For 10-days of camping (or vacation) at a unique, hard to reach location, possibly expensive, (aka rare trip), I would have a SD-card for every day. Would split used cards up for keeping in two different store / carry places. Less unique, easier to reach, cheaper camping or vacation trip I would cut number SD-cards back.
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Z8 = Baby Z9
- Thread starter MrHollywood
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PLShutterbug
Veteran Member
You have repeated these same disproven or unproven “problems” in multiple threads, and in every one people have told you where your logic is wrong. You keep ignoring wisdom.
As I said to you in another thread, you seem bent on getting the Z9 and you have brought up valid reasons that the Z9 is a better camera for you. Great. BUY THE Z9. But please, please, please stop with the unnecessary and gratuitous Z8-bashing. It’s not the camera you need, so acknowledge: 1) that fact; and 2) it is the camera others do need and they are happy with their decision.
And please start listening and understanding when people illustrate how your complaints about the Z8 are unfounded or unproven.
As I said to you in another thread, you seem bent on getting the Z9 and you have brought up valid reasons that the Z9 is a better camera for you. Great. BUY THE Z9. But please, please, please stop with the unnecessary and gratuitous Z8-bashing. It’s not the camera you need, so acknowledge: 1) that fact; and 2) it is the camera others do need and they are happy with their decision.
And please start listening and understanding when people illustrate how your complaints about the Z8 are unfounded or unproven.
P
ProDude
Guest
I just don't get why people just keep beating on this. They keep wanting to elevate the Z8 to the point IT claims the flagship moniker. The Z9 and Z8, while being literal brothers, are NOT exactly the same. The Z9 is certainly geared more towards those folks more used to the likes of a D3.D4, D5, D6 body style and implementation. Sure, they have most of their feature and performance sets the same. With some differences that for some will be a deal breaker towards one or the other. The solid nature of a full magnesium body with a grip cannot be denied. GPS for some may be an issue as may be the Ethernet output (without a dongle needed). The battery life alone to ME swayed me big time over to the Z9. I'm just not a small battery lover. The extra buttons provided were also a plus on a Z9.
No Z9 owner needs to get their undies in a bunch over these differences, let alone the current and perhaps future updates that may separate them. But I just don't get this constant niggling over their wanting to justify their purchase. Geez guys get over it will ya!
No Z9 owner needs to get their undies in a bunch over these differences, let alone the current and perhaps future updates that may separate them. But I just don't get this constant niggling over their wanting to justify their purchase. Geez guys get over it will ya!
shuncheung
Veteran Member
We all know that memory cards can fail, but exactly what camera model and card type/brand that corrupted card was?
I have had a couple of Compact Flash and SD cards fail. I had plenty of warning for that CF card around 2004/2005. I had corrupted images that traced back to a particular Lexar SD card, when Lexar was a top brand a decade ago when it was owned by Micron.
On the other hand, I have been using XQD since my D5 in 2016, and I use dual XQD cards. I transitioned to CFexpress Type B around 2020/2021. With the Z9, I shoot 8K video that fills a 325G, 512G card. So far I haven't had any failures. My cards are probably not old enough yet, and I tend to use ProGrade Cobalt and Delkin Black only.
If I have to use one CFexpress B card, I would stick with a top brand and take older cards out of circulation. E.g. some wedding photographers, in addition to using dual cards in the backup mode, replace all of their cards for wedding photography after every season, so that they do not use very old cards that are more prone to eventual failure.
PLShutterbug
Veteran Member
There is nothing “wrong” with using the Z8 in portrait mode. However it is less comfortable than with a body with either an integral or attached grip with duplicate controls.
With a grip you simply rotate the camera 90° counter-clockwise and you now have all the controls you had in landscape mode still available, because there is a duplicate set. And you still hold your body the way you did when holding the camera in landscape orientation. Look at the Z9 manual for illustrations. With any non-gripped camera you must rotate your whole shooting position - either your right elbow is high in the air or low down. This is less comfortable.
I had a grip for my D7100 but seldom used it because I never got used to that duplicate set of controls. Had I worked harder at it I might now have a Z9 instead of a Z8.
But you have other concerns, mainly the buffer-limiting SD in the Z8, that means you should buy the Z9 instead.
Me too. I think Nikon is doing an overall great job and all the Z cameras and lenses they continue to produce are fantastic, yet it seems like there is so much defensiveness of perceived criticism with the Z8 and/or confirmation bias as well.
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Yes, the SD card slot is disappointing for a $4K camera/D850 ML replacement/mini-Z9. For me, it's not a dealbreaker in and of itself, but could tip the scales when taken into account with other possible concerns.
I had a Z8 on order and cancelled after reading about the lens mount problem. It's certainly correctable, and mostly a nuisance for those that bought one in having to ship it back to Nikon. Hopefully by now the new ones no longer have it.
I had read about a couple instances of this in another thread. Don't know how widespread it is, and it appears to be, at least in part, card related. If you don't have to buy one right now, and overheating is a concern for your shooting needs, it makes sense to wait.
I'm still on the fence whether to replace my D850 with a second Z9, a Z8 or wait for a Z9 update. I'm still not happy with the Z9's AF versus my D850 for shooting birds. It's obviously better in some respects but still worse in others. The weight and cost advantages of the Z8 over the Z9 are certainly enticing and might be worth giving up the second XQD/CF Express card slot, FN3 button and battery life advantages of the Z9.
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Alan Clark
https://arclark.smugmug.com/
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shuncheung
Veteran Member
Concerning the strap lug issue, as far as I can tell, the most reliable report on this forum is from Robert (RJ7) https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/67144968
Otherwise, it is the repost of some FaceBook page in Chinese and that has been reposted to various sites, and another couple of reports Thom Hogan received that he thinks is reliable. That post from RJ7 was from three days ago. Of course the jury is still out yet, but it does not look like there are new reports after reports that plenty of Z8 owners also have the same issue. This is probably the largest forum on Nikon Z; if there are reports, they should appear here, from members that have a history of using Nikon, not someone who newly registers and immediately posts fake information.
I am a Z9 owner but have yet to purchase a Z8. I'll wait a bit until the dust settles. However, as far as I can tell, Nikon is going to update the firmware on both the Z8 and Z9 so that their features are pretty much the same, to the extend that it is technically possible since the hardware is not the same on both cameras. Nikon will separate the Z8 from the Z9 by introducing a Z9ii with improved hardware to provide new capabilities.
She was using a Canon R5, and it was her card and I do not recall what brand CF Express card she was using.
I have also had a couple card failures, but that was long ago in my D800 so would have been CF cards.
So far I have had on CF Express cards of mine fail, but still don't see it to be worth the risk, so will always have a second card backing up my work.
NeedMorePractice
Senior Member
Just FYI, I use a Delkin Black 325GB with my Z8 and have twice had card overheating warnings shooting 20fps burst stills with temps in the 80s to 90s F. I had an SD card in the slot, also, but was not writing to it.
I also once had the "camera overheating" warning during one of these shooting sessions while I was sitting in the sun shooting bursts of hummingbirds.
I'm not saying this is common or trying to start some sort of argument, just letting you know that I did have both camera and card overheating warnings with the Z8 shooting stills while using a top quality card. While temps have been over 100 F here lately, it wasn't quite as hot back when this happened (again, 80s to 90s F at the time with "feels like" temps a bit higher).
I haven't shot similarly in these conditions since, but I intend to test again just to get a better idea of what it takes to receive the warnings. I was not shooting long in those conditions the last times I received the warnings (20-30 minute sessions), so we will see.
The only reason I took note was because I imagine many wedding photographers shooting all day in the summer sun and heat, along with wildlife and sports photographers doing the same, could have issues unless my experiences were highly unusual (maybe they are).
It's also happened to me in similar conditions with 4K 30p video, but that's a different thing (although, I didn't expect it with 4K 30p, so that was surprising and a bit disappointing).
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shuncheung
Veteran Member
For a $4K, non-flagship camera body, one SD card slot is very much expected. Are you guys aware that currently, no Canon mirrorless body has dual CFexpress B card slots? The $3900 (originally) R5 has CFx B + SD. Even the $6000 R3 has CFx B + SD. I assume Canon is reserving dual CFx B to their eventually flagship R1, similar to their 1Dx Mark III flagship DSLR.
I would suggest waiting a couple more weeks and see whether there are reliable reports on new Z8 issues. For example, the strap lug issue is very easy to check yourself. If a new Z8 arrives with a loose lug, just return it and get a replacement.
shuncheung
Veteran Member
Thanks for the information.
Sorry, not sure that is "NO CF Express cards of mine fail" or ONE failed. To me, CFexpress seems to be very reliable, but if I shoot weddings, sports events, news ... when there is no second chance, I would always use dual cards. For my wildlife photography in local areas, sometimes I just just one and if the card fails, so be it.
My main concern is that for video, Nikon does not allow the dual-card, backup option. Hence is that one of my wishes for any future Z9ii: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/67147261
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The photographer that was working for me had the failed CF Express card, I just don't remember what brand it was.
I have not had any of my CF Express cards fail. Only the old larger CF card in my D800 that I no longer own.
csn
Senior Member
Yeah, why didn't they just call it the Z9[x, x=a...z] or Z90 or Z900 ... ?! I think, that would have been more appropriate nomenclature and would have left the Z8 slot open for a high-mp shooter that a lot of people here (not me) have been clamoring for.
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MrHollywood
Veteran Member
The Z8 I was playing with belongs to a friend. He has zero issues (of any kind) thus far.
A D700 was a baby D3.
That didn't mean you were getting everything a D3 had in a smaller body. The D3 still had several advantages. But the D700 was 90% of what the D3 was in a smaller package and was a fantastic camera.
The Z8 is even closer to the Z9 in many respects. Frankly, I'm impressed that Nikon made it SO good! It absolutely will eat into some Z9 sales and I had to think long and hard before buying the Z9 since the Z8 would have been just fine!
The Z8 is (of course) a "baby Z9" offering 95%, or more, of the Z9 performance. But if you MUST have those dual full size slots, GPS, bigger battery or full grip, then just get the Z9. Home run either way you play!
I went with the Z9 because I knew I'd be adding a grip to the Z8 anyway and that alone makes the Z9 a better value. I also picked up a refurb, so my Z9 only cost $500 more than a Z8. So the Z8 grip and batteries would have cost more than the price difference, but even at full price I think the Z9 is a better value for some shooters.
With hardware almost identical and performance absolutely stellar for both, you're not likely to be unhappy with either.
Robert
A D700 was a baby D3.
That didn't mean you were getting everything a D3 had in a smaller body. The D3 still had several advantages. But the D700 was 90% of what the D3 was in a smaller package and was a fantastic camera.
The Z8 is even closer to the Z9 in many respects. Frankly, I'm impressed that Nikon made it SO good! It absolutely will eat into some Z9 sales and I had to think long and hard before buying the Z9 since the Z8 would have been just fine!
The Z8 is (of course) a "baby Z9" offering 95%, or more, of the Z9 performance. But if you MUST have those dual full size slots, GPS, bigger battery or full grip, then just get the Z9. Home run either way you play!
I went with the Z9 because I knew I'd be adding a grip to the Z8 anyway and that alone makes the Z9 a better value. I also picked up a refurb, so my Z9 only cost $500 more than a Z8. So the Z8 grip and batteries would have cost more than the price difference, but even at full price I think the Z9 is a better value for some shooters.
With hardware almost identical and performance absolutely stellar for both, you're not likely to be unhappy with either.
Robert
Given the mount recall in particular, even as something minor, I don't think it will be very long before Z8 refurb deals are popping up and being offered for $500-1000 less. When that happens, it'll present even more great value, just like refurbed Z9s currently. The first Z9 refurbs appeared roughly a year after they initially started shipping. However, the Z8 does not seem to be dealing with the same relative constraints and shortages, etc. I think it's safe to assume Z8 refurbs could show up even sooner now.
Obviously this will be a veet specific use case, but I had a similar problem before finding a pretty helpful solution. On my telephoto the beat grip I've found has involved resting the tripod foot on my palm and holding the lens with my fingers. When in portrait, I had a HUGE issue stabilizing it until I realized I could rotate the tripod foot as if on a tripod. It obviously doesn't improve things if you don't have a foot or if you don't hold it this way, but it's helped me in any case.
BGD300V1
Senior Member
I don't know who passed those darned laws but I'll never vote for them again!
shuncheung
Veteran Member
The smaller form factor, hence it is a baby Z9, not quite a Z9.
The Creator did, and their power is absolute and final. They don’t need your vote.
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