Nikon Z6 & Z7 BIGGEST FLAW? (Unsuable for PRO Work?) 

In 2018 with all the options out there today, seems silly not to use a camera with dual slots (i.e. auto backup) for pro work. Fine for casual stuff.

I've been a working professional Nikon photographer for a very long time. Just so you know where I'm coming from, I have pre-ordered the Z7 with the adapter. The single card slot argument? I always carry two bodies when I'm working, BUT, has everyone forgotten that we used to carry the D700, the D300, lots of pro cameras had single card thoughts. I've never had an XQD card fail and haven't had any pro friends with XQD fails? Pins have bent (CF cards) in card readers, but that left the card still fully functional unless the pin was left in the card. Pro level cards are extremely reliable. I'm not the least bit concerned about having a single card. My D4, D4s, and D5 bodies have dual card slots and I use one card for Stills, the 2nd slot for video. I don't have redundancy. The ONLY drawback to the single XQD slot in my opinion, is reduced storage capacity, remember that if you're going to do video grabs at 4K, a 128 gb XQD card is giving you less than 30 minutes. A 256 gb card is going to run you about $462.00 and you never ever want to fill a card to its capacity (again just the way I do things). Get the best quality cards you can find and then just don't worry about it. I'm IN :)

As a casual viewer with only a Nikon D5500 I would think that they should have two cards in the Z7 at least. They should also have made the cameras a little deeper so they could fit 2 cards and a fully articulating screen. I have heard that one reasons they did not have 2 card slots was the extra processing power needed to write to 2 cards at once!

People who had no card fail on him/her on a pro shoot will think a single card slot is ok, but pros who HAD cards fail on him/her will feel strongly about recommending for a pro shoot (especially like wedding, where you cannot rerun the moment). Even if you have 4 bodies, unless you have two persons simultaneously covering the same one-time event, one cannot save oneself from devastating lawsuits. That being said, I had only one card fail on me - thank god not in a paid event. Tony Northrup, Jared Polin, Angry Photographer - all feel the same way.

Not a pro photog, but I am a software person who has worked on systems software. NAND cells (the storage tech in both SD and XQD) have a finite life span for writes and will 100% fail after some (likely very large) number of writes. SD and XQD have the same underlying technology. The likelihood of encountering a failure is very low for a single photo shoot, but it's kind of like death and taxes- you will eventually be affected unless you rotate with new cards regularly. Another problem is that the failure mode will likely be silent and go unnoticed until much later. You perhaps don't need redundant tripods, because a tripod's failure mode is instantly noticeable in nearly all cases, allowing you to adjust accordingly and salvage your shoot. If your XQD card fails. you might not notice until you get home and it's too late to do anything about it. For that reason, since the cost of losing a paid photo shoot's data could be very high in money and reputation, dual card slots seems like a very good insurance policy.

In this price range, single card slot isn’t acceptable

I agree with Tony, though Ive never had a card failure before, but I will never risk going to shoot a paid event with a camera that has one card slot. 2nd card slot is like an insurance. you cant say you will never insure your car since u never had any accidents. for pros this is a major downside, I would have bought this camera if I was just starting out.

It's not just that it doesn't have 2 cards, it's at that price point it doesn't have 2 cards. I get that they dont want to kill their own d850 by making the z7 too good, but I think by doing that they aren't beating sony

If you have never had a card fail then you are one of the lucky ones. I have, and it's really hard to tell a client that you lost all their wedding pics. Tony recommended the 6Dii for VLOGGING. Not for pro use. In this day and age, as a pro photographer you need two card slots to ensure that you never lose your work. Peace of mind. It really doesn't matter that pros shot with one card in the past. pros shot on film cameras in the past too. So based on your argument, we don't need digital cameras because we did just fine when we only had film. Technology has progressed and offers a more secure way to backup your images

By your logic we could discard every single technological advancement in photography ever made! AF? A pro does not need AF! 400+ focus points? A pro doesnt need all that points he focus and recomposes! My point is... no we do not NEED 2 cards to be pros... but if you give me the choice between 2 systems (same kind of bodies and lens), one has 1 card and the other 2? I will choose the 2 card system every single time! No question!!!

If you're a professional photographer, a card failure is fatal. It does not happen often, but one's reputation is at stake when money is involved. If you're a professional parachutist, a parachute failure is fatal. It does not happen often but your life is at stake. Thus all professionals (and amateurs) jump with two parachutes. The Z6 an Z6 do not have any gotta have features. Only time will tell if it is El Flopo.

Single card slot is a deal breaker for me . I've had SD cards go bad on me. I agree with Tony. I think for weddings it's a must . You have been lucky so far by not having a card go bad on you during a wedding. Still, everyone has their own ideas on what they are willing to risk. I say do what you feel comfortable doing. However , I'll be saving my money .

I agree with Tony, Nikon should have put dual slots on this camera. I'm not a pro so i would buy the camera (if I could afford it), but if my livelihood depended on it, I'd stick with the D850 or D750. Honestly I think Nikon intentionally kneecapped this. They should have known people would demand dual slots, especially since every other camera in it's class has it. Look how badly Nikon handled the 1 series b/c they were afraid it was going to eat into their D3000s or D5000s series cameras. The D850 is a huge hit, and if they have a D760 coming, they can say people are still buying DSLRs instead of mirrorless. I think its silly for them to put dual slots in a mid range camera like the D7000 series that costs ~$1000(i know they removed it from the D7500, but people were upset with that too), but not in their brand new system that's $2000-$3500. If the anger is high enough, I'm sure Nikon will put it in the 2nd gen, but by then how many would have already jump ship to Sony, and I doubt Canon is going to make the same mistake with their new mirrorless.

Single cards wont be an issue for a lot of people, however for some (myself included) it's a must, I know card failures are a rare occurrence but they do happen, I have had multiple cards fail on me over the years and I refuse to take the risk with paying clients that I might loose all of their images because of a card failure. Technology is pretty reliable these days but I always take spares of gear that I can't work without, if I need 2 flashes then I take 3, I take more batteries & memory cards than I need … I have even had a camera body fail on me mid shoot before so I always have a backup body just in case. 2x card slots are just like an insurance policy - unlikely to be used, but if it's needed then its invaluable. - It was certainly a shock move especially from Nikon since pretty much all their mid-high end cameras in recent years have had dual slots (apart from the d7500 but that was probably to drive people to the d500), I wouldn't have been surprised if the Z6 was single slot to drive people to the Z7, but the Z7 as well is bizarre on a $3500 camera … it's like a modern car not having air conditioning: it's like Nikon don't want people to move away from DSLRs

Hi, I have to buy a second Nikon FX body. Waiting for the DSLM from Nikon.......and now....I buy a 810 or a 850. Dual CardSlot it's a must have for my work.

Totally agree with Tony...we shoot weddings and had a cf card go bad when using our D3 years ago and just lucky we had both slots filled and set for redundancy. I will say we haven't had one go bad since but in no way feel comfortable with just one.

Why buy the Nikon when you can get the Sony with dual card slots for the same price (plus eye detect, more pro lenses, larger buffer etc)

Canon / Nikon Strategy Option 1: Create a Sony-killer. A challenger that puts them back on top and gives Sony something to sweat over. Canon / Nikon Strategy Option 2: Create a good enough product to keep (part of) your base. This is a check-the-box move that can dethrone a status quo company in a rapidly evolving environment. Sadly, I fear both Nike and Canon, after waiting years for Canon to get it together, will go for #2. Nikon certainly has. Trying not to pre-judge Canon, especially after waiting so long, but the Nikon announcement creates a sense of foreboding. The flaw in the "Good enough to stay" logic, is that many of us are in the "give us a reason not to leave". My 20k in glass will be just as obsolescent in a new Canon mount world, requiring an adapter, as they are in a Sony (metabones) adapter world. In both cases, I will slowly migrate to new glass. This removes my one main reason for staying. Canon needs to land closer to the pin that Nikon did. Does anyone think Sony is going to sit by and not respond? The Z6 does not even match the core specs of the III, and the III's successor is no doubt well along, along with much more glass than Nikon will have until at least 2020. It's a nice camera, but they are now the challenger. This is new territory for them, and for my friends at Canon. I bought the M5, and even a few of the crappy M series lenses. I'm hoping Canon gets it right. I want to see a winning FF mirrorless entry. We will find out soon enough. As for Tony's dual card comments, I'm an enthusiast that does a handful of paid gigs per year, so it's not a problem for me - but if I shot weddings, it would be a requirement. The two tripods comparison was s ridiculous one, btw. (not made by you). My two cents. Keep up the good work. Long time viewer. First post.

Think outside of the box... I shoot with the D850 and D500... On the 500 I didn't have another XQD card readily available on a gig... So, for all portraits that we're super important, I used snapbridge to copy large .jpgs to my phone while shooting... And I thought.. BAM... Instant backup!

Nikon soon needs to release dual card slot version otherwise going out of business. These two models are for non pros.

The point about the double slot is...how do you justify a card failure on a job to a client...imagine trying to explain that to a client when there are cameras with dual slots available. It's an indefensible position.

It is simple. It is not important what it was, important is what it is. Now. Dual slots are here and people, who tried them, loved them. So why go back? Z6 and Z7 targeted Sony A7 and A9 consumers, who have dual slots. 99% of shooters never experienced card failure, but almost all of them heard in some point that this is possible. It is not important what Tony or whoever say whatever, we have new technology and we do not want to go back. With your thinking Z6 and Z7 are the best cameras in this planet in all segments. Does not matter if they do not have eye AF, we did not have this year or two ago, does not matter if they do not have long battery life, we did not have this year or two ago, does not matter if they do not have dual slots, we did not have this few years back........you got my point. I am not pro but I want dual slots! Why? Because it is available. Because exist. Because I want what it is now, not what it was. I am Nikon shooter, but at this moment I am craving for Sony or Fuji. Because I get more for the bucks.

Undoubtedly depends on the importance of the shoot. If millions are invested on models stage etc and photos rest on your shoulders I'd hate to tempt murphy's law

As a pro photographer I only shout paid jobs with cameras with two card slots. No excuses. It’s mid 2018. Tony is right. Absolute deal breaker for me.

From a reliability point of view: I think that you'd changed your mind once you had a card fail on you about the dual card slot thing. I'm always thinking about the possibility of a card failure when I am only using single card. I would not want to go through the expense and waste of time of a reshoot, or even loosing personal footage that isn't for a paid job! From a competition point of view: Sony has dual card slots for the same price so I just expect the competition to have similar features for the same price. And if I'm paying pro pricing ($3400!) I expect important pro features. From a feature point of view: Dual card slots give you options to backup, or double your storage capacity, or split up your different kinds of footage/photos shot between cards. There are probably more reasons, but over all, I think that all of these reasons are a much better argument than "well you can still shoot with a single card even though it's a bit of a gamble and I've never had a card fail on me so I'm not that concerned". (that's my take on your argument anyway)

Nikon is trying to launch a new system and they opened the door for this argument... That in and of itself is stupid!

and another aspect - having two cards allows one to remain in the camera while the other is removed to put into a card reader. This handling is the most critical time for dropping cards and other handling mishaps. Keeping one safe is a much more reliable way of transferring data

I think the new SnapBridge is the solution for all backup needed! Pictures in RAW-format and JPEG original, not compressed, can be copied in real time to your smartphone or iPhone.

I think Tony is right. You can have two cameras and you if you get a perfect shot and it failed, you’re quite fckd. Go explain that to your client! Go travel to Iceland and come back to realise your images are gone! Does not matter which old camera had a single slot before, you need a dual memory card slot in the new world.

Here’s my enthusiast take with Nikon’s mirrorless release. It is not a DSLR killer, which will remain King for Nikon. This mirrorless release is the backup for the pro, and a primary for everyone else. For me, the Z6 will be my vacation camera. Notice how the side by side it with the D750 & D850.

For me a single card slot is a deal breaker. I have had cards go wrong in the past. When someone is paying for results I’m not going to risk standing there with egg on my face saying whoops sorry no photos my card went wrong! It’s about being professional and not taking chances especially on a couples big day! I wouldn’t use any camera with a single card slot outside of a studio environment at least there you can the camera tethered and back everything up straight away.

Good points Matt. I personally never had an issue with a card and I have been doing photography for 20+ years. I started out doing weddings and never had a card fail on me. It is wise to have a 2nd card slot as a backup, but that wouldn't deter me from buying a camera and using it professionally. To each's own. Many people may not handle and/or store a card properly the way it should be and that may lead to some issues with the card.

Two cards are an absolute must. I don't need airbags in my car because I may never get into an accident that sets them off, but every manufacturer includes them. I would not look at a system without it, especially for weddings and events.

The reason why you are getting so many dislikes is because I don't think you were in a position where one of your cards failed and you had to tell your clients bad news. I believe that if something like that would happened to you, your priorities would change rather quickly. And Dual card would be a MUST. Many years ago cars didn't have air bags and ABS and traction control either. In fact one could argue that back in 1900 some cards didn't even have seat belts. Does that mean that it is not important to have a seal belt in modern cars? Recently we hired my friend photographer who shoot family session with 1 memory card and he didn't bother to put 2nd card as a backup. Well his card failed in the middle of the shoot lucky for him I had my DSLR with me and I gave him my card. But do you know how upset everyone were when they discovered that first 30% of images were lost. To sum things up, yes it's not important to have 2nd card if you shoot for your self or you are nature photographer. But to say that cards don't fail is is negligent statement. Lucky for me the only time card failed on me was during a wedding when it was 110F out. But my backup card had all of the images. Close call!

Interesting discussion. My preference is dual slots for pro work, but if shooting with two bodies on important shoots, you could ensure that you had something of value with each body, so you wouldn't loose everything. You could also use fresh SD cards every 30 minutes if especially worried. I was upgrading my D7100 this year , and at the last minute went with a D7200 vs a D7500, to have dual slots.

I'm... Tony was quite clear that they have experienced 4 card failures with image loss. He further says that a wedding is a once in a lifetime event and that the risk, however small, is unacceptable. I agree with that. Taking on a wedding with single card slots is an unacceptable risk to put on the bride... It's not your wedding, so why do you get to take the risk for the couple?

Yes, 1 card slot is a deal breaker. Just a month a ago my coworker had her engagement shoot and was heart broken telling me that the photographer they hired had memory card issues and may have to do the re-shoot. My immediate response was are you sure you hired a professional photographer for your photos? I'm a semi-pro and would always shoot dual cards for paid shoots.

I am not a pro but, have been using digital cameras( dslr and point &shoot) for 10-12yrs and have had only 1 card failure but, still recovered files with the rescue software. Z6/Z7 are good cameras - the spec also indicates that CF express cards can be supported with firmware updates.

The single card slot was an absolute deal breaker for me. I used to run a pair of D700 for work too. All I've got left these days is D3, D610, D7200, D800, and D810. I don't want to go back to the days of the anxiety of having just one slot.

As a GH5/GH5S video shooter with lots of Nikon glass, the Z6 is looking pretty good to me. I already use and Atomos and V mount batteries. I'm excited to have 4k full-frame 10 bit 4:2:2 with AF and IBIS. My VR will even work too.

well 2 things to add. its got wifi AC. download photos pretty fast with that & 2nd its got usb C. so just get a big card and leave it in there. taking cards in and out, getting dirt on the pins / damaging them. i wont be getting anything for a while as im happy with my current setup, but with more lenses that are sharp from wide open and firmware updates / new bodies, this could be one to watch.

I worked as a wedding photographer in the 80s and 90s. Of course In those days we worked with film, yet one strict rule that my boss had was that we always had to have in our bags 2 cameras and 2 flashes. Weddings are too important for us photographers to have something go wrong. Today as soon as a new commodity is implanted in a camera, every camera following is expected to have it as well. We got use to these dual card slots in Pro and cameras very quickly and now Nikon is in a weird position. Anxious to see how things work out. Now I think you hit it the nail on the head when you spoke of having 2 of everything. You are absolutely correct. Northrup has such a fixation with this damn second card but shirly he must know that anything and everything can go wrong with your gear apart from a card failing on you. In more than 12 years shooting digital, I have never had a card not function properly.

I don’t think it matters if he can’t recommend a camera for a certain reason. He is giving his advice based on his experience like you are doing on your experience. He provides his reasons why and you provide yours. People need to consider their situation and decide if it is important or not. I thought the 2 camera bags, 2 flashes... scenario was fairly lame.

Certainly a person can shoot with a single card, but there’s an element of risk for something like weddings that can’t be reshot, and given that by now virtually all manufacturers offer dual card slot options it doesn’t seem worth the risk. For something like a portrait or landscape photographer I don’t think that the risk is so great. There are also strategies to lessen your risk like break the shoot up onto multiple cards so you may miss part of the event but can at least present your customer something.

We are not living in the past so bring up old cameras is pointless. If I'm a Nikon photographer with an D750, What am I getting that is incentive to get these over a D850? Just the EVF? From Nikon fanboy Jared even said the F mount glass is slower on the Z cameras and freaks out the older drive motor designed for DSLR cameras. $3600 for this to use my old glass with less performance. Way less battery life than a D850. Needing to invest in new expensive Native mount glass. $850 for a 35/1.8 that is NUTZ Nope NOPE nope!!!!!

I mean for an enthusiast camera the Z6 is ok with 1 card slot, also the external recorder bypasses cards altogether. In addition, XQD cards are reliable. I think the Z6 is a very compelling option for Nikon Shooters who don't want to switch. There's nothing quite as good in Nikon's lineup, especially for video. The Z7 is more pro oriented, and so the single card slot is not forgivable there, and the D850 already exists.

i think the card slot issue partially depends on what/how you shoot. if your shooting for fun, single slot is fine. if your shooting professionally and shooting portraits, landscapes and wild animals, a single slot is sufficient as for the most part, if a card fails, you can reproduce those images. but if you are shooting events, weddings, sports, those cant be reproduced and thus you would want a second card slot for redundancy. some will say they have shot for years and never had a card fail, i say ive driven a car for 30+ years and never had an accident but i still wear a seatbelt just in case. ive been holding off on buying a second body from Nikon. single slot means i will not be buying a Z6/Z7. i am hopeful the will have a second card slot in the vertical grip when it is offered but im not holding my breath.

I agree with Tony. But since I mostly take landscape and macro images that can be taken again if absolutely necessary (an extremely rare scenario), the issue is less important to me. However, I still would not order the Z-cameras because they are over-priced. I don’t see why anyone would want the Z7 over the D850 unless the smaller size or improved video capability was a “must have”.

Tony Northrup is absolutely correct in his assessment and I couldn't agree more. Not only should the new cameras have dual card slots but also eye autofocus and better battery life. I shoot Nikon cameras and I am very disappointed in Nikon. They should have done better.

I agree with Tony. I've yet to shoot a wedding and that's because I need to upgrade to a camera with 2 card slots. I can not take the risk currently with my 6D to find out the hard way.

Sorry Matt, I agree with Tony Northrup with regards to the 1 card slot vs. 2 card slot. With that being said, I don't think Tony was saying "every" professional - In the video I watched he was stressing "wedding professionals." Obviously, the card slot has a different priority level for type of professional you are. I'm a wedding photographer and have used the Nikon D700 for years and love it, but memory card failure was always a concern. I'm currently shooting with D850 and whether the card fails or not, it's peace of mind knowing there is redundancy. While many pro's have shot weddings with 1 card slot for many years, doesn't make it right. Having a back up assistant, tripod, etc. is far from the card slot issues. Which is easier to tell a bride - my tripod broke or sorry I lost your wedding photos because my memory card failed? For me, I would only consider it as a backup camera with one card slot. Thanks for the discussion!

Would it have been nice to have 2 card slots? Yes absolutely, especially at the price point. But, is it really a deal breaker? For me, not really. I typically don’t shoot redundantly.

Tony has a valid point, but each photographer will have to make there own point. Even though I am a not a professional photographer, I use a D7100, which has two card slots. I was in San Francisco with my family and one of the slots failed. Because the camera had two slots, I was able to keep shooting. I guarantee you that Nikon will here this and come out with a update that has two card slots and solves any problems with the Z6 and Z7's

You make some good points. I've had a flash trigger fail and a lens, but never a card (though always Compact Flash cards). Used a D700 for work for years, often far away from home and several other DSLRs before it for work use, all with one card. I do agree that at this price and in 2018 it should have two. Though XQD is likely more robust than SD.

Hey guys i just got to know this can do more then 500-600 shot on per battery , One Photographer who was testing it for Nikon said at 500 shots still half battery was left and Nikon is working on another version of the battery which give more bust . and 80-85 min video battery life and 29min record limit .

My main camera is single slot for portraits. I would like dual slots for peace of mind. Even the d7100 has 2 slots. Single card is not my biggest gripe, but the overall design and layout is not well thought out. Wasted space, missing controls and buttons, lackluster features and performance (it seems). No reason to buy these when the a7 sweeps in performance, specs, and value (and design imo). Nikon's ethos of being too big to fail and not listening to its customers is off-putting. Specs aren't everything but if this offering is Nikon's best effort, jumping in with both feet, I have a hard time trusting their ability to deliver in the future. f.95 glass is great and all but most people will never use such expensive lenses. They could make a high end camera and a low end camera. Instead they made 2 low end cameras that are high price.

I am surprised that Nikon did not include dual slots, particularly the Z7, but I think it is hyperbolic to suggest the cameras should not used for pro assignments. For wedding and event, I think most we feel better with dual cards, but for product, photography, real estate photography, and similar where you can do the shoot again, dual slots do not seem essential.

I agree that we have all shot with single slot cameras but in these days with video being almost as important as stills dual card slots have become almost a necessity. The ability to assign one card for still and the second for video just makes the process easier.

I always think it can happen if you are careless about taking them in and out while powered. If the cameras images can be downloaded or transferred by USB C that would be nice and a general safety precaution meaning the card can remain in the camera body more often partially eliminating this chance.

It’s 2018.... Every pro camera should have 2 slots....100% agree with Tony...

I'm an amateur who travels a lot, sometimes really far away. I had a card failure twice in my life, both from reputable brands (maybe it's because of the conditions I use my hardware? but that's how I spend my holidays!). Dual card slot is an important feature for me - single slot is OK only if I'm not going to use the camera for anything important to me. Besides, these Z cameras seems to have more flaws... battery life is poor, AF is supposedly terrible, etc.

I was a press photographer for 30 years and a good portion of that time was spent using film. There was no backup then and during my whole digital career I've only had one card fail and I was able to recover the images with free software. I do like two card slots, and most of my Nikon's have them, but in truth I've never needed the second slot as a reduncy. I would have liked two slots, a fully articulated screen and a pop up flash, for the Nikon CLS System, but it's rare to find a perfect product so I think this is a good start.

Since cameras now have dual card slots I believe you should use the dual card slots on shoots that cannot be duplicated at a later date, such as weddings. Things do break, and why take a chance when you do not have to. If the shoot can be duplicated at a later date then I do not believe it matters - nothing actually lost other than time if a card actually fails.

I think it’s a bit disappointed that’s not only about one card slot because there is an issue with the battery thats only 330 shots

I don't do professional shooting and never had a card go bad on me. Therefore I've never been put in a position, nor ever risked, having to ruin a bride's special day by informing her that I've lost all her pictures. So I think it would be easy for someone like me (or a professional who has never had card issues) to say it's not a deal breaker. However, I think it's fair to ask "what if it did happen to us (and we had to break the news to our client), then would a single card slot still be non-issue? Or would we risk it again?" Would you still hold to your position Matt?

One of my friends lost all his wedding pics because the photographer saved the pics on an external hard drive and the hard drive failed before he could deliver the soft copies or prints of the pictures. Everything fails eventually. Being an engineer I can assure you, no matter how much you try something will fail eventually. That's why there are always backups and redundancies and fail safe mechanisms in every engineering design and they missed one major fail safe in the design of this camera.

If you do events you need the two card slots because you can't reproduce the event in case of a failure. However i think that would be Smart (if is technicaly possible) to add the secund card slot in a vertical grip. Thanks for your videos. Regards.

Even for hobby work I would not consider a camera with a single card. There’s also human error-with two redundant cards you could lose one or accidentally destroy one card and you’re good to go. You simply can’t risk it with an important event.

From so many years photographers shooting with single card slot camera...however As a consumer I will never hire a photographer who shoot with single card camera knowing that there are dual cards bodies are available in market...I will definitely add a clause in a contract...it is in the interest of the consumers that photographers uses dual card camera...specially for weddings and press work...

I understand the single card slot panic but I think it's a bit overblown for one reason: XQD cards are more robust and have a better supporting architecture. It is based around PCI-E which has good scaling. SD cards are less robust physically. I haven't had an SD fail for data storage but I've had a couple fall apart. I guess Nikon looked at the chance of failure on XQD (maybe from previous camera data?) and felt it wasn't a serious enough issue to include a back up, slow, SD slot. Mistake? I guess for some it is, for others it doesn't bother them. I think the other thing Nikon is banking on is CF Express which, according to Nikon, the Z series will take with a firmware upgrade. Should improve buffer amounts too. Can XQD fail? Absolutely but I can't help but feel people are getting whipped up over an issue that 1) can likely be mitigated if you're that worried and 2) is unlikely to happen.

I thought the Northrups were fairly accurate by comparing these cameras to the early models of Fuji and Sony mirrorless. Hopefully they listen to the masses and work on what people want to see in future models. But the fact that you can adapt old or existing glass (and there is a lot of it!) is something they got right.

Agree with Tony. For years Sony users were told their cameras were not professional for that very reason. On a personal note I've had two, new, name brand cards fail on me in the last year. Also a friend had one fail just this weekend. So it does happen. I would hate to have to tell a bride that half of her wedding was lost.

Yes, if you’re a pro and a card failure can cost you your job don’t use it as a primary shooter. May be a backup camera. I’m a photo enthusiast. It doesn’t matter to me much. But if you’re paying a premium, dual card slots should be a standard. But we cannot say that a camera is too bad only because it doesn’t take dual cards. But Z series seem to have some great stuffs too.

I am a wedding photographer. Recently in a wedding I was shooting with single slot camera and my card failed at end of the day. I was devastated and was in depression. I think this is the worst scene you can imagine in your work. Coz the pictures are THE imp thing for which you are hired and if those gets corrupted then you are of no use. Why should clients hire you. So Dual Card Slots Always. Atleast, at this price point of $2000 or above.

Finally someone who deal the issue with the dual card slots as it suppose to. It would be nice to have 2 slots but it doesn't. I never had a card fail on me till now, so all this noise about it to me is at list "strange". What matters is this. I sold my d3 and d3s with 700k/540k shutter actuation's (which both i bought second hand!!) my d800e & my d810 with approx 200k s.a each and never failed no me. Never any of my Nikon's froze, overheat, took water or let me down. And this is what matters to pros. Plus Nikon enter to the mirror less tech without forcing Nikon users to ditch their Nikon glass by offer the adapter...

I had exactly the same fears about the card slot but once I got it in my hands today I had to pre order one. all concerns gone

Whether you have or haven't had a card fail is not necessarily the point. Let's look at it from Nikon's perspective by examining their current and past line up and the feature set. Just like weather sealing, full frame, high frame rate, manual settings as oppose to scene modes and most of all, price point, they've dictated to their customers (and the industry) that the feature of dual card slots IS something aimed at professionals (D3, D4, D5, D800, D810, D850, D750, D600, D610 etc etc). So regardless of whether one individual needs weather sealing for landscapes vs dual cards for a wedding, Nikon has set the benchmark by their previous and current DSLR offerings. To not include them now, especially at a price point aimed the Sony range and with their own Pro line up, is extraordinarily peculiar. I was ready to buy but for my work, I don't wish to take the risk. To have this option taken away in a camera more modern, more expensive and more advanced is just ridiculous. Imagine the uproar if Sony takes away eye-AF in the next generation of cameras and has nothing in it's place? Will people still make references like, "I didn't have that in my day". As I said, Nikon and others are quick to sell us these and other features then wonder why we get angry when they take them away with no alternative or advancement.

For cameras with only one card, use a lot of small size cards (8GB, maybe 16GB). If one fails just 8-16GB of pictures are lost. Better to be changing cards than taking the chance of loosing 64-128GB of pictures. And anyway film rolls only had 24 or 36 pictures and photographers lived with that.

A deal breaker for me was the card format. As a enthusiast, thats another investment. A move Nikon would have done is a dual card slot with 2 format similar what they did with D300s

I think Tony is right if your on a paid job you need to deliver, but I think something a lot of people have not noticed is battery life in video 10=15 minutes according to Snap Chick.

250gb SSD's are $55 bucks with 500mb/s+ write speeds. 128gb XQD cards are $250 bucks. Its cheaper to record 5K Red dragon footage than it is to record 4K on the Z6. 30 minutes of 4K for $250 bucks makes an external recorder almost mandatory for serious video.

My point will be like they could have added dual slots in Z7 at least. It will serve as a real differentiation from Z6 as well, and will also justify the premium price tag pf Z7.

I think it depends on what type of photography you do. I can see for major one time events whether it's sports, weddings or special events 2 card slots could be necessary. Right now it's just a hobby for me so if in out and my card dies I'm not losing money or having angry people coming at me.

There are a few things I like about the Z7. The new mount is huge, I like that. There's a problem, though. Sony already made a better camera last year. We'll wait and see for the final production version of the Z7, but the A7R3 looks like a better body overall.

I agree with Tony 100%, I would not risk losing a contracted job, it's like saying that I would never work with less than two cameras in a paid job, period!

I agree with Tony....... Refering to "professionals", dual slots are a must !!!

The point about dual memory cards nowadays where we have cameras to choose from that have dual, you use them if you feel you require extra insurance against losing a memory card. Unless you have both cameras up and taking both shots for every moment, just having a dual camera setup will NOT protect you from memory failure!! That's what a dual memory camera protects you from. I dont care if it an SD or XQD or even the next failproof memory design. Why does the D5 have dual XQD slots if the XQD memory technology is fail proof (as this channel and other commenters here would have you believe???) Why does the D850 have dual memory with a XQD and SD for backup??? I really dont understand how this is being defended for a $3,400 camera? This isn't 10 or 20 years ago, when redundancy wasnt as accessible, today we DO have redundant memory options. Because, memory cards DO fail and yes even the top of the line SD cards and YES even XQD cards fail. This exclusion was due to a first gen release, period. I guarantee the gen 2 of at least the Z7 will have dual memory (XQD and SD). For certain shooting events that can not just redo, I'm going to choose dual memory every single time. Its 2018, not 2003, smh. I would rather have a dual SD memory body than a single XQD memory body all day long, for any type of shooting event that I cant just retake. To me redundancy of the photos is critical I can not believe people are implying here that by just buying the better brand memory or better technology memory like XQD is good enough. Did we used to have film that would fail us? Yes. Did we used to have single memory cameras that would fail us? Yes. Has memory technologies and manufacturing gotten better? Yes Can manufacturers design better redundant memory cameras by using a dual memory system? Hell Yes. I sincerely hope no one here ever eexperiences a memory card loss for photos you can never retake, it is a heart ripping, terrible experience. And for me, I would be foolish to put myself in that position again when there are options out there (and yes I use only the best memory I can and I handle memory very carefully, failures/corruption happens). I havent seen this level of defense for a manufacturers exclusion of such an obvious piece of hardware since Apple got all "courageous" and removed the 1/8" headphone jack.

The Nikon Z6 was designed to compete with the Sony A7III and the Nikon Z7 with the Sony A7RIII. Both Sonys have dual card slots and eye AF whilst the Nikons do not. So for this reason I think they should have had the dual card slots to be more competitive with Sony. To be fair to Tony and Chelsea there were other issues, not just the dual card slots, that were mentioned. Like single point focusing in low light. It was found to be unreliable. Also by not having eye AF it missed focus on many occasions. The metering also was an issue. If I was a professional photographer I would like the security of having the dual cards. You might have a second camera but you just may miss that important shot.

I work in a field where I am constantly calculating the probability of loss. If there is a high probability of loss then there's certain things that you need to do to hedge against that loss. One card lost every 10 years is not a high probability of loss. The possibility of loss does exist but the possibility of loss could be due to a camera failure, a card slot failure, flash failure and so you hedge against that the best you can .i.e backup cameras. Is this a deal-breaker for me? No. Most high-end professionals that I know shoot with two, three, or four cameras to hedge against the risk. Z6 is what I am thinking for me, but it would not be my only camera that I would use for a professional job. I cannot find myself shooting with a Sony because I absolutely do not like the ergonomics of the Sony. As far as Nikon going out of business, a company can operate quite well with a smaller share of the market as long as they control their cost and have a positive cash flow. Polaroid still sells cameras as a privately held company.

I had a SanDisk Pro SD card fail last year. Saying that pros in the past, used cameras with single card slots is not a valid argument. We never use to put children in car seats either, I don't believe anyone is pushing to stop using car seats because at one time we didn't. This is a 3-5 year old camera, on par with the a7r2. Its a generation behind, when it needed to innovate.

Tony didn’t recommend the Sony A7ii and A7rii for professional work due to only one card slot (Sony added a second card slot on series iii). Tony would be called a hypocrite if he said it was suddenly ok for Nikon. If a wedding photographer lost all their images due to a corrupted card, they would be sued. It only takes one time. It seems like a prudent suggestion.

Hello, do please I'll have to apologise but it is a deal breaker. I'm a photographer for the miss world and clients of that world, fashion shows and music shows; true they don't fail commonly but they do. Put yourself in my shoes..., and tell me what to tell to does client when something like that happens. Deal breaker..will not jump to Sonny either. For how...I'll stay with Canon (for now)

You can record images to both cards but video only records to one card at a time so not having two card slots isn't an issue if it's video you shoot. I however have had an SD card fail, that lost me 8 mins of video on the end of an on stage presentation. It turned out that the expensive Verbatim card was actually a fake. I had at that time backed up the audio so all was not lost, but all future events that I am recording to hopefully eliminate this from happening again will be recorded with two or more cameras. Buy your cards from a reputable dealer (not ebay)! And let's be realistic, Mirrorless or DLSR cameras are for taking photos we should be using video cameras for taking video.

Single card slot wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. I guess a quick fix would be for Nikon to release an extended battery grip with a second card slot in there?!

I had a branded premium card fail. Taking pictures at an air show with 7d mkii, 600mm lens and the card fails! (Wasn't set up to backup). My mates thought it hysterical and took great pleasure in showing me their phone pictures. Never again!

Hey Matt. Yes that is a good debate. I have a Nikon D3300 and nothing has gone wrong, but my last college class that I took the teacher let us use used full frame Canon cameras. Instead of putting two QXD memory cards in he only had one memory card in. After I shot at an event at the college I brought the memory card home and was going to edit the photos only to find out the photos didn't show up. I gave the teacher the memory card next class and he couldn't find the images either. I'm not sure if it was the camera or the memory card. So I'm not sure if two memory cards are necessary because memory cards don't usually fail unless you damage it, but if you're using two memory cards per camera and you're using two or more cameras that can be a lot of memory cards to deal with.

I would not recommend it for professional work either. While the odds of a quality card failing is low, it is not 0%. With the way NAND works, it doesn't matter what type of storage (XQD, SDXC, NVMe, etc.) When when a NAND cell fails or experiences a voltage drift that takes place after data is written, causing an uncorrectable read error, there is no way for the camera to spot the issue or correct for it. A failing NAND cell can mean that the image looks fine immediately after taking it, but a few hours later, files where portions were in a bad region of NAND (and thanks to wear leveling, many files can be impacted by a small number of bad cells), you can end up with files that are corrupted when you go to dump them to your PC, and recovery software will not help. This is a rare issue I am describing, but when it happens to you, you will not notice it during a shoot, thus you can end up doing an entire shoot with a bad card and ruin all of the work. With dual cards, the odds of both cards failing naturally at the same time in insanely low. If I were using my camera professionally, especially for an important and expensive event, I would rather my camera die immediately than shoot the shoot event on corrupt cards. If a show stopper failure happens then I can immediately switch to a backup camera, but if 1 card goes corrupt, especially if the failure is NAND voltage drift (most common failure and it impacts data retention), then I will never know and will continue using the card until I insert it into a card reader and notice the corrupt files. With dual card slots, if I fall victim to this rare issue, then I will simply just try the other card.

The newer higher performance cameras push cards much closer to performance limits of the chips, the liklehood of a failure is higher in the newer cameras. If you are shooting events that you can't have a reshoot, a 2nd card slot is worth it if available. If you are shooting tethered (external video, wiifi offload,etc) a single slot is less of a deal breaker. SSD drives have spare flash to swap in if a chip or block of data fails, and by virtue of size, better thermal management. Memory cards and batteries are the highest failure rate components.

I got married last year, and we interviewed several photographers. Now if you're a photographer that wants to use a camera with one slot, feel free. But I guarantee you if one of those guys I talked to said they were using a one-card camera for my wedding, I'd have walked out the door right then because he's clearly irresponsible and incompetent. Yeah, photographers used to use one-card cameras, because that was what was available. They also used to use film cameras. I dont see any using those anymore either. Tony Northrop was completely right, the Z6 and Z7 are not suitable for pros... at least not those who actually care about doing their jobs in a responsible and professional manner. In tech, you should always back up any data you actually want to keep. And any pro who's job it is to generate data has no excuse, he/she should have a backup and a backup of that backup. No excuses.

It wasn't just Tony and Chelsea Northrup. Matt Granger. Kai Wong. Fro, especially. In fact, EVERY SINGLE PRO VLOGGER I've seen dumped on Nikon for the single card slot. They have all had cards fail at events. They had different opinions about other features, but the lack of dual shots is a unanimous complaint. If you shoot events, weddings, sports, or other things that can't be replicated, it's perfectly logical. You can redo a landscape. You can redo a studio portrait. You can't redo a touchdown or a cake smash. The vast majority of comments I've read agree. I am a hobbyist and I mostly shoot wildlife and landscapes. My two cameras, Canon's 5DM4 and 7DM2, both have dual slots. Even though I don't shoot to them simultaneously, it's nice knowing I could. I assumed dual slots was the current standard for pro-level gear. Nikon thought otherwise, possibly to their ultimate regret.