This could be the camera I’ve been waiting for …
When Nikon launched its two all-new full-frame mirrorless cameras, it was laying down a challenge to Sony. The landscape- and portrait-oriented 45.7-megapixel Z7 strongly resembles Sony’s superb, 42.4-megapixel A7R III. Meanwhile, the model we’re looking at today, the 24.5-megapixel Z6, looks a heckuva lot like the world-beating 24.2-megapixel Sony A7 III. Both Z-Mount cameras cost nearly the same as their Sony counterparts and pack similar features, like in-body stabilization and full-sensor 4K video.
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The Z6 matches the Z7 in other ways, too. Autofocus works great as long as your subject doesn’t move around much. During action shooting, though, the tracking system can lose the subject and focus on the background instead, ruining the shot.
To me, it feels like the Z6 has slightly faster AF performance than the Z7, possibly because there are only 273 phase- and contrast-detect points instead of 497. Still, you’ll occasionally lose your subject, especially with automatic tracking instead of center point autofocus. As with the Z7, the EVF occasionally blanks out when you shoot in bursts, making it nigh-on impossible to follow fast-moving subjects.
Pros
- Best full-frame mirrorless camera for video
- In-body stabilization
- Good ergonomics
- Excellent images and color science
- Relatively affordable compared to Z7
Cons
- Mediocre autofocus subject tracking
- Single card slot uses non-standard XQD format
- Touch display doesn’t flip around
Summary
After launching the high-resolution, expensive Z7, Nikon has unveiled the much more affordable Z6. It’s the best full-frame mirrorless camera on the market for video, offering a full-frame, full-pixel sensor readout for super crisp 4K video. You can output 10-bit, 4:2:2 log video to maximize dynamic range and shoot 1080p video at up to 120 fps. While the selection of native lenses is still limited, you can adapt any F-Mount DSLR lenses with an optional $250 adapter. Image quality and colors from the 24.5-megapixel sensor is excellent, and your images and video are more likely to be sharp and smooth thanks to the 5-axis in-body stabilization. Autofocus tracking can be a bit slow, and the single XQD card slot is unfortunate. But if you’re looking at Sony’s A7 III, especially for video, you should take a hard look at the Nikon Z6, too.
Source: Engadget
