Z 9

I have had the Z 9 for about 1 1/2 months. I have owned 35mm, medium and large format. I also use a Sony A 1 with several lens my son and grandson own. The Z 9 is fast to focus beyond belief, has with the 2.0 update an ability to do both great stills and video. If you shoot both stills and video this is an amazing camera. I have still every D100 to most recent DSLR DX cameras, still have a working F5 with 20-35mm lens, and I have Z 50 and Z fc and Z 6 II cameras to compare it to. The Z 9 has enough size to balance the excellent new Z S lens, and with the controls on the camera allow handling that cannot be matched with any camera. The focus speed and image quality are world class. The Nikon Hot line was very helpful in helping me down load the 2.0 firmware. I have used from 14-to 400 mm zoom lens with this camera. The redline around †he video now is perfect.

I tried one of the Z9 at a Demo by Nikon in Edmonton. While I was impressed by how well it appeared to be built, except for the Flimsy Screen Hinge, I was less than Impressed with the AF, in the continuous mode, it couldn't keep up with a car driving away at about 25k, the focus was locked on the License Plate, but blurry, Shutter Speed was 1/2000 sec. The Nikon Rep set the Camera up to Standard in Picture Controls, and the Images have lots Halos and Mosquito effects along any Edge. It is even worse than the D850 I have, and think is a Piece of Junk.

Coming from someone who has been shooting a D500 and D850 for years, the Z9 is a step up, but not night and day like most reviewers in here and other places are making it out to be. Yes the video features are great, and the animal tracking is real nice, but not perfect, will get to that in a bit. In regards to the AF is real good and not so good "it struggles with small subjects like birds when they are close, the AF system just does not want to focus on the subject, you have to focus bellow the subject to a high contrast area for the AF to wake wake, then recompose to where your subject was and hopefully still is there for the AF to acquire focus, and this is not just me, it's an issue many photographers are talking about, it's all over youtube" I believe this is one of the shortcomings of the MIL systems, which for many photographers is not acceptable. The DSLR does not have this issue, another reason why DSLR's are not going away any time soon. Especially pro to prosumer bodies.

The camera is unbelievable, image quality, af.. almost everything. Unfortunately I’m a professional action sports photographer that works primarily in skiing and snowboarding and the AF can not push through shooting in the snow. It’s so sensitive it seems it just wants to focus in front of subject on the snowflakes falling.. my old dslr never really had this issue. I’m not sure if it’s a mirrorless problem or a z9 problem. I’m hoping a firmware can fix this.. hopefully someone at Nikon reads this review. http//:bacha.photo

The best Nikon I have ever used. Wish it were a little lighter or had the option to take off the bottom part like with the D850. I love the included GPS and I love the automatic sensor protection on it.

So sad, Nikon dropped the Z9 before completing development. I bought two as I have always carried a paired duo. I had the 7 then the 7ii as the 7 was a real problem… I’ll be (expletive deleted) if I’m buying a Z9ii… I have been behind a lens for over 40 years. NEVER had a camera that was so difficult to use out of the box. Nikon setting pre-sets that were never done before, seriously impacting performance etc. AF modes that were faked in release demos are just the tip of the marketing techniques used to push this camera to “#1”. I can go on but don’t buy the hype! Nikon has turned into Apple

I really wish they made it so that the Fn1/Fn2/Fn3 buttons were full customizable, right now only the Fn1 button is so I have to choose between setting it to focus mode or white balance selector but I can’t do both, they have this feature present on the Nikon z6II and Z7II, those are settings I change all the time while shooting weddings so I just wish they could be next to each other and also be able to keep the customization options as consistent as they can among their mirrorless lineup, ****Firmware update perhaps ; )****

For longstanding loyal Nikon DSLR users the industry move to mirrorless splinters opinions on Nikon Z offerings depending on the applicable use. While it can be argued otherwise, for a good proportion of Nikon DSLR users there has not yet been a worthy nikon Z camera body.The response upon launch of the Z9 could be said supports how I feel -- not even considering any prior Z body close to not just the flagship pro bodies but also others like the D850 and D500 and others.Like so many others I purchased a Z9. While it brings significant new progressive features how capable is the Z9 to hold the position of the current flagship model? This is still to be determined given choices that are regressive when compared to prior flagship pro bodies.For this reason I can't give the Z9 5 stars -- not yet anyway.The body is a nice size compared to all other "toy" sized Z bodies though for me a slightly larger body for the Z9 would have been more welcomed. Some aspects of the materials don't provide the same touch and feel of prior pro flagships - it is a bit lightweight not that that should be assumed negatively.The lock mechanism on the storage card slots is awkward and I can imagine more likely to break over time.Besides the built-in grip, the looks are somewhat similar to the other Z models -- a step backward from the ergonomic and aesthetic appeal of the DSLR's.Fortunately for me XQD cards and older EN-EL18x batteries are supported.There's been a lot stated on social media that you really want to use CFExpress type B cards, but I have to say the performance of my XQD cards counters that which has been reported by some.A high quality CFExpress card obviously will outperform XQD, but I wonder how much Nikon reps are downplaying use of existing XQD cards -- my experience shows XQD cards not only fully capable of 20FPS, 30FPS, 120FPS but with buffer performance twice that others have reported rivaling that off some cheaper CFExpresss cards. 8k video recording no problem either.Still need to give the Z9 more opportunities to see how close it can truly be considered flagship status -- perhaps that is premature to declare.

Definatly Nikon's best body ever , it does everything as promised & more...outstanding ! The best Nikon I've ever owned & I've owned many since 1970 .