It arrived yesterday. I used it out in the field this morning and I was close to tears because it was so good.
Feels
The weight of the body was unexpected, it’s light. The Sereebo carbon fibre skin of the camera feels very… plastic. This is really pronounced on the battery door. It felt cheap and so light compared to the Z6’s battery door although I’m sure it will be just as strong as the Z6’s. The Z6 certainly has a premium feel in terms of its textures and openings. But the upside of the feel is weight. It’s about the same weight as the D810, but oddly feels lighter.
However it feels great, really great, once in the hand and shooting. The big grip is easy to hold, my hands aren’t big but it’s still very comfortable. The revised button layouts, especially around the shutter button, are positioned well. For example, the video button, which I currently use to cycle through autofocus modes, is tilted and raised slightly making it noticeably more comfortable to use than the Z6.
With the 180-600mm attached it felt great, perhaps it was the grip that made it just a little easier to handle.
I used it out in the field this morning and I was close to tears because it was so good.
Setup menus
Setup was pretty easy on the whole. There are a lot of options, many of which I don’t understand or know how to use yet.
My bank setup is basic, with shooting banks matching the custom settings menu. In time I would like to try a matrix approach to increase my options, but right now I have the following setup:
- Fast – set for fast bursts, action and birds
- Monochrome
- Astro – lots of night time adaptations and shutter release delay
- Auto – P, a lot of auto everything, shutter AF
I have customised a few controls and will revise this over time, and do the same with the i menu.
But the Z8 has considerably more menu options and customisations than the D810 and the Z6.
Shooting
OMG… I was floored. From the first few shots in the field I was completely blown away at how good the bird detection was. It was incredible. In good light it handled leaves and twigs between the camera and the subject. What surprised me was how good it was at doing this in low light also. It did struggle sometimes, and it is dark under the canopy, so I was expecting that, but it happened much less than I thought it might.
The burst mode is well beyond what I am used to. Now, not every single shot was sharp. I missed focus, in some cases repeatedly, but I feel that is something that will improve as my familiarity with the AF increases.
I noticed a number of times how fast the AF locked on, giving me a chance to get shots I would not have otherwise got.
How it compares to the Z6
While today’s experience does not change my opinion that the Z6 is an incredible camera, the Z8’s advantages are many and significant.
- The resolution: bananas. The advantage of 45mp is even greater than I expected. Some images today resolved so much detail, more than I could have dreamed.
- The AF: bananas. It pairs so well with the 180-600mm too. The Z6 is not known for fast auto focus, but the Z8 is incredibly quick. I immediately found myself attempting shots I would never have tried on the Z6. The Z8 wakes up and can focus on something in a split second.
- The buffer: bananas. I have not hit its limit yet, although I am still shooting as though I am on a Z6.
- A small one that I was excited about. In order to squeeze extra milliseconds out of the Z6 AF, I needed to have “Apply Settings to Live View” set to Off. This made it a lot easier to see in poor light, but also meant I didn’t have a feel for what the final image would look like. The Z8 doesn’t require this for its AF to perform at its best.
What’s not as good as the Z6?
There are a couple of things, but nothing that makes me want to go back to the Z6.
- High ISO noise. Much of my shooting is under the canopy where it’s dark, and when the ISO gets high the noise is really obvious. I expected this, and the files clean up pretty well with basic noise reduction, up to about ISO 10,000 (based on what I’ve done so far, but possibly higher).
- File size. Wow. They’re big. I’m going to need to be a lot more ruthless regarding files I keep. Fortunately I’m in the habit of reviewing and removing missed images, but my decisions about what gets deleted need to be stricter.
Auto focus/bird detect in poor light
These sample images aren’t here because they’re good, or even usable for that matter, but they do show the capability of the Z8’s auto focus.
The first three screenshots are of unprocessed RAW files that are at maximum ISO and were taken in low light. They are to show how remarkable the auto focus is.
I couldn’t believe that the auto focus was able to identify a bird, and then find the eye, especially a black eye on black plumage. These were taken through leaves and twigs moving in the wind – leaves are visible in the image of the Tūī.
