Switching from Nikon Z7 to Z8 is a lot of fun. There is only one major disadvantage: 675g compared to 910g is a big difference. Everything else is a game change 😉
One of the new features for Nikon is Pixel Shift first introduced in Nikon Zf and then in firmware update to Nikon Z8. It brings 180 Megapixel instead of 45 Megapixel by shooting 32 images. As this requires the object not to move at all this is feasible for large prints of wide angle landscape pictures without moving clouds. This is my test set-up:
- Nikon Z8
- Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8
- Nikon Z 14-30mm f4
- Tripod Dörr A4 Alu
- SIRUI KX-Series Aluminium Tripod Head
- ARCA-SWISS Classic Leica R / SL / Hasselblad: fits perfect on Nikon Z8
But the results were really disappointing. Yes, the final pixel shift image as .NEFX file has amazing 16,512 x 11,008 size but the higher resolution on my test scene did not show any improvement in detail resolution nor sharpness. I did test shots with 32 pixel shift images:
| Lens | mm | f |
| Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8 | 24 | 30 | 2.8 | 4.0 | 8 |
| Nikon Z 14-30mm f4 | 14 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 30 | 4.0 | 8 |
Can you spot a difference?
In addition the pixel shift function of the camera is quite unreliable. Out of the 16 x 32 shots, 10 reached only 31 shots and therefore, NX-studio failed to merge the images. And this without warning while taking the pictures. What a flaw!
Processing the images is also not straight forward as Lightroom cannot merge the 32 NEF pixel shift images. I had run NX-Studio first on my memory card to merge it to a .NEFX file with stunning 962 MByte, which I imported in Lightroom like any other raw file.
The only upside was that I did not encounter any software problems that were reported in some internet posts and videos in NX-studio or Lightroom handling pixel shift files.
Overall, I will not embrace pixel shift in my practice. For me this looks like a big marketing feature without proper real world value.
Hence, the above collection of pictures allowed me to compare the performance of the two lenses @ f2.8 f4.0 f8.0
- Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8
- Nikon Z 14-30mm f4
The difference is amazing small. Even @2.8 the Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8 is sharp. The Nikon Z 14-30mm f4 is less sharper at the edges @4.0 and has slightly more vignetting. Only pixel peeper will notice the difference at 200% magnification. Therefore, in day-to-day shooting switching lenses is only required to go for the wide angle of 14-20mm everything else is done with the Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8.