Nikon Z7
£3,399/$3,397 (body only)
Nikon’s announcement of its new full-frame mirrorless models (see In Focus, page 110) has set the camera world alight. You don’t have to be a Nikon fan to see why: they mean Sony no longer has the full-frame mirrorless camera market to itself – and with Canon joining the fray with its own full-frame mirrorless competitor, there are exciting times ahead.
The Nikon Z6 will be a more affordable 24-megapixel model aimed at enthusiasts, while the Z7 we’re reviewing here (and available now) is the 45.7-megapixel flagship model.
The full-frame CMOS sensor in the Z7 sounds very similar to the one in the Nikon D850 DSLR. The difference here is that Nikon has built in a sophisticated on-sensor phase-detection system. Its 493 phase-detection AF points cover 90% of the image area and work in combination with a conventional contrast autofocus system. It’s a pretty spectacular-sounding setup for a first attempt at full-frame hybrid autofocus; Nikon certainly appears to have hit the ground running.
Also new is an in-camera image stabilisation system (IBIS). This is another first for Nikon, as all of its previous interchangeable lens camerasthe benefit of the new 5-axis, 5-stop VR system, even with non-VR lenses.
