JadedWriter wrote:
I have the vertical grip coming in for the Z6III, now I have to find the time to trade my Z6II in for the Z6III. Went back to the Z6II for a few events recently and just noticed how laggy that camera is to shoot next to the Z9, which basically prompted me really considering trading the Z6II in. Z6II IQ was great, but the performance and lack of a few key AF modes that I use on the Z9 basically made me consider the upgrade.
I just checked and it's 82,764. Which apparently isn't even at the half way mark, but I have to send the thing in to get the port rubber doors replaced on it, plus get the vertical grip for it re-rubbered and I think I'd rather just update the camera than send that grip in for the second time and so on and so forth. PixiPhotography wrote:
What's the mileage on your Z6 II?
Something I haven't seen anyone mention is the user modes now save everything including release mode. This is the first Z camera that can save release mode as part of the saved settings. I got a Z6III a week ago to test out and was very pleasantly surprised by this. This is the most annoying thing on the Z8 (and Z9) is that when I change the banks I have to remember to change release mode.
bcaslis wrote:
Something I haven't seen anyone mention is the user modes now save everything including release mode. This is the first Z camera that can save release mode as part of the saved settings. I got a Z6III a week ago to test out and was very pleasantly surprised by this. This is the most annoying thing on the Z8 (and Z9) is that when I change the banks I have to remember to change release mode.
Z8 & Z9 have single button settings recall which makes changing shooting bank unnecessary. However there is only one setting that can be recalled. Sony has three. Someday Nikon will too
Although Z6 III is not the first camera to save release mode in U settings. That honor belongs to Z50! (but Z6 III is the first FF camera)..
bcaslis wrote:
Something I haven't seen anyone mention is the user modes now save everything including release mode. This is the first Z camera that can save release mode as part of the saved settings. I got a Z6III a week ago to test out and was very pleasantly surprised by this. This is the most annoying thing on the Z8 (and Z9) is that when I change the banks I have to remember to change release mode.
"Of course every time Nikon makes these “take away” decisions they seem to make a “here again” decision. Really, it has to be that nuanced? Just give us everything all the time and let us decide. What do I mean here? Well, unlike the Z5, Z6, Z6II, Z7, and Z7II, the U# positions now remember Release mode. This means that you can set one of those positions to your Pre-release capture set up and dial right to it. That’s actually faster than you can change to it on a Z8/Z9. Moreover, you can assign spot metering directly to a button the Z6III, but not on a Z8 or Z9. Good grief. I’ll take the small wins, but I really dislike this one step forward, one step backward thing that keeps happening with control customizations."
"Of course every time Nikon makes these “take away” decisions they seem to make a “here again” decision. Really, it has to be that nuanced? Just give us everything all the time and let us decide. What do I mean here? Well, unlike the Z5, Z6, Z6II, Z7, and Z7II, the U# positions now remember Release mode. This means that you can set one of those positions to your Pre-release capture set up and dial right to it. That’s actually faster than you can change to it on a Z8/Z9. Moreover, you can assign spot metering directly to a button the Z6III, but not on a Z8 or Z9. Good grief. I’ll take the small wins, but I really dislike this one step forward, one step backward thing that keeps happening with control customizations."
You can use Recall shooting functions to recall fps rate and metering mode (in the Z8/Z9), but there is just one recalled set of settings available.
Nikon is moving these options about probably because they want to choose what is available based on what they think will be particularly useful for the target user base of a particular camera rather than offering everything on every model. I guess it wouldn't be an issue to include everything on every model technically but this would increase the complexity of the menus, if that's a factor then it's understandable that they issue these limitations. (It's also to motivate people to buy higher-end models.) But the menus are already very complex, so they haven't really done a great job with that.
I was referring to nobody mentioning it in this thread. And I am well aware that recall function in the Z8 and Z9 provides this but photo and custom banks don't which is pretty sloppy (especially in the Z8 which does not use a dial like the Z9). And I disagree with comment that they are targeting these setting based on user. Their highest end customers don't want fast recall of all the settings but Z6 customers do? Nonsense, I certainly want this for my Z8. It's that they are completely haphazard in doing this.
Following Black Friday offers, Nikon Italy launched new offers (starting on 11th Dec 2024, ending 13th Jan 2025) that include Z6 III. However, I wonder why they supply CFExpress and SDXC I cards that can't withstand the full potential of the camera. See: https://www.nikonstore.it/macchine-fotografiche/fotocamere-mirrorless/nikon-z6/z6-iii-body/
Moreover, this new offer suggests that Black Friday sales were below expectations, at least in Italy.
What do you think?
Ripolini wrote:
Following Black Friday offers, Nikon Italy launched new offers (starting on 11th Dec 2024, ending 13th Jan 2025) that include Z6 III. However, I wonder why they supply CFExpress and SDXC I cards that can't withstand the full potential of the camera. See: https://www.nikonstore.it/macchine-fotografiche/fotocamere-mirrorless/nikon-z6/z6-iii-body/
Moreover, this new offer suggests that Black Friday sales were below expectations, at least in Italy.
What do you think?
I think a lower-speed card in the second slot is acceptable for JPG backups (in the unusual case that a CFExpress type B card fails, I am sure I can live with JPG backup files as I don't typically shoot that much "off" to absolutely must have RAW). The camera shouldn't slow down much if at all if writing NEF to primary and JPG to secondary slot. It's understandable that they'd make this offer because fast UHS-II SD cards are very expensive and not all that fast. Quite often when products are bundled together, it's not a combination that you'd necessarily choose without the bundle.
Nikon quite often has discounts and offers to motivate people to buy, I don't think it necessarily an indication of poor sales.
ilkka_nissila wrote:
I think a lower-speed card in the second slot is acceptable for JPG backups (in the unusual case that a CFExpress type B card fails, I am sure I can live with JPG backup files as I don't typically shoot that much "off" to absolutely must have RAW). The camera shouldn't slow down much if at all if writing NEF to primary and JPG to secondary slot. It's understandable that they'd make this offer because fast UHS-II SD cards are very expensive and not all that fast. Quite often when products are bundled together, it's not a combination that you'd necessarily choose without the bundle.
Nikon quite often has discounts and offers to motivate people to buy, I don't think it necessarily an indication of poor sales. ...Show more →
You might want to check this out. If you have a SD card in the second slot and use it for anything other than overflow, the camera will read and write at the speed of the slowest card in the system. Example -If you write NEF + JPEG, the Z6III will read and write at the speed of that SD card. The Z8 works this way as well.
story_teller wrote:
You might want to check this out. If you have a SD card in the second slot and use it for anything other than overflow, the camera will read and write at the speed of the slowest card in the system. Example -If you write NEF + JPEG, the Z6III will read and write at the speed of that SD card. The Z8 works this way as well.
Of course, but since the 24MP JPG files are fairly small (depending on settings, e.g. might be 10 MB for JPG FINE), the speed of the card in the second card slot shouldn't affect the overall burst performance much. If the Z6 III is set for CH, it's 8.1 fps (fastest speed where the mechanical shutter is used and there is no "slideshow effect"), with 10 MB files that would mean about 81 MB/s while the write speed of the Lexar UHS-I card is between 30 and 150 MB/s (not sure what would be the average write speed in that case). While it may be that in long bursts the card can't hold up, the physical memory holds so many of these files that one would not easily run into this limitation due to shooting in-camera backups in JPG. If shooting with the Z8, that's a bit different because you can shoot RAW+JPG in 20 fps without viewfinder turning into slideshow, and those files are significantly larger (19 MB for JPG FINE). The Z8 would require about five times as fast a card in the second slot to be able to shoot long bursts at the maximum lagfree fps rate than the Z6III (in the RAW+JPG configuration). I just don't see this as a significant issue in the case of the Z6III. I have the Zf and have a UHS-I Micro card permanently in the second slot and it's set to record RAW+JPG (main slot has a UHS-II card for RAWs) and I've not in run into burst limitations with that configuration. But I'm not a frequent high fps shooter, far from it. I do use CH from time to time, e.g., when photographing dancers.
I think that in-camera backup is mainly needed for paid work for events which can not be reshot (such as weddings). They don't tend to be high-octane action except for the dance floor which probably many brides would consider off-hours and not critical for the coverage. In the ceremony and most of the reception there aren't that many situations where one would need to do long bursts. If used for sports or wildlife, I wonder if people really feel that much need for in-camera backups. One way of backing up would be to use the new Nikon imaging cloud.
One reason the Z8 and Z6III have SD card slots as second slots is that a lot of people have a lot of SD cards and want to keep using them, even when it means sacrificing performance in some situations. E.g., someone might have to deliver images at an event on SD card (because the customer might not have a reader for CFexpress, and one needs the cards to be cheap so that in case they're not returned, it's not a big loss). Computers typically have built-in SD card slots, making this convenient for various work environments. However, personally I am not a fan of SD cards due to having lost many of those cards due to card malfunction. I never lost any image files though, as the failures happened at a time when I had already transferred the images, or I had used the SD as second slot and had the primary intact. When shooting SD cards as primary cards, it's important to shoot to two cards for this reason IMO. CFexpress cards are more reliable though and an SD card may be considered an acceptable solution for backup and also for easy image delivery.
I've many times thought about getting the fastest UHS-II cards but never actually went through with it because of the high cost and relatively modest performance gain.
ilkka_nissila wrote:
If used for sports or wildlife, I wonder if people really feel that much need for in-camera backups.
If the launch of the OG Z6 was any indication, the lack of two card slots was a HUGE problem. Although, I'm still of the mind that Nikon did such a good job with their introduction into a lasting mirrorless product line that a lot of people really just needed something concrete to bitch about. The lack of two slots was that thing, at least until people determined that AF wasn't that great (which is still something I never personally experienced, I didn't have any complaints).
Although I may be jumping the gun, I can't wait to see what firmware 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 brings for the Z6 III perhaps it'll be like the 2.0 for the Z9 where it fixes/adds a bunch of features and causes a second rush to buy.
Nah, in stills, there is no distinguishable difference between the Zf and Z5 in my tests. I pushed images 3-4 stops, even 5 stops and couldn't see a difference. In fact, the Z6 III retained colors better than the Zf and Z5. In video, that's a whole different story. NRAW has no noise reduction so until you apply NR to match what the Sony or Canon equivalent camera, its not really fair to compare RAW footage to what the competition has. Using IMATest, with NR applied to Nikon's files, you are at LEAST matching the dynamic range of the competition. I think the one and only issue for the Z6 III is the flickering in video. Both of mine have it, so I await Nikon to do something about it via firmware.
I need to use mine for video at some point, but yeah Nikon needs to do some kind of FW fix for the flickering issue in video. Though Nikon's Log just feels weird with how noisy it is based on my Z9 experience. PixiPhotography wrote:
Nah, in stills, there is no distinguishable difference between the Zf and Z5 in my tests. I pushed images 3-4 stops, even 5 stops and couldn't see a difference. In fact, the Z6 III retained colors better than the Zf and Z5. In video, that's a whole different story. NRAW has no noise reduction so until you apply NR to match what the Sony or Canon equivalent camera, its not really fair to compare RAW footage to what the competition has. Using IMATest, with NR applied to Nikon's files, you are at LEAST matching the dynamic range of the competition. I think the one and only issue for the Z6 III is the flickering in video. Both of mine have it, so I await Nikon to do something about it via firmware....Show more →
JadedWriter wrote:
I need to use mine for video at some point, but yeah Nikon needs to do some kind of FW fix for the flickering issue in video. Though Nikon's Log just feels weird with how noisy it is based on my Z9 experience.
Yep. Still waiting on NLOG2. I did a test to see how the Z6 III would handle ISO changes, but the jump from 5000 ISO to 6400 is quite significant. Now I know we can stick to 800 or 6400 with a variable ND, but still, for the offshoot someone uses Auto, they'll notice the noise difference. Idk if it was me but it seems like ProRES RAW had less flickering, even in different frame rates like 30p seemed like less flickering.
ilkka_nissila wrote:
Of course, but since the 24MP JPG files are fairly small (depending on settings, e.g. might be 10 MB for JPG FINE), the speed of the card in the second card slot shouldn't affect the overall burst performance much. If the Z6 III is set for CH, it's 8.1 fps (fastest speed where the mechanical shutter is used and there is no "slideshow effect"), with 10 MB files that would mean about 81 MB/s while the write speed of the Lexar UHS-I card is between 30 and 150 MB/s (not sure what would be the average write speed in that case). While it may be that in long bursts the card can't hold up, the physical memory holds so many of these files that one would not easily run into this limitation due to shooting in-camera backups in JPG. If shooting with the Z8, that's a bit different because you can shoot RAW+JPG in 20 fps without viewfinder turning into slideshow, and those files are significantly larger (19 MB for JPG FINE). The Z8 would require about five times as fast a card in the second slot to be able to shoot long bursts at the maximum lagfree fps rate than the Z6III (in the RAW+JPG configuration). I just don't see this as a significant issue in the case of the Z6III. I have the Zf and have a UHS-I Micro card permanently in the second slot and it's set to record RAW+JPG (main slot has a UHS-II card for RAWs) and I've not in run into burst limitations with that configuration. But I'm not a frequent high fps shooter, far from it. I do use CH from time to time, e.g., when photographing dancers.
I think that in-camera backup is mainly needed for paid work for events which can not be reshot (such as weddings). They don't tend to be high-octane action except for the dance floor which probably many brides would consider off-hours and not critical for the coverage. In the ceremony and most of the reception there aren't that many situations where one would need to do long bursts. If used for sports or wildlife, I wonder if people really feel that much need for in-camera backups. One way of backing up would be to use the new Nikon imaging cloud.
One reason the Z8 and Z6III have SD card slots as second slots is that a lot of people have a lot of SD cards and want to keep using them, even when it means sacrificing performance in some situations. E.g., someone might have to deliver images at an event on SD card (because the customer might not have a reader for CFexpress, and one needs the cards to be cheap so that in case they're not returned, it's not a big loss). Computers typically have built-in SD card slots, making this convenient for various work environments. However, personally I am not a fan of SD cards due to having lost many of those cards due to card malfunction. I never lost any image files though, as the failures happened at a time when I had already transferred the images, or I had used the SD as second slot and had the primary intact. When shooting SD cards as primary cards, it's important to shoot to two cards for this reason IMO. CFexpress cards are more reliable though and an SD card may be considered an acceptable solution for backup and also for easy image delivery.
I've many times thought about getting the fastest UHS-II cards but never actually went through with it because of the high cost and relatively modest performance gain. ...Show more →
If I didn’t mention it, someone would complain that the camera doesn’t live up to its specifications. I agree that the smaller size files minimize the issue with the Exceed 7, but if someone puts in a slow SD card we’re off to the races with a bitch session about specifications.
I also wonder if another reason for a SD slot rather than a 2nd. CFE card is the heat. Having two hot CFE cards next to each other could cause problems. The Z9 has a much larger body and heat sync than the Z8, Z6III to handle the heat adequately.
story_teller wrote:
If I didn’t mention it, someone would complain that the camera doesn’t live up to its specifications. I agree that the smaller size files minimize the issue with the Exceed 7, but if someone puts in a slow SD card we’re off to the races with a bitch session about specifications.
I also wonder if another reason for a SD slot rather than a 2nd. CFE card is the heat. Having two hot CFE cards next to each other could cause problems. The Z9 has a much larger body and heat sync than the Z8, Z6III to handle the heat adequately. ...Show more →
You may be correct. Nikon did say that CFexpress was not used in the Zf because of heat issues. The Z6III is a bit larger but not like a Z9.
JadedWriter wrote:
I need to use mine for video at some point, but yeah Nikon needs to do some kind of FW fix for the flickering issue in video. Though Nikon's Log just feels weird with how noisy it is based on my Z9 experience.
Log is noisier because it involves exposing three stops under to create highlight headroom and so of course the main subject will be noisier than if you give the sensor as much light as you can for the main parts of the image. Log works fine at ISO 800 but in my opinion at higher ISO it just becomes very noisy and is not clear it's worth using for low-light video.
In practice what I do is that if there is bright daylight, I use SDR with ISO 64 or 100, depending on camera. This way I can in most cases avoid having to use ND filters. If there is suitable light for video at ISO 800, then I use N-Log. If there is low light so that I can't be at 800 or thereabouts then I expect it to be a crap shoot and maybe the best would be to add lighting to get back to ISO 800. ISO 6400, for example, is really quite noisy in log. It becomes visibly less sharp and while it's not useless it clearly illustrates that shooting in low light you have to compromise between subject SNR and the highlight latitude. Probably it's best to give as much light to the main subject rather than underexpose it in that case.
Maybe Nikon can make a firmware update to the Z6III and other models that have the flickering issue in low light log video and give the user the option of turning off the automatic recalibration of the black point and let it just drift.
perhaps it'll be like the 2.0 for the Z9 where it fixes/adds a bunch of features and causes a second rush to buy.