Well done Darrell, another excellent vlog. You've established yourself as very watchable vlogger who puts out well presented and highly informative content. I ordered my Z8 with the 180-600 lens yesterday and will collect it on Thursday. I'm really exited to try out the auto-focus system, particularly the subject detection modes which I hope will improve BIF shots. Keep up the good work and we all look forward in seeing more content.
Excellent review, I’m gong to change from my existing D850 to a mirrorless, I was looking at the Z8, then the ZF was announced and now Nikon are rumoured to be releasing the new Z6iii !! Choices , choices
I want to replace my Z6ii for focusing, but I'll wait for the Z6iii to see what the specs are. Rumours are saying it will have the same focusing as the Z8 and you can use it as a vlog camera, downside it will not be 45mp. Thanks for the video 👍
@@lewcehjitl3282 is this a troll or did you hear that rumor somewhere? I don’t think there’s an ice cube’s chance in the Sahara that Sony’s entry level FF camera will have those specs/price. The Sony flagship A1 is 50mp stacked sensor and is $6500. Sony would then also have no FF full body camera under $3900. Only the A7cii but that has many shortcomings for those that prefer things like a proper viewfinder and 2 memory cards.
I use the 180-600 Z with my Z 8 and its perfect for African Wild Life >> much sharper images and Internal Zoom with a short throw and lighter than the 200-500
@@billantonacci4441 I just sold mine and went back to the 400 f4.5 with TC 1.4 when I need it. I live in Africa so the 400 for me is perfect. I sold the 180-600 as I find the IQ in low lights is not sharp, for me the f6.3 is to slow on the zoom, I have used the 600f6.3 and it is very good. If I had the funds I would buy the 400 f2.4 TC. But we all have different requirments.
Your Duck photos are Remarkable and the horse in the field of catty- nine - tails is quite beautiful and relaxing I own the Nikon z7ii and have issues with bird in flight focus lockon ‘Do you think the Z8 would do a better job ??? Tkcare David
Nice video. Two remarks. You mention the shortest exposure time as one three hundred and twenty thousandth and I guess that must be one thirty two thousandth (there's a factor 10 between them). When you try to explain the stacked sensor, that's really not what it is. In the case of "stacked" there are two chips: the sensor and an auxiliary chip. The "labour division" (who does what between them why how) between these two is a matter of design as well as evolution of "step size". The auxiliary chip is completely in the dark. Explanations follow. The sensor is a multilayered chip that has a regular grid of photocells at the side of the lens. Each cell is a light sensitive diode that, behind it, connects to a C-MOS circuit where a charge is built during exposure and this is completely analogue. Each cell with its circuit is a photosite. When you "take a photo" the electric charge of each cell is scanned and this analogue value (a "real" number in maths) must be converted into digital "integer" number. Old digital cameras would scan the electric charge one by one, line by line. That is very slow. They also would use the mechanical shutter to delimit the time of exposure. So we have a couple main tasks in taking a digital photo: (a) exposure and charge building, (b) scanning the charges, (c) converting the analogue values to digital values, (d) placing the digital values in the frame buffer. With the electronics (chip) industry being able to put 2 times more components on the same area every two years, chips become more powerful, potentially faster and more functions can be concentrated into one chip than in the past. That rate of innovation (increasing component density and decreasing component size) was predicted, promised, decades ago by Intel's executive John Moore and hence is known as "Moore's Law". Since a couple years, people have wondered if we are at the end of Moore's Law. In the chip printing industry, the base unit of production is a "step" and the current step size is 4 nanometer. If you calculate the maximum size of a photodiode in the sensor's surface, then this must be about 1,000 by 1,000 steps today. If a transistor is 1*1 then you could put a million on the back of one photodiode (except it cannot do anything because you need connectors and spaces between components.) While, say, a Hasselblad X1d, or older Nikon D700, has a discrete (separate from all else) analogue-to-digital (AD) conversion circuit that will do the AD conversion 1 by 1, suggesting that (b) still happens 1 by 1 too, other designs scan the photosite charges line by line or column by column. At some point, AD can potentially shift into the sensor in a way where each photosite has its own AD circuit directly coupled. When folk rap about "global shutter" then this pertains to a sensor where all photosites are exposed at the same time without any time parallax - it is stil possible that photosites are read line by line (or so). As chips have limited connector space (length) at the edges of the chip, we see chips, like today's CPUs, that have "vertical" connectors. Today's sensor chips have either pins at the back sticking out (like CPU chips) or receptacles and the auxiliary chip precisely connects to that with receptacles or pins. Potentially, part of the work done by the image processing chip (EXPEED - also the CPU of the camera) in the past has been shifted into the auxiliary processor and/or the sensor chip. Add Moore's Law effect to the two EXPEED 6 processors (MUST have dual I/O paths) and peripheral chips/sensor with the EXPEED 7 in the Z 8/9 being 10 times as powerful and there's more bandwidth for, say, clever AI - the firmware file of Z 8 is 2 times larger than that of a Z 7ii. As said, the labour division between all these chips - deciding on such division is called architecture in IT - is an architectural or design choice that can change over time when technology is innovated. Shifting time critical work forward (nearer photosites) reduces latency and facilitates higher speeds. In the last physics Nobel prize, people got awarded who worked on an ability to "see" things happening in the attosecond time domain (1/1,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 10^-18) - there are 31,250,000,000,000 (thirty one and a quarter trillion) attoseconds in the Z 8's shortest exposure time of 1/32,000 sec. One thing the auxiliary chip stacked to the sensor chip does not do is work with light. It's completely in the dark in a literal way. While the sensor is analogue, note that it also is colour blind. As the sensor "sees" the entire humanly visible spectrum of light, in old black & white (B&W) film terms we would call it "panchromatic" because it sees all spectral colours. Panchromatic B&W film was 3rd generation that followed the 2nd of "orthochromatic" B&W film (2 spectral colour bands) and this followed "monochromatic B&W film seeing only one spectral colour band. In that sense, calling a Leica "Monochrom" is a misnomer. Its sensor is panchromatic and the resulting images have zero colour as black, grey, and white are no colour.
Hi Darrell, Have enjoyed your 3 month review and concur with your summary. I moved up to the z8 last month, from a z5 which I've had for just over 2.5 yrs and am in the learning curve. I was primarily a landscape amateur but interested in wildlife, hence the move to the z8- the auto focus has been astounding and am also trying out video more. Your comments about the z100-400mm vs the 200-500mm were appreciated as I am considering the switch due to size/weight benefits- do you have a review?. I notice you had an L bracket that only fits half the base- what brand is it and do you recommend it over say the small rig one? Thanks.
Hey Paul, read your comment. I actually owned the 100-400mm and used it with my Z7ii. Great lens and image quality. I have since moved to the Z8 though, and agree with Darrell, it is such a great hybrid Nikon, and it makes me forget about my 850...which was tough to do..lol. I will say though, that for the money, you might be better off getting the 70-200 F/2.8 with a 2X teleconverter that would equal your focal length and a little bit more, of the 100-400, and have a better aperture (f/5.6), as opposed to the 6.3 max on the 400. I ended up returning my 100-400, and went with 70-200 and am very happy with that. But, it is a solid lens, and light weight. In the end, all about choice though. Just wanted to give my thoughts on it. Sure you will be happy either way :-)
Great video which reflects my views on the z8. Agree on the battery life but I think it's worth pointing out that you can power the z8 from an external power bank through the pd port, essential I would think if you were doing any lengthy video work. You can also use this method to recharge the en-el15c battery in camera when it is powered off. Like you I carry several spare batteries but this is a good work around if you find yourself running short of power. Apart from this issue I've found the z8 a real game changer in terms of auto focus and frame rate. Keep up the good work, great content
I have used my Z8 on several African safari's where often charging facilities are limited. You learn to work effectively. Make sure you only shoot when you close enough to get great shots, avoid 120 fps, apply all energy saving settings. I have managed to get as much as 1700 shots from a battery lasting 2 days. If you shoot video it is a diffrent story, just take enough batteries. I take 4 and seldome get to the 3rd.
Hello Darrell, this is a very informative video. However, I still ask myself a question. I have a Z6II which is very good for landscape but has big focus gaps for wildlife photography. I'm hesitating between a Z9 and a Z8. The Z8 is cheaper but I'm still waiting for the firmware update to be equivalent to the Z9. My main question is this: apart from birds, dogs and cats, does the Z8 recognize other animals correctly? I saw a squirrel and a horse in the video but there was no indication of eye refocusing. I mainly photograph “out of category” animals, badgers, deer, rabbits, etc. Are they recognized? Thank you in advance for your response. Continue to highlight our wildlife. I wish you an excellent year 2024.
Hello, I haven't been shooting for too long on the Z8 yet, but I will say that the animal detection is a marked improvement over "auto detection" mode. The main diff between the Z9 and Z8 in subject detection is that the Z9 has "Bird" detection, where as the Z8 is just "animal", but it does a really good job of tracking. I use it on my Golden Retriever and spots the eye each time. Just my take on it :-). Enjoy!
I use the D850 with 200-500 and 70-200 and 16-35. What’s the ideal combo for birds and wildlife with landscape..with Z8..z180-600 ..400f/2 …16-35… will there be an overlap of 180-600 with the 400 f/2
i really wish it had a flip out screen for filming yourself, external ssd support since large memory cards are expensive. also i find 1/1200 flash sync to be too low for such a pro camera
Nikon please, on the Z8 we would like for next firmware version 3.0, when we turn the top Control Panel display ON, to be a little brighter and with a little more contrast
Hi Darrel, very nice and informing vlog. I do have a question: do you have any idea who large the lossless compression, highless efficiency* and/or highless efficiency photos are which will be written to the CF express card? Please go on making more vlogs.👍👍
Lossless compressed files for both the Z9 and the Z8 are around 50 MB, high efficiency* -- around 30 MB, high efficiency -- around 20 MB. These are approximate values as the actual file sizes may differ depending on the amount of data recorded.
Hi Darrell An interesting video. We’ve been using mirrorless cameras for quite a few years and we think they’re great, though not as sophisticated as yours. Many Thanks Jon and Sandra
IMHO these are issues from the past. If this is really a matter for you, you should never by a new car. Z8 is a great camera and from technical point of view absolutely superior. But you should be aware - I call myself a fanboy since I have my own :-)
@ssatx57 0 seconds ago It's Z not Zed... it's a one letter word...Z...how hard is it to say Z...and not make up a whole new title out of thin air..to annoy the crap out of normal people and 300M Americans that can read and spell...Z....and say what they see which is ...Z. ..and it's NIKON not nickon.
I said 1/320000 th as a max shutter speed in the video and corrected it on screen to 1/32000th. I guess I should have re-recorded to save confusion.
Well done Darrell, another excellent vlog. You've established yourself as very watchable vlogger who puts out well presented and highly informative content.
I ordered my Z8 with the 180-600 lens yesterday and will collect it on Thursday. I'm really exited to try out the auto-focus system, particularly the subject detection modes which I hope will improve BIF shots.
Keep up the good work and we all look forward in seeing more content.
Thank you for your kind comments. I am jealous of the lens - it will be a while before I can get that.
Excellent review, I’m gong to change from my existing D850 to a mirrorless, I was looking at the Z8, then the ZF was announced and now Nikon are rumoured to be releasing the new Z6iii !! Choices , choices
I have not been disappointed with the Z8
Keep your D 850
Thanks for great review Darrell. You may have already covered it on another video but any advice on what memory cards to use?
Superb review. Very enjoyable and informative. Thank you Sir.
I want to replace my Z6ii for focusing, but I'll wait for the Z6iii to see what the specs are. Rumours are saying it will have the same focusing as the Z8 and you can use it as a vlog camera, downside it will not be 45mp. Thanks for the video 👍
The key is waiting . If you are in no rush then why not wait. I was really frustrated with the Z6ii.
@@DarrellOakdenPhotography Indeed, especially birds in flight.
Or just wait for the Sony A7V a 49mp stacked sensor for $3899 usd.
@@lewcehjitl3282 is this a troll or did you hear that rumor somewhere?
I don’t think there’s an ice cube’s chance in the Sahara that Sony’s entry level FF camera will have those specs/price. The Sony flagship A1 is 50mp stacked sensor and is $6500. Sony would then also have no FF full body camera under $3900. Only the A7cii but that has many shortcomings for those that prefer things like a proper viewfinder and 2 memory cards.
I use the 180-600 Z with my Z 8 and its perfect for African Wild Life >> much sharper images and Internal Zoom with a short throw and lighter than the 200-500
Hi. I was wondering what you thought of the lease is as far the weight. I have used it and I thought it was a bit heavy.
@@billantonacci4441 I just sold mine and went back to the 400 f4.5 with TC 1.4 when I need it. I live in Africa so the 400 for me is perfect. I sold the 180-600 as I find the IQ in low lights is not sharp, for me the f6.3 is to slow on the zoom, I have used the 600f6.3 and it is very good. If I had the funds I would buy the 400 f2.4 TC. But we all have different requirments.
Thank you, I am currently using a D850 and likely going to go mirrorless soon, this was very helpful.
I have just decided to trade in my D850. I much prefer the Z8.
Your Duck photos are Remarkable and the horse in the field of catty- nine - tails is quite beautiful and relaxing
I own the Nikon z7ii and have issues with bird in flight focus lockon
‘Do you think the Z8 would do a better job ???
Tkcare David
Great video Darrell. Thinking of getting this camera to go along with my OM1. Great overview. Well done!
I shoot events and I've got my setting to where I get around 1,300 shots per battery.
Would you mind sharing those settings? Seems like you have efficient shooting really dialed in. Cheers!
Nice video. Two remarks. You mention the shortest exposure time as one three hundred and twenty thousandth and I guess that must be one thirty two thousandth (there's a factor 10 between them).
When you try to explain the stacked sensor, that's really not what it is.
In the case of "stacked" there are two chips: the sensor and an auxiliary chip. The "labour division" (who does what between them why how) between these two is a matter of design as well as evolution of "step size". The auxiliary chip is completely in the dark. Explanations follow.
The sensor is a multilayered chip that has a regular grid of photocells at the side of the lens. Each cell is a light sensitive diode that, behind it, connects to a C-MOS circuit where a charge is built during exposure and this is completely analogue. Each cell with its circuit is a photosite. When you "take a photo" the electric charge of each cell is scanned and this analogue value (a "real" number in maths) must be converted into digital "integer" number.
Old digital cameras would scan the electric charge one by one, line by line. That is very slow. They also would use the mechanical shutter to delimit the time of exposure.
So we have a couple main tasks in taking a digital photo: (a) exposure and charge building, (b) scanning the charges, (c) converting the analogue values to digital values, (d) placing the digital values in the frame buffer.
With the electronics (chip) industry being able to put 2 times more components on the same area every two years, chips become more powerful, potentially faster and more functions can be concentrated into one chip than in the past.
That rate of innovation (increasing component density and decreasing component size) was predicted, promised, decades ago by Intel's executive John Moore and hence is known as "Moore's Law". Since a couple years, people have wondered if we are at the end of Moore's Law.
In the chip printing industry, the base unit of production is a "step" and the current step size is 4 nanometer. If you calculate the maximum size of a photodiode in the sensor's surface, then this must be about 1,000 by 1,000 steps today. If a transistor is 1*1 then you could put a million on the back of one photodiode (except it cannot do anything because you need connectors and spaces between components.)
While, say, a Hasselblad X1d, or older Nikon D700, has a discrete (separate from all else) analogue-to-digital (AD) conversion circuit that will do the AD conversion 1 by 1, suggesting that (b) still happens 1 by 1 too, other designs scan the photosite charges line by line or column by column. At some point, AD can potentially shift into the sensor in a way where each photosite has its own AD circuit directly coupled. When folk rap about "global shutter" then this pertains to a sensor where all photosites are exposed at the same time without any time parallax - it is stil possible that photosites are read line by line (or so).
As chips have limited connector space (length) at the edges of the chip, we see chips, like today's CPUs, that have "vertical" connectors. Today's sensor chips have either pins at the back sticking out (like CPU chips) or receptacles and the auxiliary chip precisely connects to that with receptacles or pins.
Potentially, part of the work done by the image processing chip (EXPEED - also the CPU of the camera) in the past has been shifted into the auxiliary processor and/or the sensor chip. Add Moore's Law effect to the two EXPEED 6 processors (MUST have dual I/O paths) and peripheral chips/sensor with the EXPEED 7 in the Z 8/9 being 10 times as powerful and there's more bandwidth for, say, clever AI - the firmware file of Z 8 is 2 times larger than that of a Z 7ii.
As said, the labour division between all these chips - deciding on such division is called architecture in IT - is an architectural or design choice that can change over time when technology is innovated.
Shifting time critical work forward (nearer photosites) reduces latency and facilitates higher speeds. In the last physics Nobel prize, people got awarded who worked on an ability to "see" things happening in the attosecond time domain (1/1,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 10^-18) - there are 31,250,000,000,000 (thirty one and a quarter trillion) attoseconds in the Z 8's shortest exposure time of 1/32,000 sec.
One thing the auxiliary chip stacked to the sensor chip does not do is work with light. It's completely in the dark in a literal way.
While the sensor is analogue, note that it also is colour blind. As the sensor "sees" the entire humanly visible spectrum of light, in old black & white (B&W) film terms we would call it "panchromatic" because it sees all spectral colours. Panchromatic B&W film was 3rd generation that followed the 2nd of "orthochromatic" B&W film (2 spectral colour bands) and this followed "monochromatic B&W film seeing only one spectral colour band. In that sense, calling a Leica "Monochrom" is a misnomer. Its sensor is panchromatic and the resulting images have zero colour as black, grey, and white are no colour.
This was very helpful & concise...thank you
Thanks
Hi Darrell, Have enjoyed your 3 month review and concur with your summary. I moved up to the z8 last month, from a z5 which I've had for just over 2.5 yrs and am in the learning curve. I was primarily a landscape amateur but interested in wildlife, hence the move to the z8- the auto focus has been astounding and am also trying out video more. Your comments about the z100-400mm vs the 200-500mm were appreciated as I am considering the switch due to size/weight benefits- do you have a review?. I notice you had an L bracket that only fits half the base- what brand is it and do you recommend it over say the small rig one? Thanks.
Hey Paul, read your comment. I actually owned the 100-400mm and used it with my Z7ii. Great lens and image quality. I have since moved to the Z8 though, and agree with Darrell, it is such a great hybrid Nikon, and it makes me forget about my 850...which was tough to do..lol. I will say though, that for the money, you might be better off getting the 70-200 F/2.8 with a 2X teleconverter that would equal your focal length and a little bit more, of the 100-400, and have a better aperture (f/5.6), as opposed to the 6.3 max on the 400. I ended up returning my 100-400, and went with 70-200 and am very happy with that. But, it is a solid lens, and light weight. In the end, all about choice though. Just wanted to give my thoughts on it. Sure you will be happy either way :-)
Hi Rob, thanks for the response and advice, will certainly check out the 70-200 option with the teleconverter. 👍@@robroyig-robroyphotography9225
My L bracket is a 3 legged thing. Don’t know how it compares to others.
Thanks Darrell @@DarrellOakdenPhotography
Great video which reflects my views on the z8. Agree on the battery life but I think it's worth pointing out that you can power the z8 from an external power bank through the pd port, essential I would think if you were doing any lengthy video work. You can also use this method to recharge the en-el15c battery in camera when it is powered off. Like you I carry several spare batteries but this is a good work around if you find yourself running short of power.
Apart from this issue I've found the z8 a real game changer in terms of auto focus and frame rate. Keep up the good work, great content
Thanks Ian. Glad you like the content and agree with my opinions. I really love the Z8 and won’t be going back to my D850.
I have used my Z8 on several African safari's where often charging facilities are limited. You learn to work effectively. Make sure you only shoot when you close enough to get great shots, avoid 120 fps, apply all energy saving settings. I have managed to get as much as 1700 shots from a battery lasting 2 days. If you shoot video it is a diffrent story, just take enough batteries. I take 4 and seldome get to the 3rd.
Great information, thank you. I do think some of your images are a tad over-sharpened?
That's an interesting observation, but I don't add any sharpening to my images.
Hello Darrell, this is a very informative video. However, I still ask myself a question. I have a Z6II which is very good for landscape but has big focus gaps for wildlife photography. I'm hesitating between a Z9 and a Z8. The Z8 is cheaper but I'm still waiting for the firmware update to be equivalent to the Z9.
My main question is this: apart from birds, dogs and cats, does the Z8 recognize other animals correctly? I saw a squirrel and a horse in the video but there was no indication of eye refocusing. I mainly photograph “out of category” animals, badgers, deer, rabbits, etc. Are they recognized?
Thank you in advance for your response. Continue to highlight our wildlife. I wish you an excellent year 2024.
It definitely finds a squirrel eye.
Thank you very much ! @@DarrellOakdenPhotography
Hello, I haven't been shooting for too long on the Z8 yet, but I will say that the animal detection is a marked improvement over "auto detection" mode. The main diff between the Z9 and Z8 in subject detection is that the Z9 has "Bird" detection, where as the Z8 is just "animal", but it does a really good job of tracking. I use it on my Golden Retriever and spots the eye each time. Just my take on it :-). Enjoy!
I use the D850 with 200-500 and 70-200 and 16-35. What’s the ideal combo for birds and wildlife with landscape..with Z8..z180-600 ..400f/2 …16-35… will there be an overlap of 180-600 with the 400 f/2
i really wish it had a flip out screen for filming yourself, external ssd support since large memory cards are expensive.
also i find 1/1200 flash sync to be too low for such a pro camera
I agree about the screen. Just got a Z30 as my vlogging camera and can now use my z and f lenses.
Nikon please, on the Z8 we would like for next firmware version 3.0, when we turn the top Control Panel display ON, to be a little brighter and with a little more contrast
I kept my d850s nikon grips all nikon pro glass from 14 -600 not parting with them for disposable junk mk 1 2 3 4 or 5 .
Hi Darrel, very nice and informing vlog. I do have a question: do you have any idea who large the lossless compression, highless efficiency* and/or highless efficiency photos are which will be written to the CF express card? Please go on making more vlogs.👍👍
Sorry I don’t know. I would have to ask Google.
Lossless compressed files for both the Z9 and the Z8 are around 50 MB, high efficiency* -- around 30 MB, high efficiency -- around 20 MB. These are approximate values as the actual file sizes may differ depending on the amount of data recorded.
Hello, can you tell us the L-Bracket you have on the Z8?
It is a 3 legged thing.
Hi Darrell An interesting video. We’ve been using mirrorless cameras for quite a few years and we think they’re great, though not as sophisticated as yours. Many Thanks Jon and Sandra
With ref to the EVF, I believe you made a slight mistake - it’s 120 fps refresh rate n not “120 MEGA refresh rate”
How much did you pay for 100-400 S
Awesome video ❤
Thanks 🤗
Love that! :) thank you
Af is good enough. Way better than z6ii
Great you don’t regret buying it after spending that amount of money.
Why not just buy a D850? The issues with the Z8, camera strap mount breaking, overheating, lenses not locking, etc
IMHO these are issues from the past. If this is really a matter for you, you should never by a new car. Z8 is a great camera and from technical point of view absolutely superior.
But you should be aware - I call myself a fanboy since I have my own :-)
Firmware takes time, Z5 took 5 years to fix. Strap mounts falling off??????? Oh! not a firmware issue, just crap.
FW 2.0 is out. The strap mount and bayonet mount issues were resolved quickly.
@@derekgillan7314
DSLR is considered obsolete tech.... But it will outperform z8 in some ways
So that’s what happened to Jim Bowen from Bullseye🤣🤣. Great review👍👍👍
No Jim died years ago and bullseye made by Yorkshire TV finished 1988
@ssatx57
0 seconds ago
It's Z not Zed... it's a one letter word...Z...how hard is it to say Z...and not make up a whole new title out of thin air..to annoy the crap out of normal people and 300M Americans that can read and spell...Z....and say what they see which is ...Z. ..and it's NIKON not nickon.
I say tomato you say tomaytoe
Who actually uses 20fps . I can get deer airborne with single shot !