It should come as no surprise to anyone that Nikon will eventually replace one of the most popular cameras in its mirrorless lineup – the Nikon Z6 II – with a new model bringing the system up-to-date and competitive with Canon and Sony, but quite when we can expect a Nikon Z6 III is unclear.
However, new and mounting rumors suggest that we might only be a few weeks away, with the camera supposedly being launched around the upcoming CP+ show in February.
We've been circling around the release of a new Nikon camera for a while, with reports last month of the Nikon Z6 III allegedly appearing at a trade show in Japan. Now several new rumors have appeared that give more credence to the impending release. (As ever, I have to say, take all rumors with a pinch of salt as it is easy to throw false information out on the internet, and fervent fans get carried away).
First up – new rumors from South Korea spotted by NikonRumors show that Nikon has registered a new camera battery. The battery has the model name MB-N14, which doesn't match any of the current battery grips used by Nikon Z cameras. Nikon appears to use a sequential numbering system for its battery grips depending on release date, with the latest MB-N12 used for the Nikon Z8 (with 13 most likely skipped for superstition).
This suggests at least one brand new camera, although the Z6 II and Z7 II shared the MB-N11, and five cameras shared the MB-N10, so we can't rule out multiple cameras being launched.
Other rumors include reports from the Chinese social media site Weibo suggesting that the Nikon brochures for CP+ have been printed – and include a new camera or cameras. While comments from Weibo are pretty dubious sources for rumors, the commenter claims that their company printed the brochures, but is under NDA so can't comment further.
Also swirling around rumor sites is an alleged trip to the Spanish island of Lanzarote, apparently billed as Nikon's Wedding Photographer Summit. Nikon fans have of course combed through the social media channels of some of the top European wedding photographers known to work with Nikon, and found vague mentions of testing equipment, and a general suspicious ambiguity around the event.
Can we be sure it is the Nikon Z6 III? Well, there are no guarantees, but it is the camera that most people (us included) think should be next in line for an update from Nikon. There are also some theories that last year's Nikon Zf camera was essentially the blueprint for the Z6 III, featuring a number of internal improvements we would expect to see in a new Z6, but of course, instead in that gorgeous retro body.
Check out our top picks for the best Nikon camera and the best Nikon Z lenses for more.
