Nikon Z6 III Review: A Hybrid Camera for the Masses

Nikon’s latest Z6 camera brings the camera manufacturer’s flagship autofocus to a mainstream camera at a more reasonable price. In almost every way that matters, the new Z6 III matches or exceeds the company’s cheapest. Nikon Z8.

Although not perfect, the Z6 III is one of the the best full-frame mirrorless cameras on the market, and is capable of handling almost any photographic situation that most of us encounter. Landscape and wildlife professionals will probably stick with their Z8s for the higher resolution sensor, but for everyone else, this is the Nikon to get.

Leaping forward

Nikon’s new Z6 III is a much bigger upgrade than the previous version was to the original. It brings most of the flagship features of the much more expensive Nikon Z8 and Z9 to the Z6 line.

Photography: Scott Gilbertson

The body design has been adjusted, although it is not very different from the Z6 II. The camera weighs 1.7 pounds, which balances well even with larger lenses, and the Nikon grip is the largest I’ve used, making it comfortable and easy to carry. Unlike the Retro-inspired Nikon ZfThere aren’t a ton of external controls here. There’s a dial to change shooting modes, along with several other dials, buttons, and scroll wheels, giving you plenty of customizable options that you can set up however you like, but it lacks that movie-inspired feel of the Zf.

The main features in the Z6 III are the new partially stacked sensor (more on that below), an updated 3D subject tracking system, very fast and accurate, and ProRes encoding for video. There are also a bunch of great updates that make daily shooting a better and smoother experience.

The Z6 III features a new 24-megapixel CMOS sensor, which Nikon calls a “partially stacked” sensor, meaning you get some of the performance benefits of a stacked CMOS sensor, such as those found in the Nikon Z8 and Z9, but not the disadvantages, or at least less of the disadvantages. Stacked sensors, ahem, stack the processing circuits right on top of the sensor itself (technically it is behind the sensor), which means that the RAM is directly linked to the sensor, making for an incredibly fast reading. This is what allows high-end cameras to shoot more than 12 RAW images per second without the viewfinder going dark.

Photography: Scott Gilbertson