Nikon Z5II Announcement and Opinions

The Nikon Z5II has just been officially announced, and camera shops in Japan will begin to accept preorders for the camera from 10 April.

The official press release and specifications of the camera can be viewed here:

• Press Release Page (English or Japanese)

• Official Product Page (English or Japanese)

As I had expected and anticipated, the Z5II is pretty much a Z5 body updated with Zf internals (plus some nice surprises here and there).

Here is a brief summary of the major changes of the Z5II over the Z5:

• 24.5MP BSI sensor, ISO 100-64000, similar to that of the Zf

• Expeed 7 CPU

• Faster and more sensitive AF - claimed to be 3 times faster than the Z5 and being able to focus in -10 EV situations

• Subject detection modes similar to that of the other Expeed 7 bodies

• 7.5 stops of IBIS

• Up to 14 FPS RAW with mechanical shutter

• 3.2-inch 2.1 million dots flip screen, similar to that used in the Zf

• 3.69 million dots EVF, with improved 3000 cd/m2 brightness (similar to that of the Z8/Z9)

• Picture control button (similar to that in the Z50II)

• Video improvements include 12-bit N-RAW, FX 4K30p from 6K oversampled video, 4K60p in crop (DX) mode, up to 125minutes of continuous video recording

Some of the features of the Z5 are kept with the Z5II, for better or worse, namely:

• Dual SD card slots (but does seem like both are UHS-II capable)

• No top LCD panel

• No mode dial lock

I think this model is an essential and very important part of Nikon’s Z lineup. On one hand it would be the entry level Expeed 7 FX body, thus attracting new users to the ecosystem with a sleuth of features is a key point in securing these new purchases. On the other hand, for many users (like me) who do not need the high frame rates or video specs, this is essentially the perfect Z6II replacement (although I am a bit sad with the lack of top screen though).

So far on paper it is very much what I expected it to be, and am looking forward to testing it out in the showroom before making a decision to pre-order or not (because you know, the Z8 strap lug fiasco..)

Here are some things that I cannot confirm now, and am planning to check them out when I get to test the camera:

• According to the specs sheet, the base length is identical to that of the Z5 (and Z6/Z7/Z6II/Z7II) - and it lists both the MB-N11 and MB-N14 as compatible accessories. Does this mean that the Z-GR1 is a perfect fit for it too? (P.S. it does not fit the Z6III perfectly due to a change in length of the base plate)

• Is the set in Japan available in Japanese language only (like the Z50II) or does it have English menus too?

• How customizable are the buttons? (Z50II level of customization or the slightly crippled Z6III level?)

• Are both SD card slots able to write at full UHS-II speeds?

• Weather sealing and weather resistance information [Update: Just checked the press material again and seems like it is properly weather sealed]

I am definitely stoked that for now this sounds like a perfect replacement for my Z6II workhorse (minus the top screen, yeah I know I sound like a broken record), especially so if the Z-GR1 is able to fit it perfectly.

And also I guess I need to reconsider my little APS-C plan too.

Evolution of Chinese Lens and Accessories Makers

In recent times there have been plenty of releases of lenses and camera accessories from Chinese manufacturers, and truth be told I am impressed with the rate that they are improving their products and innovating.

I strongly believe that healthy competition would bring about improvements and innovations, so with the rise of Chinese lens manufacturers, I think that us as consumers would benefit as a whole since the entire industry would be competing with each other to bring out more original and interesting products.

There have been several reputable camera accessories brands from China from a while back, such as Godox’s lighting accessories and triggers, Smallrig’s L-brackets and cages, and DJI’s drone systems, just to name a few. However, when we think about lenses, the initial releases of camera lenses from China were, blatantly speaking, clones of older lens designs, and tended to be only manual focus only. Most of the time they were just not up to current standards - usually thought of as cheap lenses to play around with, and could pretty much only take decent images once stopped down to around f/5.6 or so (and even so their performance is still just decent at best).

Fast forward to today, and we can see lenses from several Chinese manufacturers which incorporate modern AF systems tuned for use with mirrorless cameras, and some manufacturers also come up with their original optical designs and innovations (such as incorporating USB ports directly in the lens to facilitate firmware updates) - which is a far cry from the past where they were simply replicating old optical designs. Many of these manufacturers also do tend to cater to a certain niche - some examples include TTArtisan and 7Artisans catering to the general crowd with good price-performance lenses; Laowa (previously Venus Optics) with their probes, high magnification macro lenses and low-distortion ultra wide-angle lenses; Viltrox with product lines catering to compact sizes (Air series) or high performance lenses (Pro and Lab series).

That said, the fast rate of iteration does have certain consequences - namely with so many models flooding the market with similar nomenclatures, it is often quite confusing and difficult to determine if a particular model is the latest design or one from a previous generation, and due to that their resale value do not hold well too since a newer model is always just round the corner. Combined, these make a purchase from a Chinese manufacturer still a sort of a small gamble, even if they are pretty reputable.

However, credit should be given where credit is due, and the fact that they are improving so fast and bringing so much more value to the photography community as a whole is definitely worth commending.

Right now, there are still certain drawbacks from getting lenses from Chinese manufacturers, namely:

• The coatings used on their lenses are still pretty simple and do not always eliminate flares and ghosts, even in simple backlit situations.

• Quality control is not as stringent, and as such there are quite a bit of sample variance (although this has been improved recently according to most users, but still not up to par as the more established lens manufacturers)

• They still do not have a proper track record on their build quality and long-term reliability, especially for the newer offerings with autofocus mechanisms (which is a given since they just entered the autofocus playing field pretty recently).

• AF algorithms are reverse-engineered so firmware updates are required for compatibility with newer bodies. However it is hard to predict when support or firmware development would stop for current products.

• Customer service is pretty much non-existent according to most users; if you buy from a reputable store they might handle the returns/warranty issues for you, but chances are if you need repairs it might take a long turnaround since they do not have regional repair offices.

• Similarly there is no pro-support for their lenses, and thus the risk is too high for working photographers should the lens malfunction.

These drawbacks, especially that on the lack of support, are the main reasons why I have not personally purchased and owned lenses from the Chinese manufacturers, even though some of them are really intriguing to me (like the recently released Viltrox 135/1.8 LAB).

But I think that as these manufacturers grow and improve their reputation, they would start addressing these shortcomings as a way to distinguish themselves from the less reputable brands, and in my opinion that would be the start of a new era of reliable high performance lenses from them.

I have used third party lenses in the past for the F-mount (various lenses from Sigma, Tamron and Samyang), and am still using one now as a workhorse lens on the Z-mount (the Tamron 35-150/2-2.8 Z). It is definitely great to have more options on the table if the lenses from Chinese manufacturers prove to have reliable build quality and start to have proper support for them.

As mentioned earlier in this post, I do believe the rising of the Chinese lens manufacturers would spur healthy competition amongst the other manufacturers too, so I am certainly looking forward to how this industry would shape up in the coming years.

Nikon Z50II Manual Available

The reference guide for the newly announced Z50II can now be downloaded at the official Nikon pages (English or Japanese).

I was snooping around to see if the new Picture Control button can be reprogrammed, and while it can be reprogrammed, the reference manual only included a complete list of custom functions, but did not have an appendix for which functions are available to which buttons, so I am still not sure how flexible that button is if you do not use picture controls much.

That said, I noticed something interesting in the reference manuals too.

Under Custom Controls (Shooting), “Cycle AF-Area Mode” is an option available; and similarly under Custom Controls (Playback), “Delete” is an option available.

I personally use Cycle AF-Area mode very often on my Z8, and was surprised to see Z6III and Zf omitting this option.

Similarly, a good photographer acquaintance of mine uses the “Delete” function mapped to one of the function buttons of the Z8 for quick review and culling through the EVF, and we were both surprised that the Z6III omitted this option too.

It is sure delightful to see it being implemented in the Z50II, and if I were to make a smart guess, I think the Expeed 7 siblings (Z6III and Zf) would have these options enabled in their next firmware update too.