It's been debunked a whole lot of times that including video doesn't affect the price of the camera.
I think that other companies have their own version of a mirrorless "D500". For example, the a6700 or a6600 might be Sony's, and the R7 might be Canon's. But Canon and Sony also have other competitors that are similar to the Z50 II, such as the a6400 and the R10, which do inherit some of the AF from their higher-end cameras, so in a way, Nikon still has a gap, and that the competitors are doing equivalent models in their own view.
Size is not really bothering me, I will prefer if they make it lighter, they can definitely do it with 50 gram less.
Is 50g even going to be noticeable to most people, and worth Nikon's time? I mean, sure they could, by removing the second card slot, or maybe removing IBIS, or making it less rugged / durable and using more plastics or weather sealing. But I don't think many people would want to give up those things. Honestly if you want lighter, get the Zfc. Almost the same thing but with a few less features (second card slot and no IBIS mainly).
Z 7 II and Zf are almost exactly the same weight, so positioning a Zf II for landscape and other applications benefitting from very high resolution makes sense. Landscape is a more methodical process.
well, I don't know if they'd go beyond 45MP as I don't think the 60MP hype is really there anymore, at least as a wide-spread demand from the general photography community. But a Zf II with 45MP may sell better than a Z7 III with the same setup and it would allow Nikon to release a high-res faster camera without stepping on the toes of the Z8 because not everyone likes the Zf formfactor, and for those who don't like the Zf or Z8, well, sorry, tough luck then (if this was to be the case).
What other buttons were you hoping to customize that you can't alraedy?
Smaller and lighter is always great but the main problem is not with the camera. The camera alone is not too heavy indeed although the LCD screen is sticking out too much for the style IMO. The issue to me is the lens line-up. To make its retro style bodies a bigger success, Nikon needs to make full line of 2.8 small primes to pair with it. They should make some light weight but well built lenses (with weather seal) with aperture ring . f/2.8 is totally good enough for most EDC and travel purposes.
I can also see them doing a Zf II with a 45mp sensor so people can shoot APSC crop mode with the 26mm 2.8 without a big drop in quality. That would resolve some of the "Zf isn't compact enough to compete with APS-C" arguments. A FF sensor, retro body camera that can switch between a wide and normal FOV via a menu setting and be great for both landscapes and street would be broadly appealing, I think. I also think that would allow them to sell the original Zf and Zf II concurrently. Want better low light performance? Zf. Want to crop or print large? Zf II.
That will happen with the Very Firm Ware update, which some people call Hardware 2.0.
I feel like Nikon needs to get back to the drawing board. Not having a grip is eating away too much internal real estate. Surely they could keep the aesthetic while incorporating an X-T5 esque grip. This would give more room on the third axis for battery space, letting them shrink down the width. The A7CII is almost 200 grams lighter (over 300g if I attach my grip) with the only real tradeoffs being a sh*tty EVF and 1 card slot. Shaving down the ginormous pentaprism hump could help.
I disagree that they should downsize the Zf EVF, but I feel like they have the ingredients mostly on hand to make a very good rangefinder style camera. A smaller EVF (possibly similar to those in the APSC cameras) and dials along the top for ISO and SS (along with front and back dials and exposure comp) on a rectangular rangefinder style body could shape up to be very attractive and trendy while being lighter and more compact than the Zf. I think there's a market for both styles of retro camera. They'd need some more compact primes, for sure, though.
Surely they could come up with a way to reduce the pentaprism hump while maintaining the current size and quality of the EVF. Look at the Zf's hump compared to the X-T5, A7RV, or even A1 II. It's so dang tall.
