When will Nikon Z9 be supported?

The Nikon Z9 production release is now being sold – in the USA via NPS USA priority and delivery and thus being put into regular service. When will this body be supported? Which lenses will be supported with it for full use of the functions of PL Elite current?

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With the speed of camera production and but lack of parts for every company, plus the time for DxO to get their hands on, might not be before Spring.

This presents an issue for working photographers. I just checked Adobe

https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-plug-supported-cameras.html

The Nikon Z9 is listed as supported. Admittedly, Adobe is a far larger business than DxO, but DxO DeepPRIME is (much) better than anything supplied by Adobe for either LR or PS. (I use PL5Elite as my PS replacement.) Assuming that the DxO facilities still are in the EU, if Nikon EU will not loan DxO a Z9 (production units are shipping), then perhaps a photographer who has a Z9 and who is geographically close to the DxO facilities and who can spare the body for a bit could loan it to DxO. I plan to have mine via a USA dealer through NPS Priority (pre-order) on 27 Dec 2021 (it already has arrived at the dealer) and put it into service that day for assignments (using a FTZII, and with my DxO supported D850 as backup). I generate two image formats with every image: a NEF (raw) and a basic JPEG – the latter for rapid review by a client and the NEF for post (now using PL5E DeepPFIME plus Topaz ) for final submission, as I am NOT a photojournalist or sports photographer who must rapidly upload an image in what amounts to real time. I suspect that I am not the only DxO workflow photographer who will be using a Z9 and who will face a large backlog of images if it indeed will be months before DxO PL supports Z9 NEF format/s. According to previous information from DxO technical support, the Z9 will be supported with PL5 and not requiring use of PL6.

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Gear Status can be checked here:

The Z9 is not listed yet.

Duplicate post with this one.
@sgospodarenko please merge :upside_down_face:

@wildlifephoto did you make an official request for this camera already since your last post ?
It is nice to compare DxO (PhotoLab) with Adobe (LR) but it is not the same scale and quality. We compare an artisan with an industry… from which many left for a reason or two :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

Now we can kindly ask @Marie if she has informations to share with us.

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I did and I assume others did as well. There have been official assurances from DxO staff that the Z9 will be a supported body under the current PL, not requiring an upgrade fee to the next major production release. (Whether all of the different NEF compression schemes of the Z9 will be supported is a different matter.) The issue is more urgent because the Z9 is now getting into the kits of non-sponsored non-pre-production-NDA working photographers. A number I know are using the Adobe products; I no longer do. Nikon does have a release of NX Studio that supports the Z9 – I have downloaded and installed that, but compared to PL5E, the workflow is “primitive”.

As for the comparison between “artisans” and an “industry”, but entities exist for return on investment as for-profits. If one wants something other than profit based entities (I am not referring to the living costs of those who develop, maintain, and support an application, I am referring to fiscal return on investment entities that have investors), there is GIMP, but GIMP also is “primitive” compared to PL5E. As Adobe was the standard by effectively becoming a near monopoly, most other workflow application vendors developed and licensed (typically, for fee) Adobe-compatible “plug-ins” or workflow pipelines; I was one of the LR/PS users with Nik and other plugins. Was the Adobe “suite” the best? NO. Would the non-Adobe plugins, etc, address many issues? YES. However, once Adobe switched to the silent partner rental license model, I looked for other options. I still do not have an adequate LR replacement (intake and indexing, quick look including raw, quick JPEG superior to the body JPEG for a client, output to PS – now, PLnE as my PS replacement). I tried Photomechanic, but it has no raw, etc, image processing capabilities; I tried Exposure X that does work, but requires annual re-licensing as, unlike DxO, major software defects (“bugs” and security issues) are NOT fixed for previous major releases. (This far, the improvements in PLE from one major release to the next have motivated me to license each major release – this was NOT the case with the Adobe products provided that the raw formats I used were supported.) I understand that my above personal comments are off-topic, but so was “artisan” versus “industry”.

Well, sorry, my comment was also useless.
I wish DxO will have time and hardware to support the Z9 soon (even if I will not own one) :grinning:

Hi All, photojournalist here 50+ years all with Nikon. Did the latest update and my file from Z9 not supported. Bummer! So Photo Mechanic Plus and NX Studio it is for the time being. Knew I was on the cutting edge, didn’t think I was on the bleeding edge!
Happy New Year y’all

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I have the same issue, although I do not use Photo Mechanic (if OFF LIST exchanges are allowed, I would prefer to discuss that with you – I used to use LR for that purpose, tried Photo Mechanic Plus, and currently am using Exposure X, but not necessarily liking ExpX). However, Nikon NX Studio (that does support the Z9) is – in my opinion – not nearly as practical nor capable as is PL5E. As for being on the cutting edge – an aside not relevant to DxO per se, Nikon is making it clear that only the Z bodies will be “moving forward”. The Z9 is the first of the Z bodies that meets the way I use a camera. Given the expected long delivery delays for the Z9 due to component delays, I very early did a NPS USA pre-order to my “regular bricks and mortar dealer” and picked up the body (plus FTZII) just after Christmas. When will DxO support the Z9 for PL5Elite with DeepPRIME plus lenses (such as the ones I use on my D850)? Happy New Year as well.

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comparison of two available raw Z9 workflow outputs

When DxO does support the Z9 NEF format/s, it hopefully will do a better job than Adobe currently has (please see the above URL for comparison images between Adobe and Nikon workflow outputs – and both are in many ways inferior to the current PL Elite with DeepPRIME). Note that my reference to the above is not to discuss the various Z9 features or capabilities that appear in the above URL, nor as a marketing item for the Z9.

Following-waiting for the z9 to be supported too !
Thx !

Still unavailable. Have you a date? I have a Z9 since December 24th…

Hello,

support of Z9 should be in March.

Regards,
Marie

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Thank you Marie. But with respect, loyal DxO users have been asking this question since the Z9 release on 23 Dec. I really feel that an answer or best estimate should have come back then, rather than a resounding silence. Not good, not reassuring, and pretty deaf to your customer base.

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FastRawViewer does all of that except the jpeg output but will allow you to move the selects into a separate folder which could then be processed by a droplet or a hot folder. Apple has some built-in RAW correction in the OS which be leveraged by a macro program.

There’s early basic correction available in FastRawViewer (white balance, exposure) but I believe only Adobe picks up the corrections. I thought there might be a contact sheet option or a jpeg export option but couldn’t find such functionality, neither in v2.0.1 or in the FastRawViewer manual.

I have had several working photographers recommend FastRawViewer (FRV). I have been in communication with FRV technical support (TS), and with PhotoMechanic (PM) TS. I am copying below my most recent email to FRV TS; once the Z9 is supported by PL, I am interested in the feasibility of the workflow pipeline I have outlined. Note that FRV currently supports Z9 NEF (with HE and HE* soon to be supported).
Correspondence:

Thank you for your prompt response.

To be clear, because of limited capabilities of each permanently licensed application (not the rental “subscription” of Adobe, with eviction once the rent is not paid – a permanent “silent partner”), I need to use a three stage pipeline workflow, and to verify this will work.

  1. Copy camera memory card to an external removable USB drive.

  2. Use FRV to view the NEF files on the external USB drive and keep the NEF and body JPEG files – sending each such kept file to PM.

  3. PM will catalog the selected files with my catalog naming to a second external removable USB drive in a directory tree named by my choice.

  4. Using the catalog, PM will send selected NEF images to PL. PL will process the NEF to whatever output format the client wants (typically, a JPEG, but much better than from the body). The PL output file plus the PL image processing settings file will then be put by PM into the catalog and directory on the removable USB drive.

This is cumbersome because PM does not have raw viewer and neither FRV nor PL has the PM catalog, storing, and retrieving facilities of PM. If FRV were as capable as PM, then I could eliminate PM, and if PL were as capable as FRV and PM combined, then I could use one “integrated” application, similar to Adobe LR plus PS (with DxO plugins, etc).

End correspondence to FRV. (Marie, are you reading the above?)

You are overthinking it wildlife. Just using FastRawViewer is more than enough at the front end. FRV communicates quite well with PhotoLab. PhotoMechanic is more useful at the back end when adding all the metadata to a finished set.

Of course one can do it all in PhotoMechanic but I prefer the culling process in FastRawViewer as the preview tools are better. Now that PhotoLab does have basic metadata editing, FRV and PhotoLab are often enough for me. PhotoMechanic Plus serves for catalogue functions once I have finished sets.

Uncoy, I assume at one time you used film. Did you keep all of your strip or only the “keepers”? Are you suggesting only to keep the “keepers” and not an “inventory” of everything? For me, the issue with digital, and increasingly so (e.g., with the Z9), is the much larger volume of material to process. Given the environmental impact of wet chemistry film processing, I did not waste film – despite the fact that the most common view of other working photographers was “film is cheap”. But, I would re-review strip when a particular image in the strip was repeatedly wanted by several clients – and have salvaged other images. (Obviously, there was considerable waste when using continuous shooting for a subject – catching the predator with the prey, etc.) I take it you do not archive most of the images you take, and thus use PM at the back-end, not the front, of workflow. (Computers and applications such as PL have replaced darkroom, light table and loupe or projector, etc.) Note that I would not archive digital images that had fundamental technical flaws (focus being a typical problem); the Z9 AF system with modern internal motor focus engineered lenses of good MTF (“professional lenses”) I have found produces a higher fraction of technically correct images even under “difficult” situations than any previous Nikon body I have used (from the F5 to the D850).

Marie - Do you have any idea on when in March? Early or End? Will all Z9 RAW formats be supported then?

Already have +1000s shots with Z9 and I miss my DXO workflow … :frowning:

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Hello,

Nikon Z9 support should be added mid-March but at first we won’t support RAW with High efficiency compression even if a workaround will exist till we fix it. Other RAW format will be supported.

Marie

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