For good reason, too. But that's in the past. Nikon's on a roll with a series of quality full-frame camera releases, starting with the Z9.Absolutely, it's a nice lens lineup, but before that and before Z9/Z8, a bunch of Nikon shooters moved to Sony.It depends on what you shoot. Kestrels are year-round residents where I live and winter is absolutely the best season to photograph them. They're also the smallest North American falcon. It's rare to get a photo op of a kestrel in-flight in which the bird fills the frame of a 750mm angle of view.
Though not as rare, it's still uncommon to get ops with eagles and hawks in-flight where the bird fills a 750mm angle of view.
When you consider the additional reach of a 600mm lens vs 500 or 400, plus the better low-light performance of a 600mm f/6.3 lens vs 500mm f/5.6 or 400mm f/4.5, I think the Nikkor 600mm PF would fly off the shelves (as much add any $4,800 lens can fly) as the optic of choice for bird and wildlife photographers using a hypothetical Z500.
Agreed.
Nikon sold about 200K units based on the serial numbers tracked at http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/camera.html
It wasn't near to being their best-selling DSLR but that's not a small customer base in the current dedicated digital camera market.
Nikon's done a brilliant job through performance, pricing, and unicorn lens development of enticing their bird, wildlife & sports shooting D500 owners to buy into full-frame mirorless. (And to attract photographers from other brands.) The Z8 and Z9 deliver amazing performance. They're not inexpensive - not by any stretch - but are competitively priced in their segment.The only reason that I can see is that tech (at Nikon) haven't been good enough to make a competitive camera until lately, and of course they don't want to release a camera that can't compete wit R7, Fujifilm etc.
The D500 was released together with the D5 so the rumors of a high speed Z9 makes me dream about a deja-due double release: Z9H / Z900H before the Summer Olympics.
But what's the odds on that pipe dream?
But it's Nikon's stable of Z-mount lenses that push all the right buttons. They've got ther widest and best selection of optics for wildlife and sports photogs. The 600 & 800 PF are incredibly tempting; again, not inexpensive, but really enticing considering performance and price. Shoot, the 800 PF is as good a low-light lens as a 500mm f/4 and not too far behind the 400mm f/2.8.
Trust me, I'm on board with Nikon developing and releasing a Z-mount D500 equivalent. I've been advocating for that since the first-gen Z6/Z7 were introduced. As a longtime Nikon photographer, it's the camera I've been holding out for...but that collection of lenses has me also considering full-frame options.
What's the old saying in photograhy; you date the camera but marry the lens. I think the current Z-mount lens lineup offers enough in the "marriage material" column to persuade customers to spend more than they'd prefer or to wait for a more affordable body to come along, before committing to another brand's lesser glass.
Nobody other than Nikon - not Canon, Sony, Fuji, nor OM-Systems - offers anything that can compete with the 500mm, 600mm or 800mm PF lenses. They're not inexpensive but, for the serious wildlife and bird photographer, they're incredibly tantalizing.
Based on the rumors about the Z6III, it appears Nikon may be developing a non-stacked sensor body that still delivers the autofocus performance a bird, wildlife or sports enthusiast would expect. It's a risky strategy. The Z6/Z7 bodies had locked-in a public perception that non-stacked sensor Z-mount bodies couldn't get the job done.
The recently released Zf has challenged that image. It's getting consistently favorable reviews for autofocus performance. If the Z6III continues that trend, Nikon will have a reasonably priced enthusiast-level full frame body that, when paired with one of the many excellent lens options (including the 180-600), can be used for a wide range of photographic genres, including wildlife and birds.
My preference, would be the introduction of a Z900 APS-C fast action body. But with Nikon's focus on full-frame as the format for serious amateurs and professionals, I'm not confident such a camera is in development.
