Introduction
Earlier in 2017 Nikon unveiled the D850 which is 35mm full-frame digital SLR camera designed for every type of professional photographer covering landscape, macro, sports/wildlife, fashion/ weddings and portraits.
In 2023, we have got its mirrorless counterpart – the Nikon Z8 which in virtually all measures is capable of outperforming the brilliant D850.
Landing just slightly below the 18-month old Z9 camera in the Nikon lineage, it does not take long to quickly realize that while they are somewhat different when it comes to their core ingredients and attributes, they are more alike than they are different.
In other words, the new Nikon Z8 is essentially most of the things that were great about the Z9 but in a considerably smaller, lighter and, vitally, much less expensive package.
Starting with the Nikon Z8, its body is available for £3,999 in the UK and $3,999 in the USA. It is produced in Thailand.
In terms of the Z8's key rivals, they largely comprise the Sony A7R V and the Canon EOS R5, with Nikon's own Z9, the Sony A1 and the Canon EOS R3 being more action-oriented options.
Ease of Use
The Nikon Z8 was initially revealed on May 10th, 2023 as a new professional 35mm full-frame mirrorless camera aiming to be the spiritual successor to the successful D850 DSLR.
In an unexpected move and despite costing a stunning £1300 / $1500 less than the top Z9 model, the two cameras are similar in practically every aspect in terms of their features, with the primary changes being size, control layout and battery life.
So congrats to Nikon for boldly opting not to handicap the Z8 in any manner in order to urge you to switch to the next generation - this really is the baby Z9 that everyone has been waiting for.
The Nikon Z8 has a very obvious focus on out-and-out speed, admirably attaining its headline-grabbing 30fps burst shooting speed despite having a very high quality 45.7 megapixel sensor.
There is one major restriction to bear in mind though - the Z8 can only shoot in JPEG format at 30fps, with just a 20fps rate available when recording Raw files.
On a more positive side, the Z8 can take over 1000 Raw files in a single burst before the camera slows down, comparable to roughly 50 seconds of recording time, which is a simply astounding feat.
If 20fps for Raw and 30fps for JPEG isn't quick enough for you, the Z8 has another ace up its sleeve in the shape of an astonishing 120fps shooting rate while recording 11 megapixel stills.
Perhaps more impressively, all of the Z8's continuous shooting modes are with complete AF/AE tracking, even the 120fps mode!
The D850 DSLR, meanwhile, can shoot at significantly slower burst rates of up to 7fps for 51 shots with the EN-EL15a battery and up to 9fps for 29 images with the EN-EL18b battery.
So how exactly does the new Z8 mirrorless camera boost the speed ante? The Z8 doesn't have a mechanical shutter inside it, instead depending on employing an electronic shutter for all of its shooting modes.
It's one of the very few cameras on the market that fully forgoes a mechanical shutter - the Sigma fp series is the only other one that we're aware of, and that has a very obvious focus on being a video camera first and foremost.
The Nikon is marketed as an all-rounder geared for both professional stills photographers and filmmakers, so the full removal of a mechanical shutter is a very daring move indeed.
Electronic shutters typically suffer from "rolling shutter" when capturing fast-moving subjects, but Nikon are convinced that they've overcome that issue in the Z8 thanks to its combination of a stacked sensor, the very latest Expeed 7 processor which offers processing speeds approximately 12x faster than the Z7 II, and the use of CFexpress Type B memory cards. They're so certain that they haven't even placed a mechanical shutter inside the Z8 as a backup.
This allows you to use the Z8's exclusively electronic shutter to freeze fast movement without worrying about rolling shutter distortion whilst enjoying a black-out free, 3690k-dot, 0.8x-magnification OLED electronic viewfinder that refreshes at 120fps, perfect for tracking your subject whilst shooting at up to 30fps.
Sony consumers have benefited from a stacked design for several years now starting from the first Alpha 9 in 2017, it is good to see Nikon challenge one of their biggest rivals.
Z8 features its stacked BSI CMOS sensor that renders the native ISO range of 64-25,600 that can be expanded up to ISO 32-102,400 and comes with the top shutter speed of 1/32,000 sec due to the electronic shuttering.
It's selected by holding down the ISO button on top of the camera and utilizing the rear command dial, with a familiar LCD panel on the top plate explaining the decision made.
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Image Quality
All of the example photographs in this review were taken on the 45.7 megapixel Fine* JPEG preset, which generates an average image size of roughly 12Mb.
The Z8’s 45.7 megapixel sensor, as we’d expect, is capable of capturing exceptionally fine detail which appears amazing on screen, even when zooming in at 100%. Having such a high resolution to play with also means you may crop into the scene after the fact and yet preserve a high resolution file.
Colours immediately from the camera are quite nice, being realistic while yet possessing a decent degree of vibrancy. If you shoot in raw format, you’ll discover that the files are incredibly pliable, allowing you to extract loads of detail and make modifications as you choose, with the High Efficiency Raw format keeping file sizes under control without a significant reduction in quality.
Using the all-purpose metering mode often results in well-balanced exposures without the need to switch to spot-metering for most subjects. Similarly, the automated white balance settings do a fantastic job of keeping colours appearing natural.
With such a high resolution sensor, the Nikon Z8 has the potential to struggle in low light, although it still delivers extremely useable shots at high ISOs. For sharing at small(ish) sizes, the highest we’d generally recommend is ISO 25600, with ISO 51200 being just that little too smudgy to recommend unless desperate.
Noise
The standard sensitivity of the Nikon Z8 is ISO 64 but you may go down to ISO 32 (L1.0) if you like. At the opposite end of the range, the greatest natural sensitivity of the Z8 is ISO 25600, although two boosted settings, ISO 51200 and ISO 102400, are also available. Here are some 100% crops which demonstrate the noise levels for each ISO setting, with JPEG on the left and RAW on the right.