Nikon Corporation announced that the Nikon Z 9 full-frame/FX format digital micro-single camera won both the "Camera of the Year Award" and the "Reader Award" at the 2022 Japan Camera Awards.
In addition, the Nikon Zfc APS-C size/DX format digital micro-single camera won the "Editor's Choice Award" at the 2022 Japan Camera Grand Prix. Nikon won three awards at the 2022 Japan Camera Grand Prix.
The Japan Camera Grand Prix is held annually by the Camera Magazine News Club (Japan), a technical editorial association specializing in photography and camera magazines and websites. Each of the 2022 Japan Camera Grand Prix awards was selected from the cameras and lenses launched in the Japanese market in the previous fiscal year (April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022).
The full-frame/FX format digital micro-single camera Nikon Z 9 won the Camera of the Year Award as well as the Reader Award
APS-C size/DX format digital micro-single camera Nikon Z fc won the Editor's Choice Award
The Nikon Z 9 was voted as the "Camera of the Year" at the 2022 Japan Camera Grand Prix in an overwhelming vote by members of the Global Camera Magazine News Club and professional photographers, and was recognized as one of the best cameras on the market during that period.
At the same time, the Nikon Z 9 won the "Readers' Award" voted by ordinary camera users on the Camera Magazine News Club website. Nikon cameras have won 9 "Reader Awards" out of 15, proving that these Nikon products are highly valued among many users.
The Nikon Z fc won the "Editor's Choice Grand Prix" at the 2022 Japan Camera Grand Prix, and the Nikon Camera won 3 awards simultaneously in 4 categories of the 2022 Japan Camera Grand Prix.
The Nikon Z 9 also received the Best of the Best award in the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen of Germany, the "Red Dot Award: Product Design of the Year 2022". In addition, Nikon products, including the Nikon Z 9, have also won the "2022 iF Product Design Award" in the design awards issued by the Industrial Design Association of Hanover, Germany. These world-renowned awards are a testament to the high profile of the Nikon Z 9 worldwide.
Key features of the Nikon Z 9
• The first flagship model of the Nikon Z Series digital micro-single camera, it incorporates Nikon's leading technology to provide good photo and video shooting performance.
• Thanks to the new stacked CMOS sensor and THE ACCELERATE 7 image processor, powerful autofocus performance in Nikon cameras is achieved.
• Advanced autofocus system detects up to 9 types of subjects: people, dogs, cats, birds, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, trains and airplanes.
• For video recording, 8K UHD/30p video can be recorded to a memory card inside the camera without the use of an external recorder for up to 125 minutes
• The new four-axis vertical/horizontal tilt display allows you to shoot from both high and low angles, regardless of vertical or horizontal orientation, significantly improving user convenience.
• New live viewfinder that surpasses traditional optical viewfinder (OVF) and electronic viewfinder (EVF) performance.
With the firmware upgrade version 2.00 released on April 20, 2022, various video features have been greatly improved to meet the needs of video production, including improved in-machine recording of 12-bit RAW 8.3K/60p for rich tonal levels. For photo shooting, it also introduces the "Pre-Capture" feature*3, which records images for up to 1 second before fully pressing the shutter-release button after half-pressing the shutter-release button.
Nikon will continue to meet the needs of users by updating firmware versions with various practical functions in a timely manner.
Reasons for choosing the Z 9 (Camera of the Year Award).
Comments from the Selection Committee
Featuring a stacked CMOS sensor of approximately 45.71 million effective pixels and an EXIT 7 image processor, the Nikon Z 9 offers constantly refreshed live view, a distortion-suppressed electronic shutter for 9 different objects, making it the flagship camera of the Nikon Z. The mechanical shutter was eliminated and was highly evaluated for not generating shutter vibration and shutter durability issues.
Reasons for choosing Z 9 (Readers' Award).
Comments by journalist editors
• It is the pride of Nikon Z series cameras. Use only the Z 9 to shoot a wide range of subjects.
• I think it's a very good camera at the moment, with a good balance of functionality, size and price/performance ratio at a high level.
• Distortion-free electronic shutter for an easier viewfinder and a cost-effective despite being a flagship camera.
• It offers the high standards of flagship cameras by eliminating the mechanical shutter.
• Achieved the high-tech goal of human manufacturing cameras.
• With its full professional specifications and the elimination of the mechanical shutter through the use of high-speed sensor reading, it is highly rated as a challenging product.
• I think it's an epoch-making camera because it doesn't have a mechanical shutter, 4K video recording capacity is unlimited, and it can even record more than two hours of 8K/30p video.
• It is innovative because it has a time-lag-free viewfinder and no mechanical shutter. In addition, it is foreseeable that these features will also be applied to low-end models at a lower cost.
• This is the long-awaited Nikon flagship micro single camera. It gave me a lot of surprises in terms of features, mechanical layout, performance and price.
The main features of the Nikon Z fc
• The first Nikon Z series digital micro-single camera was developed using a traditional design inspired by Nikon's classic cameras. In addition to enjoying the pleasure of taking great photos and videos, its design pays special attention to the pride and pleasure of the owner.
• Its compact, lightweight body is extremely portable while achieving superior performance and operability.
• Simple operation to create the desired image.
• Supports Eye Detection Autofocus and Animal Detection Autofocus to automatically detect and track the eyes of people and pets when shooting photos and videos.
Reasons for choosing Z fc (Editorial Journalists' Choice Award).
Comments from the Selection Committee
The Nikon Z fc incorporates the Nikon film SLR style to attract new young customers as well as the basic performance of the Nikon Z 50 digital micro-single camera known for its high quality. It even introduced a new model in its menu to attract new users while following its usual R&D style. Its popularity is high, including from old film SLR users.