The long-awaited Nikon Z6 III has been officially teased by Nikon on the camera maker's YouTube channel (see below), revealing the launch date, along with user's quotes that point to some of the new features that we can expect.
The Z6 III will succeed the Nikon Z6 II, a camera that we've heralded as one of the best mirrorless cameras for some years, but which was launched all the way back in October 2020 and is due an upgrade.
That upgrade will come next week, with the Nikon Z6 III being officially unveiled on June 17 at 5am PT / 8am ET / 1pm BST. We won't know how much it will cost until all is revealed, but with the Nikon Z8 now in the picture, the Z6 III needs to come in at under $3,000 / £2,500 / AU$5,000 for a clear price distinction from its pricier sibling.
I own a Z6 II, and I've previously written about what I'd like to see in a rumored Z6 III. So what can we expect from Nikon's latest all-rounder, which is set to become one of our best full-frame cameras? Let's unpick the teaser.
Ready to perform
The teaser begins with a photographer in a savannah at golden hour bringing the Z6 III to their eye, with the camera paired with a telephoto lens. Then a quote appears: “I could capture before I even pressed the shutter. It's a game changer.”
We know this means the Z6 III will be equipped with pre-capture, a feature found in the bulkier Nikon Z8 and added to the Nikon Z9 via a firmware update. Pre-capture helps in situations where you might not be able to react fast enough to take a photo.
Pre-capture usually provides around 0.5 to one second of burst shooting when you're half-pressing the shutter, before you fully press it down to begin capturing a high-speed sequence. It's a feature that's popping up in more camera systems, including the Sony A9 III.
We don't know what the burst-shooting speed of the Z6 III will be, but we could be looking at class-leading performance: without directly saying it, the teaser is billing the Z6 III as a high-speed camera that's well suited to photographing wildlife.
A second anonymous quote says: “In a bright situation, if I can see better, I can create better.” The quote is followed by a photographer taking portraits on a beach and bringing the viewfinder up to their eye.
If there's one Z6 II feature that could do with an upgrade, it's the electronic viewfinder (EVF). It's a respectable 3.69m-dot display with 0.8x magnification, but many rival cameras have better-performing EVFs.
There's a final somewhat cryptic quote: “All the beautiful colors in a camera this small is something really exciting.” The obvious point there is camera size – we can expect the Z6 III to maintain similar dimensions to the Z6 II. That means it'll be smaller than the Z8, although we don't know if it will be a 'baby Z8' with many of the same features.
The “colors” referenced in the quote is intriguing. Is Nikon going down the Fujifilm film simulations and Panasonic Real Time LUTs route? I suspect it's more about log color profiles for filmmaking, and improved internal video recording capabilities such as higher-quality codecs.
I expect the Z6 III to be a refresh of the Z6 II, rather than delivering any dramatic changes, bringing Nikon's full-frame all-rounder offering up to speed in 2024. The speculation will end on June 17 when the Z6 III is fully unveiled, and I'll be watching with keen interest.
