These flagship mirrorless cameras from Nikon have received a major update! The body and ergonomics remain very similar, but there are some important updates to the internal hardware. The main update for video specs is the ability to shoot 4K at 60 frames per second. Both bodies can do it, but the Z6 II crops to an APS-C size, and the Z7 II crops to a 1.08 size. Both still shoot 4K at 30 fps using the whole width of the sensor.
Both Mark II cameras will do 10-bit N-Log or HDR (HLG) output to an external recorder (such as a Atomos Ninja V), with ProRes RAW already installed, and Blackmagic RAW to come with a future release. Blackmagic RAW support is expected early next year in 2021.
The sensors remain the same in both the Z6 II and Z7 II. However, that doesn’t mean there’s no improvement. The Z6 had “just” a single Expeed 6 processor. Now the Mark 2 has dual Expeed 6 processors! The Z7 II also receives the same upgrade. With double the processing power, both can shoot faster, acquire focus quicker, and write faster to both cards.
Yep, two cards! Both cameras now have dual card slots, one still being a CFexpress/XQD slot, and finally a more common memory type, the standard SD card. The Z6 II can shoot up to 14 photos per second (using 12-bit RAWs and a single AF point), while the Z7 II can now shoot up to 10 fps. With an increase in stills per second, the SD card slot also supports the faster, and much needed UHS-II standard. The buffer sizes have doubled from the original cameras too.
Doubling the number of processors in any electronic device sounds good, and with the dual Expeed 6 processors, there’s faster autofocus speeds. Nikon has worked hard at refining the algorithms as well. The largest improvement in speed is with the face and eye-detect autofocus. It now works wide area AF mode, which means you can slim down the range at which the camera will do eye/face AF. It also works up to -4.5 EV, which is an improvement of a whole 1 EV from the older models.
Most of the other features on the camera remain the same. General design and ergonomics are also the same. It’s no disappointment, why fix what isn’t broken? They’re due in November, so preorder yours now.