When I reviewed the Nikon Z9 a while ago, I said that it is a fantastic camera
for filmmaking,
but it's hard for me to recommend purchasing unless you have the budget
to buy two of them.
Because Nikon does not have a cheaper camera that offers similar
video capabilities that you could use as a, B or C cam.
I am so glad to tell you though, that that has changed
because this is the brand new Nikon Z eight.
And in this video I'll be reviewing this camera
from the perspective of a wedding filmmaker
and telling you if it's a good purchase, if you're looking for a camera
for filming weddings or documentaries and really anything else for that matter.
And because I respect your time, I'm going to spoil the conclusion
of this review early and tell you that the Z eight gives
you essentially all of the features of the Z nine,
but in a more compact body and with a more compact price.
To be clear, you could use this camera as a B or C camera for the Z nine,
but I don't think you necessarily need to
because the Z eight is easily good enough to be your next eight camera.
Anyways, before we jump into the review, for the sake of ethics, I want you to know
this video is not paid or sponsored by Nikon,
but they did give me access to this camera early to test it out
and it will be going back to them in a couple of days.
Also, they wanted me to tell you
this is a pre-production version of the Z eight with pre-production firmware.
And all of this footage that you see was filmed with this pre-production camera,
meaning that the footage and experience
that you have may be slightly different with the full production model.
Now let's talk about this camera.
Starting off, whenever I reviewed the Z nine,
I said one of the first things you'll notice about that
camera is the size because it was basically like Nikon said.
Do mirrorless cameras actually have to be smaller.
I don't know why I'm giving Nikon that accent, but the point is that the
Z nine felt like it was about the size of a DSLR.
It was big, it was heavy.
It was chunky enough that you could use it as a weapon to hit someone over the head
if you were getting mugged.
But regardless, I feel like Nikon realized
that they needed to make something easier to hold for extended periods.
And so if you are a wedding filmmaker like me, they will be holding
your camera for eight, ten, or 12 or more hours on a wedding day.
Having a camera that will not completely destroy your back
and biceps is always a good thing.
Enter the Z eight, which I am so pleased to tell
you is dramatically lighter and smaller than the Z nine.
This camera feels much closer in size to my A7 s three.
That is my daily driver for filming weddings.
And I must say that the Z eight is quite comfortable to hold
and the ergonomics of this camera just feel great.
Like the Z nine, the Z eight has the exact same screen on the back,
which unfortunately is not a flip around screen, but it does articulate up and down
as well as side to side, which is great for vertical video shooting.
Ports wise, I'm pleased to tell you that the Z8 has a full size HDMI
port as well as Mike Jacks and headphone jacks, and most interestingly, it has two
Usb-C ports right next to each other, but they don't do the same thing.
One is for data transfer and the other is for charging.
And I think it's great that you can now do both at the same time with this
camera talking media and memory cards here for a second.
This is where things get more interesting with this camera, because unlike the
Z nine, which includes dual cfexpress type B card slots, the
Z eight has one CFEXPRESS type B card slot and one SD card slot.
I think that this is a good compromise because if you already have az9
or you already own Cfexpress
type B cards, they will work interchangeably between these two cameras.
But if you're just starting your kit and you're wanting to invest
in significantly more affordable SD cards instead of Cfexpress type B cards,
you also have the option to do that as well.
Spoiler though only by using Cfexpress type B cards will you be able to record
in the maximum amount of frame rates and bitrates that this camera supports.
And with SD cards you are going to be limited to recording
in only up to 4K and PRORES 4 to 2 H.Q.,
which honestly sounds really good.
But that said, if you want to unleash the full power of the Z eight and record
raw video in progress, raw or in raw internally, you'll need to use cfexpress.
I will also give you one caveat here, though, and remind you
that this is a pre-production camera with pre-production firmware.
So there is like a 1% chance that the full camera could be different
in regards to the Bitrates that are supported with SD cards.
But for raw video, considering the high bitrates required,
I'm very doubtful that Nikon would get that working on an SD card.
Moving on, there is one other general con that I need to mention when it comes
to these dual card slots, and this is also a con that Nikon had with the Z9,
and that is that while the Z eight has dual memory card slots,
the camera is perplexingly incapable
of recording video to both slots at the same time.
It's weird.
You can take photos with this camera and it will save the photos to both memory
card slots.
But if you try to record video,
you're going to be limited to recording to one card slot at a time.
I've asked Nikon about this and I don't have a clear reason why,
but if I was to guess, it might have to be with either
Nikon not wanting to have the camera be too confusing,
which would only be capable of recording in 4K and not in RAW.
And so you got to make sure your settings are right between all the memory cards.
Or it could be because Nikon possibly didn't want the camera
to overheat if it was recording to dual cards, that could make it hotter.
I'm not sure.
Regardless, as a wedding filmmaker, I filmed with the Sony
A7 S2 for many years
and that camera only had one SD card slot and I never had it fail on a wedding day.
So I don't think that is absolutely mission critical
that you get a camera that can record video to dual memory card slots.
But considering that the competition from the likes of Sony and Panasonic both
let you record the dual memory card slots while recording video,
it's a bummer that Nikon has not enabled this on the Z8.
Here's hoping they fix it in a firmware update.
Anyways, speaking of video formats and capabilities,
this is where the Lions really start to blur between the Z8 and the Z9 is
also where this camera really starts to shine from a video standpoint.
In short, Nikon made an incredible image sensor with the Z9 capable of recording
eight K video at up to 60 frames per second in RAW.
It's super impressive.
What's more impressive, though, is that Nikon said, Hey,
this z9 sensor is great, let's put it in the Z eight and make it cheaper.
Yes, really.
The Z eight has essentially the same sensor as the Z9, meaning that
it is also capable of recording in up to eight K at 60 frames per second in raw.
Plus, it also comes to all the other bells and whistles.
The z9 includes as well.
You not only get eight card up to six apps,
you also get 4K at up to 120 frames per second
and you get the option to record and progress.
Ride up to 4K 60.
You also get the analog picture profile with great dynamic range that works
perfectly with my color presets.
Who is Matt Lutz?
Which I willing to doubt in the video description.
You also get great ibis performance for smooth handheld shots.
And as a weird quirk from the z9, that camera is only capable
of recording for 2 hours and 5 minutes before you had to stop recording
and started again.
It's the same with the Z eight.
I'm not sure why that is, but two hour and five minute
recording time limit and just hit record again.
You also get great AutoFocus with AI that focuses on people
and faces as well as animals and now airplanes.
They added airplanes to this.
If you film airplanes, you're in luck.
Of course, there's also great manual focus, too, with the 50 millimeter,
85 millimeter and 24 to 70 millimeters lenses that I tested with this camera.
As you can see, there's a lot of great features
that you'll recognize from the z9.
Just like the Z9, you also get the ability to change the manual focus ring rotation
direction the software
as long as the lens supports it, which is great
if you're coming from basically any other camera brand that isn't Nikon.
Also, just like the Z9, keep in mind that this is a very high resolution sensor.
So if you are filming in HK, you can expect to get some rolling
shutter, especially if you're shaking the camera back and forth rapidly.
So I want you to be aware of that for me personally with my wedding films.
I usually am going for smoother,
grander shots, so I'm not usually going for
a ton of shake, so I didn't experience any rolling shutter.
Anyways, if you watch my Z9 review.
One of the things that I drew attention to was the fact that the Z9 has the ability
to record internal compressed raw video like Prores raw
and them doing that has drawn the attention of Red, the camera company,
and they've chosen to sue Nikon because they have a patent
on internal compressed raw recording.
Now, you may think this lawsuit
would cause Nikon to back down and not include raw recording with the Z8.
But as I said earlier, raw
recording is already in this camera, which is pretty cool.
So if you want a camera that can record compressed raw internally,
the Z eight is a great choice.
Just like the Z9.
Like the Z9.
Though I will warn you that the file sizes that the Z eight is
capable of recording, especially in Acra, are quite beefy.
So if you are planning on recording
these highest frame rates and resolutions with cameras capable of using,
you can expect to blaze through your memory cards pretty fast
and you're going to want a lot of them.
Just like the Z9, I believe with a 640 gigabyte memory card,
I got 15 minutes of recording time
in eight K 60 fills up fast.
Speaking of blazing through memory cards, though, let's
talk about another blaze overheating when it comes to this camera.
One pro of the z9 being such a large camera is that whenever I used it,
I never experienced overheating even when I was recording an AK resolution.
My thinking is that one of the reasons that it was not overheating
was the size of that camera, which really helped with the heat dissipation.
And the other thing was the fact that I was recording with the Z9
in the middle of December,
which if you're up north, that'd be very cold like snow weather.
But here in Texas, we still have it sometimes at 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
So it wasn't super cold, but it also wasn't really oppressive.
Texas summer heat that would really stress a camera either.
Regardless, as we talked about earlier, the Z eight is definitely a decrease
in size from the Z9, which did set off some alarm bells in my head
because the simple physics of Nikon cramming the same sensor
into a smaller camera body could result in greater heat generation.
Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to test overheating
super in-depth with this camera.
Why I leave it out in the sun for an hour.
Mostly because I only have this camera for a few days and it's
spring in Texas, which means that it rains significantly more often.
And it has been rainy and cloudy all week.
But here's the good news.
While it has not been in direct sunlight, I have tested this camera extensively,
recording a ton of clips with it back to back in 70 degree weather.
And in all of that testing, even when recording in HK,
the Z eight has not shown any signs of overheating.
So I think that if you are someone that films primarily indoors
with talking head interviews or conferences, etc.,
you're probably not going to need to worry about overheating.
But if you're filming outdoors in the blazing sun, I would probably
recommend renting this camera beforehand and seeing how it handles heat for you.
Next, let's talk battery life. And.
Whereas, the Z9 had a truly massive battery pack because it essentially
had a built in battery grip with the Z eight being much smaller,
it actually uses the same battery as the Nikon Z six and Z7.
In my experience, this is a great battery and it had plenty of stamina even when
recording in higher frame rates, resolutions and in raw,
I would expect to go through probably 3 to 4 batteries on a wedding day and
I don't think you'll have any complaints about the battery life of this camera.
As far as low light performance of the Z eight goes.
Keep in mind that this camera has essentially the same sensor as the Z nine,
meaning that I found that the image looks great up to about ISO 12,800 or so.
And after that it started to get significantly noisier.
But even with that extra noise, I feel like you could crank the iso higher
if you were filming in, say, a very dark wedding reception.
Now let's talk about the price of the Z eight, because this is where
things get really interesting in regards to the Z nine,
and this is where I feel like the Z eight becomes really compelling.
See, in my review for the Z nine, I said that what that camera was lacking
was an ecosystem of other cameras to pair it with.
If you wanted a camera capable of recording amazing eight k internal
raw video, you could buy the Z nine and use that as an eight camera.
But if you wanted A, B or C camera that you only used for, say, filming
wedding ceremonies, for example, there wasn't a cheaper option.
Your only choice was to buy another z9 if you wanted the video quality
to match between your two cameras.
This made building out of kit super expensive and
is the main reason why it was harder for me to recommend the Z nine.
Thankfully, it really feels like Nikon was aware of this because with the Z eight
they have filled that gap in their product line perfectly.
In essence, you are getting essentially the same video quality as the Z nine,
but now instead of costing the rather eye watering price of 5500 bucks
that you would spend at the time of making this video for the Z nine
Nikon has told me that the Z eight is going to be priced
at approximately 4000 bucks, which is fantastic and very competitive.
So the Z
is looking like an incredibly compelling B or C camera to pair with the Z nine.
But what's even crazier is that the Z eight is so good
that you can really think of it as an eight camera and save some money.
For $4,000, you're getting an incredible camera in the Z eighth that's easily
capable of filming a wedding day and building out a kit of multiple cameras
is going to be even more affordable than trying to add az9 into the equation.
Not to mention that the Z eight
is also dramatically smaller and lighter than the Z nine,
which is going to be holding it all day on the wedding day even easier as well.
So if you are looking for a super capable camera system for wedding filmmaking,
documentary filmmaking, or pretty much anything else for that matter,
I highly recommend
the Z eight and I'm really glad to see Nikon being so competitive.
Speaking of things that I highly recommend, by the way,
I know I mentioned it earlier, but if you are filming it in a log picture
profile, like in log with Nikon or SE log three on Sony,
I highly recommend checking out my color Presets.
Who is Matt Lutz?
They're going to help you get amazing colors
in your footage in one click and I will link to them down below.
Also down below, I'm going to link to my YouTube tips for wedding filmmakers Guide.
If you happen to be a wedding filmmaker like me,
which considering this is a review
of the camera for wedding filmmakers, so I assume you might be.
I put together a free guy that's going to show you the exact steps
you can take to get more views, likes and bookings from YouTube.
This is completely free and you can download at the link down below.
Oh, and also really quick, if you happen to deal with people
coming up to you while you're filming
asking you to take their picture and you're like, No, I'm filming.
It's a video.
It's not photo.
Well, I made sure to help you out with that.
It's video.
Yeah, you can buy this shirt
and you can point to it and people know, Oh, it's a video.
Okay, Yeah, If you want the shirt, really, you can buy it.
It's linked to the video description. Cool.
Thanks so much for watching. Take care. Bye.