Like many other nature and travel photographers, I was anxiously awaiting for Nikon to produce a pro-level full-frame mirrorless camera. As soon as I saw the specs for the Nikon Z7, I put in my order and signed up for priority delivery through Nikon Professional Services. You can read my thoughts on this camera prior to purchasing it in a previous post here.
I’ve now had my Z7 for a couple of weeks and am happy to say that I’m totally delighted with the camera. I haven’t had a chance to fully test the camera because I’ve been on photo workshops ever since I received it and I don’t shoot much for myself when I’m leading workshops but for now here is a short review with some first impressions.
- Right out of the box, you know it’s a Nikon. The look, the grip, the ergonomics, and the controls are totally familiar to a long-time Nikon shooter. The placement of some of the controls is slightly different, but quite logical. And there is a new “joystick” for moving focus point, which has quickly become one of my favorite features of the Z7.
- The back panel LCD monitor is big, and it’s very sharp. I haven’t used a touch-screen LCD before, but am finding that it’s a very quick way to change settings.
- Looking through the electronic viewfinder, the image is clear and sharp, and it’s easy to read all the displayed data even when wearing eyeglasses. When helping workshop participants with their mirrorless cameras I’ve been less than impressed with the image quality of EVFs and always preferred optical viewfinders, but the Z7 is making me a convert. My only nit now about EVFs is that it takes a moment for the view to be displayed when turning the camera on. I’ll have to get used flipping the on-off switch as soon as I place the camera on the tripod or pull it out of the pack.
- The grip is great. Just big enough to feel like I’ve got a good, solid handle on the camera with my whole hand, not just a few fingers. This does make the camera slightly taller than some other mirrorless cameras, but I’m happy with the trade-off.
- Autofocus is very fast, and very accurate. The “joystick” controller on the back of the camera makes it very easy to move the focus point, and that point can be almost anywhere in the image.
- The in-body image stabilization is amazing. Coupled with an F-mount lens that has VR, the ability to handhold and get sharp images is greatly increased. Shooting wildlife in Yellowstone while handholding my 200-500mm lens, I could actually see the image stabilize while looking through the viewfinder.
- Early reviews of Nikon’s new mirrorless cameras criticized the single memory card slot and the battery life. Neither is a problem for me. A 128GB QXD card will get me through several days of shooting, and I’m getting hundreds of shots with each battery charge. Plus, I’m very pleased that Nikon stayed with the EN-EL15 battery, as I already have extras from my older cameras.
A couple of tips I’d like to pass along for those just purchasing the Nikon Z7 or Z6:
- Right away, refer to pages 22-25 in the owner’s manual to customize the settings for the iMenu and the Fn buttons. This will let you very quickly modify your most used settings.
- Tripod L-plates are not yet available for these cameras, but if you use Nikon’s FTZ lens adapter for F-mount lenses, the adapter has a tripod socket and an L-plate from another camera will quite likely work on it. There’s actually a benefit to this, as the weight distribution between the larger F-mount lenses and the small Z body is better with the tripod plate attached to the adapter instead of the camera body. In addition, when going vertical there is no interference with remote cables attached to the ports on the side of the camera.
As I mentioned, I haven’t had time to fully test my Z7 yet, but so far I’m really impressed with both the features and the image quality of the Nikon Z7.
Do you have one of these cameras yet? Are you planning to get one? Let’s compare notes and feel free to post questions in the Comments below.
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