Sunny day

Too sunny in fact.

 

Loved that snow-capped mountain range in this Northern Italian countryside.

 

With AF-S 85mm f1.8 G.

 

RAW developed via Nikon NXD and further processed to taste.

 

What’s next in the camera industry?

 

In Nikon land after they’ve broken the mold with a high resolution stacked sensor Z8 at just under $4k (Sony A9ii $4.5k), the next couple of releases are likely as follows;

 

(a) Z6iii will likely use the 33mp sensor and this will be the Nikon mirrorless camera to buy for most people, a worthy successor to the 36mp D800E and D810 assuming Nikon can offer better AF that’s competitive with Canon/Sony without resorting to a stacked sensor. The Z6ii was launched at ½ the price of the Z8. 33mp to 45.7mp is 18% difference in linear resolution, about the same difference as 24mp vs 33mp. The Z6 series is Nikon’s volume seller. Compared with the sensor in the Z8, this 33mp sensor is 1EV to 1.5EV better between ISO100 and ISO500 and ½EV better above ISO500.

 

(b) Z7iii could use the 61mp sensor or Nikon could emulate Olympus by reusing their 45.7mp stacked sensor yet again in a cheaper non pro spec body with less processing power and sell for $2,999!? Olympus’ 20mp 1/60s sensor (original E-M1 16mp 1/13s) 1st appeared in E-M1 Mk2, this was then reused in a gripped body with dual processors in E-M1X, followed by the E-M1 Mk3 which is essentially an ungripped E-M1X ala Z8 and finally this sensor moved downwards into lower end bodies like the E-M5 Mk3 and OM-5. With a market share as small as Olympus, Nikon may well try to obtain economies of scale by reusing the more expensive sensor in multiple bodies like Olympus did but then again, I doubt the Z7 series will get a stacked sensor so soon. Maybe a one off Zf (like the DSLR Df?) with the Z8 stacked sensor?

 

Will the Sony R series finally get a 100mp sensor?

 

(a) Higher resolution requires more effective IBIS. Existing 8EV IBIS (up from 5.5EV) made its 1st appearance in the A7RV.

 

(b) APS-C crop yields 44mp.

 

(c) I prefer more pixels over focal length as I don’t have to own lenses for all important FLs or heavy supertelephoto Prime lenses.

 

(d) FE 100-400mm GM with 1.4TC after APS-C crop yields 840mm.

 

(e) 28mm Prime lens 1.2 crop =>35mm and 1.5 crop =>42mm. High time Sony brings out that FE 28mm f1.4 GM. 85mm after APS-C crop gets close to 135mm. I can make do with just 3 high quality Prime lenses at 14mm, 28mm and 85mm.

 

(f) Lightweight FE 20-70mm f4 G gets us to 105mm at 44mp with APS-C crop.

 

(g) With a 100mp sensor, my 3 lens kit can just be those 3 Primes mentioned in (e) above and perhaps add that lightweight zoom in (f) for convenience. For wildlife that relatively light zoom mentioned in (d) above will suffice.

 

(h) Question will be, can they still sustain 10fps at 100mp?

 

Update Aug 2023

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The newly released Nikon Z8 has already seen 2 service recalls, 1st for lens mount that fails to lock on the lens being mounted and the 2nd for strap lugs that can detach from the camera body. Both are low tech basic parts but can result in the mounted lens dropping to the ground or both body and mounted lens dropping in the case of strap lugs failure.

 

It's best to hold off buying the Z8 for a while especially when the straps lug failure could point to a design flaw. For the Nikon fanbois shills who claimed that they aren't affected since they don't use strap lugs, the issue will raise its head when they try to sell off their cameras as buyers of this camera are typically not casual users.

 

www.nikonusa.com/en/service-and-support/service-advisorie...

Done