Nikon Z9 Long Term Review, After One Year and 120,000 Photos
One year with the best camera for wedding photography and videography ever.
Well, at least the best camera I have ever used.
My name is Derrick Parsons and I am a wedding photographer and filmmaker based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. So this review is from a weddings, events, and portrait perspective mostly. I did a lot of other things though last year as well. This camera has already been across the globe!
Here is a quick summary because this is going to be a long one:
If you have to ask yourself if you need it, you don’t.
It is a game changing camera. I love how unlimited I feel creatively, the camera really gets out of the way and you don’t have to fight while you are working.
The Nikon Z9 is an absolute killer camera. It is honestly overkill for wedding photography and portraits, the speed of this camera is incredible. With the updates it has gotten and Nikons growing lens lineup you can literally do anything with this camera.
It’s very expensive, firmly beyond “I don’t tell my wife how much it cost” territory.
Yet it is a really good value. It crams in the capabilities of the Canon R3 and R5 or the capability of the Sony A7RV and A7Siii into one camera body. While the Z9 is not the absolute best at any one thing, it’s incredible at everything. Right now I think it’s the best hybrid stills and video camera.
As good as this camera was at launch, it’s far better now. Autofocus tuning and updated video specs have transformed the camera into something that I could only dream about a couple years ago.
This is just a mirrorless camera thing in general but seeing your exposure in real time is a game changer, and if you still use a dslr especially as a professional. Rent a mirrorless from your brand and one of these new lenses and give it a try.
Just do yourself that service.
Some quick background on me.
Z9 & 35mm 1.8
I am a full time wedding photographer and videographer. I mostly do portraits and wedding related things, so that is where most of my perspective is coming from. But I also do other things and photography for myself as well.
This is year I used the Z9 for:
Weddings
Portraits
Commercial photo and video
Sports
Performance arts
Landscapes
Wildlife Photography
I’m not really going to focus on the tech specs here. This camera has been out for awhile and those have been extensively covered. Go check out dpreview, Gerald Undone, Matt Granger, or Riccitalks for actually technical testing and things.
I’m going to focus on the actual experience of using the camera for my work
Body Design
This camera feels a bit chunky and heavy, but in a good way. It feels strong and well built. Absolutely rock solid. It feels like it would laugh at you if you ran it over with your car.
The weather sealing is fantastic, this camera has been covered in water and ice from waterfalls in Iceland, snow, and covered in mud when I slipped with it while hiking.
Z9 & 24-70mm 2.8
When I took the photo above the camera got absolutely soaked, not my brightest moment to be honest. But the camera despite feeling the complete force of being right under an Icelandic waterfall was totally fine.
This camera has really been through it all this year. While I definitely don’t go out of my way to abuse my gear, I don’t baby it too much either.
I love the feel of it. It feels like a camera.
As soon as I picked it up for the first time I was like yeah.
This is it.
When the camera is off the display on the top of the camera still shows the memory card info, including shots remaining or video recording space limit in video mode. How cool is that! There is no noticeable battery drain to speak of.
The power on and off time is fantastic it’s essentially instant. Which is suprisingly nice, and comes into play all of the time. The entire experience of using the camera is very fast. You're really never waiting for the camera to catch up at all, which keeps you in your creative flow.
The sensor shield (not the shutter remember there is no shutter) that drops down to protect the sensor is also instant when you turn the camera off.
There’s initially too many buttons, but once you spend some time with it I love that really anything I need is a button. I almost never have to dig into the menus while I’m actually out with a couple or at a job.
It is heavy, but I kind of like that, I like the vertical grip. I like that it’s bigger and easier to hold than the other Z bodies. It feels great and fits my hands well, vs the other Z series bodies are just a little too small.
The 120fps viewfinder is fantastic. I don’t give really care about the number of dots in there, the reality is it’s incredibly smooth and the resolution is very nice.
I LOVE the photo video switch. I do wish they kept the right facing orientation from the other Z cameras. The z9 switch is just a little bit more of a reach for your right hand.
There is no delay in switching from photo to video. You can take a hilarious burst of images and switch directly to recording video. This is fantastic and for me with my style of work, very important.
The back screen is just about perfect for me I love the added versatility of having the vertical movement. I take photos from down low all the time and that is seriously a great add on for me. I don’t think that having a floppy screen is needed on this type of camera. If you want to see yourself use a tether or a monitor on top.
Be a professional.
Some things I am not super fond of:
Starting with the front function buttons I wish there were another row for when you are holding it from the vertical grip. Like the Canon R3.
The dials are not as clicky and tactile as the z6ii which is bizarre. But they do seem more protected in the body of the camera. I would like a third dial like the A74 and things have so you can have the exposure triangle available to you. I have always wondered why that’s not industry standard.
On the back of the camera, I do wish the d-pad was like Sony or Canon with the scroll wheel. Scrolling through photos on this camera and all other nikon cameras just feels kinda weird.
One of my biggest critiques of the body design is the doors for the mic, Ethernet, headphone Jack and things.
These are really dumb. Like really dumb. These need to be separate like the new Sony cameras and maybe canon has done that as well. You should be able to plug in a mic without exposing a full size ethernet port.
Also this button next to them is stupid. I constantly forget it’s even there.
While I absolutely do love the feel of the camera if it was just a bit lighter I would not complain.
The shutter sound sucks. But whatever. You get used to it really fast or you panic and buy a Leica or a fuji.
I really appreciate that it’s two of the same type of memory cards. I just really like that, I hate having to worry about carrying multiple types of memory cards. CF-type B cards are also extremely fast. I definitely appreciate that choice.
Battery life.
The battery life is excellent. I can do an eight hour wedding on one battery, pretty easily. It’s pretty rare I use a second battery when I am shooting stills.
Shooting video or hybrid shooting I do a lot of b-roll not just long recording clips. So the battery holds up there pretty well. But for a full wedding videography type of day expect to go through most of a second battery.
I have never had to reach for a third. Especially since you can give the Z9 some juice as you use it through usb-c if you are really being a power user.
Image quality
Z9 & 50mm 1.2
Z9 & 105mm 1.4
Z9 & 105mm 1.4
Z9 & 105mm 1.4
The image quality is of course fantastic. The colors straight out of the camera are beautiful and with a quick edit look phenomenal.
I love working with Nikon image files. They are just to easy to edit.
The dynamic range is ever so slightly less than a Z7ii, but you are never actually going to be able to tell. This is a consequence of the shutterless design. Again, you can’t actually tell with your eyes.
Z9 & 50mm 1.2
Having 45 megapixels is overkill most of the time. But you can an absolutely shoot on high efficiency star. The file size it going to be right around 32 mb per image which is excellent for 45 megapixels and no noticeable loss of anything. Which is nuts. This is essentially the same file size as the Z6ii’s 24 megapixel sensor.
What 45 Mega pixels does allow is you can crop if you really need to. Maybe some wildlife or sports play is just too far away from you. With this many pixels you can crop way in and still have a usable image. Which comes in handy for wedding detail shots and more.
Original Image Z9 & 70-200mm 2.8
Same Image as Above Cropped and Edited
Z9 & 50mm 1.8
On a 128gb card for example you can get about 4000ish images.
I have literally nothing bad to say about the images from this camera.
Frame Rates For Photography
Z9 & 35mm 1.8
For me as a primarily portrait and wedding photographer, I never go above 20fps for anything. If I do, that’s for niche high action and movement situations.
Z9 & 35mm 1.8
I mostly use single frame, with some 10 fps. I already overshoot my jobs and everything so I don’t need it on any kind of burst unless the situation call for that.
The 120fps JPEG is a cool party trick for again very niche situations.
Z9 & 70-200mm 2.8
Combine the frame rates available and the autofocus you really can nail the shot every time.
With a fast enough card there is almost a limitless buffer.
Link to Matt granger and Rici talks about memory cards
Video quality
This is kind of what takes this camera up to a place very few if any other cameras can go. I am really only starting to use what this camera is capable of video wise, I am so excited to get more into the video side of things this year.
The video specs on this camera are dumb.
Like actually dumb.
This wedding film was almost entirely made with the Z9 and the Nikon 50mm 1.2s.
I don’t know who needs 12 bit raw at 8k 60 but holy shit it’s here. And it will eat your memory cards, storage, and probably your computers graphics card for a snack.
Also: this camera does not overheat. I have never had even the warning come on. Which is huge compared to the competition. @canonusa
I usually use the camera at 4k 24, 60 and 120fps with its over sampled absolutely stunning image quality.
The 1080 looks great too, but if you have the storage, which you should have invested in if you're considering a camera like this from any brand. Just go with the 4k, it is so pretty.
There’s no noticeable video crop. Maybe in certain modes but nothing like the 4K 60 in the z6ii.
I tend to use the 10 bit h.265 in n-log. The raw stuff can be fun but I don’t think it is always necessary.
I also really like that you can turn on a real color projection while shooting log in the camera. I believe that it’s using the Nikon lut essentially. It’s just nice so that someone in the field with you can look at “graded” footage in playback and not the log footage which is the muted grayscale look.
Normal and high quality are again kind of the same??? I definitely can’t tell a difference even side by side. Normal is almost half of the file size of high quality. Again verified by Gerald.
Native ISO’s are 800 and 3200 I think.
The on camera mics are genuinely decent. But of course nothing like a shotgun or something. It’s nice though that if your mic dies or something your Audio from the camera is not absolute garbage.
My only actual complaint is you can’t record video to both cards. Which is not great. This is maybe because of how much it takes to write of those massive files. Really my only personal complaint with the video side of things.
Nikon also unlike Sony and Canon does not have a cinema line of cameras they are worried about cannibalizing. Which means they pulled no punches with the z9s capability.
Without falling too much farther into the rabbit hole on this one.
It’s just good times with this camera shooting video.
Autofocus
For my work. It’s phenomenal. Simply phenomenal. It’s easily the best system Nikon has ever had and is right up there with the other big companies.
Working with people again at weddings and portrait scenarios it does not miss. It simply does not miss. The only time this camera struggles a little at a wedding is on a dark dance floor, but it’s still very good. If the camera’s full auto wide-AF ever misses you can go to 3d tracking very easily and boom you're good to go.
Z9 & 50mm 1.8
Z9 & 50mm 1.8
Z9 & 35mm 1.8
Z9 & 105mm 1.4
It does a great job of keeping with people even as they pass behind another person or object. I would say the ultimate test of this is a wedding dance floor or a DCI show. The performers are so layered across the field and constantly changing direction, dancing, and spinning.
Z9 & 24-70mm 2.8
Z9 & 35mm 1.8
With my crazy puppy racing around the dog park. It does not miss. And if it does it is very easy to reaquire. I don’t do a lot of birds in flight but when I do it was allowed me to get some great shots. I will say this feels noticeably weaker than really any other scenario.
Z9 & 70-200 2.8s
Z9 & 50mm 1.2
That being said. The autofocus on the Z9 is phenomenal. It just is. It might be slightly different than Sony or canon. But it’s simply very very good. We are at a point with cameras like the Z9 the R5 the R3 the A1 the A7r5 that if you cannot get your photos in focus. It’s on you. Because cameras now can basically do it without you.
Lenses
Nikons lens lineup has come a long way over the last several years. They have everything you actually need to get the job done. Now they’re just having fun with crazy designs like the upcoming 35 which is probably a 1.2. The 85mm 1.2 was just announced and things but is not shipping yet as of this time.
Every lens I have tried has performed extremely well. Choosing lenses to buy is tricky because they are all very good. I will say that the 2.8 zooms focus much faster than the prime lenses, they are essentially instant. All of the lenses are very quiet.
Adapting old lenses is fantastic. One of my all time favorites the 105mm 1.4 works better than ever before. This lens is my absolute go to for portrait work. I don’t know if the new 85 1.2 can replace it in my bag.
Z9 & 105mm 1.4
Summary
This is easily the best camera I have ever used. It’s really not close.
I started taking paid photography jobs in 2018. This is right at the launch of the Nikon Z6, the Canon EOS R, and the Sony A7iii. Specs wise the A7iii was the best, but I was fortunate to go to a brick and mortar camera store where I got to touch and interact with each camera. I went with the Nikon Z6 for how it felt to use and the experience of using it. I bought the 24-70 2.8 and started using it not only as a tool for my own personal enjoyment. But as a tool for starting to grow my business.
There’s always noise about which camera is best, I’ll definitely say of the big three Nikon has by far the worst marketing. They seem a bit out of touch, there is no presence on YouTube for example, of influencers who use Nikon. Which in 2023 is really bad for the brand.
There was a point where I was starting to think, should I switch to Sony or canon? Their lineups really started to get out in front of Nikon.
But a I had really nice and expensive lens lineup I had invested in. And then you need new batteries and accessories…
Actually Wrapping Up The Nikon Z9
As good as this camera was at launch, it’s far better now a little over a year later. Nikon has released several firmware updates tuning the autofocus systems and updating video specs. This has transformed the camera into something that I could only dream about before owning this camera.
It’s very expensive. But it crams in the capabilities of the R3 and R5 or the capability of the a7r5 and a7s3 into one camera body. Which is astonishing. I don’t know if it’s the absolute best at any one thing. But it’s incredible at everything. Right now I think it’s the best hybrid stills and video camera.
I will be happy to use this camera for years to come. And with no moving parts, I hope to see this camera function for a VERY long time.
It really feels like a camera, it has soul, I love it.
