Last week, Lensrentals founder Roger Cicala disassembled a Canon EOS R. Now he’s back and he’s ready to tear apart the $3,500+ Nikon Z7 for our own informative entertainment.
“I’m just here to say this is a damn well-built camera, the best-built mirrorless full-frame camera we’ve taken apart,” says Cicala.
Now, it’s not really fair to seriously compare the Z7 and EOS R’s inner-workings. The Z7 is Nikon’s flagship full-frame camera. The EOS R ranks somewhere in the middle of Canon’s lineup. The technology is going to be inherently different because they’re targeting different skill levels. However, it’s still interesting to see the differences.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
Super sealed up for any weather condition
When tearing open the camera, Cicala found that Nikon has weather-sealed the Z7 to the T! There’s apparently weather-resisting gaskets everywhere. There’s better sealing in places than the EOS R and even Sony’s a7 III.
“In many places, the plastic shell doesn’t just interlock; it overlaps, screws together and then is covered with rubber grip and adhesive,” Cicala writes. “That should not only give a superior weather seal, but it’s also probably giving some added strength to the assembly.”
Nikon was so thorough with its sealing that there seems like every edge is sealed.
“If there’s an edge, there’s a weather seal,” Cicala says.
Robust and compact
Cicala dug in deeper — literally — and ended up getting to the in-body stabilization system. From the construction of the system, Cicala found it to be robust and compact. However, he found that the camera’s shallower tripod screw-in and diopter viewfinder adjustment to be less robust.
The Z7 is the best-built full-frame mirrorless camera that LenRentals has ever taken apart
In the teardown, LensRentals wasn’t looking to compare the camera’s image quality or performance. Rather, they were looking primarily at durability. From their investigation, the Z7 is a very durable camera. With weather sealing everywhere and a robust design, there’s a lot that other companies can learn from.
“This is not marketing department weather resistance, This is engineering department weather resistance,” he said, though noting that even with weather-sealed cameras, he himself uses baggies and rubber bands just in case. “Anything that can be sealed has been sealed.”
You can check out Roger Cicala’s entire post on the LenRentals website
