Nikon shares the first look at the back of the upcoming Z9 flagship mirrorless camera
posted Tuesday, October 5, 2021 at 10:22 AM EDT
Nikon has released a new teaser video for its upcoming flagship mirrorless camera, the Nikon Z9. The Z9 was first announced in March of this year, as a 'development' announcement, so initial details were scarce. We got a look at the front of the camera, plus a few key features.
Months later, we still don't have full details on the Z9. However, we know that the pro-oriented camera includes a newly developed FX-format stacked CMOS image sensor, a new image-processing engine and support for 8K video recording. Given our look at the front of the camera body, we also know it includes a larger viewfinder area, a larger dial on the top of the camera and a pro-oriented dual-gripped design, like Nikon's D-series flagship DSLR cameras.
Today's new teaser video, seen below, offers us our first look at the back of the Nikon Z9 camera. While no specific features are outlined in the video, it's clear that the Z9 includes a different tilting display design than the Z6 II/Z7 II. The Z9's touchscreen tilts up and down, like the Z6/Z7 series cameras, but it also tilts to the side (similar to what we've seen on the Fuji GFX 100 or X-T3), allowing you to tilt the display while shooting in portrait orientation, which is facilitated by the camera's dual-gripped design, as well.
We grabbed and brightened a screenshot of the back of the camera to take a closer look. We can see that at the bottom of the mode 'dial' on top is a drive mode dial. We also see a switch to go from stills to video mode on the back of the camera. Below the display are a quartet of buttons: LAN, MIC, image quality and white balance.
There's also a quick shot showing the top of the Nikon Z9. There's not quite as much to glean here, but there are four buttons on top of the 'dial' to the left of the viewfinder, including a 'Mode' button. It's unclear what the other three buttons are, but metering and bracketing buttons should be included if the Z9 takes inspiration from the D6.
It's been nearly seven months since the Z9 was first announced, and we still don't have full details about the camera. It's unclear when the camera will be fully unveiled, but over at Nikon Japan, there are currently three more spots for additional 'highlights' teaser videos, currently all labeled as 'coming soon.' There's no such page on Nikon USA, however, but it's safe to assume there will be more teaser videos coming. In any event, stay tuned to Imaging Resource to stay up to date with the Nikon Z9.