where there’s smoke there’s fire

Nikon Z8 field report by Marsel van Oosten (website | facebook | twitter | instagram | flickr | 500px | previous guest posts on NR):

Introduction

Last month, I spent two weeks on the frozen sea ice along the coast of Baffin Island, Canada, searching for female polar bears who had just emerged from their dens with their newborn cubs. Knowing that encounters would likely not be closer than 100 meters, I decided the new Nikkor Z 600/4.0 TC VR S would be the perfect lens for this project. Luckily, Nikon was able to provide me with one, and they gave me the new Nikkor Z 400/4.5 VR S lens to try out — the smallest and lightest 400mm prime in its class.

When I arrived at Nikon HQ to collect the lenses, a surprise awaited: a prototype of the new Nikon Z8 to test in the high Arctic. Needless to say, I was excited to try it out. This has been an eagerly awaited addition to the Nikon mirrorless lineup, and all I knew were the many online rumors. None as outrageous as my April Fools Z9 Field Report spoof, but still just rumors.

This field report is about my initial impressions of the Z8 and my experiences in the field. I will also write about my experiences with the 600 and the 400, but I will do that in a separate article.

Baffin Island is the world’s fifth-largest island and part of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It’s larger than all but two US states, but the population density is only 0.03/km2. Not surprisingly, the living conditions on Baffin are challenging, to say the least.

Canada is home to over 60% of the world’s polar bears, and Baffin can be considered polar bear central. It includes more subpopulations than any other place on Earth. Of the 19 subpopulations, 5 of them are within Baffin Island.

April is the time that polar bear mums and their newborn cubs emerge from their dens during a period of just four weeks. That creates a very small window of opportunity to find and photograph them. But this trip was not only about finding polar bears with cubs — the spectacular mountainous landscape of Baffin is littered with giant icebergs frozen in the sea ice and makes for great landscape photography.

First impressions

Even though the concept behind the Z8 is different from the Z7 and the Z9 and is positioned accordingly, I will compare the three because it will be easier to understand what the Z8 is all about.

My first impression of the Z8 was that it felt like a more compact and lightweight version of my D850. I have always praised Nikon’s ergonomics; the Z8 does not disappoint. The grip feels great in my hand. I love my Z7, but I very much prefer the beefier grip on the Z8.

On the Z7, with my index finger on the shutter button, I can barely fit three fingers around the grip. On the Z8, there is a bit more space for those three fingers, which makes the camera feel more balanced in my hand. Nothing beats the Z9 in terms of balance and grip, but considering the much more compact size of the Z8, it feels really good. While shooting in extremely cold conditions, I realized this extra grip makes a big difference when handling your camera with gloves. The Z7 was more difficult to grab and operate with gloves.

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