Z9 is coming

Pistnbroke

When someone gets a product or manual is available I would be interested to know what they did with the memory banks...lockable U1 U2 style or old type.

photobunny

If I get mine in November as expected I’ll be happy to do so. Though I expect the manual will come first.

mhedges

There is no mode dial so I gotta think it will be the settings banks not the U1 U2 etc. user modes.

I've only used the User Modes and overall am pretty happy with how they work. Haven't heard too much good about the Settings Banks but there are a few folks who seem to like them.

Pistnbroke

If you could have locked the settings bank ( in menu) it would have made them equivalent to the U1 U2 system

DenverShooter

Mikes Camera in Boulder, Colorado and Nikon did a Z9 event in Denver last night with Nikon Ambassador Corey Rich.

Mike's Camera organized a great event that ran flawlessly. They gave away some gift certificates to the attendees and there was a special if you ordered a Z9 at the event where you got a CF Express card for free.

Based upon the information in Corey's presentation and the information from the Nikon Folks, it looks like the Z9 has addressed many of the serious problems with the Z7/6 including EVF lag and blackout during shooting and perhaps battery life with the EL-18D version battery that is uses.

On the battery front the bad news is the Z9 supplied charger is single bay... But its cheap (relatively speaking) so you can buy another one and a spare battery and it won't break the bank (you can't go out in the field with only the battery in the camera).

Additionally startup time is 4 times faster than Z7/6 and it has illuminated buttons on the back like the D6. The Z9 frame looks substantial (D6 class).

The autofocus demo was very, very good and there is a sensor cover that is deployed when the camera is turned off to hopefully help with dirt collection on the sensor during lens changes.

There are still some issues that will have to wait until delivery to see if they have been fully sorted out as the Beta versions they had at the event do not have final firmware in them.

Corey Rich, Mike's Camera and Nikon did a really nice job last night.

Denver Shooter

mhedges

FYI on Z9's battery life, from DPR:

"One of our editors crested 5000 images over the course of a couple of hours of shooting and the camera still showed the battery at half capacity."

PB_PM

I wouldn’t read too much into that, you do tend to get much better battery life when shooting bursts a lot over short periods of time. Good news for sports/birders though.

WestEndFoto

Regardless, I think that we can all say with reasonable certainty that battery life is a non-issue.

PB_PM

Absolutely, it’s a big step.

bcmmike

The wife works at a local camera store. Their Nikon rep will be there today with a Z9. Hope to make time to go check it out.

DenverShooter

I would say that the Jury is still out on battery life until full production firmware is released... Just because some reviewer with a pre-production prototype running beta firmware got reasonable battery life doesn't mean that the battery issue has been fully vetted..

WestEndFoto

DenverShooter said:

I would say that the Jury is still out on battery life until full production firmware is released... Just because some reviewer with a pre-production prototype running beta firmware got reasonable battery life doesn't mean that the battery issue has been fully vetted..

Yes. But I am not saying it is a non-issue because we have not vetted a specific spec. I am saying it is a non-issue because if someone actually runs up against it, they have taken alot of pictures and there are simple workarounds.

Pistnbroke

400,000 pre orders at 35000 a months thats going to take them 12 months to satisfy...No doubt there are some multiple orders but its good going.

donaldejose

I suppose we will be seeing some selling on e-bay for $6,500 or $7,000, which isn't too unreasonable when you think about it. Many people expected that price range in the first place and were ready to pay it.

trolley

Pistnbroke said:

400,000 pre orders at 35000 a months thats going to take them 12 months to satisfy...No doubt there are some multiple orders but its good going.

Or 40,000 pre-orders at 3,500a month. Because if it's 3500 a month & 400,000 pre-orders, no-one's getting one outside the pros

mhedges

I bet at first folks will be asking even more. Think 8-10k. Wether they get it is a different story.

Pistnbroke

yes just checked the 35000 was a typo lets hope the 400 000 was not

Photobug

Pistnbroke said:

400,000 pre orders at 35000 a months thats going to take them 12 months to satisfy...No doubt there are some multiple orders but its good going.

The corrected number is 3,500/month. So if there are 400,000 preorders, that will take 114 months or 9.52 years to meet demand. If this is true, the Z9 will soon start selling for a premium which is too bad. Scalpers and flippers are going to kill that price.

PB_PM

What's more likely is that over half of those are from people who pre-ordered from more than one store.

WestEndFoto

PB_PM said:

What's more likely is that over half of those are from people who pre-ordered from more than one store.

If preorders are "only" 100k, that is still really something.

Photobug

WestEndFoto said:

PB_PM said:

What's more likely is that over half of those are from people who pre-ordered from more than one store.

If preorders are "only" 100k, that is still really something.

Amen!

bcmmike

Photobug said:

Pistnbroke said:

400,000 pre orders at 35000 a months thats going to take them 12 months to satisfy...No doubt there are some multiple orders but its good going.

The corrected number is 3,500/month. So if there are 400,000 preorders, that will take 114 months or 9.52 years to meet demand. If this is true, the Z9 will soon start selling for a premium which is too bad. Scalpers and flippers are going to kill that price.

Looking at " the glass half full ", a 114 month lead time would at least give me time to save for it.

PB_PM

WestEndFoto said:

PB_PM said:

What's more likely is that over half of those are from people who pre-ordered from more than one store.

If preorders are "only" 100k, that is still really something.

Of course, it is excellent! The shareholders must be drooling, particularly if that also means there are a lot of pros moving from DSLRs. That could also mean a big boost in lens sales as well.

dpidude

Got to hold Z9 today. Walked in on a manufactures demonstration, all the manufacturers where there. The Nikon table had a z9! It reminded me of my old D3s, shape size and weight.

MrFotoFool

As others have said, some of the inflated pre-order numbers are people who place multiple orders with different outlets. They will take the one they get first and cancel the rest. I really dislike this and wish all outlets would require pre-payment before they accept an order. I emailed my local Nikon dealer, a very (very) small independent store, and he had no idea when he could get one but he said best guess is 3-4 months. (However he also got me a 500PF in three weeks back when everyone was taking several months to get theirs).

He and his Nikon rep also think they may announce a Z8 (Z equivalent of D850) in January. I am skeptical since I don't think they would want to cut into the Z9 sales and hype that soon, but who knows? Certainly a Z8 would be for me and a lot of other people (just as my two D850's are the perfect DSLR).