Hey, this is Scott of Photography Banzai.
In this video I'm going to talk about the Nikon Z7.
Thanks to Camera Craft in Rockford Illinois for let me try this out at their shop.
The Z7 is one of their new full-frame mirrorless cameras with the larger
megapixel sensor. So it's around 45.7 effective megapixels.
With the camera I was able to look at the 35mm F/1.8.
The standard kit lens, and also a 50mm F/1.4 with the adapter.
The Z mount itself is a 55mm diameter mount with a 16mm flange focal
distance. Probably one of the shortest flange distances out there in mirrorless
cameras. The camera has a 1/8000th of a second maximum shutter speed with
mechanical shutter. It also does have a silent shutter mode. I didn't do any
extensive testing, but I did try it out at least. Completely silent in that case.
However, the standard shutter is also very quiet on this camera. The maximum
flash sync speed is 1/200th of a second. That is a little low for Nikon's
higher-end cameras. But it is sufficient for most situations. Of course, you do
have auto FP sync if you want to use that. The fully extended ISO range goes
from 32 all the way up to 102,400. So a huge range on the ISO. Nikon was
able to get phase detection in the sensor itself. That's really a key feature on
mirrorless cameras, and very important. Seems to work pretty well. I didn't get a
lot of extensive testing out of the autofocus, but didn't notice any issues
with my quick hands on. It has the 493 autofocus points on the sensor that are
phase detect. It also uses some contrast detect, I guess in some situations. But
they have a few settings with autofocus. From pinpoint to wide, and also auto area.
So definitely a lot of options with focusing setup. Nikon was able to get a
5-axis image stabilizer in the camera itself. That opens up a lot of
possibilities with older lenses. With video modes. With long telephoto. They
apparently put a lot of effort into the electronic viewfinder. I don't know the
details, but it is of course 100% view. 0.8x magnification. OLED screen.
Battery wise, it takes EN-EL15 batteries. Their standard throughout a lot
of their professional cameras. I don't know if it was the best choice possible
in this situation... Considering mirrorless cameras do need a lot of power. With
their "B" version of this battery you can charge with USB, which is a nice
feature. I always like seeing that included. This camera seems very solid
with video. However, the Z6 probably has slightly better features. I don't know
the specifics. This is the Z7 though, so I did get a chance to look at the video
with this camera. It has 4k at 30 frames a second. Does do the 120 frames
a second 1080p. However, I did notice there was a crop with 120 frames a
second. You can also do a slowdown in-the-camera mode to get 120, but it's actually
at 30 frames a second rendered in the camera. I don't know, which, I guess maybe
it's a personal preference situation. But both of them seem to have a crop in that
case. An interesting feature of this camera with video is the timecode option.
It allows you to sync up audio more easily. I don't know the specifics, but it
is nice to see in there. Especially for the more advanced videographers. You can
use it both in the files and through the HDMI port. With the HDMI you get full
clean output at 4k with 10 bit. So definitely a great option for using some
type of recorder to get that full ultimate quality video from the camera.
There is a setting for adjusting the speed of autofocus in video that you can
mess around with. Let's talk about handling of the camera. Of course this is
based on personal preference. It depends on you and how you like things to work.
You definitely want to get your hands on this camera to confirm things for
yourself. In my case it's pretty nice. I do...
actually prefer the D750 grip over this one. This is not a bad grip by any means.
I think it's one of the better full-frame mirrorless grips that I've
tried. In this case, it's a little thick for my hands. It is decently deep, but
it's also not as tall as I was hoping for it to be based on how my hand is
positioned to press the shutter and use the front dial. So if you're a really big
fan of the D750 grip, I would say it's a slight downgrade in that case. The
diopter adjustment on the EVF is very nice. It's kind of... almost a perfect
way to do things. It's similar to how a watch works where you pull out the
little knob.. Adjust it.. Push it back in.. It locks down. That way it won't change
accidentally. I really like that! This camera doesn't have as many buttons to
get direct control as a standard DSLR in their mid-range and higher-end cameras.
So that's kind of a letdown in a way. But you can use something like the "i" button,
which has a decent amount of functionality to it. At least you can use
the touchscreen, maybe. Really depends... I think it will take Nikon users some
time to get used to this camera, because they did change things up. The bottom of
the camera is interesting. It has two extra holes. One is pretty standard. Those
are usually used with grips on the side. But there is another hole behind the
tripod socket. If it works with quick release plates that exist already...? And
it'll keep that quick-release plate in line, which seems very appealing. The top
LCD panel looks very nice. It is a little bit smaller than the usual DSLR ones, but
it is high contrast. I'm happy with the mid-range command dial on this camera.
It's got the lock, which is nice. And they added an extra user mode so you've got
U1, U2, and U3 to put custom settings into. I like how the electronic viewfinder
pokes out away from the screen quite a bit. That helps out with not accidentally
touching the touchscreen with your face, or nose, or whatever. This camera has the
usual ports for this level of camera, and they did include the headphone jack.
Which is kind of up in the air depending on the camera level. But it is in there.
And port covers are very basic. It is nice that the port covers get out of the
way easily when you open them up. Memory card wise, this camera has a single XQD card slot.
Button wise, the camera does have the "i" button, which I mentioned.
There is AF-ON button, which I'm sure a lot of photographers like. That gives you
two different ways to get focus. With the shutter button, or this one. There's a
photo video switch with an integrated display button. Very nice setup in that
case. It's quick and easy to go from photo to video and then use the Display
button to adjust what you want on screen with those two modes. A few other
features to take note of. It does have peaking. Fully featured and that
be very helpful in many situations when you want to do manual focus. Either with
adapted lenses, or standard lenses really doesn't matter. I noticed a vibration
reduction settings have two different modes to them. I didn't try them out, but they're
there. Might be useful to you take note of. One is normal, one is a sport
mode. There are a few quirks to this camera that I noticed just in this quick
hands-on. Of course the single memory card slot. Not necessarily a quirk, but
potentially an issue for some people. And in regard to that, it's integrated with the
thumb rest. Now, I don't know how that will holds up over time. We'll have to see, but
you do put some force on that door constantly.
Depending on how you hold the camera.
I think the engineers must have been running out of space
to put things. Because they put a speaker on the top of the camera.
Now, it does look like there's some type of gasket or barrier between
the speaker and of course everything up. But a little odd in that placement in my
opinion. Overall, this is a pretty solid start with full-frame mirrorless for
Nikon. Of course the lenses I think are gonna be the highlight of this camera.
We'll see... Current offerings are in the F/1.8 range, and a little pricey in my
opinion, for that aperture size. But build quality seems solid.
Overall a very nice
camera it will depend on your needs as a photographer or videographer to see if
it works well for you. I do think it'll be very nice for landscape photographers.
Depending on what lenses Nikon can get out, but you can of course adapt whatever
you want to this camera. Has a very short flange distance. I do think this one will
work well for studio photographers. Anyone doing any type of situation where
it's a little slower. More methodical in your photography. That way you don't have
to care about the slower frames per second with autofocus. Or you don't have
to care about any situations like the single card slot. In those cases, I think
this camera will be perfect for those people. Because they do get the benefits
of a mirrorless camera with the electronic viewfinder that shows you
what your exposure is exactly. All of those situations... So that was in Nikon
Z7. I hope you enjoyed this video. Again, thanks to Camera Craft in Rockford
Illinois for let me try this out at their shop!
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