Customer Ratings & Reviews

Have owned the Z9 for the past 2 to 3 years now. I shoot professionally and also shoot for personal use. I have shot with Sony, Canon and other brands. The Z9 is absolute top. With its firmware updates, the associated glass that you can couple with from Nikon, the GPS function, and its robust body with the usual capabilities of bird eye AF, and the other numerous AF settings and the long lasting battery life, its a pro's dream. I have had ZERO issues using the Z9. This camera body will last me for YEARS...its the flag ship for a reason and it definitely holds its weight. Highly recommend and would not hesitate to purchase through Best Buy.

Upgraded from D500 to Z9 - what a beast! It's definitely live up to it's hype for me. I only shoot wildlife and the auto focus and 20FPS are complete game changer that make my D500 seem really outdated. Overall I would say that if you own any other Z camera you would surely appreciate Z9 as it is just better in many many ways.

The new autofocus modes, electronic shutter, focus speed, form factor (even though it is a bit bulky) is good. 8K/4K RAW is a bonus

This is my first mirrorless camera, but I have used Nikon gear since 1979. My current DSLR is D500 and D6 (wow DSLR camera). When I received my Z9 it was in firmware 2.0. Within 7 months Nikon has upgraded the firmware twice, now at 3.0. All upgrades have improved this exciting camera. Upon receipt of the Z9 from Best Buy in April, I set it up as I had my D6 camera. I used it that way for a couple weeks to learn and get accustomed to the camera. Z9 is an amazing camera! I've grown with it, now pretty much mastered the extensive (and growing with updates) menu.. So many advancements over the D6, stunning success. I use it with the older AF-G series lenses I own and have bought a couple Z lenses. Using the FZT-II the camera will accept older AF lenses and preform spot on. I am a photographer, and as of now have not made a video. I will learn video soon. Totally recommend this Z9 camera, 100%

It’s probably the best Nikon camera I’ve ever used after being fortunate to own a couple of flagship cameras as a photojournalist. I’ve noticed a lot of keepers due to its remarkable autofocus accuracy and speed, especially in sports photography. The camera feels “lighter” compared to its Nikon D4-6 brothers, but retains its substantial feel in the hand. I ordered the camera on Oct. 20 with the help of some of the great folks at the Danvers branch in Massachusetts! Shoutout to Brandon and the others. I highly recommend Best Buy’s camera trade-in program to offset a portion of the price. I traded-in my Nikon D4s (actually for a good deal) for the Z9. You won’t be disappointed!

Amazing camera! Been shooting Nikon for 13 years and have been doing commercial work for several years now and this is definitely an all in one camera. I do a lot of concert/ live theatre shoots and auto focus is amazing! Worth the purchase!

Eyes focus are on point!Nikon does well engineering this mirrorless body but quality controls are not so good.My Z9 get advisory service for lens release button when it only two weeks old.

Z9 iso can never match what a nikon D5 can give. Its a great upgrade but know if you own a Nikon D5 or 6 you will have to keep both.

Nikon finally makes its voice heard, in the mirrorless world, with this flagship camera. I photograph birds and wildlife and have been mirrorless through the Z6 and Z6ii & Z7ii with the hopes that updates would make those cameras AF systems optimal for fast moving subjects. That never happened (at the time of this review) but I can honestly say this camera (The Z9) is exactly what I was waiting and hoping for. While the AF is very fast at acquisition and very sticky to the eye of your target it's not flawless. My only small complaint seems to be an overall mirrorless tech problem of getting stuck locked on a very busy background and can't seem to jump back to your target in a handful of instances. An inconvenience that a twist of the manual focus dial will get you out of, but an annoyance, none the less. Everything else about the AF is amazing. Ergonomics are very nice. Everything fits in the hands nicely and the button placements feel natural. Menu system is VERY deep and customizable so plan on a little time setting this thing up. It's a little on the heavy side but balances really well with all the lenses I've put on it. It's actually magical with the "F" mount 500pf f5.6 lens in that the AF is faster than my old 500mm f4 on any "F" mount body I had it on at that time. A HUGE noticeable difference with this lens from the Z7ii. Any of the native Z mount lenses give you the extra stabilization and silent operation. It's quite impressive how quiet and fast this camera is. The 20fps almost seem too much at times but it's nice to have it available in those instances where a split second is the deal breaker in getting THAT shot or not. I've often just kept it down to 10fps for the most part. Photos look beautiful and this camera takes pretty acceptable photos at really high ISO's with the help of some editing software. Good job Nikon. This camera is priced at a VERY good deal. If you can afford it, this camera lives up to all the hype. Get one, if you can find it in stock.

A few years back, I did a lot of research before getting into mirrorless. In the end I picked Nikon and the Z6ii, even though they had fallen a bit from their heyday. I sure am loving that choice now! While I love and will keep the Z6ii, it was a bit lacking in sports autofocus. The Z9 absolutely kills it, though. I'm throwing out more action pics now than I used to keep, as the speed of this camera really allows me to get the perfect shot. Despite the size, I don't have much trouble with the weight, even with the Z 70-200 lens attached all day. Battery life is great too. Absolutely love it!

Beast is all I can say for this thing. I had in someway wished I waited for the Z8 to get which has a smaller foot print, but for the majority of the shooting I do, this is a great camera. I maybe one of the few crazy people, but I sold my Sony a1 and all my gear to move back to Nikon. I wanted when I purchased my Sony gear 3 years ago to move into the Z7 lineup, but the AF never impressed me. Is the Nikon Z9 as good as the Sony AF, maybe not, by a small amount, but the ability to have all the custom buttons on the face and hand off focus points, is amazing. Added to the fact the CF Express B is so much cheaper than the Sony CF A cards, it is worth it just in that alone. Only been shooting with this since April, but I am happy and wished I there was stock on the shelves (and firmware 2.0+) when I moved to the A1. Yes 30FPS is cool, but I always stayed at 20 on the Sony just to reduce the amount of review time. Do I miss my 200-600 with 1.4 TC, yes the 100-400 with 1.4 is not the same, but close. Hard part and why I moved to Nikon Z9 was the amount of lower cost F glass out there in 500mm range and up. There is crap for selection in the Sony ecosystem unless you want to pony up a small fortune for the 600 F4 for 13K. I wanted to in the worst way but could never bring myself to that. Maybe 6.5K for the 800 PF, but even that is a more specialized lens, though with my 200-600 + 1.4 on the Sony, I spent alot of time at 840mm at F9.... Of the 3 brands, Nikon does a much better job of firmware upgrades. The Sony model to buy a new camera every 2 years and I would rather have something like the Z9 getting incremental upgrades versus needing to buy another body to get functionally and loose thousands of dollars in the process. For a hobby shooter like me, the 20FPS and the CF Express B cards is all I will probably ever need.

Sensor is extremely similar to D850, which is a good thing. I miss through the lens view quality, but the real time depth of field, exposure, black out free shooting, 20 FPS at full RAW quality, IBIS, better ISO performance, 120FPS @ 11 MP, Z mount/lenses, AI eye tracking focus that nails 95%+ of eye focus @ F1.4, and 8K in camera 12bit Nlog all put it absolutely over the top. A tremendous camera, any way you slice it. Very impressed. Only real down side is that it is big and heavy, which I prefer as it operates as a grip for large and heavy lenses.

This is finally a proper all round best Mirrorless camera which feels amazing to hold - perfect ergonomics and amazing build quality - for DSLR upgraders. All buttons are high quality to touch and placed at perfect reach. (Its like having that perfect keyboard under your hands) Image quality is at its best. Balance of ISO performance and Megapixel count is perfect. Its unthinkable how far image processing engines have come in last decade. Expeed processor performs outstanding and is quite efficient. Battery lasts all day with mix of pictures and video usage. Color rendition of JPEGs and videos out of box is fine for majority of work. 10-12 bit internal videos adds so much dynamic range and are super crisp that 33MP photo from a video is totally possible many times :) Ability to shoot ProRes is quite handy. HLG transfer function in 10bit is also very useful for quick HDR videos not needing much grading. Not having a requirement of external monitors to record in high bits allow to have more unique capture angles due to smaller form factor in comparison. Z mount feels much bigger than F. Benefits of that must be contributing to sharp videos and images as well! Recent service advisory for lens release button is affecting a specific batch of cameras which Nikon is fixing free of cost. Sending camera back and waiting for it to come back is a pain especially if you received from Best Buy just two weeks ago. Otherwise definitely a recommended camera as of today.

I’ve now used the Z9 for numerous sporting events, weddings and studio portraits. Autofocus, files ergonomics, battery life are all superb. Firmware update turn a great product to an even better one. The 120 fps EVF helps fast action. The custom zones are useful and can be utilized similar to D6 customization. Video features like 4k 120 and oversampled 4k look great. Haven’t used raw video yet. Hopefully the fractional shutter speeds are coming in the future because there can be rare banding in some challenging lighting.

This is about as good as it gets. Perfect photos, very speedy and great ergonomics. You are paying a lot but also getting a lot

I have a Z6 II and wanted another camera body for wildlife with a more responsive AF. This camera has more features than I need but the AF has been a definite upgrade for birds. I get higher hit rate even though I'm using it with a 3rd party telephoto lens. The fps is very impressive, and I've only been using 15 fps. I've been using a 128gb Delkin CFexpress card, which has worked well. Since I was familiar with the Z6 II, I didn't go through much of a learning curve in using this camera. The large file size is actually too much for me to deal with in postprocessing, but if I ever start shooting landscapes with it, I'm sure I'll appreciate it more. It will be interesting to see how the AF performs when Nikon finally releases a 200-600mm. Very happy with the purchase

This camera is a power house ,autofocus is next level for the most complex tracking of objects or animal,this camera is meant for professionals photographers who want the absolute best from Nikon,the only con is that it is heavy,if you’re a wedding or event photographer you’ll feel it after a few hours holding that beast

I’ve been waiting for this camera for a long time. Well worth the wait. Lives up to all my expectations and reviews on this camera are excellent. One of the best cameras of the year, you won’t be disappointed.

The flagship Z9 shares the professional, rugged handling of my D4 but with a quantum leap in image quality and performance. It's amazing what a decade of technology and camera design can deliver to enhance the capabilities of a photographer! I'm also ALL IN with the amazing Nikkor Z lenses, and will be retiring my older F-mount lenses which have served well for the past 20+ years. My Z6 will become my second/backup body, and for more casual use thanks to the compact size. Kudos also to Best Buy for delivering my Z9 within 2 weeks of US availability. (Instagram @ericg_photo)

Very impressed with the Z9... it is all it is advertised to be and more. Coming from using a D800 for 10 years, there is a big difference. Right now, I am using the Z9 with an FTZii adapter with my "G" lenses, so there is not much of a weight difference compared to the D800, even when using the D800 without a grip. I have only been shooting with the camera around the house at this point, trying to setup the shooting menus to what I shoot and my style of shooting, and seeing what the results are and changing as needed. Is this a great camera... yes it is, and I am happy I decided to purchase one.