A Style Note

Nikon's marketing style book says that the Z series cameras are named Z 6 and Z 7 (space in between the letter and number). They're not always consistent about that themselves, and for good reason: Z6 and Z 6 present different search results! 

Publications of all sorts, including this Web site, have their own style sheets. Generally I try to stay consistent with company choices, but not always. I've long used the shorthand m4/3 instead of Micro Four-Thirds. Why? Again, it's partly due to those pesky search engines. 

Z6 and Z7 are what the person looking for information is likely to type into a search engine, and what search engine they're using makes a bit of a difference, too (it looks like some search engines have partially figured out that Z6 and Z 6 should be the same thing, at least as it applies to Nikon's product, but you can't count on that). 

There's also no easy way for me to do "take backs" (i.e. replace all m4/3 instances with Micro Four-Thirds or Z6's with Z 6's). While I can do a global search and replace in my Web publishing system documents, the problem is that this can also trigger appearance issues because it involves a space. That could lead to instances of Z appearing on one line and 6 on the next line. In fact, it's not just "could," it's will, because this site is responsive to the window size you open it in. 

So, I'll continue to use Z6 and Z7 in my documentation for the time being. And m4/3. 

There are deeper issues here, in particular Trademarks. NIkonUSA hasn't updated their trademark list since 2014, so obviously Z isn't on it. The interesting thing about, say, Z6, is that it is granted and registered (for a sighting telescope by Swarovski-Optik, which may have triggered Nikon's decision). Even more curious is that there is an application for the letter Z for game controllers, with a stylized Z that looks very much like the one Nikon uses (dual diagonal lines). Yikes. It's just tough to get clear naming rights these days that you can protect. 

Looking for gear-specific information? Check out our other Web sites:
DSLRS: dslrbodies.com | general: bythom.com| Z System: zsystemuser.com | film SLR: filmbodies.com

sansmirror: all text and original images © 2024 Thom Hogan
portions Copyright 1999-2023 Thom Hogan
All Rights Reserved — the contents of this site, including but not limited to its text, illustrations, and concepts, 
may not be utilized, directly or indirectly, to inform, train, or improve any artificial intelligence program or system.

Advertisement: