Nikon Z 8 Teardown And Disassembly (not easy to do, it seems)

Here is neat teardown and disassembly of the popular Nikon Z 8 mirrorless camera.

Nikon Z 8 at a glance:

• 45.7MP FX-Format Stacked CMOS Sensor
• Lightweight Design, 30% Smaller than Z9
• 8.3K 60p N-RAW, 4.1K 60p ProRes RAW
• 8K30p and 4K120p Video, 10-Bit Internal
• Up to 20 fps Raw, 30 fps JPEG Shooting
• 493-Point AF, AI-Based Subject Detection
• Blackout-Free Real Live Viewfinder
• 3.2″ 4-Axis Tilting Touchscreen LCD
• CFx Type B & SD Memory Card Slots
• 5 GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

Kolari Vision disassembled the Nikon Z 8 and they found it’s not easy to disassemble and put together again. The folks at Kolari Vision says:

We consider the Nikon Z8 a mid-difficulty camera to teardown. According to our camera tech, there were so many screws to keep track of.

Nikon Z 8:

America: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA
Europe & UK: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE

Flagship Sensor and Processing

45.7MP Stacked BSI CMOS Sensor

Featuring the same sensor that debuted in the Z9, the FX-format 45.7MP BSI stacked CMOS sensor offers a useful combination of resolution, fast readout speeds, impressive clarity, and minimal noise. The stacked design contributes to reduced rolling shutter while the BSI designation ensures improved noise levels when working at the top end of the extended ISO 32-102400 range. Also, the 45.7MP resolution and full-frame sensor size hit a sweet spot that benefits photographers working in detail-oriented genres as well as enables recording video at resolutions up to 8K.

EXPEED 7 Image Processor

Complementing the sensor is the EXPEED 7 processing engine, which offers speeds approximately 10x faster than a Z7 II. This engine works in conjunction with the stacked sensor design to realize impressively fast AF speeds, burst shooting rates, a high buffer capacity, fluid video performance, and quick all-around handling.

• Top continuous shooting speeds of 20 fps when shooting in raw, 30 fps when shooting in JPEG, 60 fps when shooting 19MP JPEGs using a DX area, and an impressive 120 fps shooting rate when recording 11MP stills, with all rates supporting full AF/AE performance.
• Able to buffer over 1000 raw images in a burst, meaning raw image sequences can be recorded for approximately 50 seconds continuously. Also, during playback, you can skip to the first shot of a given burst to expedite the on-camera review process.

• Pre-Release Capture helps make decisive moment shots easier by recording frames in a burst for up a second prior to actually releasing the shutter. When this feature is activated, burst shooting will commence when the shutter is half-pressed and the buffer will retain up to a second’s worth of frames prior to fully pressing the shutter.
• Electronic shutter affords a top shutter speed of 1/32,000 sec for working in the brightest conditions with wider apertures.

• Stacked sensor design reduces rolling shutter distortion so fast-moving subjects, like a golf club, tennis racket, or baseball bat, do not appear distorted when working with shutter speeds up to 1/32,000 sec.
• AF calculations are done at a 120 fps rate to keep up with fast continuous shooting speeds.
• High Efficiency RAW file format maintains image quality akin to uncompressed raw files but with file sizes approximately 30% smaller for faster reading/writing to the memory card.
• Stills can also be saved in the HEIF file format; a useful evolution from JPEG, this 10-bit format offers 1 billion more colors for greater realism and dynamic range when viewed on HLG-compatible displays while still retaining the small file size as a JPEG.
• Motion Blend Retouch feature can be used to produce an in-camera composite that depicts a series of subject movements within a single frame.
• Long Exposure display includes a live exposure timer on the rear LCD, along with the ability to dim the viewfinder to better preserve your night-adjusted vision.