Nikon announces development of flagship mirrorless Z9, uses new stacked sensor and shoots 8K video

By Jeremy Gray 10 March 2021 2 min read Add us on

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Nikon has announced the development of its first flagship Z series mirrorless camera, the Nikon Z9, which is scheduled to release later this year.

This development announcement follows a trend with Nikon, such as when NikonÃ announcedÃ that it was developing a full-frame mirrorless camera and accompanying Nikkor lenses back in July 2018, about two months before fully revealing the Z system. However, Nikon’s Z9 announcement includes a bit more information than many of the company’s previous development announcements. Nikon has provided a first look at the camera, albeit only from the front. It appears that the Z9 is a bit wider than the Z6/Z7 series cameras and includes an integrated vertical grip, much like the Nikon D6 DSLR camera.

Nikon Z9

Per Nikon, the Z9 “represents a significant leap in technology and performance.” This leap is partially driven by the camera’s newly developed stacked full-frame CMOS image sensor and a new image processing engine. The new imaging pipeline allows the Z9 to meet the growing demands of customers. Nikon promises that the Z9 will deliver an “unprecedented imaging experience from capture to workflow exceeding that of previous DSLR and mirrorless cameras.”

Nikon Z9 (left) versus Z7 II (right). This is not a perfect 1:1 comparison, as the Z9 product shot Nikon provided has a slight downward angle. However, this illustrative example does show a bit of the difference in style between the two cameras, particularly with respect to the Z9’s integrated vertical grip, which continues in the style of the company’s professional DSLR cameras, such as the Nikon D6.

Concerning video, an area where Nikon has made considerable strides with the Z6 II and Z7 II cameras, the Z9 will record 8K video and include various other video specifications and features that photographers and videographers alike demand.

The Nikon Z9 will be fully unveiled later in 2021 before its release this year. Stay tuned to Imaging Resource to hear about the latest news on the Nikon Z9 as soon as it’s available. Nikon has also launched a dedicated Nikon Z9 website.