The first detail you notice when you press the Nikon Z9’s shutter button is the shutter noise: it is not a mechanical sound, but an audio file, and is not accompanied by any tactile sensation. The reason is simple: the shutter, that is the component that lets the light reach the sensor when the shot is taken, is not there.
On Nikon’s professional mirrorless, the image is taken only electronically. The shot would be completely silent, were it not for that digital surrogate (which it can be deactivated, and with a future firmware update maybe even customize). The ability to use the electronic shutter alone isn’t new to a mirrorless camera, but the Z9 is the first professional camera of this level (the camera body starts at 6099 euros) on which the mechanical shutter has been eliminated entirely.
It may seem like a small difference, but in reality it is a revolution in professional photography: with a Z9, what happens at the moment of shooting. it is not the instantaneous recording of the luminous information that we let arrive to the sensor, but rather a sort of still image in real time of what the sensor sees all the time. And above all of what our eye also sees in the Real-Live viewfinder, which Nikon intends to beat even the much acclaimed analog viewfinder of pentaprism cameras for performance.
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Some ideas from smartphones
Although on one level and with a very different yield, it is the same operation of the latest generation smartphones. The cameras of our portable devices constantly record a series of consecutive moments, and then save in the roll only a portion of a few seconds before and after pressing the shutter button. This is the functioning that enables the iPhone Live Photos. The Nikon Z9 does something similar (without anticipating the shot, however), but with a resolution, precision, detail and level of focus that no smartphone can ever aspire to.
Sensor and processor
The Z9’s Stacked CMOS sensor is all new and homemade by Nikon. It has an effective 45.7 Mp resolution with lightning-fast read speeds, 12 times faster than the model immediately below, namely the Z7 II. The resolution of the sensor, for a camera designed for sports, wildlife or agency photographers, is very high. But there is a but: Nikon has introduced a new high-efficiency Raw format, which retains the benefits of shooting in the native format, but at the same time makes them lighter and faster to transfer in real time.
The other key component is the Expeed 7 processor, which it offers speeds 10 times faster than the Z7 II and processes the Real-Live viewfinder data at the same time. The power of the chip also enables advanced autofocus modes, of which we will speak shortly, videos up to 8K or 4K 120 Fps, and a plethora of other functions that we would not have space or way to list in detail here.
Flurry of performance
In shooting practice, the sensor and the processor enable an operation and a speed that is nothing short of surprising. The burst modes of the Z9 are the dream of every sports photographer: it starts from 20 frames per second in Raw + Jpeg mode to go to 30 Fps in Jpeg at full resolution and finally arrive at 120 frames per second at 11 Mp resolution reduced (but without clipping) and always only in Jpeg.
I am remarkable performance, especially when you consider that we are not talking about the frame rates of a video, you think of a series of unique and separate shots.
This means that for each image the machine is capable of keep track of subjects, update in real time the focus and all other shooting characteristics, and show everything in the viewfinder, pushed for the occasion to a refresh rate of 120Hz, in order to show every single frame.
How the new Nikon Z9 takes pictures
We briefly tested the new professional camera from the Japanese manufacturer: here are some shots we took
Z9, our test
The tracking options while shooting are another strong point of the Z9. Firstly, because the 3D Tracking option typical of Nikon SLRs returns to the machine, then because the machine is able to recognize faces, eyes, human subjects in full, animals (including birds, dogs, cats and other quadrupeds), cars, motorcycles and bicycles. In all, the types of subjects recognized are 9, with the possibility of leaving the recognition and automatic selection active. Again, Nikon has exploited the evolution of computational photography and especially of algoritmi di machine learning to optimize a key feature for wildlife and sports photographers.
To identify with the experience of this last category of professional photographers, ours short test of the Z9 took place in a sports center at the gates of Turin. Here we were able to test it first with a group of acrobatic dancers, then with a team of triathletes and finally with two young tennis players. The first impressions were more than positive. In particular, we were struck by the precision of the focus during bursts at 20 and 30 Fps: the machine is able to lock the subject in an instant and keep it in focus with impeccable precision. Tracking works just as well, but still needs some refinement in our opinion. Once you get the hang of it it works great, but sometimes the machine is so fast that it is difficult to immediately guess which subject it is about to trace.
120 frames per second
If great bursts at 20 or 30 Fps aren’t such a huge leap over the top speeds of other mirrorless cameras, the 120 shot needs a bit more. completely different approach to the photographic procedure. When you press the button in this mode, the camera records an enormous amount of photos, more than you can tell by eye in the viewfinder. This does not create space problems on the high-speed CF Express card, but forces a completely different subsequent processing mode. Shooting some ten of these bursts in a tennis match, like we did, you can easily get to thousands of saved shots.
If the shot is good, almost all the shots will be usable, with the subject always in focus: the problem thus shifts from being able to capture the right moment, to finding it later among the countless photos recorded in memory. Nothing so difficult, but the risk of weighing down the selection and post-production phase is real. Because of this on the Z9 we lacked a quick burst selection mode ultra-fast, with the ability to quickly choose the shots to save, immediately deleting (or marking as To be deleted) all the other shots in the sequence. It is not certain that a feature of this kind cannot already arrive with the next firmware updates. The first, very full-bodied, is expected in February 2022.
Net of this consideration, it is surprising what with a little practice you can achieve with the burst at 120 Fps. In tennis, for example, the car is fast enough to be able to immortalize the moment when the ball compresses on the racquet strings. It is a shot that seems very difficult to take, yet with the Z9 even we who do not have the makings of sports photographers managed to get it after a few attempts.
A new way of photographing
At this point one wonders if the operation of a machine like the Z9, its extreme speed, and the fact that making a mistake is now more difficult than getting it right, cannot compromise the very concept of photography professional.
In our opinion, the answer is no. A mirrorless camera like this surely breaks down the concept of photography as an art that makes technical virtuosity its barrier to entry. It is a conception of photography that we have never shared here. If anything, the opposite is true: with a camera of this type the true professional photographer, that is, the one who knows tell with the eyes of his goal, will be able to concentrate much more on the shots, on the expressions of a subject, on its movement. All the technical automatisms will be even easier to entrust without too many hesitations to the muscle memory of the hand.
After all, photography is not so much the act of taking the shot, but everything that precedes it (the preparation and intuition) and that follows from it, that is, the selection of the shots. Machines like the Z9 or the competitor Canon Eos R3, now allow you to make shots that are too perfect, it is true. But far from being a problem, this new level reached by professional mirrorless machines brings the emphasis on post-production and selection. Those moments, that is, that the professional recognizes as fundamental to any self-respecting photographic practice.
For those who are a photographer on the field, chasing a racing car with the lens or a swooping bird, the Nikon Z9 is therefore an extraordinary device, standard-bearer (together with the aforementioned Eos R3) of a new generation of machines that over the next few years will rewrite the concept of professional photography. 2021, the year of consecration of mirrorless even in the Olympus of professionals, could not have ended better than this. And if Nikon had remained a few steps behind its historical competitors in the mirrorless field, now the Japanese manufacturer is back as a protagonist in the professional field. Although the excellent success of the Z6 II and Z7 IIin fact, a professional camera was still missing to completely replace the flagship SLR D6. The Z9 beautifully fills the gap, and it does so with a series of bold choices that will delight professionals loyal to the Nikon brand.
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Nikon Z9, the main features
- Sensore: Cmos stacked full frame da 45,7 Megapixel
- Processor: Expeed 7
- Viewfinder: Electronic Real-Live from 3.69 million points, OLED, refresh up to 120Hz
- Autofocus: A contrast / phase detection hybrid; 493 points Af
- Tracking: 9 subject tracking modes; 3D Tracking
- Gusts: single shot; 3, 10, 20 Fps in Raw; 30 Fps in Jpeg; 120 Fps in Jpeg at 11 Mp (without crop)
- Modalità video: 8K 30p; 4K 120p; Full Hf 120p
- Memory slot: 2 x Cf Express
- Design and dimensions: Integrated battery grip, alternative vertical or horizontal grip with optimized key position and double shutter button.
- Measurement exposure: da -3 a +17 Ev
- ISO sensitivity: ISO 64 to 25,600
- Exposure times: from 30s to 1 / 32.000s; up to 900s in manual B exposure
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