Question for those who have had both. If you take subject id, subject tracking, continuous focus with burst shooting out of the equation, does the Z50ii have anything more than the Z50? Usage is AFS only with single focus point locked in center of frame. And I have heard comments about something concerning focus point location on touch screen with Z50. Can this be locked out? Thanks in advance. Refurb Z50 looking tempting.
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Z50 - Z50ii
- Thread starter Bob A L
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You can disable touchscreen AF area control. The hard buttons and layout is so much better than the Z50's. You can lock the AF area, which is found in Controls > Controls Lock. With the playback button on the back right, it is even more right-hand use friendly.
I sure will miss the 12-28DX and 56f1.4 Sigma lenses until the Z30II comes along. If it doesn't have some sort of EVF, I'll pickup the Z5II refurbishes or on sale. However, that Z30 (which also focuses slightly better than the Z50, as good as a II body as I compared it side-by-side with my Z7II,) for $365 is tempting for my daughter's use in school this fall.
- It has twice the -EV sensitivity for low light focusing:
Nikon Z50 vs Nikon Z50 II: Specifications Comparison
photographylife.com
- You'll get better focusing with backlit subjects
- You'll get better focusing with backlit subjects
- 231 versus the Z50's 209 focus points
- You can remap the picture control button, so it is like having another Fn button
- It also has an additional U3 mode
- 10bit RAW
- 1/250 flash sync
- So much more customization and all the new features and menu items
I sure will miss the 12-28DX and 56f1.4 Sigma lenses until the Z30II comes along. If it doesn't have some sort of EVF, I'll pickup the Z5II refurbishes or on sale. However, that Z30 (which also focuses slightly better than the Z50, as good as a II body as I compared it side-by-side with my Z7II,) for $365 is tempting for my daughter's use in school this fall.
PLShutterbug
Veteran Member
Bob, for your shooting methodology there really is no benefit to the Z50ii.
The viewfinder can get brighter, but basically all the improvements over the Z50 are wasted because you only use AF-S and single-point locked to the center of the screen.
Thanks for that info. Have you used both to compare? I felt relatively sure that was the case, but thought maybe there were things I was missing. The focus with my Zfc and Z30 is blazingly fast for my uses. They will typically acquire focus in the time it takes to get to shutter trip when shooting which suits me. But refurb sale was good enough to not miss out if there was reason. Thanks again, you probably saved me some money.
PLShutterbug
Veteran Member
I own both cameras, and for my needs - birding so AF-C and subject tracking - the II is a game-changer. For the way you use your camera that is not the case.
I think I agree, but kinda funny though as about 70% of my photos are of birds. And most of the rest are sports or wildlife. Sounds like we both photograph much the same things, But we just use different techniques. I don't think I've seen any of your photos here, but sounds like they are of similar subjects. Doesn't matter how we use our equipment or take our photos, enjoying it is the deal.
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Randy_A
Well-known member
Personally, the 'soft' buttons that are on the screen on the Gen1 Z50 became a bad sore point for me - most especially when I would shoot up to my eye. Using the back buttons on the Z7ii (and the previous Z6ii that I upgraded from) became muscle memory movement. When using the Z50, I would always get a little frustrated when shooting and then move my thumb over and search around for the zoom in/out buttons. And it would affect some of my usage issues when I would shoot at night or in near darkness. It's a little thing, for sure, but it became a sore point.
I ended up selling my G1 Z50 for the Z30 - last year right before a Glacier NP trip). Like others, I came to like and be quite impressed by the Z30. I started out using Nikon with a D5200 and liked the vari-angle screen - and having the ability to close off the LCD screen. So when I made the switch to mirrorless, I missed having that feature. So having that back in the Z30 was great. When the Z50ii was announced with that feature, I knew it would be an instant buy for me.
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Randy A
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I agree with Randy_A
Do you shoot with eye at the viewfinder or looking at the screen with your arms extended?
My nose hitting the Z50 soft buttons on the screen was a major annoyance!! If for no other reason than the new control layout, I find the Z50ii vastly superior to my old Z50.
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sirhawkeye64
Forum Pro
I would think if you take out the AF and burst shooting (plus video) there isn't that much difference over than you get the PC button on the Z50 II which can be reprogrammed to something else, but not enough that i would pay an extra $400 if it was me. IQ I think they are pretty much identical. And yes you can turn off touch screen function on pretty much all Z cameras (either completely or leave it on just for playback but disable it for shooting).
The Z50 refurbished price is tempting though, so I agree there.
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* PLEASE NOTE: I generally unsubscribe from forums/comments after a period of time has passed, so if I do not respond, that is likely the reason. *
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monte12345
Veteran Member
You will want to spend the money for the Z50II. BTW I have an Expeed 6 Z7 II and the Expeed 7 Z50II. If your subject is moving you will find the Expeed 7 models vastly superior in AF.
There is also a much richer feature set for the Z50II. For example the maximum release rate for using the mechanical shutter is 11 fps for RAW and 14 fps for JPG only. If you want more you can also shoot at 15 and 30 fps using the electronic shutter. Note due to the smaller image size of the DX format the Rolling shutter isn't horrible. I suspect that you will find the low light performance is much better in the Z50II. What I am certain of is that it's very good and higher ISO noise cleans up very nicely in NX Studio. Note, JPG images will have the noise reduction applied in camera and look very good. Then there are all the programmable buttons which feature many more options than the Z50. This can make the camera much easier to use. For example on mine the Bottom front button is dedicated to the release setting on my camera and the top button cycles thru the AF area modes. This allows me to change these settings with the camera at my eye with my finger on the shutter release.
There is also a much richer feature set for the Z50II. For example the maximum release rate for using the mechanical shutter is 11 fps for RAW and 14 fps for JPG only. If you want more you can also shoot at 15 and 30 fps using the electronic shutter. Note due to the smaller image size of the DX format the Rolling shutter isn't horrible. I suspect that you will find the low light performance is much better in the Z50II. What I am certain of is that it's very good and higher ISO noise cleans up very nicely in NX Studio. Note, JPG images will have the noise reduction applied in camera and look very good. Then there are all the programmable buttons which feature many more options than the Z50. This can make the camera much easier to use. For example on mine the Bottom front button is dedicated to the release setting on my camera and the top button cycles thru the AF area modes. This allows me to change these settings with the camera at my eye with my finger on the shutter release.
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If my camera has a viewfinder, use it 95% of the time. If my camera does not have a viewfinder like my Z30, I shoot using the screen of course, but never with arms extended. Elbows are braced on chest or something else, and camera about 8-12" in front of face. Arms extended would be a total catastrophe.
PLShutterbug
Veteran Member
Monte, Bob only shoots in AF-S mode, in single-point AF area mode, and only uses the center AF point. He has emphasized that over several years of posts. He is not interested in changing.
Given that, will the Z50ii still make a dramatic difference to AF for him?
rangel28
Senior Member
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The Z50 is still an excellent camera, and as others have noted, for your purposes it should be fine. I jumped to the Z50II because of the improved autofocus capabilities and the "hard" buttons on the back of the camera (the soft buttons were okay but I always seemed to need to push them more than once to get a reaction).
The Z50 II is slightly (and I mean only very slightly) larger, but if feels more well-built to me. Both cameras still have the crappy battery meter (like the Z30) but the Z50II seems to be more power hungry.
I would add that if you do decide on the Z50, make sure the firmware is up to date. Nikon improved focusing a lot with firmware updates and eye recognition specifically seemed much improved with the bigger more substantial updates. If you are buying refurb from Nikon, the camera will look brand new and it will have the latest firmware installed.
I had both for a period. I have the luxury of a Z8 for anything that requires fast AF and use the smaller bodies for hiking and travel where, like you, I use them in AFS single shot release. The v2 is a big improvement but it’s also bigger and heavier. So much so that a V1 Z7 is only 125g heavier with card and battery.
For that 125g, one gets a weather sealed camera, IBIS, EN-EL15 battery, CFX card rather than SD, real buttons, a joystick, and an additional 25MP.
So I traded the Z50ii for a used Z7 and kept the Z50 because there are times where only the Z50 + 16-50 at a total weight of 585g is small and light enough and the IQ of the Z50 is no different to the Z50ii.
Ryan Schwartz
Senior Member
Owning both, you’re better off with the original Z50 for your use case with single point AF. It’s still a good camera and slightly more compact than the Mark II.
From a personal usability standpoint, I didn’t like the soft buttons on the Z50, my nose would make contact with the zoom buttons on the touch screen and that would mess everything up (usually I would find the frame zoomed all the way in). The AF improvement is the biggest reason I bought the Z50II. I still use both cameras. For still subjects, I’ll take the smaller Z50. Slap the 24mm F1.7 on and it’s a nice compact camera.
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Ryan
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travelfoodphoto
Veteran Member
Bob,
You can't turn the screen around, but:you can turn off the rear LCD screen on a Nikon Z50, and you can also control the power-off delay for both the screen and viewfinder. To disable the touch functionality, tap the touch control icon on the left side of the screen. For more extensive control over screen behavior, you can adjust the standby timer and other power-off delays in the custom settings menu.
Den
You can't turn the screen around, but:you can turn off the rear LCD screen on a Nikon Z50, and you can also control the power-off delay for both the screen and viewfinder. To disable the touch functionality, tap the touch control icon on the left side of the screen. For more extensive control over screen behavior, you can adjust the standby timer and other power-off delays in the custom settings menu.
Den
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