Thom, in your comments on "The things that will make the Z8 seem “better” to some over the Z7 II", one thing I would think you would have added, is the electronic shutter, versus the mechanical shutter. I think that is a big one! (Well, maybe that was not mentioned because of the "seem' qualifier?)
Should be corrected now. As I've noted in the past, I write a lot of things well prior to going live. They'll have the date I originally thought they'd post unless I correct it.
Unfortunately it doesn’t quite do it for me, although I’ve been waiting for a successor to my Z7 ii with better AF. The problem from my point of view is that it weighs pretty much the same as the D850. One of the joys of switching to mirrorless was the reduction in weight, and I wouldn’t like to go back. Looks like I’m waiting for the Z7 iii. Not a big problem - I’m pretty content with the Z7 ii for what I do.
Feels fine. Pretty much natural moving back and forth between Z8 and Z9.
Perhaps I'm a bit biased from all my Z9 work in the past year, but the smaller size and lightness makes me think I'll move to two Z8's instead of two Z9's or one Z8 and one Z9 for most work. Certainly more bag friendly.
Actual specc'd weight with battery is claimed to be 910g - so almost 100g lighter than the D850. A bit lighter weight than I expected. Quite portable IMO. Already having a Z9 I think I'm going to wait and see how this goes but in a few months I might consider trading my Z9 for one of these as I could use the weight and size reduction.
From a business point of view, don’t you think this undermines the Z9 to some extent? I can’t really see why anyone would buy a Z9 when the Z8 is available.