List of Nikon Z9 continuous burst data by format and file size

The Nikon Z9 is the best mirrorless camera ever made, there's no doubt about it. The camera is so good, that the usual Nikon-haters are having a meltdown. So they're looking to find any fault to divert attention to that, and there's really not much to find. The latest attempt is the continuous burst in RAW, it is supposedly too small. So one Nikon fan on a forum posted a screen grab from Nikon Japan translated into English that shows all the RAW formats and what are the file sizes. If I had the Z9, I would probably shoot in RAW (high efficiency ★), because the quality is really close to lossless compressed, but a file is only 33 MB in size, which is outstanding, and you get over 600 shots in a burst. The RAW files on my 36 mpxl D810 are around 45-50 MB in size, so it's really amazing that the Z9 has a 45.7 mpxl sensor, but can offer RAW smaller in size. I'm so excited about Nikon's future. Here is the overview:

  

Nikon's growing mirrorless share is a success

Nikkei published an article about the 2019 ILC market share yesterday that was also reposted by other Japanese websites and blogs like デジカメinfo. The article was then scooped up by several English speaking photography blogs, who then used Google Translate and posted their articles on the topic, mainly bashing Nikon of course. That's a standard practice on most of these garbage sites. Since I have a background in trade and business, let me and my team of geeks crunch the numbers for you and explain why Nikon's numbers are a success. 

Youtuber JCristina doesn't understand the concept of OVF and EVF

JCristina (aka Joseph Cristina) is a small and not very known Youtuber that I stumbled upon recently. I watched one of his latest videos talking about the upcoming rumored Nikon Z5. I had to chuckle when I saw how he explained the OVF and EVF. At 5:32 he says: 

Remember, the EVF is our augmented reality. In the past we had our OVF, when you look through the camera you see out of the lens and what you see is not what you get, right? You had to actually set things before you got them right after the fact when you looked at the back, when you chimped at the back of the camera, right? Now the EVF is your augmented reality, virtual reality, however you set the camera up, when you look through the EVF, that's exactly what you gonna get when you pull the trigger. [...] What you see is what you get.

Here is the video that he made:

Olympus may sell camera business, but the Olympus brand won't die

Olympus, a famous yet in recent years declining camera brand, has announced today that the camera division may be sold to Japan Industrial Partners, Inc (JIP) by the end of the year. JIP is a Japanese investment firm that is most known for buying the Sony Vaio brand in 2014. Olympus as a company is doing fine, because its core business is in other fields like medicine, but their camera division, once their main division, is making loses for several consequtive quarters. This is what Olympus posted on their website: 

Response to Thom Hogan's article about Nikon's and Canon's DSLR strategy

Thom Hogan is a Nikon user manual writer, who is also known as a blogger that writes about cameras and the photography industry. He's often engaged in various photography forums, writing endlessly long comments and opinions. In one of his latest blog posts titled The DSLR Cash Cow is Alive For How Long? he laments the iterative updates by Canon and Nikon in the shape of their recent D780 and 1DX Mark III releases. In one of his initial paragraphs he says following:

What I'm seeing is the traditional Milk the Cow approach to the DSLR to mirrorless transition, and not an overly well done version of that, too. All the accountants in charge at Canon and Nikon appear to think that there's still "some money" left in the DSLR till they can extract, but they don't want to spend too much in money or effort to get it out.

Nikon D780, P950, 70–200mm f/2.8, 120-300mm f/2.8 prices

Nikon just launched a whole slew of exciting new products to kick off the new decade. If I could, I would of course love to have all of them, but these products are more high-end and hence the prices are also higher. The D780 in particular looks really great to me, but for now my trusty D810 is serving me well and I have no urgent need to buy a new camera. My next camera will probably be the Z6, but if one day my D810 breaks down, I would also consider to get the D780, because I am still a DSLR fan and have a plenty of native F-mount glass that I would not want to let go that easily. Here are the prices of all these products:

The Mirrorless Dilemma

I'm recently very into video and I spent a lot of time around Taipei shooting various videos and clips this month. That's one of the reasons why I neglected this blog, I was out shooting. But now the weather in Taipei is a bit cold and gloomy and I have more time to blog again. For a while now I'm interested in getting a mirrorless camera for video and stills. I love my D810 and would not want to let go of it unless it breaks down, but it would be nice to have a less bulky video camera that does 4K. We have a mall in Taipei where you can get a hands-on experience with various latest cameras, and I went to check out the Canon EOS RP, the Nikon Z6 and the Nikon Z50, three cameras that I find very interesting candidates for my needs.

Manny Ortiz, 'The biggest Sony shill on Youtube' decides to become 'honest'

"Hi, My name is Manny Ortiz, and I am the biggest Sony shill on Youtube" is the beginning of the latest video by photography Youtuber and now former Sony Ambassador Manny Ortiz. In a very frank video he explains why he's leaft the Sony Ambassador program, that uses popular photography Youtubers and other influencers to market their cameras and/or try to taint the reputation of other brands. Sony was pioneer in this regard. When they launched their A7 and A7R series of full frame mirrorless cameras in October 2013, they went aggressively into the (at that time) very nascent community of online influencers. In 2013 Youtube was far from being as big as it is today. The biggest channel on the platform at that time had something over 10 million subscribers. In 2019 there are over 400 channels with over 10 million subscribers. Instagram had 150 million active monthly users in 2013. In 2018 they surpassed a billion. The times have changed a lot, also in the photography gear influencer community.

Why Nikon Z7 and Z6 recall is a sign of great customer service

Nikon has recently issued a recall of some Z7 and Z6 cameras, saying "it has come to our attention that the vibration reduction (VR) feature in some Nikon Z6 and Z7 cameras may not function fully". Youtuber by the name Straight Out Of Camera has a message to fanboys and click baity Youtubers like the donation-begging Fuji shill the Angry Photographer for example. He argues that Nikon in contrast to Sony and especially Fuji, is taking care of their customers and fixing the issue right away instead of putting their head in the sand or blaming the users. He lists several past issues with Fuji cameras that were not addressed by Fuji.

If you are into photography, don't watch popular Youtubers

This will be hopefully my final post about photography channels on Youtube, and my issues with them, because I'm frankly tired of this topic, but I still feel compelled to get my message out one more time in a comprehensive way. I was one of the first blogs that made comprehensive lists of photography Youtubers (2016, 2017, 2018). Initially I had a plan to make a 2019 list, but then I decided not to do it, because I stopped watching them. It's just became so bad in only a few years that I completely changed my mind when it comes to this topic.

My Nikon Z7 hands-on experience

In this post I will share my opinion on the Nikon Z7 full frame mirrorless camera, and share my hands-on experience at the end of this post. I went to the Taipei Photography Exhibition last weekend, and really enjoyed it. The expo was very crowded, and Nikon's booth was the most visited, especially because of the new Z7 (there were long lines).

Excellent Nikon Z7 reviews by Ricci Chera

Ricci Chera is a member of the Nikon School UK, a team of people working for Nikon, that is conducting workshops and seminars in London. Privately he is a landscape and wildlife photographer (here is his Instagram). He's recently started his own YouTube channel "Ricci Talks", and has shared several video reviews of the new Nikon Z7 camera with real world testing. Let me share them with you here.

Excellent Nikon Z7 reviews by Stephan Wiesner in German

Stephan Wiesner is a German Youtuber with close to 100k subscribers, who is reviewing photography gear on his channel. He's also writing reviews on his blog, and publishing photography magazines in German language. He's also a landscape photographer, and is using Sony A7ii, Sony A6000 as well as Nikon D750. He likes all those three cameras for different reasons. Nikon Germany has recently approach him to review the new Nikon Z7 mirrorless full frame camera. He published several videos, from unboxing to real-life usage. Since the videos are in German, I will be translating some of his conclusions into English for you for a better understanding.

The downfall of The Angry Photographer: Lost all credibility

Back in 2015 I used to find Ken Wheeler (aka The Angry Photographer aka Theoria Apophasis), a Kentucky based commentary Youtuber, quite entertaining. In addition to that, I found he offered some value when it comes to old Nikkor lens recommendations. I started to watch him when planned to purchase my first Nikon DSLR, and was looking for my first lenses, and his videos were recommended by Youtube. I'm sure I wasn't alone in this. He used to be the guy who "went against the mainstream", and recommended old cheap used AI/AI-s and D-Series lenses by Nikon, instead of the expensive new modern lenses. He was controversial from the start, and often obnoxious in his videos, but that was fine. I didn't mind it at that time, it was kind of a quirky infotainment, which often delivered a nice chuckle and some grain of truth. As months passed by he started to put his face more in front of the camera (his first videos were anonymous), and his channel grew steadily in subscribers and video views. He started to get more and more haters and critics, but at the same time also more and more fans, because he was not only reviewing lenses anymore, he was also sharing various opinions on the camera industry in general, opinions on other Youtubers, and even on magnetism. In 2015-2016 his channel was still relatively small compared to others, and Ken, as eccentric as he was, still seemed somewhat genuine. In that period he started to like Fuji X cameras as well, and established himself as a Fuji & Nikon centric Youtuber. Some of his reviews from that time were widely well regarded, like his Nikon D500 and Fuji X-T2 review. These were thorough and informative, and offered a lot of value to his viewers.

DSLR cameras outsold compact cameras for the first time, still outselling mirrorless

There is this divide among photography enthusiasts, where online warriors place themselves into 2 camps: The mentally unbalanced people who are ardently pro mirrorless (usually Sony fans), and everybody else (people who tend to see things as they are - complex). For the past 5-6 years there is a real mirrorless hype mainly driven by Sony fanboys and their artisans (who are some of the most annoying people on the internet, to be honest).

Fujifilm X100T camera longterm review

The Fuji X100T was quite a revered and hyped up camera when I bought one in August 2016, but it was close to the end of life, as its successor the X100F was already rumored (it was launched in January 2017). I paid 29,000 NTD for it, which was at that time around 920 USD (the MSRP of a new X100T at launch was 1300 USD). The reason for that is that I got a grey market version. At that time I did not know that a new model is coming out, and I also did not care much - I wanted this camera after reading so many great online reviews, because I looked for a smaller compacter camera for travel, so that I did not need to lug around my heavier Nikon kit (D7100 and lenses). The initial excitement quickly faded away and I ended up selling the camera. Let me tell you why further below, but first let’s look at the key specs.

The problem with Sony mirrorless cameras

A while ago I was almost buying a Sony mirrorless camera. The geek that I am, I was totally excited over the at that time new Sony A7Rii, a 42 megapixel full frame mirrorless camera, that offers features like internal 4k video, in-body AF, and 399 on-sensor Phase Detection points, but also comes with a staggering price tag 3200 USD (in Taiwan at that time 99,500 NTD, a tiny bit less). This was way above what I wanted to spend for a camera, and it did not even include a lens, but I was excited and would not let go of the idea. The hype online was huge, from international Youtube channels to Taiwanese tech reviews, this was the camera of the year for many people, who were at the same time proclaiming the death of DSLRs, as well as Nikon and Canon. If the A7Rii cost half of the price, I would probably buy it without putting much thought into it, but since Sony wanted me to pay over 100,000 NTD for a camera with lens, I just couldn't help but make a careful analysis on whether this substantial investment really makes sense for me. Here I want to share some of my reasoning, that made me decide against Sony mirrorless, and why I went back to a solid good old DSLR.