Nikon Z8 firmware version 3.0 has arrived. Announced in early June, the major firmware update gives the Z8 the world’s first pixel-shift high-resolution shooting mode equipped with focus shift and AE bracketing.
It is a significant firmware update for the Z8, one of Nikon’s most powerful cameras and among the best values in the entire full-frame camera market. Once installed, the Nikon Z8 3.0 firmware update enables photographers to create up to 180-megapixel photos with expanded depth of field and dynamic range.
While Pixel Shift is not new to Nikon cameras, and competing brands offer similar features, the ability to combine a high-resolution pixel shift function with focus and AE bracketing is a significant advantage, especially for macro and product photography. For Pixel Shift, the camera precisely moves the image sensor by one pixel at a time, using in-body image stabilization, to enable capturing multiple shots of the same scene with a slightly shifted perspective. Since Bayer pattern image sensors, like the 45.7-megapixel one inside the Z8, do not capture the same color information at every pixel, it is possible to achieve a higher color resolution by shifting the sensor. Pixel shift modes can also overcome issues with aliasing and moiré artifacts.
While the mode has limitations, including its lack of suitability for dynamic scenes, many photographers find it beneficial when they need to capture a sharper image of subjects such as products, buildings, or still landscapes. It’s also great for commercial photographers who require even more resolution than the Z8’s standard 45.7-megapixel RAW photos can provide. These same situations that demand extreme resolution will often also benefit from a greater depth of field, especially in macro product photography.
That’s where the focus shift comes in. The Z8 not only shifts its pixels for improved resolution, but it can adjust the focus point as the photographer requires, ensuring that there are multiple series of sharp images at different focus positions, ensuring macro shooters can achieve an expanded depth of field and 180 megapixels. It combines two different methods of getting visibly sharper macro photos into a single mode, and the Z8 is the first full-frame mirrorless camera to do so.
Alongside this groundbreaking new Pixel Shift feature, the Z8’s 3.0 firmware update also adds Flexible Color Picture Control to dial in a precise preset look, delivers improved autofocus thanks to an in-camera focus limiter mode, which is great for macro work, too, and other usability improvements.
A comprehensive breakdown of all the updates introduced in the new Nikon Z8 firmware update is available on Nikon’s download page. The download page also includes detailed installation instructions.
Image credits: Nikon
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