery and skin tone in a variety of lighting perhaps a slight over correction toward magenta? but no more of the greens that I am always pulling out of my S1 footage dynamic range gains are weighted toward the shadows and highlights need to be better protected when they are prioritized and fantastic color and noise stability when lifting shadows relative to prior S cameras (like shocking to me) don't use DRE with 8K for a sit-down interview.  

Deep Joy
 

🤯
So some early doors impressions of the Nikon...
It's been out a while so I won't get into the specs again.
The overwhelming impression is that Nikon are mad bastards.
It's as if they have taken the Z9 and gone... right let's make this better and reduce price by a lot.
Everything about it I prefer to the Z9. The price, the size, the newer features and firmware updates since launch which I am discovering for first time since I sold my Z9 a couple of years back.
Size wise, it's barely larger than my EOS R5. Weight is impressive given the slightly oversized body vs the Sony cameras.
It feels chonky but light at same time which is a nice feeling.
I am reminded how well the Nikon Z mount filter stack works at fast apertures.
The manual glass I have like the Voigtlander 40mm F1.2 VM is like a different lens on the Z8 compared to the EOS R5 and Sony a7 IV.
The glowing edges are gone at F1.2 and less fringing too.
F1.2 looks almost as good as F2!
I have gone deep into the menus and decided that there's absolutely nothing missing. The different levels of compression for both RAW stills AND RAW video is refreshing especially coming from Panasonic where's there's only ProRes RAW with very large file sizes or uncompressed Cinema DNG on the Sigma Fp-L. Nikon with the RED patent clearly will lead the RAW video codec race for perhaps the next 10 years or more.
I want to do a comparison in 4K (where you can toggle between pixel binning / oversampling!) between the higher bitrate N-RAW and 700Mbit/s smaller file size N-RAW. Of course ProRes RAW is also in there.
No mechanical shutter doesn't seem to be a problem so far and you can make it do a cute beep when taking a shot instead of a tacky fake shutter sound.
Rather a quiet or optionally silent stills camera than one with a loud average shutter clack... although I will one day miss the 'feel' of a quiet mechanical shutter with a satisfying heft. X-H1, Leica SL2, GFX 100, to name a few.
There are still a few mechanical sounds coming from the Z8. And one of them is actually quite annoying... It parks / locks the IBIS mechanism to save power / protect the camera every time you enter the main menu. It parks it with quite a loud clank and unlocks with a similar clank when it activates again. Wish there was a way to turn that off without disabling VR. The only other mechanical part is the sensor protection curtain which comes down at power-off, but you can choose whether to have that off or not.
The EVF is enormous. In optical terms the best I've ever used. In resolution terms, perhaps not the absolute most detailed but right up there. Can you use it for manual focus at F1.2 without peaking? Absolutely. There's not this feeling you are looking through a tunnel. It's smooth, high contrast, a big FOV flat with no distortion.
The rolling shutter appears to be a complete non-issue and there's no crop whatsoever in 4K/120p. Not tried the 8K/60 yet. I have a few 512GB CFexpress cards to test. Got a feeling I might need to go bigger.
I am glad I resisted the tempting Nikon Zf.
Only thing I am unsure about is whether the Z8 shares the same level of locked-down IBIS performance in video mode as the Zf, as that was quite incredible.
Also tested the Nikon 28-200mm travel zoom which has been reduced recently to around 650 euros.
I am surprised how small it is and how light. Sure, it's slow at f4-6.3 but it seems pretty sharp and nifty as a shot getter.
The 28-75mm F2.8 Nikon Z is also incredibly small and light for a bright zoom.
Not tried the Sigma ART E-mount range yet via the Megadap adapter but those are next up.

LOL : ) OK, let's for one picture now...

 
But I still recommend to eveyone of us to not defocus of that hinted by that guy above in that reminder there... No tools, no AI either (in a so difficult situation this business is) can overcome our own path to form the need other than our own asset: 
Our ability to create the market. 
 
With content.
 
Don't let the audiences (or the channels, as aforementioned TikToks, YTs, etc.) push on our behalf, instead.*
There's world outside social media. 
And the written form in these boards are the fine example of it. 
As many sensibilities and levels (layers, needs...) as colouful as human kind is. 
IIRC I recall to have read here in this same thread a couple of pages back and about a certain network, something like there's reality outside the current 2025 news trend (or narrative as it was written), that is, you didn't use exactly all those words in specific or that was the topic (more of it) but your readers are able to infer that from : )
I see it as really meaningful.
 
OK, that guy didn't quote Ortega Y Gasset ; ) but I will now then and as he once said, we are our circumstances, for sure, but they should never overthrow us unless we let them play such part.
 
This operates in lato sensu and in stricto sensu in many aspects of human life.
In short, because context can be a bitch = ) we love all these tools (or a good part to each camera release... = D) but as we know, it's not there the main concern of our craft.
 
Hope this helps as reflection of my own indeed,
- EAG :- )
 
* In some other equation-form: 
sender (encoding) -> receiver (decoding)
vs 
sender <- receiver 
(trading places, that is, along the process of encoding/decoding completely upside down...)
≠ 
sender <-> receiver
(for some reason we've had Marvel... and a few partisans have respond with Anora as for instance... but do not blame me to go off topic here! xD)

Sigma indeed.

What do you mean with best adapters? That you can mount the most lenses to it?
The thing about L-mount I like is that how great the autofocus behaves with adapted EF lenses, much better then any e-mount camera I have used though.

Who is him as member here on EOSHD or just a lurker? I am curious... 
That BF/Leica thingy remark is also my point (a 'little bit" more price-conscious...) but not exactly as glass-half-full... ; )
On L mount, Andrew has an unbeatable argument for now at least. No idea what comes next in the future but without that (just launched a few days ago and don't tell me it's S35 and praise at same time the presence of the format on FF devices later on, please ; ) won't be easy... 
The reference to video on GH series to make the format to last and lasts so far, a hint about my recent criticism when motion picture recording modes are neglected... 
The trouble with GH7 is... price (I think people should read more @eatstoomuchjam on FF ; ) 
I concur about that AF observation, that's actually the missing link Panasonic was looking for IMHO too. 
Thumbs up to his complaints on the customary limitations (of the usual yadda yadda on overheating boring like hell to each release) and to the coda of this YT entry, no less : )
BTW tographer is a funny name for hybrid user or just shooter...

Ah I was referring another input, thanks anyway for your care : ) Much appreciated your care and link : )
 

Even MFT lenses can find a home on the Z mount.
Yes it will only be for manual but that encompasses a lot of very fine and affordable lenses (particularly cine) that can be used and the vast majority of those will cover APS-C.

https://pixco.com.cn/products/micro-4-3-nikon-z-adapter

@PannySVHS@ita149 This guy has some footage to download in a range of codecs if you want to work with it a bit. I have and while there is not much, I am at least seeing there is no longer the need to pull greens out of the midtones, which is a standard proceedure for me with my S1 VLog footage.
Curious what you see & think regarding the color smearing in skin tones. (Also appreciate that this might not be the best footage to evaluate that concern.)
Edit: youtube video linked now! (sorry sorry)

The fact that we're comparing Nikon, which until four years ago was called "potato" in videographers community, with Panasonic, which was making pro video cameras when my mother was a young girl, and score points are about "anamorphic modes", is crazy if you think about that.
Anyway, feature leapfrogging is a never ending game. You get a capability in brand X that is missing in brand Y, but you get something unique in brand Y that is still missing in X. After two years, both will have them eventually with some differences in implementation. Decisions, in my opinion, should be based on "system advantages", not feature set. I love to have eye control AF in Canon cameras, but RF system is the most restrictive, while the native lens choices is like super cheap/super exotic. But some people would say they have 50% of the market share so there should be good reasons half of people bet on this system, and its ok. I don't think thats a good logic for choosing a system, but at least its an evaluation about the system, not the features. 

Who is him as member here? I am curious...

Interesting thoughts on @Andrew Reid's post.
 

Nice piece this.
I'll give him a sub.

There are some significant negatives on the Z8 versus the S1rii:
No Open Gate No IN-CAMERA Live View Composite No IN-CAMERA Pixel Shift No Waveforms No False Color No IN-CAMERA 32-bit audio possibilities No anamorphic modes No anamorphic-specific IBIS Not great IBIS at wide angles No breathing compensation for Z-mount lenses The Z8 is about 100g heavier Maybe, they'll add some of these in a firmware update, but then again I'm rather certain Panasonic will also add stuff. These negatives were just off the top of my head, but I imagine there are more.
The crazy thing is that the specs today are so good that it doesn't really matter all that much. All of the cameras will do; some just have a few more features than others.
What sucks about reviews in general is that you watch them and you cannot help thinking that they are significantly impacted by how the company treated them in the past or present. Apparently, retribution is a real thing in the camera review business.

All of my reverse engineering efforts are currently focused on decrypting my wife's acceptance algorithm so that I can devise a way to get one of these cameras without being ejected from the house.
My current working theory is to use the "Yes, I might be a completely reckless buyer of cameras but at least I'm not as bad as@Andrew Reid" gambit.
I will combine that with the old stalwart of "Hey, you know how much you love going to Japan ? What if I told you there was a way where we could do something that would almost make the trip free ?".
This latter one relies on me floating the idea of buying a GFX100, the savings on which would cover a substantial portion of the trip, but then not actually buying one when we get there.
Which earns brownie points for saving money of course *
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
*NB She knows, of course, but humours me

I bet @BTM_Pix has a gadget which can...

Not even AI can do that 🙂

Part of the fun of this place is deciphering Emanuel's posts 😉

https://petapixel.com/2025/03/02/xiaomi-wants-to-make-modular-magnetic-lenses-for-its-phones/

There is a curious thing: it is a 4/3 sensor with 100mp - but binned in 4x4 pixel, which results in 25mp images.

Same resolution of the sensor that (only) Panasonic is using. Is it the same sensor?

Shoten has its own. This Japanese guy tested it on Zf. From 3:30
https://youtu.be/xuCYrLGN0Rk

Just came across this while searching for a C-mount adapter for the Nikon Z8.
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/BORYOZA-FX-Z-AF-Adapter-Fujifilm/dp/B0CPBRTMTX/
Crazy if that works as well as the Sony E-mount adapter from Megadap / Techart, with full AF and electronic control.

No idea when if in 2025 yet but you, me and a few of us risk to not resist to one when will reach the 2500 mark... ;- )

No idea when if in 2025 yet but you, me and a few of us risk to not resist to one when will reach the 2500 mark... ;- )