Z 8

Wow! What an incredible camera! I mainly do photography for my church. Low lighting and several types of lighting are a challenge. My D850 did a better job of focusing than my D810 but my Z8 is incredible. I am very happy with the Z8. The many options for the configurations in the menus can be a challenge but with the help of YouTube videos I believe I have them the way I need them. Do not be discouraged keep learning.

The camera has some amazing features and produces beautiful video. I bought it primarily to shoot video, but I also do stills. I especially like the autofocus system, the backlight settings, and the white balance settings. The menu banks that allow you to make settings in advance for different shooting situations are a great idea. The only reason the camera does not get 5 stars is that Nikon does not provide sufficient information up front in regards to the specifications for the type of CFExpress card (read/write speed) that is required to avoid getting the "hot card" issue. I shot video of an event this past weekend in 85 degree heat and towards the end of the hour, I got the "Hot CF Card" message, and I was only shooting H.264. I was not shooting continuously but 15 second clips every minute or two.I had to change cards and the second card overheated in less than 5 minutes. Nikon should give the specs for the type of card needed up front so that end user knows this before buying cards. I now have to spend another $550.00 to buy a card that is specifically rated for video. The specs for cards are buried in the back of the 1041 page Reference Manual which appears on the Nikon website and the manual is three years old.

The Z8 is my first full frame mirrorless digital camera. Previously I’ve been shooting film with my collection of F2s and 50-year-old Nikkor lenses. The Z8 is amazing in all respects…but the learning curve is, well, large. I found it overwhelming until I decided just to set up the camera (and all the programmable buttons) to act like my F2. I can learn about the rest later on. I’ve had some issues using NX and SnapBridge and contacted Nikon Support. I found them helpful for the most part, although the last person I spoke with seemed to be unaware of any solution. He escalated the problem and promised to get back to me, but that was 4 days ago. Back to the review: The connection (wth the FTD) to my old lenses is awesome. I did realized that these lenses were not as sharp with the Z8 as they are on my old F2s.

What a step up from my trusty D300!!!I've had the camera for about 3 weeks now and I love it. Still getting used to the EVF but it is no major issue. I'm on a fast learning curve but the same rules apply. The best images result from what you capture initially in camera...light, composition, focus and more! The AF is super fast...love it. The comments about battery life from others are true. When I'm not actively shooting I turn the camera off which really helps. Looking forward to many exciting years with this camera. It "fits" me well just like the D300 did in my hands! Thank you Nikon!

I bought the Z8, and 4 S-line lenses (20, 50 f 1.8, 24-70 and 70-200) to replace Leica SL3's and Leica lenses. I'd been using SL system cameras and lenses since 2020. The Leica lenses are incredible and the SL system is pretty darn good most of the time. However, the Nikon lenses are lighter. far less expensive and seem optically very close to the Leica lenses. The Z8 body has good ergonomics, all the bells and whistles and excellent color science to the extent that I can tell in the first few weeks of shooting. The Z8 body is heavier than the SLs despite not feeling quite as solid. The Z8 AF system is superior to Leica's, as expected. Control of the Z8 is, for lack of better terms, finer and more complicated than the SLs. However, this comes at a cost. The set up and menu system are far more daunting; and the lack of user profiles that can be set up for all settings at once and retained in the camera's memory is completely baffling. I changed systems for 3 reasons: the unreliability of the SL system: on a recent trip to the Amazon, two of the control buttons (Play and Menu) on both cameras would quit working and required restarting the cameras numerous times per day. The Z8 has done well, so far, in terms of smooth operation. The second consideration was cost. The entire Z8 kit was 1/2-1/3 the price of the Leica kit. With the frequency of body technology changes in the digital era, the Nikon system will be much easier on the budget. The last consideration was total weight when loaded into a pack for hiking. The Z8 and 70-200 are fairly heavy, but the 70-200 is about half the weight of the 90-280 that it replaces. All in all, I think that the Z8 and Nikkor lenses will serve me well and are of very high quality. I just wish that at some point the shooting and control banks will be combined into user profiles that can be saved and restored in camera memory and not from cards. One further thought is that in case of loss, malfunction, etc., the Nikon system is more readily available around the world and customer service turn around times are said to be much shorter than Leica's.

Some truly wonderful features such as the sensor shield, being able to customize so much but especially being able to assign a whole shooting setup to a button so it's ready at the push of a button. The focusing is light years ahead of my Z7ii and I don't mind the extra weight as it fits my hand very well. I d poo miss the the user settings which stayed no matter what you changed while shooting vs. the modes/bookmarks in the z8.

I received my refurbished z8 and had an issue with the SD card not wanting to seat. I kept messing with it and finally got it to seat and so far have had no issues. This is a great camera. Next to my D500's it the first Pro level full frame camera.

Love the camera, pixle shift, focus stacking, touch screen, etc. I bought the z8 because I didn't want the extra size and weight of the z9, however, due to the horrible battery life, I am probably going to try the mb-n12 extra battery grip. I've had alot of nikons over the years, none of them have the extremly poor battery life. Setting the camera to power saving doesn't seem to help much, and shuts down quickly and takes a bit to start back up, not good for needing quick response.

I’ve had it for a short time now but it’s perfect as far as I can tell. I’ve been a D800 user since it was released and this is a great upgrade.