Nikon's Z9 mirrorless is official: new full-frame flagship in development

Just a couple of days ago a Nikon executive teased us about a new full-frame mirrorless flagship that would "surpass" the Nikon D6 DSLR – now the camera maker has made it official.

The company has announced the development of the Nikon Z9 that, going by the press image (pictured above), looks very much like the Nikon pro-level DSLR sports cameras. So it's highly likely the Z9 will take over from the D6, making it the last DSLR of its kind.

The announcement has almost no details on the upcoming camera's specs and capabilities, but it does confirm Keiji Oishi's (Nikon's Department Manager of the Imaging Business Unit) previous statement of a newly developed stacked FX sensor. Nikon has also confirmed that the Z9 will boast 8K video capabilities.

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No other details about the upcoming camera has been revealed, not even its sensor resolution, although Nikon Rumors speculates it might be a high-resolution 60MP or 50MP option.

Rumors also suggest that it might match the autofocus performance of the Sony A9 II, and a newly developed imaging engine could take its burst speed up from 14fps to 20fps. The new chip might also explain the camera's 8K shooting capabilities, but no video specs have been announced as yet. Nikon Rumors, however, suggests that the camera will be able to shoot 8K/30p and 4K/120p.

A new user interface is rumored to be coming with the Z9, but all this is just speculation right now.

Nikon hasn't offered a specific timeline for the Z9's release, although it is expected to arrive in the last quarter of this year. Nikon has promised to release more information on the camera at a later date, so we'll just have to wait and see how much the Japanese camera maker can pack into the Nikon Z9.