Nikon today released the second short video teaser for the upcoming Z9 camera. This time we're in the Linyati Game Preserve in South Africa filming 8k video.
There's not a lot new to learn. The front has three Fn buttons for the horizontal position, only one of which looks like its usable for the vertical hand position. Nikon is suggesting that you can 8K record video for longer than the usual 29:59 limit, eventually showing a value of over an hour. The new latch mechanism for the card door is finally visible, as is what appears to be a Kensington lock mount at the bottom right of the camera. That big flat top plate now has a Z9 logo on it. Finally, what looks to be the 100-400mm lens makes a brief appearance.
As with the first teaser, not really anything that wasn't already known is being leaked by Nikon so far, we're just getting confirmations. I expect the third teaser to hint more at the focus system, and likely to be sports oriented. Or maybe that's the release video...
Meanwhile, at the same time as dropping the video, Nikon also announced the 18-140mm f/3.5-6.3 DX lens via press release. This US$600 lens comes with the slogan "less to carry, more to see." Looking at the lens design and the published MTF charts, this mirrorless version of the 18-140mm appears to be clearly better at the 18mm end, and perhaps slightly better at the telephoto end (though with different astigmatism). The mirrorless version has two aspherical and two ED elements while the F-mount version had one of each. Nikon once again is claiming that focus breathing is minimized for video use, though as I've noted before sometimes that's partly achieved via the lens corrections.
Curiously, all of Nikon's initial marketing materials for the lens show a Z50 in use (update: the press announcement did have a picture of it mounted on the Zfc, but the other marketing materials all show a Z50). I'm not sure if that's because those materials were produced prior to the Zfc coming out and we're just getting a delayed launch due to supply chain issues, or whether that's intentional on Nikon's part. I suspect the former. But as I noted in my Zfc review, the balance of that "fun" camera gets upset if you put too big a lens out front, due to the lack of hand grip. This is something I'll be looking at when I get my copy to review. The 3.6" length and low weight probably isn't a problem at 18mm, but can you really hold it steady on a Zfc at 140mm with the lens extended. Probably, but barely? Don't know yet, but will work to find out.
So, if you're keeping count:
- 7 camera bodies launched (Z50, Zfc, Z5, Z6, Z6 II, Z7, Z7 II)
- 1 camera body teased (Z9)
- 21 lenses launched (20mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm f/1.8; 28mm f/2.8; 40mm f/2; 50mm f/2.8 macro; 50mm f/1.2; 58mm f/0.95 NOCT; 105mm f/2.8 macro; 14-24mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm f/2.8; 14-30mm, 24-70mm f/4; 24-50mm f/4-6.3, 24-200mm f/4-6.3; plus the DX trio 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3; 18-140mm f/3.5-6.3; and 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3)
- 6 lenses teased (24-105mm, 85mm f/1.2, 100-400mm, 200-600mm, 400mm f/2.8, 600mm f/4)
At the moment, those teased products are the full set of mirrorless items I expect Nikon to release between now and March 31, 2022, though I suppose there's still some possibility that we see another DX body in that time period.
Finally, the third small thing Nikon dropped today was a firmware update for the WR-R11 remote controllers, which makes it easier to end pairing (which would be necessary if you're going to use the controller among multiple cameras).
