Tony has left the chat, lol. Great test! I'm a working photographer and pay my bills with my camera. I felt like his test was nonsense and you showed exactly why. Kudos!

If you have to correct 5 stops of over or under exposure, it's not the camera that's at fault.

Great stuff, good enough to convince me the partially stacked sensor of the Z6 III is no worse for DR against the older BSI ones. More importantly, this saves me from ever having to watch TN's videos :-P

Tony is struggling for relevance. He wants the clicks Thanks for you testing and info. I might add, that per the photos to photos testing, the Z6iii showed some of the best shadow recovery. Heads above any other Z line camera.

I want to mention something as someone who shoots a lot of fashion and gives a perspective most people here won't have. The Magenta in the extreme underexposure comes from IR pollution. You will see this in much less extreme situations with a lot of special, often awful expensive garments and this is a hell to edit out. This is even more pronounced by a couple of flash brands/tubes, something no one is really testing. It is also a huge problem with a lot of Softboxes, they can even empower this behavior. Means with the right garment, you can see an awful magenta shift at iso100 without underexposure, just from the combination of the camera sensor, softbox, flashtube and black garment. If the sensor has now a better IR Cut filter, this can lead to a bit more noise in super weird underexposure tests, but for fashion photographers this can mean hours of less editing in normal shoot conditions.

That’s a helpful, clear, and most importantly *pragmatic* comparison between the old and new sensors. Seems like Nikon have done a good job holding onto the image quality despite a slight technical narrowing of the DR in the Z6III sensor. For the price it’s a fantastic camera as far as I’m concerned particularly for video where the ISO6400 high-native setting does wonders in marginal lighting conditions.

Tony is just mad because he wasn’t invited by Nikon event for the Z6 III. People can’t comprehend that stacked sensor take a small hit. Regardless of manufacture. Look how bad the A9 III is vs A9 II, A1 too. That’s the nature of these sensors. But I think it mostly has to do with Nikons LOG that needs updating

Great Video! That gave me some new perspective about the Z6 iii‘s capabilities. I‘m very interested in a similar comparison between the Z6 iii and Z 8 since the price gap between the the two is not that big over here in europe. Particularly as a wildlife photographer I’m very curious if the smaller pixels of the Z8 end up being a big disadvantage in comparison to the Z6 iii. I’d be super glad if you could do a similar video about that :)

I'm actually seeing generally the Z6III has less chroma noise, mainly reds. The Z6III has bolder, more saturated color rendering. The Z6II does have better retention of the mid tones and shadows, but they tend to be splotchy when recovered. So basically it seems the Z6III loses maybe 1 stop at worst, but gains even more accurate color rendering.

Hi Kelly, thank you for posting your test results. I literally ran my own tests between my z6iii and the z6 and ZF last night as I too was curious about the way Tony had achieved his results. The results of my tests mirror yours (including the blacks clipping test). In real world there really isn't a massive difference that you would see on a regular basis. However, the point has to be made that rolling shutter and issues with shooting fast action on slower sensors will be easily noticeable. I think the Z6iii is a cracking little camera. As a side note I think you might want to run a high ISO test between the cameras as I found the 6iii to also produce slightly (very slightly) better results in that department also. Thanks again

Is the Z6II "clipping" the blacks because its lower noise let's it reach 0 in the shadows while the higher noise in the Z6III prevents it from ever getting down to 0?

Pretty amazing. In low light situations, that would allow you to use higher shutter speeds to hand-hold the camera and still capture usable shots.

What a roller coaster week with a great ending. From this point whatever Nikon have done with this sensor it seems to have been the right choice with no compromise worth worrying about. Now if the high iso is less noisy than the Z8/9 then we have even more to be happy about.

do you think where the z63 really excels is low light high iso performance? some are saying its one of the best available, especially with a base iso of 6400. what do you think. i enjoy your methodology, very clear and easy to follow. thanks for the video

Very Interesting tests thanks Kelly! QQ is it possible to save footage directly to an external SSD?

Like yourself I have both the Z6II & Z6III. I've done one shoot so far with the newer Z6III with approx 2000 photos captured. I used the electronic shutter for every image ( it was an outdoor event ). Having edited the resultant images in Lightroom I didn't notice any issues regards dynamic range although I didn't need to recover any images as they were for the most part exposed correctly. Most of my shots were at base ISO 100 but I did quite a few up to ISO 500. Admittedly thats not particularly high and any modern sensor should cope with much higher ISO's and still get relatively clean results. I did watch Tony Northrop's video, I can't remember if he said if his Z6III shots were taken with the electronic or mechanical shutter. Would that make any difference anyway? All in all I'm a very satisfied Z6III owner, the AF seems as good as my Z9 and that unlimited 20fps buffer is incredible! If there is a dynamic range hit due to the part stacked sensor than I didn't notice it in real use but then again if I was shooting five stops out I'd have to question if photography is something I should even be doing in the first place 😊

No one is going to miss exposure by more than 3 stops...

Great video! The pressure for attention pushes for cherry-picking and exaggeration. As Public Enemy said "Don't believe the hype!"

Just to clarify, all these shots were sooc jpegs not raw ?.

The DR is not the issue at 5 or 6 stops under. Its the noise in the Z6-3 image is the issue. The noise is visible to me in your pics starting at around 4 stops, and at 5 stops its quite noticeable, but it can be fixed with tools like Topaz.

The only thing that a six stop underexposed image is good for is the recycle bin.

This was helpful! I had a feeling the z6iii DR might be technically less but in practice not matter at all. Also in the DR charts that Tony used, at iso100, the z8 and z6iii are basically the same DR. (tho the z8 can go down to iso64 so it can get an overall DR advantage)

Thank you very much for your practical and comprehensible test. Tomorrow my Z6 III will arrive and i am so happy!

Tony N. has recently shown himself to be an un-serious person when it comes to review content and methodology. He's now released back to back Nikon reviews that come off more as hit-pieces. First the Zf "long term review" (with about as much depth as a Day 1 review on any other channel) where they compare with Fuji, only on UX, though, saying Fuji is vastly superior. There are no AF, Image Quality or Feature comparisons with Fuji to be had. Then they do a tough AF test (subject running at camera is always hard), show some missed shots, but have controls with other cameras to compare against. Then this Z6III DR video, where he compares it to a Z7II (not fair comparison because it's been shown multiple times that higher MP cameras preserve details better in noisy situations). Then he goes on to make the un-serious suggestion that for weddings you're better of with a Z7II??? 1. Who's underexposing by 6.3 stops at a wedding? 2. It's a known fact that the Z7II has much worse low-light AF, so you're much more likely to miss the moment with that camera, which is what's far more important in Event Photography than shadow recovery. If you go back and look at his Z6III specs announcement video, I think he reveals his hand. Apparently he's been black-balled by Nikon from receiving any review samples since the original launch of the Z cameras. I think as a previous life-long Nikon guy, this bruised his ego or something, and now he's just out to get them. Unfortunately this means his content is basically trash, and he's not worth watch. Sorry for that long rant, just had to let it out after your reference to Tony N.. As for your video, I think it was very well-done with well-controlled test. Looking forward to more!

Thanks for making this video! It is more informative and a better test than Tony Northrop’s test.

Got mine few days ago and pretty happy with it, Tony Northup lately been publishing Clickbait videos. This is an amazing camera for the price.

I believe that Tony's test was done using a photo of a photo (originally shot with a Canon camera over 10 years ago... and we know how 'good' Canon's dynamic range was! - the worse in the business I dare say back then).

If you want to improve Tony’s test methodology, please do it better not worse. Forget the remote, get two humans and put one under the sun and the other one in varying degrees of deep shadow. Thank you for trying 😊

Thanks for this video, it clears up the air a bit... (much needed these days). As you know I normally underexpose 8 or 9 stops... No wonder my images are a bit weird... (Good job!)

Josh Sattin did a dynamic/noise test comparing Z6III against Canon Rc and Black Magic 6k camera. He filmed himself in front of a window which is a challenging shot and when zoomed I saw both more noise and green tint to the shadows. I saw it in yours too. A couple of points: 1. How does it compare with current cameras in the same price range. To nit pick even if the Z6III performed the same as the previous version then why buy the new camera if the image quality is the same or a touch worse? Yes I understand there are other improvements but purely on IQ which most ppl care about. 2. What type of situations are you planning to use it for? What is good enough for me might not be for someone else. So it's subjective. My take away is that there is a small trade off that has been made for faster readout and autofocus performance using a partially stacked sensor. I think under normal situations it's fine and I would value better AF than DR. In fairness to Tony he set out to test if it's visible. The answer is yes. Then we can debate whether it was fair or useful in the real world. What is good enough? That's when everyone will have their own opinion. So I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong.

Thanks a lot!!

Thank you Fr taking the time to test the Z 6 III HDR. Dan

Hallo Kelly! Ein richtig gutes Video! Wie immer mit Sachverstand und objektiv! Besten Dank!!! Ich warte leider immer noch auf meine Z 6III. Beste Grüße aus Deutschland!

Fantastic video. Thanks for taking the time to run the tests and share your results. I stopped watching Tony awhile back because but got sucked into his video on this, which had me doubting if I would get a Z5III because I would be using it for weddings. Well I guess I can go back to ignoring him lol.

Thanks for this - it's good to see some real examples. I think post people who need anything close to 7 stops of dynamic range would bracket! They look virtually the same in most of the examples. I think it's a real non-issue.

6:45 - Personally, at -5, I find them simply different. Z6 II tends to go on the magenta side, while the Z6 III on the green-ish side. At -6, you can noticed it even more. 9:07 - I think you can also see here. I would say the Z6 III keeps color noise a little more under control, but difficult to judge looking at a screen.

At 8:03 although the z6iii has a consistent green shift, there seems to be much more blotchy magenta areas showing up in thez6ii. I prefer an even color shift. I would love to see these same tests done at higher ISO's. From my limited testing the z6iii has better high ISO performance than my z9.

Thank you for making a realistic test of the DR range we'll actually be using instead of cherry picking the worst possible value and then comparing to the best DR camera models in the Z range at their best ISO to maximize how bad you can make the Z6iii look. Funny how another large subscription base KZfaqr did that, right on the heels of a ZF hit piece for fuji. It seems like Nikon traded some extreme ends of DR that we won't use in real world shooting for speed and AF capability we will use. That is a tradeoff I prefer.

Tony just wanted to get some clicks/integrations to feed the algorithm. He chose a composition with an overexposed subject and a barely exposed subject and pushed that because he knew that the resulting exposure required to not blow out the overexposed subject (1/80th at ISO 100) would tank SNR on the shadows given the limited number of photons that could be captured. There are so many other examples of real-world photos, including unevenly exposed subjects such as in wedding photos he described in this video, that clean up very nicely on the Z6iii. His example was the most outlier of outliers. I started watching his videos back in 2011, specifically his star trails videos. I admire his passion, but he, like many other big name photogs, sold out to the algorithm and sponsorships. He might say he makes all his money off book sales and that he just has our wallets in mind when he makes such videos, but, sad to say, I've not bought it for a long time. His methods are based on science, but he's performing the most obsurred test that can be devised. It may have given the nod to the Z5, but consider that the QE (Quantum Efficiency) of the Z5 is much lower than the Z6iii given the latter is a BSI sensor, and you realize he's really pushed the limits of any sensor. (Sorry if I repeated a bit but it's late) In short, while other sensors may "win" under those conditions, how many photographers will find themselves taking photos in those conditions, with those exposure settings, and then pushing their files that much. What I know is the Z6iii and other Nikon cameras produce amazing images but compared to the Z6/ii Z7/ii Z5, the Z6iii's AF is in a league of its own and that is a difference I know I will see in all my images.

Can’t believe you didn’t show clipping in the highlights

When you say 'straight out of the camera' do you mean raw or JPEG? Also, I think you miss the point completely when you ask 'how many images are 8 stops under'. The point is can you deal with scene with extended brightness range. Plus, quite a bit of confusion about what exposure is, and how you set it. Clipping to black is all about where the black point is set, not much about the sensor - it's about your processing tools.

Z6iii definitely has a green tint z6ii colors dont change

See Tony's review the last time he was invited by Nikon to review the Z6 (1). Everything he said and did was wrong, downright stupid, therefore he was never invited by Nikon again. Btw, nice review, thanks.

this was great as this brought some reality in T’s ‘test’. Thank you for clarifying by giving facts. What a photographer would underexpose an image 8 stops and then try to recover it? A 10 year old would know better.

Thanks for this test. I saw Tony's too. Personally, I think the Z6iii outperformed its predecessor. I see more color shift in the 2 version the more underexposed the images were.

You misunderstood your own test. Look at the word "ENTER" and it disappears on the left image as exposure decreases. On the last test, the word is gone on the left and not on the right.

Shooting at iso 100 doesn’t tell the full story. How about shooting at 6400 iso and comparing move 1 or 2 stops… that is a much more real life example

Nice test finally i can buy z6lll

thank you for the useful content ! If you have time and desire I would like to see a high iso comparison between these two.🙏

Looks good, thank you for making this video.

Great job, Kelly. Very balanced presentation.

Tony does it for the clikbait Fuzz about nothing

I don't get it. Is the measurement from photons to photos accurate or not? I'm not talking what do we see in the photos. My S23 is much slower than S24. But that's true in paper. In real life you won't tell the difference. But the measurements are accurate. So are the measurements for Z6 III accurate or not. That's the question. And numbers never lie even though they don't tell the whole truth. They tell their own truth. So what's gonna be?

Thank you :)

Thank you so much for giving so many facts, I really appreciate the work you put into making this video.

Thank you for this Kelly. New sub here. I sold my Z6II before the III was launched so I couldn't 't do a side by side comparison. You did it for me. I haven't noticed any perceptible difference in image quality between the two cameras, noise wise or otherwise. Both are excellent. I will say that the Z6 III is a huge upgrade over the Z6 II for a sports action shooter.

Good work and unbiased. Well done!👍👍 The “other guy” is just an egotistic idiot with absolutely no knowledge of anything, creating unnecessary controversial content to generate traffic. I have my KZfaq setup not to recommend his channel, but it still pops up from time to time with nonsense click bait headlines. I won’t take the bail. 😂

this is exactly the reason why I don't watch TN's videos!

I can tell the difference starting -3

Tony Northrup has already blocked my comments after I wrote some negative things about his reviews. This just shows that this man has an agenda and cannot be taken seriously.

I agree, wonderfully useful and presented clearly.

That's a great unbiased work. Truly practical and real. Not just a lab test. I've a question, is this noise issues in high iso or slightly less DR can be managed later to atleast 1 stop with Nikon's firmware update?

Hi Kelly, Thank you for your effort and the time you spent on your tests. I also find it more advantageous to use real objects instead of potentially low-quality printed photos for testing purposes. I would have been very interested in an object with gradients in your testing conditions, as I find it difficult to assess a remote control, which almost exclusively has homogeneous colors without fine gradients. Best regards Pawel

Great and methodical comparison. Thank you for making time to compare and share with us.

Well done. Thank you.

Nice comparison Kelly. Thanks for sharing.

You Lost Me, At Tony Northrup!👎🏿

The Photons to Photos site that Toneh points to in his "test" actually shows that the Z6III matches the dynamic range of the z8 & z9 up to ISO 400, between 400 and 650ish the Z8 and Z9 have slightly more dynamic range, but by ISO 800 and onward they all match up again. But I don't hear anyone complaining about the dynamic range in the z8 or z9. Sure, the z6II, z7 and Zf seem to have consistently slightly higher dynamic range but, again, by ISO 800 the z6II, z6III, z7, z8, z9, zf ALL have roughly the same DR. The Sony a7III lags behind all of them between ISO 630 and 1200ish before catching up. And as you and many other folks on KZfaq are now demonstrating the real world differences in DR if you are not shooting magazine pictures are negligible.

You photographed the worst subject for this test. A dusty remote control unit/ dust particles resembling digital noise. Fail!

Best.

Nikon cutting corners not a good strategy

This test seems quite invalid. What ISO settings were used for these tests? I didn't see any attempt to recover details from under-exposed areas to see how the image holds up. This test seems unreliable and deceptive. You guys should acknowledge that the Z6III's dynamic range is not particularly impressive and move on. Try comparing the Z6III dynamic range with the Fuji xh2s and see how bad it is. It's not even close. The xh2s is more than two stops better than the Z6III, and yet the xh2s is a full-stacked sensor and cropped. Z6III dynamic range is about 10.3 stops based on all the reputable tests I have seen so far.

We did the test ourselves a few days ago, and found that it really is much worse than what Toni found. And Toni had again made a typical poisonous praise for Nikon in his video. I shoot with a Z9 and we did the comparison with Z6ii and Z6iii. I don't know why you don't see it in your shots, but the Z6iii is significantly worse than the Z6ii, but still better than the Z9 in terms of noise. And it's not about correcting the exposure by 4 stops. If you need to do that, you should learn photography first. It's enough if you just use the slider in Lightroom to lighten the shadows. This is something that is much more relevant in practice. And you can see the difference immediately. So our own tests have absolutely confirmed Tony's tests and we are Nikon photographers, so far from wanting to denigrate the brand.

Tony may not be perfect, but three things: - His test was more robust/ well thought out - His test confirms other third-party testing - He doesn't care about the DR in the Z6III, he tests many cameras. This and many of the comments are pure copium.

I am an indian and i’m just booked that camera and saw that video it was just heartbreaking but after watching ur video i feel good 👍