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The Nikon Z50II is the company's latest entry-level APS-C mirrorless camera, built around a 21MP CMOS sensor. As with the original Z50, it's expressly aimed at stills and video creators looking for a small camera that makes it easy to upload.
It brings updated burst modes and AF functions to its predecessor, but most of the advancements are on the video side of the camera.
Key specifications
- 20.9MP APS-C sensor
- Twin control dials
- Full-width 4K video up to 30p (60p with crop)
- 3D-tracking autofocus and subject recognition for nine subject types
- Up to 11fps mechanical, with up to 1 second pre-release capture
- Fully articulated 3.2" touchscreen
- Single UHS-II SD card slot in battery compartment
- 2.36M dot EVF with brightness up to 1000nits
The Z50II retails for a recommended price of $909 body-only and $1,049 as a kit with Nikon's DX 16-50 F3.5-6.3 lens.
Index:
- What's new?
- How it compares
- Body and handling
- Image quality
- Video performance
- Autofocus
- In use
- Conclusion
- Sample Gallery
- Specifications
- Press release
What's new
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The Z50II is, as the name suggests, an updated version of the company's original APS-C Z-mount camera. Much of what it gains comes from the use of a newer, more powerful Expeed 7 processor, but there are some subtle yet potentially significant additions beyond that.
Flexible Color Picture Control and Picture Control Button
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| The new Picture Control button is right above the rear control dial. |
It's a change unrelated to processing power that helps signpost what the Z50II is and who it's intended for: the addition of a dedicated 'Picture Control' button to let you select the camera's color mode.
The changes go deeper than the labeling of a button, though. The Z50II becomes the first model to offer 'flexible' Picture Control profiles that let you adjust or download additional profiles. The camera comes with 31 but you can add more, and limit which ones appear when you hit the Picture Control button, so that it doesn't become overwhelming.
Nikon has, at least as far back as 2008, been one of the few brands to offer software to let you edit its in-camera profiles. The company's NX Studio software lets you adjust the existing Picture Controls, applying your own custom tone curve or changing the sharpening and saturation of the profile. However, you only get limited control over the color response, with a global hue adjustment, rather than the ability to re-map colors that a LUT would give.
It's the ability to download Creator Recipe profiles from Nikon's Imaging Cloud that we suspect most users will experiment with.
Brighter viewfinder
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The Z50II also gains a brighter viewfinder, now capable of displaying up to 1000 nits, double the maximum brightness of the one in the existing model. The display isn't bright enough to fully preview HLG high dynamic range capture though, and is still the same 2.36M dot resolution.
Subject recognition / 3D Tracking
One of the most significant improvements that does come from the new processor is the Z50II's autofocus system. It gains the subject recognition modes from other recent Nikon cameras, boosting the number of recognized subjects from three to nine.
| Nikon Z50II | Nikon Z50 / Zfc | |
|---|---|---|
| Subjects recognized |
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It also adds the 3D Tracking AF mode, that makes it quicker to track subjects, regardless of whether the camera has been specifically trained to recognize them.
C30 and pre-burst
Another Expeed 7 feature to arrive on the Z50II is its ability to shoot at high speeds in e-shutter mode, with the option to start buffering images when the shutter is half-pressed and saving images captured up to one second before the shutter button is fully depressed.
The Z50II's C30 and C15 modes can shoot with autofocus at up to 30fps or 15fps, respectively, though it only records JPEGs.
Nikon Imaging Cloud
The Z50II is also compatible with Nikon's Imaging Cloud service, which debuted with the Z6III. That means that, when connected to a Wi-Fi network, it can automatically upload your photos to Nikon's servers, which shuffle them off to your choice of third-party cloud storage services, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or Lightroom. You can also have your camera automatically download firmware updates, and have it sync Picture Control presets that you've selected on your computer or phone. While many cameras have similar features, they have to be paired with a smartphone or camera to use them – the Z50II can do it on its own connected to your router.
What's new for video:
Despite using the same sensor as the Z50, Nikon has managed to squeeze significantly better video out of it. The Z50II can now encode video in 10-bit precision, allowing internal N-Log capture to maximize color and tone grading potential, or HLG high dynamic range capture for playback on HDR displays and TVs.
The Z50II also gains the ability to capture 4K/60 footage from a cropped region of the sensor.
On top of this, Nikon says the electronic image stabilization (eVR) in video mode is improved. The Z50II also gets a "Product review" autofocus mode, that knows to override its face detection AF if an object is held up in front of the camera: a feature that can be useful for vloggers discussing a specific product they want to show.
How it compares
The Z50II arrives into what was previously a competitive point in the market but one that fewer and fewer manufacturers seem to be catering to. Fujifilm offers the similarly beginner-friendly X-M5 for around $200 less, but with no viewfinder, or the high-resolution, image stabilized X-T50 for a whopping $400 more. Meanwhile, Sony offers the now rather elderly a6400 at a comparable price. It makes fewer accommodations to people new to ILCs and its age means its video spec lags way behind.
It's only really Canon, with its EOS R10 that offers an approximately like-for-like competitor to the Z50II. The other camera we feel it makes sense to compare is Nikon's own Zfc. It has near identical spec to the original Z50, other than it has a fully articulated rear screen. By including another Nikon entry-level camera, we can see what's changed over the past five years.
| Nikon Z50II | Canon EOS R10 | Sony a6400 | Nikon Zfc | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSRP (With kit zoom) | $909 ($1049 w/ 16-50 F3.5-6.3) | $979 | $900 | $960 |
| Pixel count | 20MP | 24MP | 24MP | 20MP |
| Image stabilization | No | No | No | No |
| Max frame rate |
11fps (mech) 30fps (e-shutter, JPEG) |
15fps (mech) 23fps (e-shutter) |
11fps (mech) 8fps (e-shutter) |
11 fps (12-bit Raw) 9 fps (14-bit) |
| Viewfinder res. / mag. |
2.36M dot 0.68x |
2.36M dot 0.59x |
2.36M dot 0.71x |
2.36M-dot 0.68x |
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Rear screen res. / type |
3.2" / 1.04M dot fully-articulated | 3.0" / 1.04M dot fully-articulated | 3.0" / 921k dot tilting touchscreen | 3.0" / 1.04M-dot fully-articulating |
| AF selection | Touchscreen / D-pad | Touchscreen / joystick | Touchscreen / D-pad | Touchscreen / D-pad |
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Video |
UHD 30p full-width UHD 60p with 1.5x crop |
UHD 30p full-width UHD 60p from 1.56x crop |
UHD 24p full width 30p with 1.22x crop |
UHD 30p/24p full-width |
| 10-bit options | N-Log, HLG | HDR PQ | No | No |
| Mic / headphone sockets? | Yes / Yes | Yes / No | Yes / No | Yes / No |
| CIPA Battery rating (LCD/EVF) | 230 / 220 | 350 / 210 | 410 / 360 | 360 / 310 |
| Weight | 520g (18.3 oz) | 426g (15oz) | 403 g (14.2oz) | 445g (15.7oz) |
| Dimensions | 127 x 97 x 67mm (5.0 x 3.8 x 2.6") | 126 x 88 x 83 mm (5.0 x 3.5 x 3.3") | 120 x 67 x 60 mm (4.7 x 2.6 x 2.4") |
135 x 94 x 44 mm (5.3 x 3.7 x 1.7") |
As well as advances in technology, another change since we reviewed the Z50 is that both Nikon and Canon have allowed some third-party lenses into their respective APS-C systems. In the case of Nikon, that includes three of Sigma's DC DN prime lenses, which add relatively affordable ways to boost the camera's capabilities. Canon, meanwhile, has allowed Sigma to offer its two DC DN zooms, with four prime lenses to follow.
This still leaves both systems well short of the variety of APS-C focused lenses offered for Fujifilm's X mount, or of the selection available for Sony, but means you're not solely dependent on the camera maker's development priorities for either camera anymore.
Body and handling
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The body of the Z50II is very much like that of its predecessor, which is to say it's like a slightly shrunk-down version of Nikon's original Z-series full-frame models. Despite the size reduction, the Z50II retains a fairly substantial hand grip.
The body is primarily made from fiber-reinforced plastic, which gives it a fairly solid feel without becoming overly heavy. There's a textured coating around the handgrip and the back corner of the camera that gives a comfortable and reassuring amount of grip on the camera. The front and rear command dials are well positioned for forefinger and thumb operation without any need to shift your hand position on the camera.
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It gains four extra buttons along the back of the camera, compared with its predecessor, which means its controls much more closely mimic those of the full-frame Z models, with dedicated +/– zoom buttons, a drive mode button and a 'DISP' button being added. There's an additional button on the top of the camera, too: just behind the existing [REC], ISO and Exposure Comp buttons is a dedicated 'Picture Control' button.
It doesn't gain the joystick that the full-frame models have, though, and the Stills/Movie switch they feature around their DISP buttons is instead on the Z50II's top plate. The Play and Drive Mode buttons are transposed relative to the full-frame models, but we doubt enough people will be trying to shoot both side-by-side for this difference to matter).
The Z50II also moves from a tilt up/down screen to a fully articulated one, as featured on the Zfc and Z30. Nikon has described all four of its APS-C Z-mount models as being for 'creators,' so this change is no real surprise.
Viewfinder & screen
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The Z50II's viewfinder can now go as bright as 1000 nits: twice as bright as the one in the older model, which should mean there's less need for your eye to adapt when you're using the camera in bright sunshine. It's not bright enough to fully preview HLG images, though.
It remains a relatively low resolution 2.36M dot display, in keeping with the Z50II's lowly position in the lineup. It offers 0.68x magnification, in equivalent terms, which is pretty large for a camera at this price.
Ports & slots
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The Z50II's specs tell the story of how far we've come in the five years since the launch of the original model. Its SD card slot can now make full use of the faster UHS-II cards, while its USB socket has been upgraded to the Type C standard and 5Gbit/s transfer rates. It's also been made compatible with the UVC/UAC USB video and audio standards, so it can be used as a webcam without the need for any specialist drivers or software.
The camera also gains a headphone socket to allow audio monitoring, something that really boosts its usefulness as a video camera.
Battery
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The Z50II uses a new EN-EL25a battery, which sees the capacity increase from 8.5Wh to 9.4Wh. Despite this 10% increase, the CIPA battery ratings for the Z50II are 250 shots per charge using the rear screen and 230 using the viewfinder. These are around 20% lower than on its predecessor, presumably as a consequence of the more powerful processor.
CIPA figures tend to assume extensive use of flash and rather more looking at image review than most people actually do, so we wouldn't be at all surprised to get twice as many shots as this in our own usage, more if we were shooting bursts. You can also gain around 9 percent more shots if you engage power-saving mode, but these aren't great figures for a camera you might want to use a lot.
As you'd expect, the camera can be charged over its USB-C socket, so there are ways to top the battery up fairly easily. However, it does not come with a battery charger in the box.
Image quality
Our test scene is designed to simulate a variety of textures, colors, and detail types you'll encounter in the real world. It also has two illumination modes, full even light and low directional light, to see the effect of different lighting conditions.
The Z50II's image quality it very similar to that of its predecessor and, for that matter, to its peers. Detail capture is very similar to its rivals and, other than it being a prone to moiré at very slightly lower frequencies, the images look essentially the same when compared at a common output size. Likewise, its noise levels are very similar to other modern APS-C cameras even at very high ISO settings.
The color response is pretty standard for Nikon, with very yellow yellows but rather pink pinks, which is perhaps the root of some people's preference for other brands' skin-tone response. We enjoyed the real-world photos we got, but it's inevitably a question of taste. The default sharpening prioritizes emphasis over trying to convey the very finest detail being captured, suggesting Nikon expects you to print or view the images at a sensible size, rather than analyzing at a pixel level.
Noise reduction errs on the side of smoothing, and doesn't maintain fine detail quite as well as the best of its rivals, but neither is it the most heavy-handed. In practice the JPEGs are very usable.
Some rolling shutter can become apparent in the e-shutter based C30 mode, but it's only likely to be an issue for subjects moving quickly across the frame.
Video performance
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The Z50II's core video specs are pretty standard for its class: 4K capture at up to 30p from the full-width of the sensor or 4K/60 from a native, 1.44x cropped region. Cropping has a number of disadvantages: using a smaller area of the sensor means noisier results (compounded by the shorter exposures typically used for faster frame rates), and can make it difficult to find a lens that gives a wide-angle view, once cropped.
However, as you dig deeper, there are details that help the Z50II stand out. It can capture 10-bit Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) footage to give true HDR video when played back on high dynamic range displays. Alternatively, you can shoot Log footage: a means of preserving editing flexibility of tone and color for if you plan to significantly adjust the look of your footage when you edit (though shooting to capture extra highlights comes with a noise cost, so Log should only be used when necessary). You can also shoot standard color modes in 10-bit precision if you wish, but it's rarely worth doing.
| Crop | Rolling shutter rate | |
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| 4K/30p | 1.0 (full-width) | 21ms |
| 4K/30p with eVR | 1.25x | 17ms |
| 4K/60p | 1.44x | 14.7ms |
On top of this, the Z50II is the least expensive camera to offer a waveform display: helping you judge exposure by showing how light or dark different areas of the frame are. Collectively, these are capabilities that only used to appear on more video-focused high-end cameras.
And, above all these, the Z50II is one of the only cameras in its class to offer a headphone socket to allow audio monitoring. This is a big distinction, as bad audio will undermine a video more than slight difference in detail capture or rolling shutter, and good audio is difficult to maintain without some way of checking your recording levels and monitoring for interference or distracting background noises.
Something that counts against all the cameras in this class is the lack of in-body stabilization. The Z50II's kit zoom is stabilized and there's an electronic stabilization option that constantly adjusts the position of a crop of the video to counteract any camera movement, but both these options tend to be less effective than being able to move the sensor.
In use, autofocus is one of the more dependable systems we've encountered, especially if you're shooting a subject type that it knows how to recognize. Limited battery life is a significant downside, though. Despite these shortcomings, it's one of the strongest video options amongst its immediate peers, with only the more vlogging-focused (and less stills adept) Sony ZV-E10 II offering serious competition.
Autofocus
The Z50II has the same AF user interface as the rest of Nikon's newest cameras: you can choose everything from a single small AF point up to the whole image area or use the '3D Tracking' option to specify an AF point that should then follow your subject.
Its subject recognition modes are well-integrated, with the camera recognizing and tracking your choice of subject if it's suitably near the selected AF area or zone. This means you can easily select between subjects to track if there's more than one in a scene. Human detection is positioned within the subject recognition modes (and is part of the 'Auto' subject recognition mode), which makes it quick and easy to enable and disable subject recognition of all types.
The Z50II has the same user and headline AF specifications as Nikon's pro-level Z8 and Z9 cameras, but that doesn't guarantee the same levels of performance. And, both our testing and general usage shows this isn't the case.
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In practice we primarily used the human/face recognition aspect of the camera's 'Auto' subject detection mode and found it worked pretty well. It doesn't seem quite as decisive at finding and maintaining a subject as Nikon's other models, with fewer shots using a focus point on subjects' eyes, as a result.
Similarly, the '3D' tracking system generally does a good job of sticking to subjects the camera hasn't been trained to recognize, but it's not quite as dependable as we've become used to. But, underpinning it all, the camera seems to be very good at judging and anticipating subject distance.
In our standard tests, 3D Tracking consistently lost track of the subject at the second turn. Human detection and Auto Subject detection did much better, with Auto only losing the subject on one of our three test runs and then re-finding it before the end of the run. Human detection (shown above), did a very good job of keeping the subject in focus even in the maximum, 30fps mode.
It's not a bad performance, by any means, and represents a significant step up from the results we got from the Z50 (with the improvement being even greater in video mode), but it means we'd probably expect a Canon's latest models to be a bit more dependable in stills mode.
In use
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| The Z50II's controls are all really well-placed, with the arguable exception of the Picture Control button, which we kept forgetting about. Given Nikon finds room for an AF joystick on its similiarly-sized Z5 model, it's a shame not to see one here. |
In general use the Z50II behaves much like any other Nikon, which is to say very well. Its dials and buttons are well placed and its 'Easy Exposure Compensation' option makes it easy to assign Exposure Comp to one of the camera's main dials to put all your key shooting parameters at your fingertips.
Most of the key day-to-day features you might need are in the 'i ' quick menu and this can be customized if the shooting you do requires access to something else. This is probably for the best, as Nikon's menus, while well arranged, have become quite long and complex. The Customs Settings section is split into color-coded sections with logical names, so is easy to navigate, but the Photo and Video sections are now continuous, undifferentiated lists running to more than five screens-worth of scrolling, each.
Nikon's Auto ISO implementation retains all its perverse quirks: it's weirdly easy to set a minimum ISO that the camera will use, yet oddly difficult to set a minimum shutter speed for it to maintain, which is typically what you actually want to do. The camera's handling would also benefit from the AF joystick that the company's similarly-sized Z5 model offers.
We didn't find ourselves using the Picture Control button on the top of the camera: it's probably the hardest button to reach while you're shooting and isn't visually prominent enough to remind you of its existence.
Overall, though, the Z50II sits nicely in the hand and with the unexciting but usefully small kit zoom, makes a handily compact traveling companion. Its seemingly robust SnapBridge app makes it pretty easy to pull pictures off the camera to a smartphone, including a useful ∼8MP option (3240 x 2160px) that's more than sufficient for social media. A relatively sophisticated in-camera Raw reprocessing option lets you optimize your shots before you do.
Generally, it's a well-featured camera compared with its ∼$1000 peers. But some omissions, such as the lack of % change and battery life indication, feel like unnecessary cut-backs. It's difficult to imagine that it significantly adds to the price of the battery.
Conclusion
| Pros | Cons |
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The Nikon Z50II is a really solid camera: delivering the spec, features and performance you might expect for a camera at this price and doing a wide range of things well. And, just as importantly, we found it to be engaging and enjoyable to use.
It's not the enthusiast-focused model with in-body stabilization and D500-like build or capabilities that some photographers are hoping for, but it does what it's supposed to do well.
What it doesn't do, though, is excel in any particular respect, at least for photography. Although its AF interface is a match for the Z6III, Z8 and Z9, its performance isn't. And while it's a very solid performer, it's not the best in its class. It's well-priced but competent, rather than compelling. The pre-capture mode could make it stand-out for some types of photography, but there are few affordable lens options for activities such birding or sports that would benefit most.
Where it does stand out most is video. Its basic specs are pretty standard but the provision of 10-bit capture, a headphone socket and waveform display will help you get good results. This is backed up by an AF system that's dependable enough to use for anything that you could re-shoot if you needed to. Only the lack of in-body stabilization and the limited battery life hold it back.
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| Nikon's SnapBridge app has grown to be one of the more reliable and easy-to-use apps for transferring images to a smartphone. |
The Z50II's sensor has been around for a while, but it still delivers very good image quality and its relatively low pixel count helps it deliver very decent 4K video. Its JPEGs are attractive, its Raws contain plenty of dynamic range and its resolution isn't meaningfully behind its 24MP peers.
Two main things stand in the way of the Z50II gaining our Gold award. The first is that, while companies such as Sigma and Viltrox sell some interesting prime lenses for Z-mount, Nikon hasn't granted licenses for the likes of Sigma's F2.8 zooms, which means there's less room to grow than with most rival APS-C mirrorless systems. You may find the choice of primes provide all the expansion you need, so the more pertinent issue is its failure to stand apart from its peers. It's a really good camera but there's no regard in which we can say "it's better for this," which is required for our top award.
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Its kit zoom very much prioritizes size over image quality but it still helps make the Z50II a more satisfying travel camera than just using a smartphone. Nikkor 16-50mm F3.5-6.3VR @ 16mm | F6.3 | 1/60sec | ISO 100 |
Except, perhaps, video. If you're someone for whom video is as important as stills, and your budget won't stretch to a more expensive, stabilized camera, you should perhaps imagine the silver award glinting in the last rays of evening sunshine, or with a warming, golden LUT applied to its Log footage. Battery life concerns aside, it's as a hybrid that the Z50II looks strongest.
Overall, we liked the Z50II a lot and think it's very much worth considering if you're looking for a relatively compact all-rounder. Depending on your tastes, of course, things might get even more interesting if Nikon updates its retro-looking Zfc with similar capabilities.
Scoring
Scoring is relative only to the other cameras in the same category. Click here to learn about what these numbers mean.
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Nikon Z50II
Category: Entry Level Interchangeable Lens Camera / DSLR
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Build quality
Ergonomics & handling
Features
Metering & focus accuracy
Image quality (raw)
Image quality (jpeg)
Low light / high ISO performance
Viewfinder / screen rating
Performance
Movie / video mode
Connectivity
Value
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PoorExcellent
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Conclusion
The Nikon Z50II is a very competent all-rounder for both stills and video. Its limited battery life dents its otherwise strong performance for video but overall it's an enjoyable camera to shoot with.
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Compared to its peers
There's not a lot to choose between the Nikon and Canon's EOS R10, in terms of performance: we found Canon's AF a little more reliable in stills but a little less so video mode. If video is your primary focus, the Nikon's waveforms and headphone socket make it easier to exploit to its full potential. Neither offers great battery life, so we'd really make the decision based on which sits more comfortably in your hand and, more critically, which has the lenses you want: the option to use Sigma's F2.8 APS-C zooms is a distinct benefit for the Canon.
The Sony a6400 is a significantly older camera, and while its stills AF is likely to be more reliable in many situations, its interface is rather more clunky and its subject detection is limited primarily to people. Its video now looks significantly off-the-pace, with appreciable rolling shutter and no 10-bit capability. The Sony E-mount has many more options than the Nikon, from Sony's own 16-55mm F2.8 to a host of third-party choices. For video the ZV-E10 II vlogging camera is a stronger competitor or the stabilized a6700 if your budget will stretch to it. In general, though, we'd go for the nicer-to-use Nikon over the a6400 at this point.
The OM System OM-5 again has a higher list price but offers significantly smaller lens/camera combinations with a much wider choice of lenses. You also gain both excellent image stabilization and weather sealing. However, image quality from that smaller sensor is generally lower, which becomes increasingly noticeable at higher ISOs. And, while single AF is fast, its AF tracking performance falls a long way short of the Nikon. The Z50II's lack of stabilization is a disadvantage but in every other regard it's a much stronger video camera.
Sample galleries
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Pre-production sample gallery
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