Nikon Professional Services Singapore contacted me recently and asked if I’d like to give their flagship camera the Nikon Z9 a spin. And I thought, why not? As a bonus, I got them to loan me the 50mm f1.2 Z lens to go with it. So for 10 days, I shot a wedding, a fashion shoot with traditional Chinese lion dance, a pet session, some landscapes, and also used it to photograph a workshop where I was co-instructing for panoramic cityscape photography.

Initial Impressions:

I’m no stranger to flagship cameras, I’ve shot weddings as a professional wedding photographer for years with Nikon’s D5. The Z9 feels familiar in that regard and I really enjoyed how solid its construction is. Make no mistake, this is a tool for professionals. It’s built like a tank and its ergonomics are second to none. I love how the camera fits in my hands and the ability to shoot in portrait mode with the grip. That said, I do miss my lightweight and smaller sized Z7ii for its portability and ease of use. The Z9 in comparison, feels too heavy to lug around for a full day wedding after I’ve been spoiled by how small and light the Z7 and Z6 is.

Battery:

First up, battery life. I shot a full day wedding and these traditional Chinese weddings are usually 10 hours long and Nikon only loaned me one battery. I decided that since I have my Z7ii with me, I’ll take a risk and not bring any backups for the Z9. Given my experience with the D5, a single battery should have been enough to last an entire wedding, even with roughly 2,000 exposures. The Z9 was disappointing in that regard. Halfway through the wedding I realised that the battery life was getting dangerously low at 58%, and decided to turn off the Z9 and shoot with just my other camera for a couple of hours. Given that mirrorless cameras seem to last shorter than their DSLR counterparts, I should have anticipated this. Still, I had hoped that the battery would last longer. The ability to charge with a power bank is handy though.

Autofocus:

Much has been discussed about Nikon’s AF capabilities. Personally, I’ve always felt that although Nikon’s AF is not the best among the top 3 camera brands (Speaking of course of Sony, Canon and Nikon), it’s plenty good enough. I can shoot weddings, events with absolutely no issues and no frustrations with the AF. I think the reports of Nikon mirrorless camera’s poor AF performance are largely exaggerated, and the Z9 certainly impresses in the AF arena. In wide-area or auto mode, the camera somehow figures out what I am shooting, be it person, eyes, pet, vehicle, and tracks it faithfully. No issues here. The only time it struggles is when I shoot the Golden Retriever, Gideon. Given the erratic and unpredictable manner that the dog was dashing and with the sun blowing out the backlit sky, there are times, albeit very few, when my 70-200 f2.8 Z lens missed focus and struggled to find the subject. It was however really good most of the time, and it’s definitely good enough for most applications.

Sensor:

The Z9 boasts a 45.4 megapixel sensor, very similar to the D850 and Z7ii that were my workhorse landscape cameras for many years. As expected, the Z9 delivers phenomenal results in this regard. Coupled with the excellent 50mm f1.2 Z, I’m stunned by how much impressive detail I can pull from my images, even at 100% crop. Go ahead, zoom into your subject’s eyes to see mind-blowing detail. Costumes look vibrant and exquisite, and you can clearly distinguish the pores on your subject’s skin and the loose grass hanging off a dog’s fur. The thing to note of course is at these resolutions, the slightest imperfections are more obvious, so exemplary camera handling is required. Dynamic range-wise, unfortunately I was faced with cloudy days most of the time I had the Z9 so I wasn’t able to test out any challenging landscape shots, but I suspect that it is slightly weaker in this area than the Z7ii as I do noticed some blown highlights where I believe my Z7ii could have handled well at iso64.

Same image as above, cropped to show detail.

Image Stabilisation:

I shot 1/6 of a second handheld in an awkward position with my arm stretched out, and the image had acceptable sharpness. I also managed to take a vertical panorama with 9 frames handheld. There’s absolutely no complains here.

9 frame panorama with Z9 and 20mm f1.8 Z lens

Shutter:

This to me is the killer feature of the Z9. The Z9 has no mechanical shutter and has an entirely electronic shutter. My initial worry was banding in indoor lighting, as both my Z6 and Z7 series cameras were plagued by banding issues on the electronic shutter. My brief time with the Z9 revealed no such problems, and I rather liked the silent shooting. No more angry stares during solemn church weddings! The blazing fast maximum shutter speed of 1/32,000 seconds also meant that I can use lenses like the outstanding 50mm f1.2 Z wide open, without the need to fiddle with ND filters.

ISO:

Seems comparable to my Z7ii camera, which is not as good as the D5, but very usable even while photographing a bride at 3,200 ISO getting ready for her wedding before the sunrise. Wish I had more time to test this.

Touchscreen:

I’ll be remiss if I did not mention the fully articulating touchscreen. Let me say this. Nikon has done this right. With the advert of mirrorless cameras, it’s time we unglue the cameras from our faces and compose our shots by looking at the lcd screens. You read that right. I know a lot of experienced photographers will fight me on this, stating how stupid it looks for a professional to shoot as if he were holding an iPhone. I’m sorry but this is the future. Videographers do this. It’s simply much better to disconnect your eye from the viewfinder and compose your shots using the lcd screen. This way, you can converse with your subjects naturally and tell jokes, creating opportunities for spontaneous reactions. You can lean the camera low and frame your shots with flowers in the foreground, or stretch your arms upwards over a throng of journalists and shoot over everyone’s heads to get that money shot of the politician kissing a baby. It’s better this way and if mirrorless cameras are designed for this, Nikon’s Z9 is the best implementation of an eye-detecting, live view-auto focusing camera I’ve seen in the market so far.

Conclusion:

10 days is not a lot of time to spend with a camera, but I loved every second of it. Still, would the Z9 fit in my personal workflow? In a word, no. I replaced my D5 flagship with a Z6 because the Z6 was good enough. And that’s just it. Cameras have evolved to the point where a photographer can make a living without the latest and hottest camera. The Z9 is pretty darn good for what it does, but I don’t need it to. A wildlife or sports photographer might have use for it, but for a professional wedding and landscape photographer, I just can’t justify the need to spend over $8,000 Singapore dollars for this. I’ll stick to my smaller, cheaper, lighter Z6 and Z7ii, as they fulfil all my current needs as a photographer, and my back and wallet will thank me for it.

Credits:

Lion Dance: Xuan Wu Singapore

Model: Vincy

Note:

Panorama, lion dance and wedding shots are digitally enhanced to show what this camera can achieve. Model shots are lightly retouched only, so as to show raw details.

Nikon Z9 tested for wedding, fashion shoot, pet, landscape and event photography