I think the XQD card was the right choice for this camera, which is between a full on Pro camera and advanced enthusiast’s camera. While the camera may not currently make full use of its high end card slot, future cameras will, and even the Z6/7 may take advantage of the XQ D Card Speed in future FW updates, like improved higher bit rate video recording on the Z6, using ProRes or ?
meanwhile, the XQD slot allow future upgrade to the new CFExpress 2.0 card technology coming down the pike. SD cards are soon to go the way of CF cards, and SD cards today are not the same technology SD cards 3-4 years ago were. Everything changes in time...
Cheers
So I have a choice between very very expensive now and ultra expensive later? Great. Just looked up a 128 BG CF CFast card - $300. No thanks.
Well, then don't buy a 128GB. The Z6 really needs only 64GB, 128GB is far too large in my opinion, even for the Z7, unless you shoot long video footages. In any case, the memory card is used as buffer also, which is why it needs the speed which is not possible for any SD cards.
Just using 128 as a frame of reference as that is the last SD card size I bought. Certainly one can live with less than that. Still a 32GB card was like $88 on B&H.
Well, perhaps you compare apples and oranges...?
The Z6 is priced right in the meat of the consumer FF camera market, not the high end. XQD just doesn't belong in this camera.
You are wrong. The Z6 is NOT for the consumer market, it is a high end camera aimed at customers who put quality before price and are ready to pay a bit extra for that.
Consumer enthusiast is really a better description.
No, it's a pro camera, whether you like it or not. Consumer bodies are not built according to those specs and consumer bodies are not part of NPU program.
It is probably why we're seeing the camera price drop faster than normal for a recent release.
I don't think it is dropping faster than other cameras. Do you have any source for this, or is it just what you heard on some other forum?
Less than a year and there are price cuts. I'm not saying the sky is falling, but it does seem a bit fast.
"Seems fast"... ALL cameras fall in price constantly. Canon, Sony or any others are not exceptions. Cameras are really bad investments, so if price fall is an issue you should keep whatever you have and not buy the Z or any other new one.
Overall the Z6 is a very worthy effort (especially for a first generation mirrorless camera),
It's actually not the first generation mirrorless camera for Nikon. Nikon have been making mirrorless cameras for 8 years now, testing out the technology on the Nikon 1, but it is their first mirrorless FF, and the first mirrorless with IBIS.
Yeah I'm discounting that.
Why? It was a VERY important part of their mirrorless development, and it was wise to start with the smaller and cheaper ones.
Funny thing is about the time Nikon pulled the plug, 1" sensors were getting good enough for a lot of folks. Horrible timing.
They pulled the plug when they thought it came to a dead end and the Z was about to be launched.
but they missed the mark on the memory card.
No, they didn't miss anything regarding the XQD. I think it was a very good decision to move away from the SD to something MUCH better and faster.
Often bold moves away from the mainstream spell problems for a company. Sometimes it leads to great things. Only time will tell.
They didn't move away from anything. XQD was already in use in several DSLRs, so it was exactly the right move to put it in the Z as well.
BTW I've shot mostly Canon for decades and oh boy could I make a long list of what they're screwed up in recent years so I'm not picking on Nikon at all.
OK, but remember that just because YOU got tired of Canon, it doesn't really mean that they screwed it up. Just like because YOU don't know why Nikon chose XQD and not SD it doesn't mean that it was a mistake, it just mean that they didn't ask you about it.
Nobody called me for sure. I've read more than one article questioning their card choice.
You mean blog posts, not articles written by anyone in particular...
Doubly puzzling if aiming at pros, why just one slot?
Perhaps because swapping card takes only two-three seconds, and because there is no space and probably not enough need for it, as well as the dual slots giving false security about backup safety and many other reasons. We have had quite a few discussions regarding that already, but again, it is not you who decides if a camera is a pro camera or not. There are many ways you can define a pro camera, but in reality, Nikon makes that decision, and "dual slots" is not part of that equation.
