Nikon Z Leapfrog

Nikon's release of the mirrorless Z-series back in August was greeted with mixed opinions. Most were pointing out that Nikon was "late to the mirrorless party" and "lagging behind Sony" who had the head start. And most were comparing autofocus and battery life performance against the competition. While the comparisons were not bad for Nikon, the fact is that they are not that meaningful. Sure, comparing the A7R-III vs the Z7 shows the latter still needs some homework to be done in the autofocus or battery department. But that all can be fixed. In this model, by improving the software, or in later models by improving teh software and the hardware.

What most people seemed to overlook was the importance of the new Z-mount.

The lens mount is by far the most difficult part of an interchangeable lens camera to change. You cannot do it every year. Well, you even should not be doing this every 10 years. Actually the Z's predecessor, the F-mount was introduced in 1959. That is 60 (yes, sixty!) years ago. The design and  stability of the F-mount led to the development of the absolutely impressive lineup of lenses.

A mount defines the fundamental limits for lens design. For the F-mount, with 44mm diameter and 46.5mm flange, the limit is f/1.4 when using a full frame sensor. And now we have learned the Z-mount with the 55mm diameter and 16mm flange can go up to f/0.65, which is something unheard of in this category... f/0.65 is over 2-stops faster than f/1.4. This is the leap Nikon has made with the Z-series.

Speaking of Sony, at the Leica/Panasonic/Sigma L-mount Alliance launch we learned the Sony FE mount was not really designed for a full frame. Which means over time Sony may lose their full frame appeal.

Radically changing the lens mount was one of the most unexpected, bold and long term looking decision Nikon has made with the Z. It will enable them to establish clear leadership on the optical performance front: faster / smaller lenses and potentially a bigger sensor (why stay at full frame, after all?).

So has Nikon just secured a long term pole position in the photography race? They have clearly leapfrogged the competition as far as the optical design is concerned. But surprisingly, there is another company that may leapfrog the entire traditionally established camera industry: Google. Their advances in computational photography have been mind blowing. Actually the latest Pixel cameras can do on their own in a fraction of a second is what professional photographers could achieve with tons of gear and endless hours of post processing. Simply speaking the Pixels can intelligently stack multiple exposures, taking additional hits from other on board sensors. The results are incredible and, at some point, may let us put aside all the heavy glass we still carry around.

Update: I came across this moments after publishing the blog... puts things into perspective...

“I’m trying to tell you that the technology that’s getting built into your phone right now is so freaking powerful that I think the day it comes into big cameras it might become absolutely mind-blowing,”