The Nikon gear vault at the Tokyo Olympics shows not a single Z mount mirrorless camera
Jul 27, 2021
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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The long-awaited 2020 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo have begun. And as usual, the camera companies are there, too. Back in 2016, we got to take a look inside both the Nikon and Canon gear storage to see what they had available for NPS and CPS shooters at the Rio Olympics. Now, we have a chance to see what Nikon’s brought to Tokyo, courtesy of Vincent Kalut.
Sure, it’s cool to just look at pictures of a room full of gear, but I think a look inside the Nikon camp at this year’s Olympics is quite revealing. From what I can see, there’s not a single Z mount camera or lens in sight. It’s all still F mount, largely appearing to be Nikon D6 bodies. What conclusions can we draw from this?
Well, it could mean that Nikon isn’t confident enough in their Z mirrorless system yet to let people tear loose with it at the Olympics, or it just means that none of their current mirrorless lineup is particularly well suited to shooting sports. Which is true. The Nikon D6 release was timed to shoot the Tokyo Olympics when they were still planned for 2020, and there’s still no Nikon Z9 mirrorless flagship, but I would have thought that even though they’re not really designed for sports, we’d see at least some Nikon Z6 II and Z7 II bodies there, even if just for the video shooters.
At an event such as the Olympics where tensions are running high and there’s a lot of running around for the photographers as well as the athletes, kit is bound to get damaged now and again. So, naturally, the Nikon Professional Services team is on-hand to carry out any required repairs to cameras and lenses as needed.
It will be interesting to see how the gear lineup compares at the Paris Olympics in 2024. I expect the Z9 will more than likely actually be released by then along with a slew of new Z mount sports-oriented lenses. But what I’d be curious about is whether the Z9 (or whatever’s available at the time) will completely oust the F mount DSLRs and lenses or if there’ll be a mix of both – and what the ratio is.
Many thanks to Vincent Kalut for allowing us to share these images with you.
UPDATE: 2021-07-29: Several sources have confirmed that while no Z series cameras are seen in the photo, they are indeed present in the Olympics. This is including Z6 II, Z7 II, and Z-mount lenses.
[Photographs shared with permission: Vincent Kalut @vkalut / Photo News]
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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136 responses to “The Nikon gear vault at the Tokyo Olympics shows not a single Z mount mirrorless camera”
The interesting part will come in some months from now at the olympic winter games when the Z9 is out.
I bet for 50/50.
Jürg Wolf, the mirrorless cameras EVF still has image lag and will be useless for Olympic Games photographers to capture that decisive moment. Only an optical viewfinder will give you that real-time view to capture the action.
John Wojciechowski the real issues with nikon mirrorless is their constant overheating above 25C in the sun, the evf blackout or update time if you have d11 on, insane power consumption, very slow idle/sleep state to ready to shoot state transitions mostly due to the slow powering up of the evf. Spent a summer testing them covering sporting events with a z as third body and spent more time on the phone and emails with nps/support then using it. ended up getting rid of it. Jürg Wolf Although you are 100% right about the human’s lag and so on mostly countered by experience to predict when to start shooting your short burst to capture the decisive moment, the evf lag in the cold on top of the blackout makes it next to impossible to track your subject in some situations. You end up having to shoot much wider and choose a shooting location where the dept of field won’t change enough during the short burst to get the subject out of focus or out of frame. that said, they have made some nice progress with the II line resolving many of the issues I and a thousand others had brought up but sadly, they are still way behind sony when it comes to the mirrorless line for sports photography. In the end though, when it comes to major events with the loaner pool being available not many people will opt for a sedan when you can use a Ferrari from the loaner pool so why stock sedans?
John Wojciechowski ah, so that’s why large photography businesses have switched to mirrorless, canon R3’s and R5’s, Sony A1’s and A9’s are all over the place, and nobody is continuing to make new DSLR’s. Makes sense. Oh, and that real time view must be great when you have a mirror slapping up and down out of the way constantly. I’ll enjoy my blackout free 20 fps shooting.
Alain Gaudreau you’re citing nikon as if they’re the only mirrorless cameras out there. The R3 and A1 are kicking ass and being well enjoyed by many professionals right now.
John Wojciechowski not with Sony A9, A9ii and A1.
Nikon is a dinosaur.
Jürg Wolf 40ms for Pentax LX, but that is not digital, it is from 1980.
Constant overheating? My main context of photography is mountaineering, and of course sometimes it’s done outdoors under a killing sun. No overheating on my Z6.
Tommy Nguyen you should read the whole post, I mention sony specifically and “nikon mirrorless issues” as the original post was about the z’s.
Alain Gaudreau and the comment you replied to was discussing mirrorless as a whole.
I was really hoping for some of the Z9 bodies to be there . I will bet this is the first ever Olympics Nikon has ever missed with bringing out a new product to debut.
The D6 launched on time for the Olympics. The Olympics didn’t. Nikon had their camera ready but things got in the way.
It’s there. Just not being publicly shown.
Not enough lens choices
That is because Nikon don’t produce a Pro-level Z-mount (YET).
Glyn Eldiablo Parry they will again come some years too late.
Arne List yep, and I am hoping they nail it. I have currently moved away from Nikon because of this, but hopefully will be moving back.
I moved to Olympus some years ago. I like it to shoot weddings with two bodies, three 2.8 zooms and three 1.4 primes — in one compact bag. The same with Nikon FX would be too much to carry.
Also, I saw a huge number at a major event, where they took up a huge swath of seats, and it mostly seemed to be a wave of Gray.
Yeah and probably didnt have a digital camera there after the very first digital camera came out !
Canon and now Sony are immense competitors.
Mark C Ferencz Though Sony’s already in its 2nd generation of sports cameras, while Canon has yet to release its first…
Christian Fiore I’ve actually found the Canon R5 to be a pretty good sports camera. I photographed basketball last winter with it and preferred it over my 1DXII because there is no frame blackout. The only issue was the files were huge so I bumped it to 22mp for faster editing on deadline.
Don’t ignore Panasonic; their partnerships with companies like Leica are turning out some nice cameras, too.
Christian Fiore R6 is an amazing sports camera. Have used it for surfing and low light dance photography with incredible results.
Battery life? How many shots on a Nikon Z before the battery is dead. Compare to a DSLR…
Adrian Rowley Z7II with Battery Pack and EN-EL15c Batteries 3000. Nikon D6 with EN-EL18c 3000. That is my experience with my cameras.
That is better than I thought. The original Z6 and Z7 only got through about 600 shots per charge from what I have read. I have the EN-EL18c in my grip for a D850 and it goes forever.
Adrian Rowley Get some EN-EL15c batteries… if you can. They are higher rated then the EN-EL15b’s. I get the same performance on my D850 with the EN-EL18b.
These people are outside. What the F K
Maybe there view is – if you want mirrorless – buy it!
There are Z9, Z & II and Z6 II bodies being used at the Olympics. The photos posted show three views of the same two shelves of body and clearly in other photos there are many more shelves deeper inside the NPS booth.
What makes you think that these photos show the entire inventory?
More precisely NPS wouldn’t carry the Z9. It no doubt requires an NDA to use and would likely be handed off directly to select photogs.
THANK YOU for having an actual brain
GOOD….
I am sure that Z cameras are being used by a select few photographers.
But, a paid photographer is expected to bring home winning photos every time. The Olympics is not the place to experiment with new equipment, unless your task is to photograph the also runs.
Canon’s openly testing their R3 at the Olympics. Nikon probably has prototypes of the Z9 there somewhere, too.
Sports shooting is a niche thing and is not the sole indicator of how professional a DSLR is. You are conflating topics because you don’t own a Z system and don’t understand what it is good at.
Right. As you’ve said, your DSLR is good for toy shooting landscapes and timelapses, something mirrorless cameras (at least Sony and Canon) have done for years. Sony even makes a mirrorless camera that does both and also shoots 30fps to capture sports – you know, the thing this article is about?). What again is the Nikon camera that does both? Or are we conflating topics :)?
Late response, yes I have a Z camera and use it. And mix it up with my 3 D cameras that I use on an active basis. And I did shoot sports for many years. With a manual focus lens. No AF lens then, and AF lens have only been usuable in sports photography in the past few yers.
But what does years of experience mean?
If “old” cameras are still great, why changing?? That’s perfectly normal
NPS wouldn’t carry Z9s. Those are in the hands of select photographers. All this is doing is trying to drum up drama. Typical of “so called” journalism these days. Report on the story, stop trying to kill Nikon by inflicting 1000 unwarranted cuts.
Well, to be fair, Nikon killed itself. Canon was able to see what Sony was doing and follow the roadmap. Nikon’s CMO was quoted a couple years ago as saying “in a few years, mirrorless will be dead.” These are the kinds of people they have steering the ship over there.
Another colorblind Canon shooter comes to barf on the better competition
I shoot Sony. Thanks for playing though. Super insightful. Do me a favor and show me how Nikon is superior? Lemme get my popcorn and some toilet paper first so I can enjoy your entertaining response while I laugh so hard I sh*t myself.
I’m sure he was only talking about the Nikon 1. ;)
Nikon didn’t kill itself, they made the absolute best move possible. Sony was the biggest innovator of mirrorless cameras, and while Nikon has started off rocky, they made potentially the best long term decision by developing the Z mount, which is superior to anything Sony or Canon has to offer in terms of image quality.
Now that the dust has settled, Nikon’s “lacking” functions are starting to pick up. We already know they’ve licensed Sony’s 61MP sensor, and we already have some confirmed facts about the Z9 in that it will outperform the D6 in both frame rate, DR, and AF.
It seems like Nikon has positioned themselves to reap the glory of Sony and Canon trailblazing the mirrorless world, and is about to inject themselves in the creme de la creme position as Canon releases the R3 and we see some standardization in the high end mirrorless game in terms of functions and abilities. Plus, Nikon has a track record of superior ergonomics.
Because pro photo journalism that use nikon and canon don’t give a damn about mirrorless body and don’t want to through and lcd screen
Louis Dubé funny, Associated press is running exclusively Sony, along with much of the other shooters covering the olympics. Sounds like someone’s upset their D850 is no longer flagship quality.
Tommy Nguyen There is still a ton of D6 and 1DxIII in use. Just look at pictures from the press corps. It’s almost exclusively those two cameras. And the odd A1 and R5 in between
not suprised. those photogs would mostly be on a d5 or a d6. cant blame them cause their livelihood depends solely on catching that one unique shot that every phototog chases
I went from a D800 to a Z7 II about three months ago. I suspect it will take me a good while to get fully accustomed to it. The Olympics is no place to hand a DSLR shooter a Z camera for the first time and expect them to be comfortable with it.
I would imagine most photographers can gain basic to intermediate knowledge with a new camera in a fairly short time. I would say at least a week or two though to play around and learn what one can and can’t do.
That’s more than enough to shoot quality works.
May N has no confident in its Z?
That’s because the majority of the cameras there are Sony Mirrorless!
Rhys Greaser Nope, majority is still Canon.
Roman Pulgrabja
Rhys Greaser AP ain‘t the only one shooting the Olympics though
https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/photographers-are-seen-at-the-judo-on-day-three-of-the-news-photo/1330704691
Rhys Greaser Most of the white lenses there are Canon 400mm f2.8. I‘ve spotted four GM lenses there (but might have missed one or two)
Rhys Greaser Nawww it’s ok bro you know and I know sony will always play second fiddle to Canon…for now will let you have this one lol
Interesting
Isn’t canon the official sponsor of the Olympics, I wonder how many rf lens are there , most pros will be still using the eos1dxmkii ?
Colin Taylor there’s one guy who posted his kit and he’s shooting all mirrorless canon. Pre production R3, 2x R5 and a single 1dx as a backup only.
I did see that one photo of the guy who dropped the 200mm F2.8 tho lol
It would be interesting to know if Canon had R5/R6 Camera’s and lenses there
yes they have. Also some R3 in beta.
Not even a tester Z9. Yikes hahahah
I wonder how many R5s and R6s were there. I would expect some.
Dave Davidson 1Dx iii and R5 for sure.
You could see at least two photogs at the gymnastics with presumably pre-production R3’s.
Dave Davidson R5s seemed to be second fiddle to R3s with 1DXIII as a backup
What about Canon then?
R3..?
R1..?
Canon Rumors Canon Sverige
Keith Rönnberg You could see at least two photogs at the gymnastics with pre-production R3’s. Very distinctive, particularly when they are paired with the RF 70-200 2.8.
Just design a F mount mirroeless range …sure all their problems would be sorted…..
At the British Grand Prix last weekend the 1Dx reigned supreme again, I thought the might be at least one R3 out and about
What the heck is z mount????!?
I wonder if Burnett with his Speed Graphic and Aero Ektar is covering the Olympics.
Long term, most of the investment is in the glass, so uptake will be slow, adapters or not…
The Z lens line-up hasn’t been fully fleshed out yet. So of course they are using F-mount cameras.
Canon is primarily using R5 and R6 bodies but almost entirely EF lenses
Because Nikon is confused.
I saw a canon R5 user using a EF 400 2.8 and it snapped and broken on the floor.
Not surprised considering what that class of shooters have used in DSLR for a long time.. a new generation of shooters will change things, but for the time being it’s probably going to be a mix of 70% DSLR, but there were a lot of Sony in there too. It comes down to what the shooters are used to really, and in their own use which provides the confidence most in gear for them, especially for this type of event. It’s not a kids baseball or soccer game, and the photo competition to get that shot is as big as the egos of the shooters.
Nikon’s AF system on Z-mount cameras are shitty compared with Canon and Sony.
Not enough Big Z lenses …….
Bet it’s all EF mounts at the Canon vault too.
So let me understand… instead of reporting “look at all the gear, drool”, you reported “I don’t see any Z cameras, Nikon is not confident in them”. What a stupid report. Honestly. What can we glean from these photos? Nothing. Well, actually, no, that there are still a crap load of Nikon photographers, the D6 is a state of the art DSLR used by working sport photographers and not YouTubers and keyboard jockeys. You’re making a judgment based on photos provided to you rather than first hand account. You’re spinning a negative narrative based on speculation and very limited information. Is the Z6/7 a D5/6? No. Of course not. No one ever said as much. The flagship bodies are also made for speed and connectivity; off loading images quickly etc. I guarantee you there are Z cameras being used. They may not be shown in the 5 photos you’ve been provided but they are there, being used. NPS is supplying extra lenses. Extra D6’s. Additional bodies in addition to what the photographer already personally owns. That includes Z’s.
The argument is that Nikon has failed to produce a pro-level mirrorless camera, full stop. But we knew this before we read the article. That company will be bankrupt within five years.
Really? I have been using Z7 for about 2 years now. Best landscape camera I have ever owned, hands down. And no other Nikon camera would provide thousands and thousands of shutter clicks necessary to produce my Timelapses every weekend. Just because it doesn’t do nipple AF at the Olympics like colorblind Canon or stylized Sony doesn’t mean that either of those brands hold a candle to my Z7 system.
Z glass and sensor are rated in the top of charts for pixel perfect fidelity and distortion-less output. It is not a $10K camera so it isnt going to compete with pro models as Z9 has not yet released. What an idiotic comment.
That’s great. You see a lot of pro shooters at the Olympics shooting landscapes, then? Lol. They don’t have a pro-level mirrorless to keep up with Sony and Canon. They just don’t. That’s my point. I’m sure your camera is great for landscapes. But Nikon doesn’t make a mirrorless that shoots 30fps. And their CMO was quoted as saying “mirrorless is a fad.” This is why they’re going to be bankrupt. Nikon just doesn’t get it. They cannot see where everything is headed, and seem dug in on this idea of not changing. And a few years from now, we will find that skeleton, still dug in, waiting to be right…
Lol. Not they won’t. Stop listening to the mouth breathers that have no clue. Define pro-level. There are lots of pros who don’t need a D6 or, shockingly, an a1 or R5. There are many people that use a Z6 or Z7 professionally. There are many people who wish for Nikon to fail. Like it will make the camera world better somehow. Without Nikon you wouldn’t have the Sony a7III. Without Nikon, Sony sensor fab loses a big customer and prices wouldn’t come down. Without Nikon technology, Sony sensors don’t get made.
I mean, Nikon has pretty much done the job for you, here. That ain’t a closet full of gear for hobbyists above. If they thought their mirrorless cameras were up to the job of pros, they would’ve included them.
You can’t even compare the pro-level mirrorless of Sony and Canon with what Nikon has to offer right now. The fact that Nikon isn’t toting either Z6 or Z7 lines as pro-worth isn’t really telling, it’s beat-to-death fact that everyone already knows. The Z9 will be their competition with the Sony A1 and Canon R3. This article isn’t giving anyone any real new information other than “muh Nikon still behind,” like yea, no shit.
It’s worth reinforcing the point because the Olympics is such a big milestone. The Olympics being in Tokyo is a huge point of pride for the Japanese companies. They wanted to be sure their latest and greatest was ready for the games, and they’ve known it was coming for years. The fact that Nikon couldn’t get a mirrorless camera ready in time for the Olympics, despite having an extra year to prepare, is glaring.
Why would Nikon have Z mount bodies in their gear vault? The gear vault is for loaners and stuff. The main cameras are still D5’s, D6’s and D850’s. If they are testing the Z9 at the Olympics, they sure aren’t going to make it available at their gear vault.
Jeff Self speak the truth my brother!!!
Photographing sports does require good autofocus, and their mirrorless cameras effectively have no autofocus, so…
Canon started this crazy loan business with their long lenses in F1 when canon was sponsoring Williams..
Why would you use the z mount to film distant athletes? The writers of this article are clueless about cameras
Its a month long olympic games, sports professional photographers prefer dslr cameras due to their reliability and ruggedness.
Look at the lenses all for dslr . Waste of time using mirrorless cameras having a mount adapter then changing lenses on the spot during games. mirrorless cameras for shorter distance games or you’ll find them at the floor back of soccer goal post net. For video, they use real pro video equipments mostly not cameras because they need to beam it live on tv and online.
What happens to all that gear once the Olympics are over?
Why should there be? Max lens is 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 right now.
Mirrorless camera have viewfinder lag. Operator would miss the shot.
No surprise, the Z cameras, good as they are, are not yet ready for this type of use. The AF still lags the best DSLRs, the battery life is not up to it, the ergonomics are clearly constrained by the size of the camera and the camera is not robust enough. Each time I go back to my D5, I realise that the Z7 has a way to go, hopefully the Z9 will be the answer.
nikon is in trouble
Do consumer bodies like the Z-bodies even have an NPS coverage?
I thought NPS is just for top of the line pro-bodies and lenses.
If they hand out Z9 bodies i guess its not on the official Z9 booth, but what do i know :)
The Z6 & Z7 (along with MkII versions of course) are both on the NPS eligibility list; as are D7x0 and D8x0 bodies.
Not really a story….
I’m a Sony shooter but used to be Nikon. I just changed to Sony so I’ve been looking hard at what pros are shooting at the Olympics. You know what the answer is? Canon. Followed by Nikon and then Sony. But it’s Canon by a country mile at the Olympics.
Welllll, give those who want mirrorless an OMD EM1 !!!!
Is the D6 made in Japan?….So where is the promise of a light Mirrorless..even the R3 is big…what is the point we are back to carrying bricks…got me scratchig my head..even the battery life for the R series is lousy compare to my ancint 6D…and no replacemnt for my fav lens 11mmZoom L…if there is a 10mm RF L zoom..I will switch…
Correct me if Im wrong but none of the current Z mount cameras have wired networking capability. For a lot of news photographers having wired networking capability is crucial. How do you think Getty is able to get photos from the 100m dash online for sale/publication before the athletes are even done their celebrations? Its because they use cameras that are networked directly to editors in the news center that receive the photos, edit, caption, and publish immediately. In 2016 photos of Bolt winning the 100m were online for publication in under 60 seconds. Search on YouTube for “‘One Shot’ Photographing the Olympic Games” for a pretty good look at the 2016 Rio games.
Second, again correct me if Im wrong, there is no glass longer than 200mm for the Z mount cameras. Sure you can use the FTZ mount and longer lenses but I would not want to rely on that as a primary camera. Any time you add an adaptor you and one more piece of gear that has the potential to fail into the equation. D6 with a 300+mm lens and Z mount with 70-200 f2.8 however would be a good combination (except for the networking capability on the z mount).
Good to see Nikon with a Z9 prototype and hopefully it’s going to be a great successful camera like the D 6 is! . This is very true about the state of the Nikons at the NPS above photos and coverage , totally MIA line up 6II-7II no where to be seen at the Olympics , rumour sites will shoot you down in flames if you mention this as it really hurts the fan boys and pretend no all hobby people , can you believe it after all the hype and promises how good ,sharp and blah blah , Nikon have shot themselves in foot again. Any body with thousands to invest in a system should avoid the Z6II and Z7II until it becomes more bullet proof like the D850 D4s D5 D6 . Maybe Z III or ZIV ? Tokyo 2021 Olympics was the place to show you the Z in action but yes its MIA , but people who know cameras all know Z can’t keep up ! even with all the hype around the Z system , the Z II’s at the moment just don’t cut the mustard they are no good at sports.
Z bodies today are very fiddly consumer build gadgety style bodies for people who don’t understand what a camera should be and who want to press and fiddle around with menus instead of buttons giving you instant control like on DSLR so you never miss a shot .
Z’s are more oriented for Video and stills camera part it seems to be second duty , they don’t replace the work horse reliability of a D6 -D5 or even the older D4s this is a fact . Don’t sell your DSLR yet ! . Nikon got caught out napping and are at least five years behind Canon and Sony and they are in trouble selling assets, cutting staff , not making things in Japan anymore and offshoring these very expensive consumer Z’s to Thailand now .
Nikon show casing a concept /prototype Z9 but stupidly puts an F Mount Via FTZ adapter on a very expensive zoom 180 – 400 on it WTF ? Really what is this ? where are the Z mount S line 2.8 400mm or 600mm? Canon have the Made in Japan RF 400mm and 600mm 2.8 already. This tells me F mount D6 is excellent and F mount glass is excellent so why would I buy a Z6 or Z7 or any other Z at the moment that can’t keep up with a D6 D850 D4s D5 , Keep all your F mount glass especially the 24-70 F2.8 VR your 70-200mm f2.8 FL and keep your F 200mm ,300,mm 400mm, 600mm ,800mm F mounts ,these are top notch high end optical perfection professional glass made in Japan from Nikon and there is absolutely no need to buy the S line ups .