Image Quality Differences Between Nikon Z6 and Z6II
OK so let me begin this post with a disclaimer: This is by no ways a scientific or technical post, but rather my personal thoughts and experience on the topic.
Onto the main topic - I feel that there is a difference in image quality between my Z6 and my Z6II. It’s subtle, but can be observed on quite a regular basis, with the Z6 giving ever so slightly sharper and more detailed images as compared to the Z6II.
I haven’t really seen anyone comment on this before, so thought I'd put my thoughts out to see if anyone feels the same way.
Now I remember when the original Z6/Z7 duo were released, the whole internet (OK exaggerated but you get the point) was up in arms regarding how bad the shadow banding was when you lifted exposure by 5-stops.
However when the Mark II's were out, most claimed that the issue was solved and shadow banding was not present, or if so, very negligible in most cases.
Personally when I got my Z6, the banding was the least of my concerns as I don’t jack up my exposure in post that much; on the contrary I was surprised how detailed and crisp my images were as compared to the higher MP D800 I was using prior, which I think is mainly due to the lack of AF misalignments and stabilization of my prime lenses with the Z bodies.
I’ve since added a Z6II (as well as a Z7, but let’s leave that out of the discussion today) to my kit as well, and after a year of using the Z6 and Z6II in tandem, I feel that the Z6II lacks just a little extra crisp that the Z6 is able to produce.
On paper they seem to be using identical sensors with the same number of PDAF sensors, running on the same generation processors (albeit with the Mark II having dual processors), but some circumstantial evidences got me thinking that something has changed between them.
Solving the problem of shadow banding problem could have been done via algorithmic interpolation, which means the raw files are slightly more “cooked” than the original Z6.
When Capture One Pro first supported Z6II's files, there was an issue with files being noisier than expected (which was addressed as incorrect noise handling and fixed in 15.1.0), which seems to suggest that the demosaicing algorithm is slightly different from the Z6.
Change of production facilities might have caused a change in the materials used for the AA filters and PDAF masking (note that I’m not saying one facility is better than the other, just being objective that a change in location would most probably mean a change in materials used)
Shutter mechanism seems different between the two bodies based on the sound they produce
Perhaps these small changes here and there might have led to some differences in image quality coming out from both cameras?
As I mentioned earlier this is not a technical post, just some thoughts based on my experiences, so there’s definitely a chance that I’m overthinking things and all this is just a weird concoction of jibberish conclusions.
On an ending note, just in case anyone's interested - yes the AA-filterless Z7 triumphs the Z6 hands down in terms of details and clarity, though I don’t own a Z7II (yet) to compare directly to.