Talk of a rumored Nikon Z70 is really beginning to heat up. Just a couple of days ago, I wrote about an illustration of a mysterious camera unearthed by Nikon Rumors, thought to be the Z70.
Now the rumor outlet is at it again, releasing a rumored spec list for the Z70. And if I wasn’t excited about this camera rumor before, I certainly am now.
If true, the headline spec would undoubtedly be the 41MP sensor. To date, Nikon has never produced an APS-C sensor of that resolution.
In fact, it has very much bucked the trend of high-resolution APS-C cameras – with only a 20.9MP sensor featured on the Nikon Z50, Nikon Z50 II, Nikon Z fc and Nikon Z30.
A 41MP sensor would be a huge deal – and I’m sure it would be very well received by the community.
But while previous rumors have hinted at a stacked sensor, Nikon Rumors is now suggesting that this isn’t the case. This doesn’t surprise me. Stacked sensors are expensive.
If Nikon has gone to the trouble of developing an all-new high-resolution APS-C sensor, I’d expect to see it in other APS-C releases – like a Nikon Z50 III, for example.
With that in mind, I think the increased cost of a stacked sensor would simply be too premium for other APS-C releases. In other words, a conventional 41MP APS-C sensor seems more useful in the long run.
Now, I usually take rumors about resolution with a pinch of salt – remember when the Nikon Z6 III was going to have a 33MP sensor? – but talk of an all-new digital teleconverter makes a high-resolution Z70 make a lot of sense.
It seems sensible to assume that a digital teleconverter would crop into the image, thus making a high-resolution sensor imperative.
The video specs are also extremely exciting, with the rumor outlet citing 8K 60p, internal Red tech, ProRes RAW and a shifted video-record button.
Obviously we don’t have any details regarding bitrates or crops, but the Nikon Z8 and Nikon Z9 are currently the only Nikon cameras capable of recording 8K video. Plus, the integration of Red tech would put it in a very exclusive club with the Nikon ZR.
Another boon would be the same gorgeous 5,760k-dot viewfinder that’s on the Nikon Z6 III, along with a 120fps refresh rate. And finally, as to be expected, the camera is reported to run via the Expeed 7 image processor.
I wouldn’t expect to see any camera with an Expeed 8 until the release of the next flagship, presumably the rumored Nikon Z9 II.
Nikon Rumors also mentioned the price being “around or under” the Z6 III’s current street price of around $2,000. That’s expensive for an APS-C camera, but this doesn’t sound like just any APS-C camera.
I also thought I’d add a few additional specs that I’d expect to see – pure conjecture, of course! That would be a dual CFexpress and SD card slot, as well as an extensively weather-sealed body, both featured on the Nikon D500.
I’ve been saying I want a mirrorless version of the D500 for years, but if these specs are to be believed then the Nikon Z70 would be a mirrorless D500 and then some.
Going by the available information, it sounds a little bit like a baby amalgamation of the Z9, Z6 III and Nikon ZR. That certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing.
As for when we might hear more, the rumor outlet has suggested a rather optimistic time frame of the next two weeks. It’s getting a little late in the day for a Nikon camera release in 2026, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I’ve been burned by rumors before, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed on this one…
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