Z6III Official Teaser and Release Date Announcement

In line with most predictions and speculations (my brief writeup of it here), a couple of nights ago Nikon dropped a teaser video about the upcoming Z6III, which now has been given an official release announcement date: 17th June 2024 9PM JST.

There are many discussions around and dissecting of the information based on that short teaser video (Nikon Rumors’ post on the teaser can be accessed here), which frankly is amazing to me regarding what can be inferred from a short video teaser!

Anyway, from the official quotes in the teaser video, I think the Z6III will definitely include the pre-capture function. The Z8/Z9, as well as the more recent Zf do have this feature too, although it is limited to JPG captures only right now. While it is not a feature that I would be using frequently, I do hope RAW pre-capture is possible (and the other bodies getting it via a FW update) as it would bring better value and use case for the feature.

There’s mention of beautiful colors of the files, which led to speculations of higher dynamic range in raw files or more LUT controls for videos, and the mention of better visibility in bright situations should be a sign the viewfinder and/or back display is seeing an upgrade for better usability in daytime shoots.

There is some debate as to whether the screen is a tilt-screen (either the Z6/Z7-style or the Z8/Z9-style), or a flippy screen (the Zf-style), and to be honest from the teaser video either is still probable at this stage since the angle the shot was taken did not show anything too conclusive. Given its video-oriented specs, I do supposed a flippy-screen of some sort should make its way into the final design of the Z6III, but as a mainly stills shooter I really hope that if an articulating screen was implemented they could do it similar to the A7RV style so that at least for horizontal stills the screen and the viewfinder are still centered with the lens.

But two physical specifications were quite clear from the teaser video - there is a PASM dial in a similar location to that of the current Z6II, and it comes with a rectangular slide-in eye-cup rather than the circular ones. Personally I have no issues with this since I am already used to the same handling and form-factor of the Z6II, though I do really hope that the official Z-GR1 grip which I am using now still works with the new body.

While we would still have to wait until the official release for detailed specifications and changes to be confirmed, I do hope to see at least a couple more teasers before the announcement next week to have a small taste of what else is in stores for us!