Nikon Planning a Mirrorless Flagship to 'Surpass the D6' for This Year

Nikon Planning a Mirrorless Flagship to 'Surpass the D6' for This Year

The Sony a1 recently dropped, offering some jaw-dropping specs and features. Meanwhile, the Canon EOS R5 is not far behind, and Canon is planning to bring the flagship R1 to the market later this year. What about Nikon? It turns out the flagship Z mount mirrorless camera will be here in 2021.

In a recent interview with DPReview, Keiji Oishi, Department Manager of Nikon's Imaging Business Unit, UX Planning Department, spoke about a number of things regarding the current and future status of the company. Of particular interest is the confirmation that a mirrorless flagship is on the way "with the goal of surpassing the D6" in 2021. The company confirmed that the camera will have a newly developed high-resolution sensor and that they are considering features like 8K video, one of the most talked-about specs these days, thanks to Sony and Canon. No doubt, with the extremely high bar set by the Sony a1 and with the Canon R1 waiting in the wings, Nikon has a high hill to climb to compete, but it sounds like the company is working on a camera with specs that are near those of the aforementioned cameras. Check out the full interview for more here.

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Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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18 Comments

Too little, too late.
Nikon assumed that brand loyalty and legacy lens investment would reconcile users to the second rate mirrorless Zs. But they got burned by them.

Totally disagree, Nikon has retained a massive following and their first steps into mirrorless fit will into a line of lenses that date back some sixty years, this will be a natural progression ... I am certainly not looking at moving from a range of lenses that have served me well for over 40 years. The time has come for you start to think system and body

You are the reason Nikon is failing.
All their base are over 65 and stuck with the ancient F mount that ers you well.
A vast majority of F lenses are pretty worthless on Z cameras. And those under 65 are going with Sony and Canon. The EF mount on the other hand is 100% compatible with the RF mount. So Canon users lose nothing as they migrate and Sony pretty much the same.

And Lawrence is talking absolute shite

Lawrence Huber have you used one ? because your talking rubbish for a start im in my 30s and a shooter who works for me is 22 and we both use nikon. So the age thing is just rubbish. There is nothing wrong with f mount glass on z cameras yes old D screw drive lenses are not compatible but thats no big deal. I have shot at world championship level sporting events with a Z6 with a 3rd party F mount lens on it and it was fantastic it was even published sooooo whats the issue? i think you should maybe take more photos and watch you tube a little less. or just remember this saying Fro Knows Nothing and you wont go far wrong.

' ... And those under 65 are going with Sony and Canon....' what utter rubbish Nikon will again delivery an outstanding camera body with the next D6 mirrorless replacement - as they did with the first full-format DSLR, and again with the first professional auto-focus SLR etc etc ....

Hopefully I am not over 65. Reality, yes, I can't say I was a fan of the Z6/Z7 and they did have some short comings. The Z6II/Z7II are much improved and are extremely competitively priced compared to the Sony/Canon cameras.

Add to that the new Nikon lenses, which are exceptionally good both for photography and video. Yes, there is a lot of older Nikon F mount lenses but that is because Nikon have been doing lenses for F mount for around 60 years or so and all G mount lenses or newer will work.

Nikon makes its cameras to use, not to look at the spec sheet and when it comes to that, they are exceptionally good tools, which get the job done.

FTZ adapter is fantastic if you want to use the f mount lenses so Lawrence is making no sense. Even the brand new Canon R5 is inferior dynamic range to the D850/Z7ii - yes their AF sticks like glue but not all the time. Z lenses are fantastic and the F4 range is amazing for landscapes when travelling light is key (not so much for the other three brands).

At this point whether it's Canon, Sony, Nikon or Fuji it's more a case of the tool for the task. Landscapes? Go for the latter two? Portraits? Well, probably any of them depending on budget, resolution demands, whatever.

Overall, we're living in the gilded age in terms of camera equipment and everyone benefits with these four churning such amazing cameras out.

And in terms of brands, don't forget that not long ago, Sony was the old-man brand of out of date tv's and walkmen - Frankly I can't look at a Sony camera and not think middle aged man so the fact that it's sometimes promoted as a 'hip' brand is so funny to me. Love their AF but can't stand how they feel in the hand, the menus (old and new) and the out of balance feel of the lenses. None of that are issues for me with Nikon.

Ok, time to save up for the Z9 lol

The FTZ adapter only fully works with a limited number of F mount lenses.
You know that but refuse to admit it publically.
The EF to RF adapter works with 100% of all EF and EF-S lenses ever made with NO loss of features. And the control adapter adds more features to those lenses and the filter adapters add even more versatility.
I know what I am talking about you just ignore or avoid the full truth about the FTZ with F lenses.

canon was with their sensors two generations behind for a whole decade and now?

Still using my Nikon D750 from 2014 and it have everything i need for studio photography. Great sensor that is still great today. Didn't find any reason to upgrade or change system unless video involved. Nikon always built to last.

That is why Nikon is failing now. The old people refuse to change from the ancient F mount and savvy younger are going with the more tech advanced systems of the Canon and Sony systems.

Same shit comment Lawrence

What are you like 12? Nikon is not failing. Just use what works for you and don't worry about what other brands are doing.

Go Nikon! I'm a Canon guy, but I hope Nikon knocks it out of the park with this one.

Damn I've been getting it wrong for the last 50 years. I always thought it was the person stood BEHIND the camera that made the images. A skilled photographer will produce strong images no matter what camera they are using.

True, but I bet the photographer would get more keepers using a 1DxIII than a Rebel T2i when shooting a hockey game. ;-)

Agree but the skill is in part understanding the strengths and limitations of each camera. :)