The Z50 is a lot like a mirrorless D5600. Which is no bad thing but probably won`t attract a new audience.
To a great extent, the Nikon Z50 looks like a very good camera. The very good camera in question being the D5600. The mirror has gone, but not a lot else seems to have been changed: most of the specifications and much of the experience has been ported over directly from what is a very capable mid-market camera.
Every aspect of the Z50 has been borrowed from somewhere else: the sensor (now with PDAF toppings) from the D7500, the lens mount and AF system from the Z6 and the concept and price from the D5600. The ingredients seem well blended together but end up tasting familiar, rather than enticing.
There`s little evidence of the Z50 being made any more appealing or accessible than the D5600
Nikon is pretty clear about who it`s targeting with this camera: people who love to share attractive moments from their lives on sites like Instagram, but who don`t necessarily think of themselves as photographers. People who are hitting the limits of what their phone can do, or who want to feel more involved in the photographic process.
That`s solid enough in theory, and the Z50 will undoubtedly take great Instagram-style photos. But it doesn`t feel like Nikon has done much to make this camera any more attractive to them. The retractable kit zoom helps to deliver a reasonably-sized package (despite the camera being built around a lens mount that`s oversized for the full-frame format), but is it really just size that was stopping these people buying D5600s? After all, Nikon had already done a pretty good job of paring down the size of its mass-market models.
Instagramer-friendly? I`m skeptical. Or possibly just squinting into the sun.Photo: Carey Rose
Beyond size, there`s little evidence of the Z50 being made any more appealing or accessible than its DSLR twin. It gains a second command dial, and that`s definitely something: Niko ...
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