Nikon has been known to try crazy and brave things every now and again. Years ago, they made the Nikon 1 series and used Ashton Kutcher to promote it. It was in baseball stadiums all around, and it was beating Sony’s NEX lineup in many ways. The current iteration of the brand that’s responsible for releasing the Nikon z9 feels like the Nikon I’ve known over the years. They’re trying things, and I believe that’s very important. What’s more, they’re also making some massive claims.

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Nikon z9 Innovations and Tech Specs

This is one of the first cameras designed for photographers to not have a mechanical shutter. Instead, it has a fully electronic shutter that can do flash sync and all.

The Z9 is equipped with the world’s brightest Quad-VGA panel adjustable to 3000cd/m2 (nits)1, revealing the most subtle details in the shadows.

For work in low light, the new “starlight” mode enhances the camera’s ability to focus down to a faint -8.5 EV, while illuminated buttons help astrophotographers and event or concert photographers change settings in the dark.

Because of how many times the processor and sensor are reading the scene, Nikon is claiming there won’t be issues with banding and artificial lighting aside from LEDs. We have to test this.

Lots of scene recognition. Human faces, animal faces, bird faces, cars, trains, bikes, vehicles, and more. There are nine different things it recognized.

The first Nikon mirrorless camera with a built-in vertical grip. It’s using the D6’s batteries.

Nikon brought back the mode dial on the top right.

All the buttons light up, finally.

Voice recorder

Brand new 45.7MP full frame sensor with 5-axis image stabilization up to six-stops (depending on the lens)

Nikon is changing the way focusing works and the Nikon z9 has 3D tracking for autofocus with hybrid contrast and phase detection.

Because of how many times the processor and sensor are reading the scene, Nikon is claiming that there won’t be issues with banding and artificial lighting aside from LEDs. We have to test this.

There’s a coating on the sensor that prevents dust and such.

There’s a hood that comes down to protect the sensor when the camera is off. As such, it’s not the shutter that’s being used.

Dual CFExpress B slots. No SD card slots. It can also take XQD cards.

Up to -4 and +3 diopter adjustment

1/32,000 max shutter speed with an extension all the way to 900 seconds.

Flash sync at 1/200th but still does high-speed sync.

20 frames per second

Brand new 45.7MP full frame sensor with 5-axis image stabilization up to six-stops depending on the lens

ISO 64-25,600

Nikon is changing the way that focusing works and the Nikon z9 has 3D tracking for autofocus with hybrid contrast and phase detection

Kensington lock for photographers and stadiums to tether their camera down.

There’s now a deeper menu.

The availability of the cameras and lenses is now “within this year.”

New NEF RAW file types, there’s high-efficiency and high-efficiency compression

8K 30p video is optimal and full pixel, and 4K is full pixel in 2.3x crop.

$5,499.95

Ergonomics

This is the Nikon z9. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think this is a Nikon DSLR. But it’s not. It’s mirrorless and it’s Nikon’s flagship camera. What you might notice first is the on/off switch. It’s the same as many other Nikon Z cameras, but it’s got the light-up option. This illuminates all the buttons. It’s what we’ve asked the industry for years but sadly never got. You could say Nikon is innovating in this way because it’s the first serious mirrorless camera with this feature. But it’s also technology from the old days.

Around the grip, there are three custom function buttons. These are pretty standard for serious mirrorless cameras these days.

On the top of the Nikon z9 is a 3.2-inch LCD screen. There’s nothing new here per se.

There’s now a deeper menu

The availability of the cameras and lenses is now “Within this year.”

On the other side, you can find a very familiar dial. You...