I’ve finally done it. I’ve had people asking me to cover Nikon for more than a decade, but initially I wasn’t interested in adding the time and expense of yet another system and I couldn’t set up a reliable partner to get review loaners from. Unfortunately that is still the case, as Nikon Canada doesn’t seem to really have a loaner department and even some of my retail partners that get loaners haven’t had much. Add to this that until recently Nikon’s Z-mount platform was closed to third party development, which meant that I couldn’t get Z-mount lenses directly from third party lensmakers, either. But Nikon has eased their restrictions on third party development, and I began to get more and more requests from lensmakers to cover Nikon Z-mount lenses, so I began to seriously consider the idea of adding a Nikon body to my personal kit so that I could cover these lenses and the system itself. Here’s hoping for better opportunities to get first party Nikon loaners in the future, as that remains the big challenge for me at the moment.

I did a lot of research as to which Nikon body would best suit my needs, which are somewhat unique as a reviewer. I typically need the highest available resolution on any given platform so that I can thoroughly test lenses (the reason I currently own a Canon EOS R5, Sony a7RV, and Fujifilm X-H2) along with a camera that has one of the best autofocus systems on a platform so that I can give lenses a fair evaluation there as well. I decided on the Nikon Z8, as it seemed to check all the boxes. The Z9 does as well, but I’m personally not a fan of cameras with integrated vertical grips. I purchased the Z8 in late April 2024, and have spent the last six months getting familiar with the camera and using it on a daily basis. I’ve already done eight different lens reviews on it, including primes, normal and telephoto zooms, and even a high end manual focus lens. I didn’t want to jump into a review too quickly, as I like to be as expert as possible when I report on a product, and in this case I was having to learn a whole new system and get familiar with the way that Nikon does things. I’ve become much more comfortable with the system over these months, already, and I’m now ready to share my findings. You can find my full thoughts in the video review below or in my thorough text review…or just enjoy the photos below.

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This review is of a retail Z8 that I purchased from Camera Canada.   As always, this is a completely independent review.  All opinions and conclusions are my own.

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The Nikon Z8 is in essence a condensed version of the Nikon Z9 flagship camera. The Z9 is the larger “pro body” with an integrated vertical grip, while the Z8 has roughly the same feature set, sensor, and autofocus system in a more standard sized body. The Z8 is still easily the chunkiest of the four full frame cameras I own, which also include the Sony Alpha 1 and a7RV along with the Canon EOS R5. The overall grip size may be a little big for those with smaller hands, but it is comfortable enough for me. You can see that it is easily the biggest of the bunch.

In fact, I noted when doing my Fujifilm GFX100S II review that the medium format body was actually a bit smaller and lighter than the Z8, so don’t choose a different camera if you want to travel light!

But it isn’t wasted space, as Nikon has packed a lot of controls into this body.

Key Features

• 45.7MP FX-Format Stacked CMOS Sensor
• Lightweight Design, 30% Smaller than Z9
• 8.3K 60p N-RAW, 4.1K 60p ProRes RAW
• 8K30p and 4K120p Video, 10-Bit Internal
• Up to 20 fps Raw, 30 fps JPEG Shooting
• 493-Point AF, AI-Based Subject Detection
• Blackout-Free Real Live Viewfinder
• 5.5 stops of 5-axis image stabilization
• 3.2″ 4-Axis Tilting Touchscreen LCD
• CFx Type B & SD Memory Card Slots
• 5 GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

My first six months with the Z8 have been great, and I’ve come to appreciate the deep versatility baked into the camera and the reliable performance I’ve had with a variety of lenses. My favorite thing about the Z8 is somewhat ironic, however. For the first several years of Z-mount existence the chief complaint was the same as Canon RF mount: it was a closed platform, with only first party (Nikkor) autofocus lenses available for the platform. While Canon has unfortunately continued that policy to date (at least on full frame), Nikon has opened the floodgates to third party development. I’ve reviewed several lenses that I had previously tested on Sony, and I’ve found that in every case I preferred the overall performance on Nikon.

There are two primary reasons that spring to mind. The first is that there are no artificial limitations on burst speed (Sony limits third party lenses to 15FPS, which is half what the Z8 or my Sony Alpha 1 are capable of). Nikon has no such limitation, so I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting the full potential out of lenses like Tamron’s telephotos for sports or wildlife.

The second thing that I’ve found is that Nikon’s VR (in camera vibration reduction) just works better than the Sony equivalent. More and more lenses (including some telephotos like the Tamron 70-300mm RXD that the photo below comes from) don’t have lens-based stabilization and instead rely solely on camera based stabilization, so that means that the stability of the lens is going to widely vary from camera to camera and from platform to platform. I’ve noticed a significant difference between the stability of lenses on the Z8 as compared to what I’ve seen from identical lenses on Sony. This 300mm shot was taken at 1/8th of a second (over 5 stops of stabilization), and I found that a result like that was very repeatable on Nikon.

In short, I’ve enjoyed the Nikon Z8 a lot thus far. Enjoy the photos!

Photos of the Nikon Z8

Photos taken with the Nikon Z8

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GEAR USED:

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Purchase the Nikon Z8 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

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