Nikon Z6 III Review: A Hybrid Camera for the Masses

Nikon’s latest Z6 The camera brings the camera maker’s top-end autofocus to a more reasonably priced, mainstream camera. In almost every respect, the new Z6 III matches or surpasses the company’s much pricier, top-end counterparts Nikon Z8.

While it’s not perfect, the Z6 III is one of those The best full-frame mirrorless cameras on the market, and it’s capable of handling any photographic situation most of us encounter. Landscape and wildlife professionals will probably stick with their Z8 for its high-resolution sensor, but for everyone else, it’s the Nikon to get.

Leaping forward

Nikon’s new Z6 III is a big upgrade over the previous version. It brings most of the flagship features of Nikon’s much more expensive Z8 and Z9 to the Z6 line.

Photo: Scott Gilbertson

The body design has been tweaked, although it’s not too different from the Z6 II. The camera weighs 1.7 pounds, which balances well even with large lenses, and Nikon’s grip is the largest I’ve used, making it comfortable and easy to carry. unlike The retro-inspired Nikon ZfThere aren’t a ton of external controls. There’s a dial to change shooting modes, along with other dials, buttons and scroll wheels, giving you plenty of customizable options you can set up to your liking, but it lacks the Zf’s film-inspired feel.

The flagship features of the Z6 III are the new, partially stacked sensor (more on that below), an updated, very fast and accurate 3D subject-tracking system, and ProRes encoding for video. There are also lots of great little updates that make everyday shooting a better, smoother experience.

The Z6 III has a new 24-megapixel CMOS sensor, which Nikon calls a “partially stacked” sensor, meaning you get some of the performance benefits of a stacked CMOS sensor, like those found in the Nikon Z8 and Z9, but not the downsides. , or at least less downsides. Stacked sensors stack the processing circuits on top of, ahem, the sensor itself (technically it’s behind the sensor), which means the RAM is connected directly to the sensor, making for incredibly fast readouts. This is what allows high-end cameras to shoot 12 RAW images per second without the viewfinder blacking out.

Photo: Scott Gilbertson