Nikon z7 – one year of use

About on year ago, by mid of March 2020, there was an offer in Switzerland for the z7, with 24-70 f4 kit lens, FTZ adapter and 64GB Sony XQD card for about US$ 2960 after the tax back (7.7%). Since then I have taken about 30’000 images with the z7, mostly in and around Bangkok.

This review will be updated with more detail, but there’s one thing for sure: It’s a fantastic camera, despite the negative press it got from certain you-tubers.

Image quality

IQ (Image Quality) is stunning. The 45.7mp sensor delivers and is on par or better than all other sensors of the class. 8256 x 5504 pixels at its maximum resolution gives stunning detail, something I would not want to miss anymore.
Banding has been reported, and I have found it in a handful of my images, out of 30’000. However, it’s only visible if you fully crank up the exposure AND shadow recovery sliders in post processing. Unless your are looking for an over-processed, unnatural HDR style it won’t matter at all, in particular as not all images of a series are affected. Banding never caused any real issues for my photography, even when recovering shadows quite a bit.
ISO performance is excellent for a such a sensor. Coming from a Nikon D3, which I shot to a maximum of ISO 3200, I was surprised to find out that I can use the z7 to at least ISO 6400, if combined with the right noise reduction software. I use Capture One and Topaz Denoise AI for such high ISO imagery.
Images look very pleasing overall, RAW (NEF) straight out of camera, and I have to do much less editing compare to my previous cameras. My preferred picture control settings is standard, with colour saturation up one notch to do justice to the vibrant colours found in the tropics.

Little Gina, z7 with 24-70mm f4 at 6400iso, NR applied, eye as viewed at 100% (click to enlarge).

Video

Wrong number, please dial again. I’m not a video shooter. I record a few clips every now and then, and it looks gorgeous on my TV at home, but if you need to know what the z7 can or cannot do in terms of video you will have to look elsewhere.
I like what I see on my screens at home, don’t think I will ever need anything better than this, and am sure I could produce some very decent video with the z7, but not going to happen any time soon. I shoot stills.

Performance – AF, fps & burst

The Nikon z7 is maybe not the fastest camera out there, however it’s no slouch either. AF performance is definitely up to the task, even for erratic or fast moving subjects. I often shoot motorcycles and people, including kids, and don’t feel the z7 is trailing behind my previous body, the D3 sports shooter. The larger AF area, covering about 90% of the entire frame, allows for better and faster composition – as the different AF modes do.
Using the front function button (combined with the two main dials) allows for quick cycling through the A and area modes.
AF-S combined with single spot or dynamic AF for static and slow moving subjects, fully automatic area AF with face/eye detection for one person, or my favourites, area AF small/wide on AF-C, for anything that moves as speed. The technique used here is to pre-compose the image by moving the AF box to where the focus area should be in the final image, then keeping this box on the intended focus area of the subject (face, eye, head, hand, helmet, part of a vehicle, etc). This needs some practice, of course, but allows for control, which I prefer over fully automatic systems. If a person wants is buying something from a vendor on a market, where do I want the focus – on the vendor, customer, or perhaps even on the money changing hands? Which of the 35 motorcycles zooming away from a red traffic light in Bangkok to focus on? This is the level of control I want and area AF small/wide allows me to be in charge.

The newer z7 II has got area AF wide combined with face/eye detection, which I consider a very useful addition, more so than faster AF speed per se. This would be the primary reason for me to change to a Nikon z7 II – but I won’t as it doesn’t justify the extra expense. After all my first generation z7 still enables me to catch the moments I want to.

Burst speed is fine at 8fps (on H extended, with AF-C but exposure locked) for 14-bit lossless compressed NEF files for up to about 20 frames. The buffer clears fast and as I rather shoot in bursts of 3-8 frames with short intervals in between I have never ended up in a situation where I couldn’t take any more images. 5fps in H (with both AF-C and Exposure) suffices in most cases but I’m glad to have that bit of extra speed for fast moving action.
Bottom line is that the z7 delivers solid performance in all aspects for my use case. Other systems might be even faster and more automated, but if you know what you’re doing this is a highly capable camera in the speed and AF department.

Electronic viewfinder

An overall positive surprise. Well, not entirely surprised as I used my Nikon j5 via the rear LCD for five years previously. Thus I wasn’t really new to the advantage of previewing your image with exposure compensation applied while shooting. This is the big thing of a mirrorless camera: to be able to see the image as you shoot it, in this case in the EVF (electronic viewfinder) or on the LCD screen at the back of the camera. I over- and underexposure a lot, previewing my exposure in the EVF allows for much faster shooting as there is no more need to take the camera away from the eye. The preview is overall a tad too bright in my opinion, but one gets easily used to this and can reliably predict the result within a short period of time.

There are different modes for the EVF, with or without blackout. With blackout the experience is much like with a dSLR, at least at fast shutter speeds. Without blackout, called ‘silent photography’ in Nikon language (found in the ‘photo shooting menu’) the experience is varies and there certainly is room for improvement. While shooting in this mode the frame just shot is shown for a moment in the EVF. Thus when shooting fast bursts one sees essentially a ‘slide show’ of images instead of a flow. This stutter is a problem when shooting fast action, in particular when panning. Shooting short bursts of 3-4 frames helps here. Limitations are the readout speed of the sensor and the refresh rate of the EVF. This has been improved somewhat in the z7 II but the real game changer will be in new sensor technology and image processors, likely to be featured in the upcoming Z line flagship.

As a side note, there is use of the ‘slide show’ effect in situations involving long exposures/light trails. With the camera on a tripod and shooting moving traffic at low light the effect can be seen in the EVF. Shooting cars zooming across an intersection you can see the length of the trails of the lights and the blur of the vehicle right when shooting, and adjust accordingly.

The image in the EVF is large, bright and crisp, great for composing images. Despite the issues mentioned above I would not want to go back to an optical viewfinder as the advantages outweigh the short comings.

Ergonomics

It’s a Nikon, and it feels and handles like a Nikon which is good news if you’re already familiar Nikon. The hand grip was my concern at first as my hands are rather large and I was used to the pro-body of the D3 and F5. However, I was willing to give it a try, as the grip felt comfortable overall, the concern being really the little finger having no support at the bottom of the grip. The overall smaller body resulting in better portability turned out to be a great advantage for me, and the pinky position much less a problem than I expected. I was surprised how fast I got used to it, as the entire hand is positioned somewhat higher up compared to previous bodies, more ‘over the top’, to access the ISO and Exposure Compensation buttons.

The set back viewfinder is another plus, function buttons in front next to the lens mount are perfectly accessible, the focus ring on lenses set to exposure compensation and a single button for the ‘i’ menu or the switch on the rear to move between video or still mode complete the handling experience. This took longer to get used to, not because of the ergonomics per se, but rather as it was new land coming from the Nikon D3.
Considering the smaller size and weight savings this body is perfect for my use case, which involves carrying gear for hours on end, be it walking or cycling. For those who need absolutely need the vertical shutter release button the z6/7 II come with an optional vertical grip, for those who can’t get their pinky placed properly there are third part options, such as the Meike MK-Z7G.

Battery life

CIPA rating for the EN-EL15b battery is just 330 images. However, these numbers do usually not represent real life use and I easily get about 700 images per charge. If that’s not enough the battery is fairly small, at least compared to the EN-EL4a brick on my old D3, and carrying a spare is no problem. I much prefer to have two smaller batteries than one larger one. One in the bag and one in the camera, allows for a smaller body.

If one needs more power there is a battery grip (without controls) for the first generation Z series and one (with controls) for the second generation. The II series can be charged directly via USB with the battery in the camera as well, another improvement over the first edition. It takes quite a while to recharge the batteries with the supplied charger, so it is advisable to top up as soon as there is an opportunity if one runs low and expects some heavy use. The new EN-EL15c battery with 2280mAh offers about 20% more capacity and should therefore result in a somewhat higher number of images per charge.