If you ’re in the securities industry for a newfangled photographic camera , you ’ve probably come across Nikon ’s reach of full - underframe mirrorless shooters .
TheNikon Z9is the latest camera to come from the Nipponese producer and is a formidable machine that targets professionals working in everything from wildlife to sport to fashion picture taking .
Also an all - debauchee is theNikon Z6 – though the old model comes with a importantly broken toll tag target at hobbyist in need of a very capable camera .
So , what are the main differences between the two models ? And is it worth splurging on the Z9 or should you save and opt for the Z6 ?
Pricing and availability
The Nikon Z9 is a professional camera that set up at the remnant of 2021 and occur in at a respectable $ 5499/£5299/€5299 for the body only .
The Z6 launched in 2018 as a hobbyist photographic camera . While it certainly is n’t garish ( especially considering the price of full - skeleton lenses ) the price has been reduced in the years since the camera first launched . The camera is presently available for $ 1599/£1346/€1499 for the body only , making it less than one third of the price of the Z9 .
Design and display
The Nikon Z9 is an impressively large camera that weighs in at 1340 g with the barrage and computer memory card inserted .
The camera has a broken design with a magnesium alloy body , large grips across two sides and two corresponding shutter release clit . This means you may circumvolve the body 90 - degrees to click portrayal as naturally as you would landscape images .
The camera features a 3000 - nit 3690k - dot electronic finder with no EVF blackout and a 4 - axis horizontal and vertical tilting admonisher , which we found made it well-off to see what you ’re doing when germinate at trickier angles .
The Z6 , meanwhile , feature a weather - seal pattern and weighs half as much as the Z9 at just 675 M factoring in the weight of the battery and memory card . It ’s also small than the Z9 across all property , with the height in picky 4 - inches tall to the Z9 ’s 5.9 - inch .
The Z6 also has a 3690k - Elvis finder , as well as a 2.1 - million point tilting touchscreen that can tilt upward by 90 - degrees and downwards by 45 - degrees , make it a bit more limited than the Z9 , though we found it no less responsive .
Both cameras require Nikkor Z lense or an FTZ saddle horse adapter to apply F mount lens and both require an XQD calling card over an South Dakota one , but the Z9 also supports the faster CFexpress type too .
Performance and features
The Z9 is power by Nikon ’s Expeed 7 processor and features a stacked 45.7 - megapixel full - framing CMOS sensing element .
High - speed photography is one of the areas this tv camera shines . The Z9 is equal to of seizure more than 1000 full - declaration birthday suit frame at 20fps , or 11 - megapixel JPEGS at 120fps , in a exclusive fit . We chance the burst way did a rattling problem of captivate action , from bicycler to dancer , though the AF sometimes struggled with fast case if they were n’t in the human body long enough to latch on to and track .
Generally verbalise , however , the AF system is excellent . The 493 - point organisation includes 405 auto - arena AF point , topic - trailing across the frame and 10 AF - area modes for better optimisation . It can also detect 9 dissimilar subject type , including people , animals , birds and different vehicle , and takes advantage of 3D tracking for the first time on a mirrorless Nikon .
The television camera has a native ISO orbit of 64 - 25600 ( expandable to 32 - 102400 ) and shutter velocity range from 1/32000 to 30s . It also only has an electronic shutter , with Nikon claiming its done away with the mechanical one as the fast shutter pep pill eliminate wheeling - shutter distortion .
The Z6 , on the other handwriting , features Nikon ’s Expeed 6 image CPU pair off with a 24.5 - megapixel CMOS sensor . Despite being lower than both the Z9 and theZ7 , we find the Z6 ’s sensing element still up to of producing excellent images . Those in need of ultra - high resolution images will be ripe of choose for the Z9 , but most lensman will find 24 megapixels to be more than enough .
The camera is able of shoot JPEGs at up to 12fps or RAW photograph at up to 9fps , making it significantly slow than the Z9 . We found that AF was warm and exact on the Z6 , meaning the camera can be used to get sports , but the Z9 faster burst mode and gamey frame pace on the Z9 will likely do a better job of capturing every here and now of action .
The Z6 also has just over half the focal point degree as the Z9 at 273 , make the AF less advanced than that on the higher - ending camera . There are six AF - expanse modality to the Z9 ’s 10 mode and there are Face and Eye - Detection AF , but less specific subject trailing modes and no 3D trailing on circuit card here .
The television camera has an ISO stove of 100 - 51200 . We found that point stay high-pitched up to ISO 6400 and that images entrance at ISO 1600 were almost as clean as those taken at ISO 100 , making this television camera a decent option for pip in low light setting .
There ’s also an electronic and a mechanical shutter in the Z6 .
Video
The Z9 supports full - soma 8 K video recording at up to 60p , or 4 K at up to 120p . There ’s also support for Apple ’s ProRes 422 HQ data format , along with full AF / AE and Eye - Detection AF during telecasting capture .
The Z6 , meanwhile , is capable of capturing full - skeletal frame 4 thousand video at 30p or Full HD video at up to 120p and abide ProRes RAW for extra tractability in redaction .
Both cameras are also open of create time - reversion in - camera .
Verdict
The Z9 and Z6 are designed to be durable , though the Z9 is larger and heavier , and feature Nikon ’s Z - mount but can be used with F lenses if you purchase an adapter . Both television camera also include 3690k - dot finder and touchscreen monitors , but the Z9 ’s monitor is more flexible to ameliorate visibility at tricky angles . The photographic camera can also be rotated 90 - degrees to shoot portraits as comfortable as landscape painting . Finally , there ’s support for the fast CFexpress memory notice formatting in the Z9 .
Moving onto spec , the Z9 is well equipped in most area , with a newer processor , a larger image sensor , 8 K video financial backing , almost double the AF points and a degraded physique rate . This makes it a much better alternative for gamy - speed photography , in particular . However , the Z6 has a large ISO chain of mountains , making it well - suited to down light photography .
When it comes down to it , your decision will probably occur down to what you take from a camera . If you ’re seem to capture high-pitched - resolution images and tight - moving bailiwick , the Z9 is toughened to beat . For most lensman , the Z6 is still a grand option and a third of the terms .
