The Nikon Z6: A Camera that Almost is Too Good to be True

Why can't anything just be bad? Somebody, please, make a bad camera so I can easily knock it off my list. Alas, it seems like that's not going to happen anytime soon. The Nikon Z6, however, is a different story altogether. It's a brand new camera type, and yet, its ecosystem is still lacking in several key areas.

The camera body itself is amazing. I've been praising the Nikon Z6 for the last roughly 10 minutes, and it's safe to say that I'm quite fond of it. The image quality is exceptional, the stabilization is top-notch, and the autofocus is incredibly good. It's a full-frame camera with excellent low-light performance, making it an ideal choice for content creators who need high-quality footage.

But, as with any camera body, there's only so much that can be achieved without the right ecosystem to back it up. And, unfortunately, that's where the Nikon Z6 falls short in several areas. The US market currently has only three lenses available for the Z6, which is a far cry from what we're used to seeing for newer camera releases. The 24-70 kit lens is my personal favorite kit lens of all time, and I'm not alone in my appreciation for it. However, unlike the EOS R, Nikon's F-mount adapter doesn't quite live up to its competitors.

One of the main reasons why I have concerns about the Z6 is that it lacks an SD card slot. Instead, it has an XQD card slot, which, while convenient, can be a bit limiting when it comes to recording options. As someone who frequently uses cheap recording media and shares files between cameras, this limitation becomes a major issue for me. I've been using my Ninja 5 for all of my video recording so far, but the problem arises in slow-motion mode, where the camera's 120fps limit cannot be achieved through HDMI output.

So, should you get a Nikon Z6? It's a tough call for me. On one hand, I love this camera, and it's an absolute joy to use. The image quality is outstanding, and the stabilization system is among the best I've ever seen. But, on the other hand, that XQD card slot is a major hurdle for me. I'm willing to sacrifice some flexibility in recording options if it means having access to cheap and efficient recording media.

Ultimately, the decision comes down to your own needs and preferences as a content creator. If you're looking for an excellent full-frame camera with exceptional image quality, the Nikon Z6 is certainly worth considering. However, once the ecosystem expands and more lenses become available, I'll be much happier recommending this camera to others. Until then, it's a bit of a hard sell.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enNikon made a camera that can legitimately work for video no they didn't who are you kidding wait it can do full sensor 4k 30 frames per second yep it's got awesome autofocus yo and it's got better in body image stabilization than Sony yep what kind of crazy world are we living in right now is the nikon z6 worth getting for youtube / online content let's find out what's up everyone on the everyday dad and if i can figure it out you can figure it out so I am pretty shocked right now I've been using the Nikon z6 in my videos for the last week or so and I am straight-up blown away I legitimately never ever thought that I would say that Nikon has a serious entry into the online video marketplace but dang it thanks a Nikon you have proved me wrong but before we get too far into the video however I do want to thank my friends over at B&H Photo for sending this to me to Trout you know for the next month or so if you'd like to get your very own z6 which you know dang it I might actually do too because I'm currently camera 'less there will be links in the description below first up let's cover the basic specs of the Nikon d600 on the same page and quick disclaimer I am NOT a photographer nor am ia professional videographer I make home video and I make these you know this is the frame I I do this because this is what you can see and these youtube videos so those are the specs we'll be covering today the z6 very recently released and is the first in the line of full-frame mirrorless cameras from photography king nikon it has a twenty four point five megapixel BSI CMOS sensor it comes equipped with the EXPEED six image processing engine while that sounds EXPEED that sounds cool it can record up to 4k 30 frames per second and if you're using an external recorder you can do both log and 10-bit through the HDMI out it has 273 points phase detection autofocus system most surprisingly it has built-in 5 axis vibration reduction which is what they call stabilization and it's actually pretty darn good and it has a 3.2 inch tilting touchscreen LCD which works I can't wait to talk about all these things we're talking about right now and it has an x QD card slot it does not have SD cards basically this camera feels great like we mentioned in the unboxing video this camera feels very comparable to the a 73 I mean it does feel very very durable body that has a decent amount of heft to it I mean it's not it's not my favorite feeling body of all year that would probably go to the eos R but I mean this feels pretty good it also doesn't have as many physical buttons and dials as some of the other cameras we've checked in to this year but what it does have it does a lot with those that watch my videos know that I prefer a mode selection dial and thankfully the z6 has that also on the top is an LCD screen that is pretty darn useful in showing you your camera settings even in video while using it you also have the on/off switch record button the shutter release and one of the things that has really impressed me is the thoughtfulness of the button I mean these are not just like haphazardly thrown on the camera you can easily want to hand control everything video wise you know just from right here well except the mode dial I guess you could like one-handed with one hand and then back and then back see one-handed on the back you'll get a pretty standard assortment of buttons but what I really want to focus on is the LCD touchscreen yes most cameras have this style of not fully articulating touchscreens complaining but but the touchscreen is really really good let's also talk about the sides of the camera really quick because those generally hold the most important parts this side of the camera has all of the outputs you need for video microphone out headphone in mini not micro HDMI which I really like I mean I'd prefer full HDMI but it's rare that you actually get that and these little flaps also do a good job of getting out of the way the thing that I dislike most about the a7 3 is how their little control port doors don't get they get in the way of everything so it's nice there on the other side however is the card slot yes it has a single card slot and that you know that doesn't really bother me in the slightest but what does bother me and what and we mentioned this in the specs is this is an x QD card slot much much more on this later back to me really quickly I mean we'll get more into this when we actually start physically using the camera later but I do want to mention how impressed I am with both the touchscreen and how well it works the menu system now I don't speak Nikon at all I have barely ever used a Nikon camera in my life but this very impressively eased me into their system to where after a week of use I feel very confident in changing the settings it was less confusing than the Fuji xt3 menu system that we used a couple months ago I do really like this on the front of the camera are two additional function buttons in that huge huge Nikon Z mount this mount is so darn big it's almost the same size as the entirety of a GoPro Hero 7 like it's huge and that's really cool and I am so excited to see what new lenses they will end up producing with this extra flange distance but that's enough talking at the camera let's assemble the nitty-gritty camera committee and judge the z6 on the three most important aspects of cameras ever conceived by mankind for youtuber slash online content creators first up image quality again and this one is pretty constant throughout the video I've never really used Nikon cameras before from my perspective Nikon just hasn't really offered anything before that was even close to being useful for video the z6 however has changed my mind the camera i used throughout most of this year was the sony a7 t3 which is still a fantastic camera but the z6 has quite possibly better image quality than the a7 3 no kidding the standard picture profile looks beautiful and I just have nothing to complain about I know this makes me sound like a fanboy but this is the Nikon camera I've used for the longest in my entire life and I don't think I've had time I don't think I've had enough time to become a fanboy though I mean how long does it take to be a fanboy how long I mean I'm okay with being one leave a comment below let me know how long it takes to be a fanboy and then I'll keep the camera just long enough for that because I do really like it but don't take my word for it let's hop outside real quick for the most important part which is the video slash vlogging test pad ok and here we are to do the video slash vlogging test of the nikon z6 now you may or may not have noticed there's a whole lot in addition you know I don't normally have this full rig on my vlogging test however like we mentioned earlier this uses xqd cards and I don't have any executi card so we've got to record everything into the atomos a ninja 5 to make it happen but that does do a couple of benefits we're I'll be able to see everything and be properly framed it'll be like having a flip screen on an on flippable screen camera plus the stabilization on this is really good so I don't imagine it's gonna be that big of a you know difference make amazing but that's enough talk about the stabilization let's get to the actual vlogging test and it doesn't help when you have a severely sprained wrist went from falling off of a one wheel because I'm an idiot vlogging tests begin whoa okay and so here is the vlogging test of the nikon z6 now again we do have it hooked up to the huge ninja v with a battery and cable and all that stuff so this isn't exactly so this isn't exactly the setup I would use for vlogging I'd get an x QD card if I was gonna do that for real but you can see that even with the additional weight what the footage looks like we're currently in aperture priority mode f4 on the aperture because I like you know a shallow background when I can get it and this is the image quality I really really like the image quality coming out of this camera like I am legitimately shocked at how much I like it I figured I'd get this camera I say that a lot right but I figured I'd get this camera some of the cameras coming out recently have been kind of uninspired I had been very excited about the Nikon but since Nikon's never really had a good video camera I wasn't really i wasn't like super worked up about but since using it I'm having a real struggle right now because I am currently camera las' you know I had a c200 I sold it cuz it was just - like it's too big to bring out and do my the camera test I want to do because people start staring at you so I'm currently camera list but I'm deciding on I've got an a7 3 at the house I've got the nikon z6 right now I'm really kind of debating back back and forth between the two which you know we'll do a video this week about you stay tuned on Friday but yeah this is the vlogging test and you can see we were just doing it with my severely sprained wrist so if it's working out for that it'll work out for you it's not as heavy as I thought it would be this is actually not a terrible setup right now and this is nikkor lens this 24 to 70 is one of my favorite f/4 lens as ever I'm really I really like it I hope you guys like it - ok we're back to the camera let's say hi to everybody hey everybody hey everybody everybody this is the m50 everybody else this is the z6 be friends right get some better get some better lighting there that's see that's why this camera is in that position because it's way better lighting and then so we're recording the audio right now through the m50 but this is the audio out of the z6 audio test one two three audio test one two three you would never use this audio you would always have a microphone obviously but okay back to the video and this is the indoor / low light / studio test with the nikon z6 so it's set to auto basically everything i have it set to aperture priority mode we've got the audio you know still the XLR mic going through the thing plugged into everything but this is the image quality you can expect if you want to use this as your own you know like primary youtube camera I do think the image quality coming out of this thing is superb I'm legitimately shocked by that because I never ever thought I would say a nikon camera has awesome video quality but d'arnot the z6 has really really good image quality I mean we're currently recording through my ninja 5 because again I don't have any executi cards but I think it does a fantastic fantastic job and again this kit lens is my favorite kit lens of all time I don't really like f/4 lenses you know cuz I'm a youtube I like having this blurry background as possible so I do try to get as fast of lenses as possible so f/4 is aren't really something that I look for but this kit lens is really really good so enough of me rambling about how much I like this image quality again this is the low-light test this is the exact same lighting that you just saw on the a7 3 a few moments ago and okay back to the video and thus ends the image quality test it is important but only up to a certain level now it is time for the most important part of any video camera for online distribution fiddle eNOS so fiddling this is the most important aspect of a camera to me what fiddle eNOS is is how long does it take for me to set this up and get recording so there's two parts of fiddling Asst there's how hard is it to set the camera up and then once you've hit record how hard is it to get the footage afterwards now the nikon z6 i think is a little easier than the a7 3 and again we'll do a bigger comparison on that later this week but I think it's pretty good for that it's got a touchscreen that's really easy to focus everything on I really like how intelligently they've laid out all of the controls and dials and stuff like that even with my busted hand right here I can operate the camera pretty well one-handed the really big thing when it comes to the body that I don't like when it comes to FID leanness is if you're using the recorder which I will because I don't have any executi cards you have to still hit the record button or the camera shuts off so if you're using this recorder you have to hit the record button to put it in recording mode then start recording through the recorder if you just try to leave it on like you would in a 7-3 it will eventually shut off and screw up your clip I found that out through experience so well that's one of the big fiddle enos things that I don't like but once you hit record how easy is it to get the footage you want it's super easy like I this camera is crazy easy I was very shocked Nikon has never been known for the good video capabilities they've never been known for the good autofocus the autofocus on this thing is legitimate the video quality is really good that the auto modes are fantastic if you go back to last week and you watch my ATT vs. m50 video or the why you should buy the m50 it was shot on this in aperture priority mode legitimately this thing is amazing for fiddling it this is probably the second easiest to use full-frame mirrorless camera out there right now the eos R has the flippy screen which I'll give that I'll give the flippy screen to the EOS R but the stabilization on this thing is I would say class-leading for full-frame mirrorless I haven't used the z7 but the stabilization on this thing is legit the image quality is legit the auto modes are legit this thing is about as easy to use as full-frame mirrorless cameras get I mean it is mmm and just put me in a quandary I don't like so many choices why does everything have to be so good right now why can't anything just you know be bad somebody make a bad camera so I can then like easily knock it off the list okay back to the video and we're back in time to cover what disproportionately is more important on this category than normal because this is a brand new camera type the ecosystem and here's where we run into the biggest weakness of the nikon z6 you know i've been praising this darn camera for the last roughly 10 minutes and yeah this might be my favorite camera body released in 2018 i mean the camera body itself is amazing but and it's a big one we talked about this a lot camera bodies only get you so far and the ecosystem really isn't there for the z6 right now like the us are there are currently only three lenses available for the z6 though I will say the 24 to 70 kit lens is my favorite kit lens of all time I like this even more than I like the XT 3 kit lens however unlike the EOS R the Nikon F non adapter I don't think it provides the same value as the EF mount adapter canons EF mount is one of these standards of the video world I mean EF lenses are in some cases designed to work so well with video autofocus now in my experience and again it's not much with Nikon Nikon F doesn't give me the same confidence and I say that mainly because there aren't really any proper Nikon video cameras out there you know until now I mean they are primarily a photography company now that is not necessarily a deal-breaker for me because I do think the lenses the z6 currently has can cover everything you need for online content I mean it's got the 24 to 70 zoom it's got 35 millimeter and a 50 millimeter 1.8 that's pretty much it that you need and another big butt and this one could be the deal-breaker it's the one that's keeping me from just like wholeheartedly accepting this is my camera overlord we briefly mentioned this in fiddling this but I want to reiterate that the Nikon z6 does not have an SD card slot it has an x QD card slot now I don't really care about single slot versus dual card slot that's not important to me even when I have a camera with dual card slots I generally only use one spot anyway but being able to use cheap recording media and share that meeting between my cameras when somebody forgets to empty the SD cards I mean that happens to me all of the time and it's a pretty darn big deal for me so I'm always trading out SD cards to try to keep me that little bit extra and I can't do that with an executed card I don't even have an executor your card right now I've been using my ninja 5 for all of the video recording so far which I mean that does work exceedingly well however the problem comes into is you can't do it in this slow motion mode because the 120 frames per second does not go through HDMI now if you have figured out how to make that work please leave a comment below and let me know because that would be awesome so what right so should you get a nikon z6 this is a really tough one for me I mean I very very much like this camera I think the image quality is great the stabilization is awesome it might be the best full-frame stabilization I've seen yet and the autofocus is really really good I like this way more than I thought I would and I was excited about this to start off but that XQD card slot is a pretty darn big deal for me I don't want to spend $200 for a 128 gigabyte card for when I can get a 4k capable SD card for 40 bucks or I could spend the same amount and get an even bigger solid-state drive to record with so that's a huge hurdle for me and I don't know that I can overcome them if like me you use a recorder that's not as big of a deal and I will and 95% of the time this would be recording through the recorder anyway so I don't know that that's that big of a deal I actually do think that this might be the best full-frame video camera out there right now for the price I mean what else are you looking at you're looking at the red monster which is full-frame but that's red monster low prices you got the Canon C 700 which is also Canon C 700 prices and you've got the I think the Aerie has a full-frame camera also I do think that this is the best video full-frame camera out there for the price once the ecosystem is a little more robust it will be easier to recommend you will have to make that decision based on the ecosystem right now thanks for watchingNikon made a camera that can legitimately work for video no they didn't who are you kidding wait it can do full sensor 4k 30 frames per second yep it's got awesome autofocus yo and it's got better in body image stabilization than Sony yep what kind of crazy world are we living in right now is the nikon z6 worth getting for youtube / online content let's find out what's up everyone on the everyday dad and if i can figure it out you can figure it out so I am pretty shocked right now I've been using the Nikon z6 in my videos for the last week or so and I am straight-up blown away I legitimately never ever thought that I would say that Nikon has a serious entry into the online video marketplace but dang it thanks a Nikon you have proved me wrong but before we get too far into the video however I do want to thank my friends over at B&H Photo for sending this to me to Trout you know for the next month or so if you'd like to get your very own z6 which you know dang it I might actually do too because I'm currently camera 'less there will be links in the description below first up let's cover the basic specs of the Nikon d600 on the same page and quick disclaimer I am NOT a photographer nor am ia professional videographer I make home video and I make these you know this is the frame I I do this because this is what you can see and these youtube videos so those are the specs we'll be covering today the z6 very recently released and is the first in the line of full-frame mirrorless cameras from photography king nikon it has a twenty four point five megapixel BSI CMOS sensor it comes equipped with the EXPEED six image processing engine while that sounds EXPEED that sounds cool it can record up to 4k 30 frames per second and if you're using an external recorder you can do both log and 10-bit through the HDMI out it has 273 points phase detection autofocus system most surprisingly it has built-in 5 axis vibration reduction which is what they call stabilization and it's actually pretty darn good and it has a 3.2 inch tilting touchscreen LCD which works I can't wait to talk about all these things we're talking about right now and it has an x QD card slot it does not have SD cards basically this camera feels great like we mentioned in the unboxing video this camera feels very comparable to the a 73 I mean it does feel very very durable body that has a decent amount of heft to it I mean it's not it's not my favorite feeling body of all year that would probably go to the eos R but I mean this feels pretty good it also doesn't have as many physical buttons and dials as some of the other cameras we've checked in to this year but what it does have it does a lot with those that watch my videos know that I prefer a mode selection dial and thankfully the z6 has that also on the top is an LCD screen that is pretty darn useful in showing you your camera settings even in video while using it you also have the on/off switch record button the shutter release and one of the things that has really impressed me is the thoughtfulness of the button I mean these are not just like haphazardly thrown on the camera you can easily want to hand control everything video wise you know just from right here well except the mode dial I guess you could like one-handed with one hand and then back and then back see one-handed on the back you'll get a pretty standard assortment of buttons but what I really want to focus on is the LCD touchscreen yes most cameras have this style of not fully articulating touchscreens complaining but but the touchscreen is really really good let's also talk about the sides of the camera really quick because those generally hold the most important parts this side of the camera has all of the outputs you need for video microphone out headphone in mini not micro HDMI which I really like I mean I'd prefer full HDMI but it's rare that you actually get that and these little flaps also do a good job of getting out of the way the thing that I dislike most about the a7 3 is how their little control port doors don't get they get in the way of everything so it's nice there on the other side however is the card slot yes it has a single card slot and that you know that doesn't really bother me in the slightest but what does bother me and what and we mentioned this in the specs is this is an x QD card slot much much more on this later back to me really quickly I mean we'll get more into this when we actually start physically using the camera later but I do want to mention how impressed I am with both the touchscreen and how well it works the menu system now I don't speak Nikon at all I have barely ever used a Nikon camera in my life but this very impressively eased me into their system to where after a week of use I feel very confident in changing the settings it was less confusing than the Fuji xt3 menu system that we used a couple months ago I do really like this on the front of the camera are two additional function buttons in that huge huge Nikon Z mount this mount is so darn big it's almost the same size as the entirety of a GoPro Hero 7 like it's huge and that's really cool and I am so excited to see what new lenses they will end up producing with this extra flange distance but that's enough talking at the camera let's assemble the nitty-gritty camera committee and judge the z6 on the three most important aspects of cameras ever conceived by mankind for youtuber slash online content creators first up image quality again and this one is pretty constant throughout the video I've never really used Nikon cameras before from my perspective Nikon just hasn't really offered anything before that was even close to being useful for video the z6 however has changed my mind the camera i used throughout most of this year was the sony a7 t3 which is still a fantastic camera but the z6 has quite possibly better image quality than the a7 3 no kidding the standard picture profile looks beautiful and I just have nothing to complain about I know this makes me sound like a fanboy but this is the Nikon camera I've used for the longest in my entire life and I don't think I've had time I don't think I've had enough time to become a fanboy though I mean how long does it take to be a fanboy how long I mean I'm okay with being one leave a comment below let me know how long it takes to be a fanboy and then I'll keep the camera just long enough for that because I do really like it but don't take my word for it let's hop outside real quick for the most important part which is the video slash vlogging test pad ok and here we are to do the video slash vlogging test of the nikon z6 now you may or may not have noticed there's a whole lot in addition you know I don't normally have this full rig on my vlogging test however like we mentioned earlier this uses xqd cards and I don't have any executi card so we've got to record everything into the atomos a ninja 5 to make it happen but that does do a couple of benefits we're I'll be able to see everything and be properly framed it'll be like having a flip screen on an on flippable screen camera plus the stabilization on this is really good so I don't imagine it's gonna be that big of a you know difference make amazing but that's enough talk about the stabilization let's get to the actual vlogging test and it doesn't help when you have a severely sprained wrist went from falling off of a one wheel because I'm an idiot vlogging tests begin whoa okay and so here is the vlogging test of the nikon z6 now again we do have it hooked up to the huge ninja v with a battery and cable and all that stuff so this isn't exactly so this isn't exactly the setup I would use for vlogging I'd get an x QD card if I was gonna do that for real but you can see that even with the additional weight what the footage looks like we're currently in aperture priority mode f4 on the aperture because I like you know a shallow background when I can get it and this is the image quality I really really like the image quality coming out of this camera like I am legitimately shocked at how much I like it I figured I'd get this camera I say that a lot right but I figured I'd get this camera some of the cameras coming out recently have been kind of uninspired I had been very excited about the Nikon but since Nikon's never really had a good video camera I wasn't really i wasn't like super worked up about but since using it I'm having a real struggle right now because I am currently camera las' you know I had a c200 I sold it cuz it was just - like it's too big to bring out and do my the camera test I want to do because people start staring at you so I'm currently camera list but I'm deciding on I've got an a7 3 at the house I've got the nikon z6 right now I'm really kind of debating back back and forth between the two which you know we'll do a video this week about you stay tuned on Friday but yeah this is the vlogging test and you can see we were just doing it with my severely sprained wrist so if it's working out for that it'll work out for you it's not as heavy as I thought it would be this is actually not a terrible setup right now and this is nikkor lens this 24 to 70 is one of my favorite f/4 lens as ever I'm really I really like it I hope you guys like it - ok we're back to the camera let's say hi to everybody hey everybody hey everybody everybody this is the m50 everybody else this is the z6 be friends right get some better get some better lighting there that's see that's why this camera is in that position because it's way better lighting and then so we're recording the audio right now through the m50 but this is the audio out of the z6 audio test one two three audio test one two three you would never use this audio you would always have a microphone obviously but okay back to the video and this is the indoor / low light / studio test with the nikon z6 so it's set to auto basically everything i have it set to aperture priority mode we've got the audio you know still the XLR mic going through the thing plugged into everything but this is the image quality you can expect if you want to use this as your own you know like primary youtube camera I do think the image quality coming out of this thing is superb I'm legitimately shocked by that because I never ever thought I would say a nikon camera has awesome video quality but d'arnot the z6 has really really good image quality I mean we're currently recording through my ninja 5 because again I don't have any executi cards but I think it does a fantastic fantastic job and again this kit lens is my favorite kit lens of all time I don't really like f/4 lenses you know cuz I'm a youtube I like having this blurry background as possible so I do try to get as fast of lenses as possible so f/4 is aren't really something that I look for but this kit lens is really really good so enough of me rambling about how much I like this image quality again this is the low-light test this is the exact same lighting that you just saw on the a7 3 a few moments ago and okay back to the video and thus ends the image quality test it is important but only up to a certain level now it is time for the most important part of any video camera for online distribution fiddle eNOS so fiddling this is the most important aspect of a camera to me what fiddle eNOS is is how long does it take for me to set this up and get recording so there's two parts of fiddling Asst there's how hard is it to set the camera up and then once you've hit record how hard is it to get the footage afterwards now the nikon z6 i think is a little easier than the a7 3 and again we'll do a bigger comparison on that later this week but I think it's pretty good for that it's got a touchscreen that's really easy to focus everything on I really like how intelligently they've laid out all of the controls and dials and stuff like that even with my busted hand right here I can operate the camera pretty well one-handed the really big thing when it comes to the body that I don't like when it comes to FID leanness is if you're using the recorder which I will because I don't have any executi cards you have to still hit the record button or the camera shuts off so if you're using this recorder you have to hit the record button to put it in recording mode then start recording through the recorder if you just try to leave it on like you would in a 7-3 it will eventually shut off and screw up your clip I found that out through experience so well that's one of the big fiddle enos things that I don't like but once you hit record how easy is it to get the footage you want it's super easy like I this camera is crazy easy I was very shocked Nikon has never been known for the good video capabilities they've never been known for the good autofocus the autofocus on this thing is legitimate the video quality is really good that the auto modes are fantastic if you go back to last week and you watch my ATT vs. m50 video or the why you should buy the m50 it was shot on this in aperture priority mode legitimately this thing is amazing for fiddling it this is probably the second easiest to use full-frame mirrorless camera out there right now the eos R has the flippy screen which I'll give that I'll give the flippy screen to the EOS R but the stabilization on this thing is I would say class-leading for full-frame mirrorless I haven't used the z7 but the stabilization on this thing is legit the image quality is legit the auto modes are legit this thing is about as easy to use as full-frame mirrorless cameras get I mean it is mmm and just put me in a quandary I don't like so many choices why does everything have to be so good right now why can't anything just you know be bad somebody make a bad camera so I can then like easily knock it off the list okay back to the video and we're back in time to cover what disproportionately is more important on this category than normal because this is a brand new camera type the ecosystem and here's where we run into the biggest weakness of the nikon z6 you know i've been praising this darn camera for the last roughly 10 minutes and yeah this might be my favorite camera body released in 2018 i mean the camera body itself is amazing but and it's a big one we talked about this a lot camera bodies only get you so far and the ecosystem really isn't there for the z6 right now like the us are there are currently only three lenses available for the z6 though I will say the 24 to 70 kit lens is my favorite kit lens of all time I like this even more than I like the XT 3 kit lens however unlike the EOS R the Nikon F non adapter I don't think it provides the same value as the EF mount adapter canons EF mount is one of these standards of the video world I mean EF lenses are in some cases designed to work so well with video autofocus now in my experience and again it's not much with Nikon Nikon F doesn't give me the same confidence and I say that mainly because there aren't really any proper Nikon video cameras out there you know until now I mean they are primarily a photography company now that is not necessarily a deal-breaker for me because I do think the lenses the z6 currently has can cover everything you need for online content I mean it's got the 24 to 70 zoom it's got 35 millimeter and a 50 millimeter 1.8 that's pretty much it that you need and another big butt and this one could be the deal-breaker it's the one that's keeping me from just like wholeheartedly accepting this is my camera overlord we briefly mentioned this in fiddling this but I want to reiterate that the Nikon z6 does not have an SD card slot it has an x QD card slot now I don't really care about single slot versus dual card slot that's not important to me even when I have a camera with dual card slots I generally only use one spot anyway but being able to use cheap recording media and share that meeting between my cameras when somebody forgets to empty the SD cards I mean that happens to me all of the time and it's a pretty darn big deal for me so I'm always trading out SD cards to try to keep me that little bit extra and I can't do that with an executed card I don't even have an executor your card right now I've been using my ninja 5 for all of the video recording so far which I mean that does work exceedingly well however the problem comes into is you can't do it in this slow motion mode because the 120 frames per second does not go through HDMI now if you have figured out how to make that work please leave a comment below and let me know because that would be awesome so what right so should you get a nikon z6 this is a really tough one for me I mean I very very much like this camera I think the image quality is great the stabilization is awesome it might be the best full-frame stabilization I've seen yet and the autofocus is really really good I like this way more than I thought I would and I was excited about this to start off but that XQD card slot is a pretty darn big deal for me I don't want to spend $200 for a 128 gigabyte card for when I can get a 4k capable SD card for 40 bucks or I could spend the same amount and get an even bigger solid-state drive to record with so that's a huge hurdle for me and I don't know that I can overcome them if like me you use a recorder that's not as big of a deal and I will and 95% of the time this would be recording through the recorder anyway so I don't know that that's that big of a deal I actually do think that this might be the best full-frame video camera out there right now for the price I mean what else are you looking at you're looking at the red monster which is full-frame but that's red monster low prices you got the Canon C 700 which is also Canon C 700 prices and you've got the I think the Aerie has a full-frame camera also I do think that this is the best video full-frame camera out there for the price once the ecosystem is a little more robust it will be easier to recommend you will have to make that decision based on the ecosystem right now thanks for watching\n"