The Nikon Z6 III has broken cover ahead of its launch – and it’s not thanks to leaked images or camera rumors from the depths of the web: it comes from Nikon itself.
Nikon launched an online teaser video initially titled “Z6III | Ready to perform? June 17 at 8 a.m. ET” and later renamed “Ready to perform? June 17 at 8 a.m. ET”. You can see the video embedded below, which gives away a surprising amount about the new camera.
As you would expect of a teaser, it shows fleeting glimpses of the Nikon Z6 III in action. While it only gives us the briefest of looks at the camera, it’s enough to confirm that yes – it looks just like you would expect the successor to the Nikon Z6 II to look.
More insightful than these glimpses, though, are some of the quotes (presumably from the photographers being glimpsed) describing the Nikon Z6 III’s capabilities:
“I could capture even before I pressed the shutter. It’s a game changer.”
“In a bright situation, if I can see better, I can create better.”
“All the beautiful colors in a camera this small is something really exciting.”
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Let’s start with the top one, which seems the most obvious: the inclusion of pre-capture. A feature actually pioneered by Olympus / OM System back in 2000, this is a burst shooting option that starts capturing frames to the camera’s buffer when you half-press the shutter.
Once the shutter is fully depressed, the camera records a set amount of those buffered frames (which could be, for example, 15 frames or 1 second) along with the following burst of frames as long as you keep the shutter held down. In this way, you can capture the moment that a bird takes off or a boxer lands a punch even if you are a second slow press the button.
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Here’s the best look at the Nikon Z6 III from the teaser video, with the shadows and exposure cranked up(Image credit: Nikon)
(Image credit: Nikon)
The other two quotes are a little less revealing. It’s safe to say from the second one that the electronic viewfinder will be nice and bright – and might well be the Super-bright 3.69 million-dot OLED seen in the Nikon Z8 / Z9.
Now, the third comment about “all the beautiful colors in a camera this small” is an interesting one. On the one hand, maybe it’s just someone commented on how good Nikon colors are – and Nikon cameras really do have excellent color science.
But maybe, just maybe, this is intended to play on the current fascination with in-camera filters – whether it’s the Film Simulation dial on the Fujifilm X-T50 or the live LUTs on the Panasonic Lumix S9.
With the full announcement coming next Monday, I’m excited to see what Nikon’s first camera of 2024 has to offer!
