p.1 #1 · Z9 a near failure, according to Ken Wheeler
Unlike most other reviews done by Wheeler he hasnt actually handled the hardware himself yet, but relies here on information from a friend that doesnt get named, who reportedly is a professional action/sports shooter and has handled the camera for almost a month.
- Apparently substantly cheaper than the internet claims, only $5500.
- 45 Megapixels. But poor anti-aliasing filter with causes issues in the final images. If this is true, this yields the question why this is suddenly a problem for Nikon, since it was no problem for the Nikon D850, which has no anti-aliasing filter at all. Is this maybe a consequence of adding phase pixels ? But only a few pixels are added and they get masked, so this really shouldnt be the issue ?
- No shutter. Which obviously is good for longevity -- but Wheeler argues this is bad for flash photography. I'm not sure that a sensor without shutter is bad for flash photography per se. If the sensor is initialized and read by line by line and is read in whole within 1/250 sec, it should really be exactly as good (or bad) as with a regular mechanical focal plane shutter, unless I'm missing something. Not sure what the camera actually can manage though. If the camera cannot manage 1/250 sec readout time then this is indeed a serious issue leading to unbelievably poor flash photography performance, which would be completely intolerable for even much cheaper cameras.
- Eye AF is much better than Z6/Z7 II.
- About 15% slower autofocus than the Nikon D6 (which like all DSLRs uses a specialized sensor for AF and has limited coverage of the sensor for AF).
- Only 20 fps with RAW (compared to Canon R3 30 fps, or Sony cameras like the A1. The R3 only has 24 Megapixels, the A1 has 50 Megapixels). 30 fps with JPEG and 120 fps with 11 Megapixel JPEG.
- Only 35-40 image buffer with 20 fps RAW with fastest CF Express cards (so thats only about 2 secs)
- EVF runs at only 60 fps.
- Poor use of real estate on the camera.
- Heavy.
- Moving backside screen (Wheeler complaints this is a design weakness for cameras that are supposed to be durable).
In the summary, Wheeler thinks the Z9 is a "near failure".
If there is indeed a problem with anti-aliasing, flash photography, and autofocus performance as well as buffer size, than this would be a big disappointment. This means Nikon wouldnt be competitive or great to use for really any kind of photography.
P.s.: I'm ignoring the obvious things he mentions:
- All "digital" sensors are of course originally analog and only get digital with an analog to digital converter, well if anyone reading this didnt already knew that I'm a bit baffled what do you think happends exactly on a sensor anyway ?!?
I'm also ignoring the obvious problem with his argument here (an analog to digital converter cannot really be considered part of the processing power of a camera because it is a highly specialized piece of hardware and its "computing power" cannot actually be used for any other tasks but analog to digital conversion, so listing it as task of the actual processor makes no sense whatsoever. The performance of the A/D conversion simply has to be matched to the processing power of the camera, and in this case it seems perfectly enough - it is clearly the processing power of the camera itself thats underpowered).
- Restrictions and problems with using "old" Nikon F glas, like the complete lack of support for autofocus with screwdrive lenses.
As always Wheeler mentions that unlike everybody else he has no affilliate links.
p.1 #6 · Z9 a near failure, according to Ken Wheeler
Dear god I hope you didn't damage your brain by watching that entire video. I heard like 5 minutes of that nonsense and turned it off. I literally told YouTube to not recommend me his videos because he's one of the worst sources on YouTube for anything remotely modern. Camera is "bad for flash work" yet every video I've seen for it showcase it can do flash work and even Joe McNally put it through its paces for that stuff. This guy doesn't know more than Joe, he doesn't have the experience of Joe. The only way to work Ken Wheeler and Joe McNally into the same sentence is to discredit Ken Wheeler, that's it. He hasn't even seen the camera. Camera's not sealed yet Morten Hilmer basically used mud as a tripod for the camera as he was taking pics and recording video. We both know you know better than to believe anything in this video. I still have no idea why any of his viewers listen to him. He has no portfolio, he's an engineer that stopped being relevant years ago and became even more irrelevant because he thinks his GFX camera is the best tool for every job yet it's a camera he can't even get a good image out of. I have more winners out of my X-T2 than he does from any of his GFX cameras.
p.1 #12 · Z9 a near failure, according to Ken Wheeler
I dont listen to the Monkey. But the one video I watched said there was no optical low pass filter (AA Filter) and judging from the images I have seen I can not see the softness usually associated with an OLPF (AA Filter)
I think this was the video I saw it in. I looked back and it is in this video at the 14:07 mark
p.1 #14 · Z9 a near failure, according to Ken Wheeler
No camera is perfect and I'm trying to limit any high expectations but I know it will meet all of my needs and a majority of its capabilities will lay dormant in my hands.
p.1 #15 · Z9 a near failure, according to Ken Wheeler
Eric214 wrote:
I dont listen to the Monkey. But the one video I watched said there was no optical low pass filter (AA Filter) and judging from the images I have seen I can not see the softness usually associated with an OLPF (AA Filter)
I think this was the video I saw it in. I looked back and it is in this video at the 14:07 mark
p.1 #18 · Z9 a near failure, according to Ken Wheeler
jbledsoe wrote:
by far the best review I've seen so far as it relates wildlife photographer content. Thanks for sharing.
That was the issue I had. There was nothing on BIF or really fast moving birds/animals. I was getting concerned and though there had to be SOMETHING out there.
p.1 #20 · Z9 a near failure, according to Ken Wheeler
Pro tip: There are usually a number of people reviewing camera gear on the internet. Some do more research than others. Some have already tested things that are being mentioned in the above clip, and have reported on their findings.
Did he swear this time? 