Nikon Z6III Initial Impressions and Thoughts

20 Jun

Written By MJ

Yesterday I had a chance to drop by Nikon Plaza Tokyo to handle and fiddle around with the Z6III in the touch-and-try experience corner.

There were quite a number of people, like me, who are interested in trying the camera out, so while it was not crowded to the point of having long snaking queues, entry to the Z6III experience corner was limited to several people at a time in 10-minute blocs. Re-entry is possible, so if there are extra features that you want to try out you could just get back in line for another session. Personally I did two rounds in the experience corner as there were several features that I wanted to check and test out, and spent quite a bit of time around the showroom’s general area talking to the staff about the camera as well.

As a quick side note, with the exception of devices labelled as “sample” or “pre-production” units, you could bring the photography data back home if you have your own memory card with you. I did not expect them to allow this so I actually did not have any cards with me at that time…

Before I go on to talk about the camera itself, just want to give my thanks and appreciation to the ground staff at the Z6III experience corner - they were all keen to share more about the camera and design decisions, and were more than willing to answer any queries that we had. For more complicated questions that they were not able to answer on the spot, they wasted no time to contact the relevant department or staff to get clarification for us. Overall it was an absolutely pleasant experience to learn more about the camera.

So, on to the camera itself, here are my initial impressions of the camera based on my time with it as a stills photographer:

The new EVF is stunning and amazing when viewing it in person - it is bright, like really bright, and also crisp with details due to the higher pixel count. The wider color gamut covered by this new EVF also helps make things look closer to real-life colors when viewing through the EVF.
The partially-stacked sensor, coupled with Expeed 7, does show its prowess in the AF department. It tracks moving subjects fast and accurately (although in the experience corner it was limited to a toy train running around a circular track), and for backlit situations or low-light situations the Z6III definitely hunted less and locked on more confidently.
IBIS definitely feels very much improved and refined. As I was fiddling around with the 105/2.8 VR S macro lens and the 24-120/4S, the image in the finder looks very stable without much wobbling, and while not a scientific test, I would say it gives at least a 1-stop advantage over its predecessor.
The mechanical shutter sounds and feels different. It seems like perhaps they improved the vibration dampening of the shutter as it sounds softer and gentler (similar to how the D810 shutter felt like to the D800 shutter) - certainly nice to have to counter shutter shocks.
While the overall dimensions of the camera is kept pretty much similar, the grip itself has been redesigned to be taller by having a bit of protrusion at the top, and with a bit of extra depth too. This makes handling it much more ergonomic, and while it would not solve the dangling pinky problem for everyone, at least for me it feels more comfortable when holding it with heavier lenses.
The new material used for the camera makes it feel more Z8-ish than Z6-ish, which I think is a good thing as it feels more robust in hand.
The top control panel also looks more Z8-ish than Z6-ish, with some basic information displayed on it even when the camera is turned off.
There is a button beside the top control panel to illuminate it, but there are no back-lit buttons so that button only serves to illuminate the top control panel.
High ISO images look impressive with the default in-camera NR enabled.
The new flexible color picture control, which builds on the classic picture controls by adding more complex color grading and color blending tools, seems like a really powerful and useful tool for not just JPG shooters, but also RAW shooters to grasp an idea on how an image would turn out based on a set of preferred color and tone curve settings. I actually like this feature and its unique implementation. (Will write a separate article for this Detailed writeup about the function here)

So to briefly summarize the Z6III based on my short time with it, the Z6III is definitely a huge step-up from the Z6II with slew of improvements across the board, such as a much better AF system, higher build quality and more comfortable ergonomics, together with innovative introductions like a wide gamut EVF and flexible color picture controls.

Next is a list of some other observations regarding the Z6III that were more intangible, as well as suggestions and opinions on them:

The Z-GR1 extension grip does have its screw and anti-twist spigot in proper distances and can be attached to the bottom of the Z6III, but it is not a perfect fit at all as the grooves on the front of the Z-GR1 to hug the bottom of the Z6/Z6II does interfere with the slightly broadened base of the Z6III. You could file off the grooves if you really want to use it on the Z6III I guess.
The list of customizable buttons and functions that can be customized is more in-line with that of the Z6II than Z8 - noticeable omissions are “Recall Shooting Functions”, “Cycle AF-area mode”, “Delete” (playback function). And the illumination button beside the top control panel is not programmable too. It seems like a firmware update away to add such features to the camera, and I do hope the custom function from the flagships do trickle down since the Z6III itself already have lesser physical buttons.
I did not have any cards with me so I was not able to do any buffer test. But according to Ricci Talks, using a CFe card there is practically unlimited buffer even when shooting in lossless raw at 20fps. Seems like the memory stream and/or Expeed 7 pipeline is more in line with the Z8/Z9 architecture and the smaller file sizes of the 24MP sensor would not cause the buffer to break any sweat at all.
The flexible color picture control would actually be really at home with the retro-styled Zf, and so I foresee a firmware update than would bring that to all the Expeed 7 cameras.

It is no doubt that the Z6III brings a lot to the table as compared to its predecessor, but with the Z6III having a much higher launch price here in Japan as compared to its predecessor, and an expected price drop of the older Z6II once the Z6III is officially launched, it makes the situation slightly more complicated here, especially when you start factoring in used Z8s that are on the market now.

Personally I am still on the fence whether to get the Z6III or not. No doubt the better low light AF and smaller files are certainly helpful in my work, and especially the flexible color picture profile would be handy to have for assignments where I have to deliver in JPG immediately, but at this price I do expect at least more customization options in line with the higher end bodies.