This article is part two of how YouTubers welcomed the new Nikon Z cameras. I will go in details on August 24th posts, and will link to the later videos, because it would be an endless read for you.
Aug 24, 2018
Tony & Chelsea Northrup, the biggest photography channel on YouTube join the conversation a bit late, but as they said in their video “Nikon Z7 Review: Maybe wait… (pre-production)” they were late because they “were sad, had some criticism, and were scared” and stressed about it. Just from the beginning their video prepares the viewers that they are going to criticize Nikon. They waited for the emotions to fade so they can give an objective thoughts and opinion about the new Z cameras from Nikon.
Tony and Chelsea start with the feel of the camera. They think that the buttons have that”mirrorless feel” that everyone has bashed Sony about, they did not like the single dial on top which doesn’t have a secondary ring used for continues low/high, timer, etc. Tony mentioned the lack of lighted buttons (like in the D850) and the lack of the left row of buttons. They like both screens, but the EVF they think was over-hyped but in reality it was just OK, as the other cameras from this class. About the ONE MEMORY CARD SLOT – here is their expression when they started to talk about that – no need of further commentary.
They cannot recommend the camera to wedding photographers for that reason. For the video features they did not like the mandatory crop to DX when shooting in 120fps because you have to “suddenly change lenses or move back”. They criticize the lack of fully articulated screen and the new announced lenses which they find overpriced. The 24-70 f/4 they did not find to be very sharp but liked the sharpness of the 35mm.
Here we come to their main complain about the Z cameras: the AF. They say it had lots of hunting and missing but they are not sure if this is because of the “pre-production” status. They compare the AF in low light as the previous generation mirrorless cameras from Sony and miss the eye AF. The metering also had some critics – in opposite with D850 which can detect faces and adjust exposure based on that, Z7 does not do such adjustment and they had to use the exposure compensation too often. In conclusion they think will continue using D850 over the Z7. Full video here:
The Photo/Video Show in the “Morning Jolt #10 – Nikon “Pros” & All The Excuses!” talk about all the excuses Nikon keep on rolling. He says that he did not bash NIkon in the previous review. He in fact welcomes every new camera on the market, as it increases the competition and we, the customers win. The important thing for him is that Nikon had enough time to introduce something totally new to the market, some feature, that no one currently have. But they didn’t. In that regard he praises Nikon for adding 10 bit 4:2:2 video, the N-log and the 120fps in Full HD – all things new for Nikon, but not for the industry. He also gives few examples of viewers from his channel who had issues of failing memory cards and finds it hypocritical to say that it’s ok to have ONE MEMORY CARD SLOT now for Nikon, but it wasn’t ok when Sony had one card slot. Full video here:
Jason Lanier have a serious look at “whatever or not Nikon has a future in mirrorless” in his video “Mirrorless REINVENTED? Is this a new beginning for Nikon or the Beginning of the End? Nikon Z Mount”. It’s in fact one very nice video, and I highly recommend to watch it at the link below if you already didn’t.
Jason is talking about his past with Nikon, the precious moment he captured with the Nikons through the years, but then switched to Sony because Nikon didn’t listen to its customers, and that’s vital. He pretty much doubles on the idea that Nikon had 5 full years to do something new, innovative, watching how Sony was bashed for the one card slot, battery life, and not enough lenses. But instead they kind of copied Sony and did exactly the same. He finds that Nikon Z would be competitive 3 years ago against the second generation of Sony, and would beat them. Besides the many things he criticises are the ONE MEMORY CARD SLOT, the lack of eye AF, pricing, etc. But the main idea of the monologue is that camera companies should listen to its customers, and not telling them what they need and want. Full video here:
Matt from ArtoftheImage in “Nikon Z6 & Z7 BIGGEST FLAW? (Unsuitable for PRO Work?)” discusses Tony Northrup position about the ONE MEMORY CARD SLOT. He does not remember to have had a card failure. Full video here:
The biggest problem with the one card slot Matt sees in the card being XQD, and not SD. He shares his arguments in a follow up video on August 25. You can find the link below the article.
Jared Polin in live stream (RAWtalk 248) on August 24 discusses “All Things NIKON MIRRORLESS VS SONY (Is Nikon CRAZY?). It’s a long live show, and you can watch it at the link below, but one of the major complains Jared has is about the… yes, you guessed – ONE MEMORY CARD SLOT. Full video here:
Theoria Apophasis in yet another very enthusiastic video named “Z NIKON. What Nikon is HIDING FROM YOU about it” discusses the Nikon’s decision to put only ONE MEMORY CARD SLOT, the poor raw buffer, no Eye AF, Battery life, and the fact that in order to keep the high frame rate, the camera will not update auto exposure during the burst. He thinks that Nikon will lose tremendous number of customers because of that one card slot and the other negative features mentioned above. The rest of the video is quick recapitulation of what he said in his previous video. A new, interesting idea he has about the card door, which Ken finds a design flow as it is exactly under the thumb, and could easy break. Full video here:
Dan Watson in a long 26 min video “Nikon Z6 & Z7 Preview | Everything You Need to Know!” talks about all nuances of the new Nikon Z. He explains in details what he consider good and what bad in the new cameras. Of course, one of the things he doesn’t’ like is the ONE MEMORY CARD SLOT. Having two card slots he finds mandatory nowadays. Even if you do not use them for redundancy, you can still use as backup, or extending (overflow) the 1st card, etc. Dan clearly sees this as a huge miss for Nikon, and consider this as a determination factor of whom this camera is aimed for. It is as he says for “B” camera, and not as a pro camera. Dan criticizing the fast burst. First it lower the quality from 14 to 12 bit, and second, in order to use auto exposure you have to lower the fps to 5.5 for Z7. Then the buffer is extremely small – definitely not for sports shooters, Dan says.
On the other side, he praise Nikon with the 90% coverage of he new PDAF system. He is concerned about the new low light mode – is it going to be as good as the low light capabilities of D850? A good thing is that NIkon has time lapse function. The video functions are also pretty good in the Z series, but he doesn’t like that the N-log is limited to external recorder only. Full video here:
Matt Granger in his “Nikon Z Correction. What were they thinking!?!… TOGLIFE” speaks about the two major downfalls he sees in Nikon Z – the ONE MEMORY CARD SLOT and the battery life. He says that these two were omitted from the press release and the spec sheets. He also criticizes all hypocrites who were bashing Sony for the same two things few years ago, but now accept this for normal and not big deal. IN later video (see the links below) he will “defend” the idea of one card slot, as not something we should make so big noise about. Besides these two things Matt likes what he sees in the Z series, especially the FZ adapter it iw works as advertised. Full video here:
I will stop here, but below you can find alist of the most popular videos in the next several days. One thing pops in my mind and I want to bring your attention on it. Did you mention how many time the phrase ONE CAMERA CARD SLOT repeats in the last two articles (part1 and 2)?
Here is a shortcut link to part 1 – count for your self. Ok, let me help you – 18. 18 of 18 most famous YouTube reviewers and influencers are criticizing Nikon about the ONLY ONE CARD SLOT. I’ll get to that in my next article, where I will share my personal opinion for the Nikon Z cameras. Till then – enjoy watching and stay tuned!
List of the videos mentioned in the article and in the next few days:
Aug 24, 2018
Tony & Chelsea Northrup – Nikon Z7 Review: Maybe wait… (pre-production)
https://youtu.be/iUii9dTwPkw
The Photo/Video Show – Morning Jolt #10 – Nikon “Pros” & All The Excuses!
https://youtu.be/jvoESwVMVQA
Jason Lanier – Mirrorless REINVENTED? Is this a new beginning for Nikon or the Beginning of the End? Nikon Z Mount
https://youtu.be/RJhUT8g_qyw
ArtoftheImage – Nikon Z6 & Z7 BIGGEST FLAW? (Unsuable for PRO Work?)
https://youtu.be/1CNKjGtRp2E
Jared Polin – All Things NIKON MIRRORLESS VS SONY (Is Nikon CRAZY?) RAWtalk 248
https://youtu.be/R2C9Z0foXOw
Theoria Apophasis – Z NIKON. What Nikon is HIDING FROM YOU about it
https://youtu.be/Qsn37DpdE7U
Dan Watson – Nikon Z6 & Z7 Preview | Everything You Need to Know!
https://youtu.be/xS10YOkYyiA
Matt Granger – Nikon Z Correction. What were they thinking!?!… TOGLIFE
https://youtu.be/wElzJ6s_YkU
Aug 25, 2018
That1cameraguy – Nikon Full-Frame Z6 & Z7 Dead on Arrival?
https://youtu.be/j9RK4pUCnLo
ArtoftheImage – Nikon Z7 & Z6 – The REAL Problem with that SINGLE Memory Card Slot
https://youtu.be/oqilhnjoCzc
Theoria Apophasis – WHY NIKON FAILED
https://youtu.be/rKFeDcRbYuM
Aug 26, 2018
David Oastler – Will Canon mirrorless hurt the Nikon Z releases?
https://youtu.be/DokJ00chJwU
Theoria Apophasis – NIKON FANBOY HYPOCRISY… Embarassingly bad
https://youtu.be/aR9rd5FmKno
Matt Granger – Single Card for ‘PRO’ Work?? (Nikon Z)
https://youtu.be/CkR9GfQHIEc
Mathieu Gasquet – Nikon Z6 and Z7 First Impressions Review
https://youtu.be/QWGIm0RdswA
Aug 27, 2018
Jared Polin – Nikon Z7 BANDING? (I SHOT JPEG!)
https://youtu.be/7MKDB9dOSp4
JCristina – Should Nikon Cut Their Losses And Discontinue The Z Series?
https://youtu.be/heLx8UNEeyM
David Oastler – I will never use a single card slot again for a paid shoot
https://youtu.be/HwejuHSQJuo
PIXEL VIILAGE – Nikon Mirrorless Cameras… Impressions!
https://youtu.be/hdaqMb77rQs
Aug 28, 2018
3p-photographie – Nikon Z6 & Z7 full-frame mirrorless camera first impression vs D850 & Sony a7R III
https://youtu.be/4uEYud1CmX4
Theoria Apophasis – NIKON makes stunning admissions
https://youtu.be/wWuRCypE2tY