Z 8

I own a Z9 and Z7ii. Now having a Z8 to handle video instead of Z7ii that helps switching camera easier

I am moving from a D7000 to the Z8. D7000 served me faithfully for a decade. Takes really nice pictures. I was waiting for a camera that was a huge jump forward. Moving from 6 fps to 9 was not a jump worth making. This camera is obviously way more capable and way more complicated to operate. Huge learning curve, but the tools are so awesome. Super fast and silent. Wildlife photographer and that is something worth spending money on. 3D tracking should take my success rate up considerably. I have smaller hands and my only advice for Nikon would be to make the grip adjustable. My pistol has different grip to fit different hands. One size does not fit all. Have to adjust the buttons to fit my smaller hands. Never had a movable screen so that will also a learning curve. Might be huge with my smaller hands. I am really good with wildlife. This camera should take my photos to another level. Muscle memory is my biggest challenge for now. Update later if Needed.

AF extraordinary. Getting sharper images than I've ever experienced with a Nikon. Set up took a while as this is a complex instrument. Battery life shorter than with my Z6, but I've figured out ways to keep it acceptable. So far, not just satisfied but thrilled with the camera.

I really liked the Z 9 performance but am planning on more travel and don't want to carry the extra weight so the Z 8 works perfectly for me, it's smaller Z 9 with a better button layout. I've been photographing bees lately and would prefer an option of smaller eye target or being able to change the size of the eye target. But this kind of photography is season dependent and I'll soon be back to my normal subjects where the subject targets works perfectly.. I have noticed that the camera sometimes gets lost and can't find anything to focus on, it's like it's lost. I have to help it with the manual focusing ring, but that seems to only happen to the 105mm macro lens.

I moved up to a z8 from a d850 and D4s. Loved my d850 but not looking back after using the z8

The feeling is flimsy after my several Canon bodies, particularly the On-Off switch and battery compartment door. Wonder how long they stand with my field use of the camera. The battery life is really short. Sensor is very fast but quite noisy above ISO1600, worse than rivals of the same size/resolution. I still have a couple of weeks to decide whether to keep it, and am balancing 50/50.

Two weeks in and very pleased with my upgrade to a Z8 from my D850. I shoot primarily wildlife and landscapes, so animal eye detect and silent shutter at high frame rates are huge improvements over my prized D850. To be able to not disturb small birds and close mammals with mirror slap preserves natural behaviors for better composition.I'm still learning best strategies for getting quick focus lock in complex lighting environments, finding use of a function button for single point AF to get close before switching to back button 3D with enabled eye detect. This solves some hunting issues where 3D won't lock, like with birds in thick vegetation on the same focal plane as the subject. Once focus lock is achieved, images are sharp across an entire burst. Expanded focus point area allows better focus locking and compositional freedom to place the subject just where you want it in frame.Image quality from 500mm PF prime is greatly improved, with 90%+ images being tack sharp. F mount 2.8f 24-70 & 70-200 are both tack sharp. Once the long S glass gets restocked I'll be adding one or two, but F glass migrates well to the Z platform with FTZ II adapter.Moving from a D850, the ergonomics are very similar, especially Fn buttons assignable for focus modes. I've made very few adjustments to my shooting style, feels like the D850 I'm used to.Overall, very very pleased.

Focusing is super fast Exposure is right onUsing 24-120 f4 z

Overall a great camera. However, I would like to see the exposure delay mode added in the next FW update, as well as some of the new Z9 features that have been added which aren't hardware specific to the Z9. Using the self-timer while doing astrophotography around other photographers is extremely embarrassing when the bright green light flashes the timer countdown, ruining exposures that others are making. It is especially bad if they are stacking images or making a panorama. Also, please add a 4x5 crop mode. The Z7II has this, why not the Z8? I much prefer the 4x5 format for portrait orientation and with some landscapes too.