Nikon is arguably the world's most famous camera brand, but with the decline of DSLRs it has lagged behind Canon and Sony. In 2022, it released the Z9, a flagship mirrorless camera that could finally hold its own against rivals, but the $5,500 price tag put it out of reach for most. To appeal to a wider audience, Nikon unveiled the Z8 last year with the same sensor and nearly the same specs as the Z9 for $1,700 less.

With a 45-megapixel stacked sensor and the latest Expeed 7 image processor, the Z8 can do everything from sports to wildlife to scenic photography. It's also a powerful video camera, offering 8K RAW internal capture at up to 60 fps.

The only other model that can really compare in terms of speed, resolution and video is the Sony A1, but it costs a whopping $2,200 more. To find out how the Z8 stacks up against that model and others, I rented a Z8 and shot with it around Vancouver, Canada with my photographer cousin.

Body and handling

Design-wise, you can think of the Z8 as the Z9 with the battery grip chopped off. It's still a chunky camera at 910 grams (2 pounds), though, compared to 737 grams for the Sony A1. That might suit pros or those who like a larger camera body, but the size and weight aren't ideal for travel. By the way, a $346 battery grip (the MB-N12) with secondary controls is available for the Z8, effectively transforming it into a Z9 for far less money.

The Z8 has a nice big grip and all the controls you'd expect, including a joystick, D-Pad style menu control, switch for camera/video settings and front and rear dials. Nikon users will enjoy the layout as it's largely similar to past models, but everything is just different enough that it may feel awkward for users coming from other brands.

Unlike the A1, the Z8 features a display on top that shows key settings like shutter, aperture and battery life. Although it takes up space that could be used by buttons or dials, it's a handy way to see everything at a glance and I miss it now on models that don't have it. If you do have to dive into the menus, they take a bit of getting used to, but work well once you're over the learning curve.

One of the key negative points is the lack of a fully articulating display. Instead, the rear 3.2-inch 2.36-million dot screen only tilts up and down and to the left or right. That's too bad, because the Z8 could be a powerful vlogging camera and a flip-out display is must for that type of work (especially as it makes solo shooting easier).

The 3.69 million-dot electronic viewfinder is a bit low-res for a camera in this price range, especially compared to the 9.4 million-dot display on the Sony A1. Even Canon's cheaper R5 has a 5.76 million dot display that makes it substantially easier to check focus.

Battery life is on the weak side at 420 shots (one to two hours of video shooting depending on resolution), compared to 490 shots for the Canon R5 and 530 for the A1, according to CIPA ratings. Again, though, you can nearly double that with the battery grip. Other notable features include UHS-II and CFexpress B memory card slots, a full-sized HDMI port for external capture, as well as two separate USB-C ports for power delivery and data.

Performance

With the fastest high-resolution stacked sensor out there, the Z8 is unbelievably quick for a 45-megapixel camera. You can shoot RAW photos at 20 fps, a bit slower than the A1's 30 fps RAW capability, but the Z8 can shoot 30 fps in JPEG mode. It can handle 40 uncompressed RAW frames before the buffer fills, but can store more compressed images if you have a fast CFexpress card.

The hybrid phase-detect autofocus is Nikon's best to date due to the upgraded image processor, stacked sensor and huge number of AF tracking points. It offers reliable subject tracking, and the face, eye and animal detection is fast and accurate as well. In fact, the company has said it's nearly identical to the far more expensive Z9 as of the latest firmware.

That said, the Z8's AF isn’t quite as dependable as Sony’s A1 when shooting at the highest speeds. It occasionally had trouble tracking subjects, in particular those moving toward the camera, resulting in some out-of-focus shots. The Z8 (and Z9) is quite sensitive to setup, so it's best to fine-tune the AF settings until it works the way you want.

There’s no mechanical shutter, but the Z8’s sensor is fast enough that rolling shutter isn’t an issue, even on fast-moving objects like airplane propellers. The 5-axis in-body stabilization reduces shake by six stops, enough to get sharp photos down to a quarter second or so. That’s superior to the A1, but falls way short of the EOS R5’s 8 stops.

Image quality

The Z8 has the same excellent sensor as the Z9, so of course image quality is identical in all respects. With 45.7 megapixels on tap, it delivers sharp photos on par with the 50-megapixel A1 and second only to Sony’s 60 MP A7R V in the full-frame realm. Dynamic range is also outstanding, arguably a touch better than the A1.

JPEG images are bright and punchy straight out of the camera, with the best results in terms of colors from the Natural Light Auto white balance setting. Colors are accurate, though skin-tones aren’t quite as warm as Canon’s R3 or R5.

Meanwhile, the 14-bit RAW images hold plenty of detail that can be teased out in Lightroom or ON1, particularly in the highlights. Like the Z9, the Z8 no longer has an "uncompressed" option, but now offers "lossless compression" and two high-efficiency lossy modes. I typically used the RAW setting with the highest compression, because it's super efficient and frankly, I can't see any difference between that and lossless compressed RAW.

The Z8 performs reasonably well in low-light, too. Grain is well-controlled up to about ISO 6400, and shots are usable at ISO 12800. Beyond that, noise can become distracting. That lines up with Canon’s R5, but Sony’s A1 performs a bit better in dim lighting.

Video

The Z8’s video specs are pretty mind-blowing for a non-cinema camera and exceed the A1’s capabilities. You can shoot RAW video at up to 8K 60p in Nikon’s 12-bit N-RAW or 8K 30p with 12-bit ProRes RAW HQ internally, to CFexpress cards only, of course. It also captures 4K video oversampled from the full width of the sensor at up to 60p, and full-width 4K up to 120p — again, all in RAW.

It's worth noting that Nikon recently purchased RED cameras, so it now owns the RED RAW video patent that stymied so many other companies, including Apple. It'll be interesting to see if that acquisition impacts the tech in future Nikon mirrorless cameras.

As with photos, video autofocus is fast and reliable, while doing a good job tracking subjects, faces and animals. It can handle challenging situations like subjects moving toward the camera, though again, not quite as well as the A1.

Rhonda Dent for Engadget

8K and 4K oversampled video is extremely sharp. Colors are accurate, but again, skin tones aren’t quite as pretty as on Canon’s latest models. Dynamic range is top-notch, particularly in the ISO 400-800 level in ProRes mode, making it easy to adjust shadows and highlights in post. If you love shooting ProRes footage, be sure to get some high-capacity CFexpress cards, because the files can get huge.

One area where the Z9 bests the Z8 in video is with thermal performance, as the Z9’s larger body allows for 125 minutes of 8K 60p recording compared to 90 for the Z8 before overheating. There are very few content creators that will need to continuously shoot 8K video for that long, however.

Wrap-up

Nikon’s Z8 is an extremely capable camera and shows that the company should offer as much speed and power as possible if it wants to catch up to Canon and Sony. For many hybrid shooters, the Z8 is a better option than Sony’s A1, particularly when it comes to video.

While it does out-spec the Sony in a number of areas, the Z8's autofocus isn’t quite as good — and that's arguably the most important feature on any camera. Shooters who require a mechanical shutter (for flash photography, etc.) will also need to look elsewhere. Another 8K-capable full-frame mirrorless model is Canon’s R5 that falls short of both models in many regards, but is cheaper at $3,200.

A decision to buy this camera might be based on what system and lenses you’re already into. However, if I was starting from scratch, I’d go for the Z8 over Sony’s A1, as you get the camera plus a very good lens for the same amount of money.

Most new features and experiments Adobe has announced recently involve AI, like object addition and removal for Premiere Pro and text-based image generation in Photoshop. Now, the company has unveiled VideoGigaGAN, an experimental AI feature it says can upscale video by eight times without the usual artifacts like flickering or distortion, The Verge reported. 

VideoGigaGAN beats other Video Super Resolution (VSR) methods because it avoids the usual artifacts and flickering introduced by GAN (General Adversarial Networks), according to Adobe. At the same time, it adds sharpness and detail — where most other systems fail to do do both of those things at once. 

Of course, the system is making up detail that doesn't exist out of whole cloth, so this wouldn't be suitable for things like forensic video enhancement, à la CSI-style crime shows. But the detail it does add looks impressively real, like skin textures, fine hairs, swan feather details and more. 

The model builds on a large-scale image upsampler called GigaGAN, according to to Adobe's researchers. Previous VSR models have had difficulty generating rich details in results, so Adobe married "temporal attention" (reducing artifacts that accumulate over time), feature propagation (adding detail where nond exists), anti-aliasing and something called "HF shuttle" (shuttling high-frequency features) to create the final result. 

If added to products like Premiere Pro or After Effects, it could allow video producers to make low-resolution shots look a lot better, though using AI too enhance people is a controversial practice. There's no word yet on whether Adobe plans to do this, but plenty of companies (NVIDIA, Microsoft, Blackmagic Design and others) are working on upscalers as well. 

It used to be that you could pay for a retail version of Windows 11 and expect it to be ad-free, but those days are apparently finito. The latest update to Windows 11 (KB5036980) comes out this week and includes ads for apps in the "recommended" section of the Start Menu, one of the most oft-used parts of the OS.

"The Recommended section of the Start menu will show some Microsoft Store apps," according to the release notes. "These apps come from a small set of curated developers." 

The app suggestions are enabled by default, but you can restore your previously pristine Windows experience if you've installed the update, fortunately. To do so, go into Settings and select Personalization > Start and switch the "Show recommendations for tips, app promotions and more" toggle to "off."

The new "feature" arrives just weeks after it appeared as an Insider beta, showing how quickly Microsoft can implement things when it wants to. It certainly wasn't enough time to receive the kind of user feedback the Insider program is designed for.

The update is bound to rub customers the wrong way, considering that Windows 11 starts at $139 for the Home version. While removing it isn't a huge deal, it may also remind folks of the needless time they spent stripping bloatware from OEM Windows installations. Microsoft previously tested ads in the Windows 11 File Explorer, but ended the experiment shortly afterward.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has banned noncompete clauses in a move to "drive innovation" and protect workers' rights and wages, the regulator said in a press release. The new rule will free most new and current employees from such agreements, with the exception of "policy-making" executives earning more than $151,164 per year. 

"Noncompete clauses keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism," said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. The agency estimated that the new rule will allow the creation of 8,500 new business each year, increase worker earnings by $524 per year and lower health care costs by $194 billion over the next decade. 

Noncompete clauses, widely used in the tech industry, keep employers from freely changing to similar jobs or starting a business in the same field. The result is that workers must often stay in jobs they don't want, switch to a lower-paid position, relocate, or defend against costly litigation. "An estimated 30 million workers — nearly one in five Americans [in the workforce] —are subject to a noncompete," according to the FTC.

The Commission found that noncompetes tend to negatively affect competitive conditions in labor markets by inhibiting efficient matching between workers and employers. There is also evidence that noncompetes lead to increased market concentration and higher prices for consumers.

Companies must now cancel existing noncompete clauses and notify employees about the change. The ruling applies to most employees and future hires, but current deals with senior executives still apply on the grounds that such agreements are likely to have been agreed upon by both parties. 

Tech companies ostensibly use noncompetes as a way to protect IP, but they function in reality to lock in workers. The FTC said that trade secret laws and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are a better way to protect IP, and "employers that wish to retain employees can compete on the merits for the worker's labor services by improving wages and working conditions."  

Microsoft, the third largest tech industry employer in the US, eliminated such clauses back in 2022. "While our existing employee agreements have noncompete obligations, we do not endorse the use of such provisions as a retention tool," the company said at the time. 

The FTC vote went 3 to 2 along party lines. Republic commissioner Melissa Holyoke said the Commission "overstepped the boundaries of its power" and estimated the ruling would be challenged in court and struck down. 

The European Union has adopted a right-to-repair directive that will make it easier for consumers to get their devices fixed. The new rules extend a product's guarantee if it breaks under warranty, while obliging manufacturers to repair devices no longer covered. The law still needs to be approved by member nations. 

Devices sold in Europe already offer minimum two-year warranties, but the new rules impose additional requirements. If a device is repaired under warranty, the customer must be given a choice between a replacement or a repair. If they choose the latter, the warranty is to be extended by a year. 

Once it expires, companies are still required to repair "common household products" that are repairable under EU law, like smartphones, TVs and certain appliances (the list of devices can be extended over time). Consumer may also borrow a device during the repair or, if it can't be fixed, opt for a refurbished unit as an alternative.

The EU says repairs must be offered at a "reasonable" price such that "consumers are not intentionally deterred" from them. Manufacturers need to supply spare parts and tools and not try to weasel out of repairs through the use of "contractual clauses, hardware or software techniques." The latter, while not stated, may make it harder for companies to sunset devices by halting future updates. 

In addition, manufacturers can't stop the use of second-hand, original, compatible or 3D-printed spare parts by independent repairers as long as they're in conformity with EU laws. They must provide a website that shows prices for repairs, can't refuse to fix a device previously repaired by someone else and can't refuse a repair for economic reasons.

While applauding the expanded rules, Europe's Right to Repair group said it there were missed opportunities. It would have liked to see more product categories included, priority for repair over replacement, the right for independent repairers to have access to all spare parts/repair information and more. "Our coalition will continue to push for ambitious repairability requirements... as well as working with members focused on the implementation of the directive in each member state."

Along with helping consumers save money, right-to-repair rules help reduce e-waste, CO2 pollution and more. The area is currently a battleground in the US as well, with legislation under debate in around half the states. California's right-to-repair law — going into effect on July 1 — forces manufacturers to stock replacement parts, tools and repair manuals for seven years for smartphones and other devices that cost over $100.

Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, the director's cut version of Castlevania for the Nintendo 64, is a classic today despite issues like blurry graphics and wonky gameplay. You'd think a title designed in the last century (well, 1999) would have no new surprises, but there's a twist to the story. A new Konami Code has been found and it's interesting enough that Castlevania fans may want to give it a fresh look. 

The trick was first revealed by Moises and LiquidCat on the Castlevania 64 Discord server, as shared by YouTuber JupiterClimb. To unlock it, you just need to double the inputs of the original Konami Code (press ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A, twice), and all the characters from Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness — Cornell, Reinhardt, Carrie and Henry — are instantly unlocked. 

It also opens up all their alternate costumes, along with the game's hard mode. Without the code, you have to win the game (twice!!) to unlock all four characters. 

Along with the main code, Moises and LiquidCat also dug up codes to fill all inventories, regardless of character being played. The PAL and JPN version also lets players max out their jewels and weapon power. 

JupiterClimb speculates that the code was a developer shortcut accidentally left in the game, as has happened before with Konami titles. In any case, it's a fun surprise that breathes some new life into the 25-year-old vampire game. 

Microsoft has unveiled its latest light AI model called the Phi-3 Mini designed to run on smartphones and other local devices, it revealed in a new research paper. Trained on 3.8 billion parameters, it's the first of three small Phi-3 language models the company will release in the near future. The aim is to provide a cheaper alternative to cloud-powered LLMs, allowing smaller organizations to adopt AI. 

According to Microsoft, the new model handily outperforms its previous Phi-2 small model and is on par with larger models like Llama 2. In fact, the company says Phi-3 Mini provides responses close to the level of a model 10 times its size. 

"The innovation lies entirely in our dataset for training," according to the research paper. That dataset is based on the Phi-2 model, but uses "heavily filtered web data and synthetic data," the team states. In fact, a separate LLM was used to do both of those chores, effectively creating new data that allows the smaller language model to be more efficient. The team was supposedly inspired by children's books that use simpler language to get across complex topics, according to The Verge. 

Microsoft

While it still can't produce the results of cloud-powered LLMs, Phi-3 Mini can outperform Phi-2 and other small language models (Mistral, Gemma, Llama-3-In) in tasks ranging from math to programming to academic tests. At the same time, it runs on devices as simple as smartphones, with no internet connection required.

Its main limitation is breadth of "factual knowledge" due to the smaller dataset size — hence why it doesn't perform well in the "TriviaQA" test. Still, it should be good for models like that only require smallish internal data sets. That could allow companies that can't afford cloud-connected LLMs to jump into AI, Microsoft hopes.

Phi-3 Mini is now available on Azure, Hugging Face and Ollama. Microsoft is next set to release Phi-3 Small and Phi-3 Medium with significantly higher capabilities (7 billion and 14 billion parameters, respectively). 

Embracer Group has been on a losing streak of late, having recently missed out on a $2 billion investment, laid off thousands of employees and sold one of its key properties, Gearbox, at fire-sale prices. Now, the company has announced plans to split into three separate, publicly listed entities, Bloomberg reported. 

The first is Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends, specializing in AAA games and and overseeing the Dead Island, Killing Floor, Kingdom Come Deliverance, Tomb Raider and The Lord of the Rings franchises. Studios under its purview include Crystal Dynamics, Dambuster Studios, Eidos-Montréal, Flying Wild Hog Studios, Tripwire, Vertigo Games, Warhorse Studios and 4A Games. This company will remain within the current listing as Embracer Group for now.

The second is Asmodee, will handle the tabletop gaming segment of Embracer Group. Those titles include Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders, Azul, CATAN, Dobble and Exploding Kittens. Finally, Coffee Stain & Friends is the company's indie-centric group, with properties including Deep Rock Galactic, Goat Simulator, Satisfactory, Wreckfest, Teardown and Valheim.  

"This move has been made with the intention to unleash the full potential of each team and provide them with their own leadership and strategic direction," said Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors. "This is the start of a new chapter, a chapter that I intend to remain part of as an active, committed, and supportive shareholder of all three new entities, with an evergreen horizon."

Embracer Group went on an epic buying streak between 2019-2022 when borrowing was cheap, acquiring studios and entertainment groups including Crystal Dynamics, Gearbox Entertainment, Dark Horse Media, Middle-earth Enterprises and many, many others. Those came with gaming franchises including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Borderlands and Saints Row.

It was forced to restructure, though, when it lost out on a $2 billion partnership deal (reportedly with Savvy Games, funded by the Saudi government). It subsequently laid off 8 percent of its staff (as of February 2024), or nearly 1,400 employees. The company also sold off Borderlands developer Gearbox for $460 million, a fraction of the $1.3 billion it was valued at three years prior. 

The developer behind the popular, award-winning and slightly bawdy Baldur's Gate 3 confirmed that it won't be doing Baldur's Gate 4 — but it does have other irons in the fire. 

 "We won't be introducing any major new narrative content to the story of Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3) or its origin characters and companions, nor will we be making expansions or Baldur’s Gate 4," Larian Studio wrote in a community update on Steam. "We’re currently working on two new projects and we couldn’t be more excited about what the future has in store."

Larian promised more news about the new games "later down the line," but did give a hint about the style. "Know that even as our focus turns to these new games, the sensibilities that brought you Baldur’s Gate 3 are alive and well here at the Larian castle. I don’t know if we’re going to pull it off, but looking at our narrative, visual and gameplay plans, I think what we’re working on now will be our best work ever."

Baldur's Gate 3 has been praised for its breadth, character development, puzzles, combat, D&D fidelity and, of course, intimate relationships. It sold around 15 million copies, far exceeding the expectations of the studio, while pretty much sweeping game accolades over the last year. Namely, it took game of the year prizes at The Game Awards, The Steam Awards, D.I.C.E. awards, Streamer Awards, Hugo Awards, GLAAD Media Awards and others.

Director Swen Vincke previously revealed that the studio dropped plans for BG3 DLC and a sequel, partly due to constraints imposed by the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition mechanics. Still, there's no question of a sequel for the Hasbro-owned property. "We've done our job. It's a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. So let's pass the torch to another studio to pick up this incredible legacy," he added. 

DJI is entering the portable power station market in the US and Europe with the launch of the Power 1000 and Power 500 aimed at home users or road warriors. The devices (released in China at the end of last year) can be used to power small appliances or charge devices like laptops or drones, and work in concert with solar panels to provide power on the road. 

The Power 1000 (13kg or 29 pounds) has a 1,024 Wh capacity and can output up to 2,200W — enough to run a home microwave oven for about 1.3 hours and a car refrigerator for 19 hours, or charge a drone up to 12 times. The Power 500 (7.3 kg or 16.3 pounds) delivers 512 Wh of capacity and 1,000W of output for half the price.

DJI

The larger version supports 1200W fast recharge or 600W standard recharging (540W and 270W for the smaller version). Both can be fast-charged in 70 minutes for a 100 percent battery or 50 minutes to an 80 percent charge. Along with standard AC plugs, both have a pair of USB-C PD output ports that support 140W/100W charging for the Power 1000/Power 500 — enough for most laptops.

The market is fairly saturated with such devices (Jackery, Bluetti, Anker, others), but DJI is pitching this as an ideal way to charge its drones and other products. Released in China in December, it was already available in the US at Amazon and elsewhere via the grey market. 

The Power 1000 is now on sale for $1,000 at DJI's store, while the Power 500 costs $500. You can add a 120W Zignes solar panel for $299. For the latter, you'll need DJI's Power Solar Panel Adapter Module or DJI Power Car Power Outlet to SDC Power Cable.