Complementing the sensor is an advanced processing engine, the EXPEED 7, which offers speeds approximately 10x faster than a Z 7II. This engine works in conjunction with the stacked sensor design to realize impressively fast AF speeds, burst shooting rates, a high buffer capacity, fluid video performance, and quick all-around handling.

• Top continuous shooting speeds of 20 fps when shooting in raw, 30 fps when shooting in JPEG, and an impressive 120 fps shooting rate when recording 11MP stills, with all rates supporting full AF/AE performance.
• Able to buffer over 1000 raw images in a burst, meaning raw image sequences can be recorded for approximately 50 seconds continuously. Also, during playback, you can skip to the first shot of a given burst to expedite the on-camera review process.

• Pre-Release Capture helps make decisive moment shots easier by recording frames in a burst for up a second prior to actually releasing the shutter. When this feature is activated, burst shooting will commence when the shutter is half-pressed and the buffer will retain up to a second's worth of frames prior to fully pressing the shutter.

• New High Efficiency RAW file format maintains image quality akin to uncompressed raw files but with file sizes approximately 30% smaller for faster reading/writing to the memory card.
• Motion Blend Retouch feature can be used to produce an in-camera composite that depicts a series of subject movements within a single frame.
• Added with Firmware 2.0, an enhanced Long Exposure display includes a live exposure timer on the rear LCD, along with the ability to dim the viewfinder to better preserve your night-adjusted vision.

Relying on the speed and stacked design of the sensor, the Z9 completely forgoes a mechanical shutter and uses just an electronic shutter for all capture modes. The speed of the sensor enables recording at up to 1/32,000 sec and the stacked structure reduces motion distortion for accurate depiction of fast-moving subjects, like golf clubs, baseball bats, and automobiles. Also, despite the absence of a mechanical shutter, flash sync up to 1/200 sec. is still supported as well as high speed sync functions.

By removing the mechanical shutter, the Z9 can also operate completely silently and there is no worry over mechanical shutter wear or breakdown. A shutter release sound can be added for awareness when a photo is being taken, and the volume can be adjusted to suit different working scenarios.

Utilizing a new algorithm and deep learning technology, automatic Subject Detection can now recognize nine distinct subject types, ranging from humans to animals to airplanes to bicycles. When working in Auto-Area AF, these subjects will automatically be detected, focused on, and tracked to ensure sharp focus when the subject is moving across the frame. Eye-Detection AF, specifically, has been tuned for improved accuracy and refined recognition of eyes in the scene regardless of how small or large they are within the image frame.

Elevating the cinema capabilities of the Z9, Firmware 2.0 introduced a series of production-related updates for the camera:

• Red REC frame indicator on EVF and LCD during recording to easily recognize when recording is being captured.
• Waveform monitor for realtime exposure analysis.
• Dedicated video info display indicates various recording settings, such as frame size, frame rate, audio settings, codec, bit depth, and HDMI output settings. Some of these settings will also be visible on the camera's top control panel.
• Fine ISO control in Manual mode for adjusting exposure in 1/6-stop increments.
• Fast AF-ON function can be assigned to Fn buttons; it is now possible to assign two different AF speeds to different buttons.
• Slow shutter speed video is supported, slower than 1/frame rate, for working in extreme low-light conditions or for creating intentionally blurred effects.