Nikon Z9 Review

Our Verdict

Even though the Nikon Z9 is geared toward action and event photography more than anything else, it’s a true generalist camera. It amazes me that the Z9 can credibly claim to be the best sports/wildlife photography camera on the market today… and the best landscape camera, and the best wedding camera, and the best “stills-oriented” camera for video, and so on. There is very little that the Z9 is not excellent at doing.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that the Nikon Z9 is a perfect camera. Even though it excels from a technical standpoint, it’s still a massive, expensive camera – a good deal heavier than a Nikon D850, and significantly more expensive than anything Nikon has ever sold outside the D6/D5/D4 series.

Even though the Nikon Z9 is relatively unique on the camera market, it still faces fierce competition from a few cameras. The Sony A1, for example, is another camera that can credibly claim to be “the best” in a wide array of photographic genres. Canon is also working on an EOS R1 that’s likely to compete closely with the Z9 and A1, and Canon’s EOS R5 and EOS R3 already go head-to-head against it for certain genres.

The Nikon Z9 is already a huge success for Nikon, but I think the most important thing about the Z9 for Nikon’s long-term success isn’t the number of copies it will sell. Rather, it’s the statement that it makes: Nikon is all-in on mirrorless, they’re capable of leading rather than copying, and, above all else, they are trying to listen to customer feedback.

Customer feedback is the key. Even though the Z9’s headline features are impressive, it’s the smaller details that show Nikon has kept their ear to the ground. For example, the Z9 finally has a clutter-free live view display mode accessible with the DISP button. The focus box in AF-C mode now can turn green when the subject is in focus. Nikon’s two-button formatting and two-button factory reset are back. There’s a dedicated sensor dust curtain now. And so on. These may be little things, but they prove that Nikon is paying attention.

Nikon has also been proactive in their firmware updates on the Z9. We’ve already seen some big autofocus improvements, 8K 60 FPS RAW video, a back-in-time buffer (“pre-release burst”), and improved anti-flicker options added to the camera over time.

You could make the argument that these impressive firmware additions should have been part of the Z9 from day one – that they indicate Nikon rushed the Z9 to the market. Maybe that’s true, but what matters at the end of the day is that the camera performs well. Even in firmware Version 1.0, the Z9 already was ahead of almost every other camera on the market, and now it’s just getting better and better. It’s nice to know that when I buy a camera – from Nikon or anyone else – that it’s going to improve over time, not stay the same.

All that said, is the Nikon Z9 the right choice for you? Admittedly, it’s overkill for a lot of photographers. But what a camera it is! If you’re on the fence, or you want a summary of this review so far, here’s a detailed list of pros and cons.

Pros:

• High resolution sensor with some of the best image quality of any modern camera
• Professional-level layout, vertical controls, and advanced customizability
• Tank-like construction and build quality
• Tons of ports for data transfer and niche operations
• High-magnification EVF with no headache-inducing flickering issues
• Viewfinder with 120 Hz refresh rate has no meaningful lag
• Substantial rear LCD improvements including dual axis tilt, clean DISP mode, and glove-sensitive touchscreen
• The return of two-button reset options
• Fast, highly accurate AF-S autofocus with great low-light focus
• Subject recognition autofocus for birds (as well as people, pets, and vehicles)
• Perhaps Nikon’s best AF-C autofocus ever, especially when subject recognition engages
• Customizable AF box sizes with Wide Area C1 and C2
• True 3D tracking autofocus implementation
• Outstanding high FPS capabilities with blackout-free and slideshow-free shooting
• Enormous buffer with over 1000 RAW photos at 20 FPS
• High Efficiency Star RAW mode with the same image quality as lossless compressed RAW, at 2/3 the size
• 1/32,000 maximum shutter speed and 900 second long exposures
• “Pre-Release Burst” mode very useful for capturing unexpected action, albeit JPEG only
• Fully electronic shutter with no meaningful drawbacks
• Useful dust prevention curtain
• Great high ISO performance in line with other high-resolution full-frame cameras
• Class-leading dynamic range on par with the Z7 and Z7 II
• Video options are outrageous, with 8K internal RAW 60 FPS video at the peak
• Best astrophotography features yet, with illuminated buttons, Starlight View, and dim red light mode
• Impressive march of features with firmware updates
• Long battery life, easily capable of a day of shooting
• Very competitive launch price of $5500 (compared to $6500 for the Sony A1, $6000 for the Canon EOS R3, and $6500 for the Nikon D6)

Cons:

• Auto ISO minimum shutter speed implementation is broken at 30 FPS and 120 FPS
• Pre-release burst is 30/60/120 FPS JPEG only, not possible in RAW
• Menu banks cannot be locked and are still somewhat unrefined in implementation
• Menu doesn’t rotate during vertical shooting
• No in-camera RAW multi-exposure, as found on some Nikon DSLRs
• Starlight View AF has small usability issues (inability to see exposure compensation changes; lag in low light)
• For unusual subjects, autofocus subject recognition can fail, causing AF-C and tracking performance to weaken
• Memory card door access is awkward and difficult with gloves
• No dedicated metering mode button
• No exposure delay mode, which means landscape photographers are limited to the self-timer’s 2-second and 5-second releases rather than the useful 0.2/0.5/1/2/3 second options of exposure delay mode
• Cannot enable the low-light AF assist beam on most external flash heads
• Camera operation occasionally slows down and needs to be turned off/on again to reset
• Especially when replacing the memory card, the startup time can be quite long, depending on the card
• Still lacks some features found on other cameras (sensor-shift high-res mode, shutter firing based on low vibration detection, and AF control via touchscreen when looking through viewfinder, among others)
• Large, heavy camera not designed for lightweight travel photography needs
• Above the price range of most hobbyists, even though it’s priced well for what you get

There are a few other minor pros and cons, and plenty of usability recommendations, that I’ve covered throughout this review. But those are the biggest ones that stand out to me from a 10,000-foot overview. You’ll notice that even though I’ve listed about a dozen “cons,” most of them are minor and won’t impact your daily photography with the Nikon Z9 much at all. Meanwhile, the list of pros is much more substantial.

There’s no such thing as a perfect camera, but with every firmware update, the Nikon Z9 inches closer to that mark. I think that this is one of the best two or three cameras on the entire market today, and it could be the best depending on your personal requirements. Nikon really made a winner here.

It helps that the Nikon Z9 is $5500. Yes, that’s expensive – and frankly more than most hobbyists should spend on a camera, considering how good the sub-$3000 market segment is these days (and the sub-$2000 segment, and the sub-$1000 segment…)

But $5500 is also the least expensive flagship-level camera ever from Nikon, adjusted for inflation. The Z9 even costs $1000 less than the competing Sony A1 and $500 less than the Canon EOS R3. That’s remarkable given the Z9’s massive feature set that matches the Sony and arguably exceeds the Canon. Nikon managed all this amid a supply chain crisis and rising costs almost everywhere on the world market.

But does that mean you should buy the Nikon Z9? As always, it depends on your situation. The Nikon Z9 will excel at nearly everything you can throw at it; that’s not the issue. The question instead is whether there’s a less expensive alternative that can do what you need, even if it’s not as complete of an all-around camera.

For landscape photographers, that alternative might be the Nikon Z7 II, which matches the Z9’s image quality and is portable enough to carry on long hikes. For wildlife photographers, that might be a used Nikon D500 or even D850, which both have Nikon’s excellent 153-point AF system. For portrait photographers, it could be anything down to the Nikon Z5 (and maybe even one of the DX cameras) so long as you pair it with the right lens, since Nikon’s face-tracking AF is excellent on all their Z cameras so far.

Even so, at the end of the day, there is no complete alternative to the Nikon Z9. This camera has features that make everything from slow-paced landscapes to near-instantaneous bugs in flight extremely smooth to capture. You’ll have to decide if that’s worth the Z9’s price and weight.

The Nikon Z9 definitely is not the camera for everyone, even if almost everyone seems to think it’s the camera for them. But I believe it is Nikon’s best overall camera ever, and more than that, I’d even say it’s a clear step above the previous contenders for that crown. Looking at the Nikon Z9, I’m very encouraged about Nikon’s future and what they have in store next for the Z system.

Where to Buy the Nikon Z9

The Nikon Z9 is finally starting to come in stock at most retailers, after more than a year where it was almost constantly out of stock. You no longer need to play the game of buying copies from multiple different retailers and then cancelling your orders when the first one ships. Even if the Z9 is out of stock at the major retailers when you happen to check, place the order anyway – judging by the current pace of things, it will ship within the month.

As you probably know, Photography Life is part of the B&H and eBay affiliate program, which is our second most important source of revenue for our ad-free website, only behind our member program. If you buy anything through one of the links below (not just the Z9), we receive back about 3% of the purchase price, without costing you anything extra. That may just be pennies when it comes to small camera accessories, but it adds up for big purchases like the Nikon Z9 (3% of $5500 is $165). If you found this review useful – all 30,000+ words of it! – and you intend to buy the Nikon Z9, you can thank us by using one of our links below:

• Nikon Z9 at B&H
• Nikon Z9 at Adorama
• Nikon Z9 at Amazon
• Nikon Z9 at eBay

If you don’t intend to buy the Nikon Z9 but still found this review valuable, you can use the same links above (or the sidebar “Best Deals” advertisement from B&H) to buy literally any camera equipment you need, and we’ll still get a commission that won’t cost you anything extra.

I’m glad you’ve taken the time to read this Nikon Z9 review at Photography Life! We’ll continue to provide ad-free, high-quality, long-form reviews like this in the future, and we couldn’t do it without readers like you.

On the next page, you can see some additional sample images that our team has taken with the Nikon Z9. So, click the menu below to go to the following page, “More Sample Images.”

Nikon Z9 (Firmware v3.0)

• Features
• Build Quality
• Focus Speed and Accuracy
• Handling
• Image Stabilization
• Battery Life
• Image Quality
• High ISO Performance
• Size and Weight
• Metering and Exposure
• Movie Recording Features
• Dynamic Range
• Stability
• Value

Photography Life Overall Rating

4.8