Z8 vs Z9 and the $1500 question

As noted by many the use case for owning/using the Z9 over the Z8 is clear -- well at least to me and the pros I know.
Demand for the Z9 for sports, action, wildlife (so long tele users and those of us who want built in GPS, 2 matching card slots, the best robust weather sealed bodies and large batteries) and fashion/portraits who often shot in portrait and studio shooter who want a sync port. AND for folk who want over 2 hour record times. I cannot see many sport shooters who shoot remote relying on a dongle to stay plugged in when there is an option with a built in ethernet port and a large battery -- basically NX Field users
Whereas the Z8 is smaller and allows direct power to be fed into a rig/set-up.
I am hoping within a month I will have 2 of each Z9 and Z8 in my studio.

What will make me sell my two Z9? -- nothing planned until Nikon comes out with a successor flagship in a while.
One wonders whether Nikon will issue an updated Z9ii body for Paris Olympics or wait for the North American world cup in 2026. My hope is that it will be the 2026 WC leaving Nikon lots of time to upgrade the firmware in the current model.
The Nikon press release for the Z8 was clear -- it was launched with planned firmware updates in train -- "Upcoming features will be added in planned firmware updates, including an Auto Capture function, which will allow a photographer to automatically trigger a remote camera on user-set parameters. An update will also allow for the base ISO to be extended down to 200 when shooting video footage with N-Log enabled."
Hidden (well to me at least) gems are still emerging in the Z8 -- like Fast-AF-ON for video - "To speed up your workflow when repeatedly shooting different takes of the same scene, Fast AF-ON lets you quickly move the focus back to where you had it at the start of the shot when resetting, simply by pressing the custom buttons you have assigned for this function. You can also choose the speed at which the camera shifts focus in a range from -5 to +5."
-- more data will emerge as more folk get to grips with the Z8 and documentation is available to download. An English version of the brochure can be downloaded here
-- I expect we will see updates to the Z9 to level it up to the Z8 and these changes to both the Z8 and Z9 soon.
Many are still hoping for pixel shifting multi-shot hi-res, false colour for vid, and then the unlocking of 30 fps RAW and so on.....
This leaves Nikon plenty of space to update the Z6ii, Z7ii and Z5 -- all of which will happen. Clearly not soon enough for many.
I am still doubtful if Nikon will issue a ProBody Dx and if they did I expect a price of 3,500-4,000 if it uses a Z8/Z9 style sensor -- otherwise the Z50 is the direct replacement for the D500 -- but obviously not with a 30+MP sensors nor Z9/Z8 AF or Video.

For the Z9 I really "only" desire that they give us pre-release and 30 FPS in raw. For many this is insignificant, but for me it is the difference between having a photo when the ball is being released/blocked by a basketball player or not. And the photographic effect is totally different (not always better of course).

That’s the usual difference between a store sale vs a personal one.

So far so good for personals in eBay, with 5 days left to go on an auction, one of them has already inched above my figure. The top bidder might want to take a look at KEH.

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I couldn't agree more with just about everything you've said. Yes, the Z8's smaller size is nice, but it forfeits the battery life. The second slot being an SD card is almost ludicrous; I still have a few of the best SD cards but they're too slow and don't begin to compare to XQD; I keep one in my Z6 II for overflow but have never needed to flow over to it. But, okay, I suppose it's better than no second slot. And Mackiesback is right, the hype preceding the release of the Z8 is nearly as great as that of the Z9's, and no doubt it will attract all the buyers who couldn't bring themselves to spend $5500 on the Z9. If I didn't have a Z9, I would probably consider the Z8. But, having owned and used pro cameras for many years, I would find the added battery grip of the Z8 disappointing, and the additional $500 bringing it that much closer to the Z9 price would give me pause to consider buying a Z8. Especially with the cost of the Z9 dropping rapidly at some outlets, especially used.

30 in RAW might be too much to ask for, perhaps there's some data write speed limitation that prevents >20 in RAW. Or the fact that RAW is 14bit and JPEG only 8.

But I agree, a pre-release in RAW would be really nice.

A new Z9 can be had for $4650.00 and a mint one , less than that
So question should be rephrased as 'what does $650.00 buy me?'
I'm more a fan of Z8 than Z9 but the obvious would be battery life, better ergo with long lenses and portrait mode, dual slot for similar card
The rest may be negligible for most users
At this point , the Z8 should outsell the Z9 but Nikon wins either way
If you had bought the Z9 recently, it's tough luck me think :-(

What you said!

I've had a Z9 for over a year, have a Z8 on order and the only camera I plan to buy in the next few years is a travel camera. Something for those times I won't take any of my main gear along and want something more capable than an iPhone. I almost jumped on the recent Z50 sale, but I'm going to hold out for the next version, hopefully with IBIS and maybe a little better AF. My current travel gear is either a D70 (my first DSLR), a D90 or D3200, all of which are fairly small and suffice with some of the F lenses I still have, but they don't do 4K video and the original 18-300 DX I have is not exactly a svelte lens, but that and the 12-24 that was my second lens for the D70 cover a lot of bases.