Emanuel

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... ;- )

No the L-mount alliance agreement goes like this.
L squared... Sigma undercuts Leica with sexy aluminum unibody full frame cameras for under $2k.
Panasonic charges Leica money for zoom lenses and supplies old sensors to Leica for their 2025 cameras.
Leica get to die.
Sounds like an alliance to make NATO look dodgy!

This is an important point, and has been widely discussed in other forums. The Z8 works well in terms of temperature management as long as you choose one of the coolest running CFexpress cards. Card temperatures have been tested a few years ago in https://www.thessdreview.com/our-reviews/cfexpress/delkin-black-cf-express-type-b-512gb-memory-card-review/4/ though not specifically in this camera.
I have the 325 GB Prograde Digital Cobalt card and it's excellent (it was originally preferred by Nikon when the Z9 came out, as their developers found it to perform the best in the Z9), but Delkin Blacks (which are a newer card series) are very popular among the intense-shooting crowd and can be cheaper than the Prograde Digital Cobalt. If you need larger capacity than is available in Delkin Black, then Delkin Power can be considered. Note that the series have been updated by Delkin and the newest cards may be different, but I haven't heard anything negative about the new series.
The Z9 has a larger body and better temperature management than the Z8 but the Z8 also does fine as long as one chooses the right CFexpress card for the extended video recording.

There is a 700Mbit/s mode in NRAW at 4K 24p which could be good half-way house between too much compression and the huge file sizes of the 8K NRAW and Prores modes.
This is among the smallest file size for RAW shooting on any camera, alongside C-RAW Lite 6K on the EOS R3.
I have seen this test which shows the compression in the red channel with H.265.
What's a bit frustrating is the lack of info about what bitrate was selected and so on...
I assume it was graded from LOG.
According to Slashcam the H.265 bitrates in MP4 are tiny.
https://www.slashcam.de/artikel/Test/Nikon-Z8-in-der-Praxis--Die-bessere-Z9-fuer-Video--8K-RAW-50p-Bolide-mit-Feinschliffbedarf--alles-.html#
Will certainly see some compression in MP4.
But what about the H.265 MOV mode?

I think I have answered it myself...
The compression in H.265 is the result of bad tests.
They are using the MP4 mode which has extremely low bitrates.
In MOV we have 8K H.265 10bit 422 at 400Mbit, similar to the Sony a1's 500Mbit 8K mode post firmware update. This I have experience of and it was a match for N-RAW as far as the lack of compression, great shadow detail and a fine noise texture goes.
There's also a Prores 422 HQ 700Mbit/s mode in 4K/24p, so a reasonable step up from 400Mbit.
Remember however that H.265 long GOP at 400Mbit is equiv. to H.264 at 800Mbit so if you see a ton of macro blocking in that I'll be surprised!
The ProRes codec has the advantage of being ALL-I though.
According to Newsshooter where you can see the full breakdown of bitrates, 4K in H265 MOV is 190Mbit, so equivalent to 380 H.264.
https://www.newsshooter.com/2023/05/10/nikon-z8-announced/
Aside from the wide range of bitrates...
I like the fact it has no crop in 4K/120p plus the option of DX and 2.3x crop.
The 2.3x crop is nice for Super 16mm lenses.
Plus the high-res Zoom option for pretty much any crop factor between 1 and 2.3

One last thought, it seems Nikon did agree with the Canon 70d that the right place for the stills/movie mode is under your right hand.

The S1H is a camera you could buy used today and it'll still hold up 5 years from now, similar to the S5. Both of those cameras have such a lovely, organic image. And as @MrSMWnoted, the auto focus isn't nearly as bad as people made it out to be once you learned how it works. 
It's a reminder of how fortunate we are that cameras released 6 years ago are still able to hold up to cameras released today. 

It's nearly time for a spring clean where 4 or 5 cameras turn into 1!
I have decided to divest in L-mount. The Sigma Fp-L is staying but I'm moving on from Panasonic and the L-mount lenses with no plans to get more. When the Sigma BF comes out I'll certainly consider swapping the Fp-L for it but want to see if it retains Cinema DNG raw video.
Nikon Z8 used prices are now under $3000/3000 euro.
So it's a cheaper option than the Panasonic S1R II, with a much more flagship design of body and very nice chonky EVF. Of course the autofocus is in a different league and the sensor is a lot faster.
I thought about returning to a Sony a1 and selling my a7 IV along with some Fuji stuff. But the a1 prices are still as high as 12 months ago and well above what I'll find a Z8 for.
Nikon Zf mount has the nifty Leica M autofocus adapter (latest version) from Techart, and the MegaDap Sony E mount adapter which serves all my autofocus needs without requiring a $15,000 investment in Nikon Zf lenses. Thank the lord.
Whereas with the S1R II and L-mount, options are very limited for adapters.
Sigma 35mm F2 ART for Sony E-mount on a Nikon Z8 is a tempting duo.
Build quality tip top and not too big.
Ergonomically fantastic.
8K RAW video and super fast.
One of the best range of H.265 codec options and some very good crop modes.
4K/120p full frame mode.
So I think it's time to get into Z mount in a big way and commit to it.
Would you go for the Z8, or something else for $3000?

Just keep in mind to get "cool" cfexpress cards. Z8 has no serious overheating issue, unless you put a card that consumes a lot of power. There is huge gap in efficiency between some of these cards that nobody talks about (one of the reasons a reviewer says I got 1 hour and another says only 20 minutes). Angelbird CFe v4 1TB is rated 3.75w, but v2 that is slower is rated 2.4w. v4 sustained write speed is 2100MB/s (insane in such a small package) and v2 is 1300MB/s, meaning you get 60% higher speed for 56% more power consumption, which I don't think a good tradeoff, considering 1300MB/s is already fast enough, and I dont think you take too much 8k60p shots at highest bitrate. 

HDMI has very little lag now. Major improvement finally. 

Yes. But that is running against the fundamental design principle of this camera - minimalism.
After all, anyone who wants/needs EVF, internal ND, IBIS etc etc isn't short of choice. That need is already met. This camera is very clearly intended as a niche product for a design-aware type of audience.
It is (far too)  expensive for the feature set. It is unique at the price.
Choose one.
(Personally, I'm totally fed up with myriads of too-small-to-use buttons and seemingly infinite layers of menus... so definitely the second option for me).

Christopher Frost spent some days with one and shows a somewhat detailed navigation through the interface.
 
 

I understand the cost saving/standardisation perspective but I think Panasonic are definitely taking the piss a bit now by re-using the S5ii body for all their products.

Nice long (2 hour!) review from Richard Wong.
I've been thinking about the standardisation of body designs at Panasonic.
Taking inspiration from Sony they seem to want to design a one-body fits all standardised ergonomics.
But the lack of the top panel LCD and the angular body of the S5 Mark II does nothing for me.
And I'm wondering when Panasonic will start adding a bit of flair and soul to their designs.
If they came up with the S5 Mark II body design as a way of creating a Sony a7 IV mould to then go and do a whole set of other cameras with only minor ergonomic changes, they have done a really bad job.
The S5 Mark II body is not flagship material.
Sony a7 IV is.
The Sony a1 has an almost identical design and ergonomics to the a7 IV, but still feels like a flagship.
It's been the same since the Sony a9 being based on the a7 III.
The Nikon Z8 is probably the nicest of the bunch I think? Not too small, not too big, top panel LCD, very nice viewfinder hump, feels premium.
So in general just the design... what do people think of the direction Panasonic have taken since the S5 Mark II to standardise their bodies? The G9 II of course shares the same basic layout and looks too.
Maybe they will break the mould a bit with the S1H Mark II if we ever see it? They could certainly use some imagination at this point.

He uploaded the originals which is good...
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1obqp8z2FJCVnLswPCDq4MYPdat6va-AQ?usp=sharing
S1H I thought didn't really have a moire issue in 5.9K.
So perhaps he has found a way to break it.

No. He was testing other modes too. Look at the bottom of the screen where it says the mode he's testing (29 seconds in) which was full-sensor readout mode, then he talks about the crop modes. That guy doesn't strike me as the "sensational YouTube guy." As of right now, he's got under 500 subs. Clearly, the S1rii does better at not producing moiré than the S1H (at those distances). I'm sure the S1rii will produce moiré at other distances, just not in this example.

Nice idea for a test but he's only testing the APS-C modes.
On a 24 megapixel sensor we are talking rather low resolutions in 1.5x crop mode - something between 12-15 megapixel.
So he is comparing 12 megapixel with no oversampling to 44 megapixel with oversampling.
What happens when he does the same in full frame.
S1H with AA filter at 6K full pixel readout, versus S1R II at 8K - the result would be much closer.
S1R II in full frame at 60fps is pixel binning, which is the worst thing possible as far as moire on fine textures is concerned.
So it would be nice to see him extend the test beyond APS-C mode, but then that would complicate the conclusion which isn't as attractive for YouTube videos.