I picked up an original Z50 for an everyday camera with the 2 kits lenses just for a fun camera to capture everyday shots. Just for background I do shoot with a few Z bodies from the Z9, Z8 to a recent Z6iii. I’ve had and used a few others. I absolutely love my Fuji X100v and my X-E5. I find myself oddly wanting to use the Z50 for some reason. It has issues. However, I love the files. I hope Nikon continues to develop small bodies (I realize they have already made an upgrade in the Z50ii). I’d love to see a pocketable Z.
loganphotos wrote:
I picked up an original Z50 for an everyday camera with the 2 kits lenses just for a fun camera to capture everyday shots. Just for background I do shoot with a few Z bodies from the Z9, Z8 to a recent Z6iii. I’ve had and used a few others. I absolutely love my Fuji X100v and my X-E5. I find myself oddly wanting to use the Z50 for some reason. It has issues. However, I love the files. I hope Nikon continues to develop small bodies (I realize they have already made an upgrade in the Z50ii). I’d love to see a pocketable Z. ...Show more →
I bet you will have fun with that setup. I had the same Z50 kit and for me it was perfect to take in a small bag on outings with my wife that weren’t dedicated to photography but I still wanted the ability to make nice compositions with a competent Nikon should I see something that caught my eye, and it worked superbly for that. As you said the files look nice, no issues for me there. I have fond memories of my time with the Z50 and I may eventually grab another (or the mkII) with the 24/1.7 as a fun light walkaround camera for some travels. I enjoyed the ergonomics and form factor more than the Sony A6700. Post some pics when you get an opportunity.
I’ve read that the 24 1.7 is a good match on the Z50. I have the 26 2.8 and that works well.the whole reason I went down this path was to do exactly as you said, to have a decent camera with me at all times. What I didn’t expect was to enjoy it so much and the files being completely usable for almost anything minus maybe a very large print.
As I got older my Z6 and it’s lenses became too big and heavy to carry around. So I added a Z50 with kit lenses. As time has gone by I’ve added more Z lenses made for the Z50. When I converted another Z50 to infared I found that the shorter Z50 lenses had hot spots so I picked up a couple Voightlanders that do not have hot spots in infared.
Recently I picked up a new Ipad Air M4 which works with Photoshop which works great with the Z50 raw files.
And I have also begun to carry my Z50 with a Voightlander 21mm Color Skopar around my neck on my outings-can’t do that with the Z6.
I really enjoyed my Z50 and hesitated to upgrade to a 50ii due to the lack of IBIS. Then I read Thom Hogan’s review, and promptly bought a like new 50ii on the B&S board and sold my 50. The AF is an absolute revelation and if you are happy with your Z50 I think you would be delighted with a Z50ii.
As I'm about to head off to New Zealand and packing two full frame Nikons (Zf and Z7), I kind of wish Nikon made a higher-end APS-C, similar to the Canon R7II. For a trip like this I want to bring a second body, but some weight savings would be nice.
- higher resolution sensor 26mp or 40mp
- IBIS
- 0.5" EVF with 3.69m dots
- 16-80mm f4 lens (Canon is rumored to announce a 15-70mm f4 alongside the R7II)
- <1kg weight for the body + lens
I like the Fuji X-T line as well and curious what the X-T6 will bring to the table, but I've kinda lost faith in them over time - their AF is still not great (even in AF-S), stupid X-Trans just delivers worse IQ than Nikon's APS-C bayer sensor, their zoom lens offering is lacking (their 16-80mm f4 sucks, the 10-24mm is old and huge, 18-135mm is old and sucks..)..
I picked up a Z50ii for my trip to Korea (that I'm currently on now) as a walkaround body, and am having a blast with it. I've found my favorite lens for sightseeing with it is the 24-120 f4. I just pack the 24 1.7 and the zoom in a small bag and barely feel it on me. On a bright day because the shutter tops out at 1/4000, it's actually better for me to bring the 16-50 kit. I also brought a Z8 and a 24-70 f2.8, 14-30 f4 and 50 1.8 for a personal project I'm working on here but but I'm not using it for my tourist activities.
I love having the effective 36-180mm range with the crop body, the autofocus is great. I was able to catch a flying arrow from this martial arts demonstration in Suwon
