Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera review

Digital camera with support for interchangeable lenses

Nikon Z mount

• Z mount NIKKOR lenses

• F mount NIKKOR lenses with mount adapter; restrictions may apply

24.5 million

35.9 x 23.9 mm CMOS sensor (Nikon FX format)

25.28 million

Image Dust Off reference data (requires Capture NX-D), image sensor cleaning

• FX (36×24) image area: 6048 x 4024 (L: 24.3 million), 4528 x 3016 (M: 13.7 million), 3024 x 2016 (S: 6.1 million)

• DX (24×16) image area: 3936 x 2624 (L: 10.3 million), 2944 x 1968 (M: 5.8 million), 1968 x 1312 (S: 2.6 million)

• 1 : 1 (24×24) image area: 4016 x 4016 (L: 16.1 million), 3008 x 3008 (M: 9.0 million), 2000 x 2000 (S: 4.0 million)

• 16 : 9 (36×20) image area: 6048 x 3400 (L: 20.6 million), 4528 x 2544 (M: 11.5 million), 3024 x 1696 (S: 5.1 million)

• Photographs taken during movie recording at a frame size of 3840 x 2160: 3840 x 2160

• Photographs taken during movie recording at other frame sizes: 1920 x 1080

• NEF (RAW): 12 or 14 bit (lossless compressed, compressed or uncompressed); large, medium and small available (medium and small images are recorded at a bit depth of 12 bits using lossless compression)

• TIFF (RGB)

• JPEG: JPEG-Baseline compliant with fine (approx. 1 : 4), normal (approx. 1 : 8) or basic (approx. 1 : 16) compression; optimal quality compression available

• NEF (RAW)+JPEG: Single photograph recorded in both NEF (RAW) and JPEG formats

Auto, Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait, Landscape, Flat, Creative Picture Controls (Dream, Morning, Pop, Sunday, Somber, Dramatic, Silence, Bleached, Melancholic, Pure, Denim, Toy, Sepia, Blue, Red, Pink, Charcoal, Graphite, Binary, Carbon); selected Picture Control can be modified; storage for custom Picture Controls

XQD and CFexpress^*memory cards
* Type B CFexpress cards manufactured by Sony Corp., ProGrade Digital Inc. and Lexar® only. Operation is not guaranteed with cards from other manufacturers (as of February 2020).

DCF 2.0, Exif 2.31, PictBridge

1.27-cm/0.5-in., approx. 3690k-dot (Quad VGA) OLED with color balance and auto and 11-level manual brightness controls

Approx. 100% horizontal and 100% vertical

Approx. 0.8x (50 mm lens at infinity, -1.0 m^-1)

21 mm (-1.0 m^-1; from center surface of viewfinder eyepiece lens)

-4 to +2 m^-1

Automatically switches between monitor and viewfinder displays

Electronically controlled vertical-travel focal-plane mechanical shutter; electronic front-curtain shutter; electronic shutter

1/8000 to 30 s in steps of 1/3 or 1/2 EV, bulb, time, X200

X=1/200 s; synchronizes with shutter at 1/200 s or slower; auto FP high-speed sync supported

Single frame, low-speed continuous, high-speed continuous, high-speed continuous (extended), self-timer

• Low-speed continuous: 1 to 5 fps

• High-speed continuous: 5.5 fps

• High-speed continuous (extended): 12 fps (14-bit NEF/RAW: 9 fps)

2 s, 5 s, 10 s, 20 s; 1 to 9 exposures at intervals of 0.5, 1, 2 or 3 s

TTL metering using camera image sensor

• Matrix metering

• Center-weighted metering: Weight of 75% given to 12 mm circle in center of frame; weighting can instead be based on average of entire frame

• Spot: Meters 4 mm circle (about 1.5% of frame) centered on selected focus point

• Highlight-weighted metering

-4 to 17 EV

Auto; programmed auto with flexible program (P); shutter-priority auto (S); aperture-priority auto (A); manual (M); user settings (U1, U2, U3)

-5 to +5 EV in increments of 1/3 or 1/2 EV available in modes P, S, A and M

Luminosity locked at detected value

ISO 100 to 51200 in steps of 1/3 or 1/2 EV; can also be set to approx. 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 or 1 EV (ISO 50 equivalent) below ISO 100 or to approx. 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1 or 2 EV (ISO 204800 equivalent) above ISO 51200; auto ISO sensitivity control available

Can be selected from auto, extra high, high, normal, low or off

Add, average, lighten, darken

HDR (high dynamic range), photo mode flicker reduction

Hybrid phase-detection/contrast AF with AF assist

-2 to +19 EV (-4 to +19 EV with low-light AF)

• Autofocus (AF): Single-servo AF (AF-S); continuous-servo AF (AF-C); full-time AF (AF-F; available only in movie mode); predictive focus tracking

• Manual focus (M): Electronic rangefinder can be used

273 (single-point AF)

Pinpoint, single-point and dynamic-area AF (pinpoint and dynamic-area AF available in photo mode only); wide-area AF (S); wide-area AF (L); auto-area AF

Focus can be locked by pressing shutter-release button halfway (single-servo AF) or by pressing center of sub-selector

5-axis image sensor shift

Lens shift (available with VR lenses)

TTL: i-TTL flash control; i-TTL balanced fill-flash is used with matrix, center-weighted, and highlight-weighted metering, standard i-TTL fill-flash with spot metering

Front-curtain sync, slow sync, rear-curtain sync, red-eye reduction, red-eye reduction with slow sync, slow rear-curtain sync, off

-3 to +1 EV in increments of 1/3 or 1/2 EV available in modes P, S, A and M

Lights when optional flash unit is fully charged; flashes as underexposure warning after flash is fired at full output

ISO 518 hot-shoe with sync and data contacts and safety lock

i-TTL flash control, radio-controlled Advanced Wireless Lighting, optical Advanced Wireless Lighting, modeling illumination, FV lock, color information communication, auto FP high-speed sync, unified flash control

Auto (3 types), natural light auto, direct sunlight, cloudy, shade, incandescent, fluorescent (7 types), flash, choose color temperature (2500 K to 10000 K), preset manual (up to 6 values can be stored), all except choose color temperature with fine-tuning

Exposure, flash, white balance and ADL

TTL exposure metering using main image sensor

Matrix, center-weighted or highlight-weighted

• 3840 x 2160 (4K UHD); 30p (progressive), 25p, 24p

• 1920 x 1080; 120p, 100p, 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p, 24p

• 1920 x 1080 (slow-mo); 30p x4, 25p x4, 24p x5

Actual frame rates for 120p, 100p, 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p and 24p are 119.88, 100, 59.94, 50, 29.97, 25 and 23.976 fps respectively; quality selection available at all sizes except 3840 x 2160, 1920 x 1080 120p/100p and 1920 x 1080 slow-mo, when quality is fixed at ★ (high)

The following frame sizes, image areas and frame rates are available with RAW video recording:

• 3840 × 2160 FX; 30p, 25p, 24p

• 3840 × 2160 DX; 30p, 25p, 24p

• 1920 × 1080 FX; 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p, 24p

• 1920 × 1080 DX; 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p, 24p

MOV, MP4

H.264/MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding

Linear PCM, AAC

Built-in stereo or external microphone with attenuator option; sensitivity adjustable

• Auto ISO sensitivity control (ISO 100 to 51200)

• P, S, A: Auto ISO sensitivity control (ISO 100 to Hi 2) with selectable upper limit

• M: Auto ISO sensitivity control (ISO 100 to Hi 2) available with selectable upper limit; manual selection (ISO 100 to 51200 in steps of 1/3 or 1/2 EV) with additional options available equivalent to approx. 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1 or 2 EV (ISO 204800 equivalent) above ISO 51200

Can be selected from same as photo settings, extra high, high, normal, low or off

29 min. 59 s

Time-lapse movies, electronic vibration reduction, time codes, movie log output (N-Log), RAW output (paid service)

8-cm/3.2-in., approx. 2100k-dot tilting TFT touch-sensitive LCD with 170° viewing angle, approx.100% frame coverage, color balance and 11-level manual brightness controls

Full-frame and thumbnail (4, 9 or 72 images) playback with playback zoom, playback zoom cropping, movie playback, photo and/or movie slide shows, histogram display, highlights, photo information, location data display, picture rating and auto image rotation

Type C connector (SuperSpeed USB); connection to built-in USB port is recommended

Type C HDMI connector

Can be used with MC-DC2 and other optional accessories

Stereo mini-pin jack (3.5-mm diameter; plug-in power supported)

Stereo mini-pin jack (3.5-mm diameter)

• Standards: IEEE 802.11b/g/n/a/ac

• Operating frequency: 2412 to 2462/2412 to 2472 MHz (channel 11/13) and 5180 to 5825/5180 to 5805/5180 to 5320/5745 to 5805/5180 to 5700 MHz

• Maximum output power (EIRP): 2.4 GHz band: 7.4 dBm, 5 GHz band: 12.2/9.2 dBm

• Authentication: Open system, WPA2-PSK

• Communication protocols: Bluetooth Specification Version 4.2

• Operating frequency: 2402 to 2480 MHz (Bluetooth), 2402 to 2480 MHz (Bluetooth Low Energy)

• Maximum output power (EIRP): 1.9 dBm (Bluetooth), 0.4 dBm (Bluetooth Low Energy)

Approx. 10 m/32 ft without interference; range may vary with signal strength and presence or absence of obstacles

One EN-EL15b Rechargeable Li-ion Battery; EN-EL15a/EN-EL15 can also be used, but note that fewer pictures can be taken on a single charge and that charging AC adapter can be used to charge EN-EL15b batteries only

EH-7P Charging AC Adapter

EH-5c/EH-5b AC Adapter (requires EP-5B Power Connector, which is available separately)

1/4 in. (ISO 1222)

Approx. 134 x 100.5 x 67.5 mm/5.3 x 4 x 2.7 in.

Approx. 675 g/1 lb 7.9 oz with battery and memory card but without body cap; approx. 585 g/1 lb 4.7 oz (camera body only)

Temperature: 0 to 40°C/32 to 104°F; humidity: 85% or less (no condensation)

EN-EL15b Rechargeable Li-ion Battery, MH-25a Battery Charger, UC-E24 USB Cable, AN-DC19 Strap, BF-N1 Body Cap, DK-29 Rubber Eyecup, HDMI/USB Cable Clip, BS-1 Accessory Shoe Cover