Lots of miss information here that has plagued the internet concerning the Z6 and Z7. The FTZ does not lower the quality for the pictures at all. Nikon claims this to be true. In fact using some of my D500 lenses on the Z7 indicates the IQ improves. That is likely due to the sensor. Since the distance from the lens to the sensor is the same as earlier Nikon cameras why would it change to a lower IQ. I see no difference in focusing speed.

The Z6 and Z7 can use the same batteries that have been used in most Nikon DSLR's for years. The only difference is the newer EL-15b bateries that come with the Z's can be charged in the camera. That is someting the D7100 couldnt do so basically the 15's work the same as other Nikon cameras. You dont have to buy a bunch of batteries. I have 5 15's and only the one 15b that came with the Z7. They all work the same except for the optional in camera charging of the 15b.

I bought the Z7 to save weight and size. I had a 70-300 FX P which is the latest 70-300 that I use with the D500. This is a very good lense on the Z7 that is only 6 1/2 inches long colapsed and weighs probably less that half the weight of my 20-200 VR2. The pictures in the Z7 certianly rival the IQ of th 70-200. I sold the 70-200. The 16-80 lense that came with my D500 works extremely well on the Z7. The Z7 automatically goes to crop mode when this lense is mounted. This gives me the equivelent field of view of a 24-120. I loose some pixels but the pictures are very sharp. These combos give me a great camera that shoots across the board better than my D810 which I also sold. Withe the 24-70 S that came with the Z7 and the lenses mentioned along with an FX85 1.8 and a FX50 1.8. I have a much lighter stable that has a better IQ. The 70-300 FXP is often confused with the DX version but those are very different lenses.

The QXD cards are, as others reported, fae superior to the SD cards in performance and structure and are about to be replaced with the newer and much faster, but same physical format, CFexpress cards.


Lighter and better accomplished.

Bryan

Sounds like a couple of different questions here and some confusion. First, as has been said, you only need to access the internet once a month or so to validate the license if you’re storing your photos locally.

If you chose to store your photos in “the cloud”, then you need the same amount of space there as you do if storing locally. A single raw file can be anywhere from 25-50 MB depending on the particular body, and a JPEG at high quality may average 10 MB per shot or more depending on several factors. If you have decent internet speed, then the
cloud can be an excellent place for your 3rd DR (disaster recovery) copy of your data.

If you store your photos in the cloud, your internet upload speed will determine how long it takes to upload a photo or download one. Your internet speed can be checked using a free ap such as Ookla speed test which you can download and run. The download speed (which is what is advertised) will be substantially faster than the upload speed. Note that the speed will be in mega BITs (Mb) per second while your photo files are in mega BYTES (MB). 1 mega byte (MB) = 8 mega bits (Mb). As a rule of thumb, you can conservatively estimate that your actual upload and download speeds for photos will be 50% of your tested speeds. It may be higher, but that’s probably worst case. You can then calculate how long it will take to upload or download your photos if you use the cloud for storage.

Example: suppose your internet tests at 100 Mb/sec download and 20 Mb/sec upload. Assume you want to upload 100 25 MB raw files (2.5 GB total). If your actual internet upload speed is 10 Mb/sec (50% of 20 Mb upload speed), then it will take you 20 seconds per photo to upload (and 4 seconds per photo to download) or 2,000 seconds (or ~33 minutes) to upload the 2.5 GB and a little over 6 minutes to download the same amount. Your actual performance may be better than 50% of the rated speed, but that is a (very) conservative estimate.

Hope that helps...