Thom Hogan

tl;dr: The Z5II is an exceptionally good update to a long-established favorite camera. Unfortunately, that also made it more expensive. Shown above with the 24-50mm f/4-6.3 kit lens.

What is It?

The Z5II is the sixth camera of the Z9 generation. These cameras are distinguished by using EXPEED7 processors, which enable a wide variety of performance and functional improvements over the original generation Z System cameras (including the original Z5).

The original Z5 (still available) was a very solid entry-level full frame camera. So solid, in fact, that it is, by far, the most well-rounded US$1100 camera you can find these days (that used to be US$1000 before the tariffs here in the US). The Z5II enters at a much higher price point, US$1700, yet on the surface looks pretty much like the original Z5, so what's happening here?

Let's get the outside handled first, because there's not a lot of visualdifference. The Z5 and Z5II are nearly identical looking on the outside, and in all dimensions, except for a couple of things: (1) the Z5II has moved the Mode dial and stuck a new button (Picture Control) on the right top plate; (2) the Rear LCD is now fully articulating rather than just tilting; and (3) well, there really isn't a (3) though some really minor things changed, like the location of the speaker, and two buttons swapped locations on the back. However, the Z5 and Z5II could be identical twins if you're not paying really close attention. There is a difference in weight, though: the Z5II bulked up and added 0.9 ounces (25g). 

The Z5II is a three-plate alloy metal design (top, back, front) and weather-sealed. 

But that's on the outside. How about the inside?

Well, that's where nearly everything has changed. Instead of using the old D600/D610/D750 image sensor, the Z5II is now using the newer and faster Z6/Z6II/Zf image sensor (bluish area in above image). Yes, the Z5II is still 24mp, but particularly in the offloading of data, it's faster than the Z5's image sensor. That shows up in two places: viewfinder/focus stream, and video capabilities. The Z5 has a 110ms (1/9) electronic shutter in still usage, the Z5II doubles that to 50.8ms (1/20). Rolling shutter impacts are lower, but most important, the focus system and viewfinder are getting information more quickly.

Sitting behind the image sensor is the EXPEED7 processor, which brings virtually all of the Z9 generation goodness into this entry level body. That includes things like Pixel-shift shooting, High-frequency flicker reduction, HEIF image format (and its HDR-like capabilities), Pre-Release Capture, better NEF compression, Flexible Picture Controls, the improved menu system, massive amounts of button/dial customization, 3D tracking, but most importantly, MF/AF subject detection (and yes, the Z5II has Birds). On the video side we get 12-bit 4K/30P raw files (.NEV), and 10-bit H.265 in N-Log or standard tonal curves. It's as if there was a brain transplant, and a very successful one, at that (it's alive!). 

I really can't emphasize this too much: pretty much everything in the Z9 is in the Z5II now. The primary exceptions are pixel count, pixel speeds, and slower cards (dual UHS-II SD slots in the Z5II as opposed to dual CFexpress slots in the Z9). All this new goodness transforms what was a very good camera (Z5) into a great one (Z5II). And yes, I've practiced what I'm preaching here: I took a Z5II as my second camera on safari this summer, and it acquitted itself quite well.

I need to be careful not to overhype here. Yes, there are some key differences between a US$1700 Z5II and a US$5500 Z9. If there weren't, the Z9 crowd would be really disappointed right now.

One of the differences has to do with frame rates. The Z5II can only update its viewfinder and focus system at 60Hz, and in terms of "live view" while taking bursts of images, that breaks down for Continuous H (Extended). The Z8/Z9 have viewfinder/focus systems that can run at 120Hz, and they're blackout free at 20 fps for still photography. Likewise, the Z8/Z9 electronic shutter is rolling at 3.7ms (1/279) as opposed to the Z5II's 50.8ms (1/20). I did find some slightly curved wings on fast birds when using the electronic shutter on the Z5II.

The good news is that the Z5II has a very fast mechanical shutter that run at up to 14 fps (11 fps for raw capture). That introduces frame blackout between images and can cause the focus system to sometimes hiccup on fast movement (it has to catch up after the blackout). Nevertheless, I found the Z5II to be a competent wildlife and action camera when set and used properly. Moreover, it has Pre-Release Capture, which can capture JPEG images at 15 and 30 fps that have better electronic shutter properties and a blackout free finder (because this function uses the video side of the camera). Moreover, the autofocus system seems to keep up just fine with Pre-Release Capture.

While the Z5II uses the same 3.69m dot OLED style viewfinder as before, it goes much brighter on the Z5II (3000 nits) than it did in the older generation cameras. You can clearly see that in effect when you're photographing using HEIF. The viewfinder brightens considerably to show you the extra highlight detail being captured, but if you press the MENU button you'll see the display dim back to "normal".

Likewise, the Rear LCD isn't new—it's the 3.2" 2.1m dot one—but now fully articulates instead of just tilting (see above). As with all recent Z System cameras, the Rear LCD supports a full range of touch options, including moving the focus sensor with your thumb. 

The Z5II doesn't have the MC-DC2 style input that the Z5 did. Instead, it uses the MC-DC3 wired remote plugged into the headphone jack (first seen with the Z50II). The Z5II also supports the ML-L7 wireless remote, though remember you can't do two Bluetooth things at once (ML-L7, SnapBridge, Nikon Imaging Cloud all use Bluetooth). 

About power: the Z5II uses the EN-EL15C battery and supports USB Power Delivery. However, note that while Nikon supplies a USB-C to USB-C cable, they do not supply a battery charger. You'll either need to pick one up or use something you already have that can support 27W (9V, 3a) USB Power Delivery. 

The Nikon Z5II is made in Thailand, and sells for US$1699.

Source of the reviewed camera: purchased

How's it Handle?

I'm going to have to really nitpick in order to point out any drawbacks in handling. Those of you who've read me for any length of time know, however, that I'm perfectly capable of finding nits.

Yes, I'm sure some of you won't like the fully articulating Rear LCD, but that's actually not one of my nits. As far as I'm concerned, all three approaches Nikon has used in the mirrorless lineup have a drawback, but articulating probably has the least impactful problems, and also gives you a way to protect the Rear LCD during travel. So, no, the Rear LCD is not one of my nits.

Let's start with a simple one: the exposure compensation button moved again. Oh, it's still the rightmost (as you're holding the camera) button behind the shutter release. But it's almost fallen off the side of the camera again (the original Z6/Z7 had this same issue). You can't use your middle finger on the shutter release and reach the exposure compensation button without slightly distorting your hand position. Which means that the button location violates design consultant Giugiaro's edict about hand position that made Nikon cameras so ergonomical. 

Now some of this is that I'm using the Z8/Z9 as my primary camera, and there the exposure compensation button actually is close to and slightly back of the ISO button (which is the correct position). I can't count how many times my finger went to the top plate of my Z5II with my eye at the viewfinder and not finding the exposure compensation button. I suppose if I were only using a Z5II this wouldn't be such a glaring issue (though still subtle), but still, you're likely going to use your index finger to reach that button, and that not only feels awkward, but your finger is no longer on the shutter release.

Yep, I'm a nit picker. Let's pick some more nits. 

We're back to an eyepiece that can slide off and a Mode dial that doesn't have a lock. These are clearly cost savings to Nikon. The good news is that it's difficult to accidentally slide the eyepiece off my Z5II and my Mode dial is pretty stiff and doesn't easily move. Compared to my Z50II, which has the same features, that's an improvement. But I also wonder how constant use of the Z5II will impact those things over time. We've all lost Nikon eyepieces that don't lock, and the unlockable Mode dials seem to lose their resistance to moving over time. 

The Z9 generation menu flaws that I've documented in my Wish Lists stand out even more on an entry-level camera such as the Z5II. Long scroll sessions to find something on the worst offending menus (PHOTO SHOOTING and SETUP) really could have used a hierarchy touchup to make things a little easier to find for someone new to a Nikon Z System camera. The whole JPEG/HEIF mess is one good example that's going to confuse newcomers no end.

But realistically, nits aside, the Z5II actually handles quite well, particularly once you've used the customization tools to put more things at your fingertips. The new Nikon Imaging Cloud function for getting images from your camera to a cloud server is probably the most reliable wireless implementation Nikon has created so far, though it still has some janky setup. Assuming you're using Google, OneDrive, Creative Cloud, or Dropbox, the notion of photographing all day, then having your camera upload all the images you took to your cloud service via your hotel's Wi-Fi actually works quite well. Unlike SnapBridge or NX MobileAir, I've yet to encounter any "nope, didn't work, must check settings" issues when using this new function. Just remember you have to configure where the images go on the Nikon Imaging Cloud site itself (once) before you'll get this relatively pain-free upload capability. 

Other than the exposure compensation button falling off the side, the Z5II also is a pretty right-handed camera: most things you want to do live on the right top, or right back of the camera. Coupled with a bit of customization, that extends to the bottom right back and right front. I'm not sure what you'll use your left hand for (;~), but you can set most things with your eye at the viewfinder and not really moving your right hand. 

As usual with recent releases, Nikon's engineering has managed to make silly choices that impact handling for a few. For example: an SB-5000 mounted on a Z5II can't be controlled by Flash control, apparently because Nikon was too lazy to add the radio wireless functions or realized that if they left them off that menu you'd complain. Uh, that's a lose-lose proposition guys. The Z6III has this ability, so is Nikon saying that Z5II owners have to pay a usability penalty for buying a somewhat less expensive camera? It's clear to me at this point that Nikon has completely lost the thread when it comes to flash usage, and doesn't care to see the light anymore. 

I was using a Z5II alongside a Z8 during most of my testing. Other than that exposure compensation button, using both cameras together caused almost no significant handling issues for me. I think that's the first time I could say that about an entry and top-end Nikon since about the D1 era, where the D1h/x and D100 were very similar (but the D100 wasn't exactly an entry-level camera ;~).

How's it Perform?

Battery life: It's the same story as with all the other Nikon mirrorless cameras: ignore the CIPA rating (380 on the Z5II). What you'll get is really about how long the camera is left on. Typically that was about three hours in my usage. In Africa with the Z5II I was (barely) getting one full safari drive out of each battery charge, while doing little to preserve battery. (Turning the camera off, of course, preserves battery, but then you have time-to-first-image issues when you turn the camera back on. On safari, I turned the camera off when it was clear that we wouldn't be photographing for awhile, but left it on whenever we might have a photo opportunity.)

Video (and thus Pre-Release Capture, which uses a video function) is more of a battery user, and I was getting just short of an hour and half on a charge when the camera was active in those modes. 

Note that the camera can be powered by external USB sources, when necessary. I've got a small Ugreen battery I use in safari emergencies that I'll plug into the camera so I can keep working if I don't have an extra EN-EL15C handy. In the current safari vehicles I use, I can plug the camera directly into the Land Cruiser's power, too (again via USB-C). 

From a different perspective, say walking around a town you're visiting all day, I'd tend to say carry an extra battery with you. Six hours of actual use (two batteries total) should be enough, even for the most active photographer. Just be sure to turn the camera completely off when you know you won't be using it for awhile.

Buffer: As long as you're using a UHS-II card in the camera, I'd tend to say that the Z5II is effectively a "don't worry about buffer" camera. 200 is the cutoff point where Nikon stops recording additional images on their lower end cameras, partly to keep from overheating the electronics and torquing out the mechanical shutters. Yes, you can hit the buffer faster when you set both Lossless compression and Continuous H (extended), but even then you're going to get 160+ frames, or ten seconds worth of images. At the settings I was using in Africa (Lossless compression and Continuous H) I never filled the buffer even once, though I tried to half-heartedly a couple of times (e.g. kept photographing long after the moment passed). 

Focus: Okay, I'm going to have to be careful with words here, so pay careful attention.

First up, how does the Z5II compare against the Z5, Z6, Z6II? No comparison. The Z5II's Z9-derived autofocus system is faster, more precise, has a full range of subject detection, works better detecting people, and really doesn't have a drawback for the non-burst photographers. All those early Z system focus complaints? Gone. 

But you probably noticed the "non-burst" qualifier in that previous sentence, so what does that mean?

The Z5II's focusing performance is slightly limited by both the mechanical shutter as well as the electronic data transfer rates and method (including the viewfinder stream, which is what the focus is derived from). 

In particular, pushing mechanical shutter to its limits (11 fps raw, 14 fps JPEG) means you have viewfinder updating, and thus both focus and blackout periods. If the focus has already been acquired on the subject previously and we're not talking about too fast or erratic motion, there's no issue with the Z5II getting focus on the next ensuing frame. It's where the focus has to be moved again considerably between frames that you can start to see that the Z5II can't always keep up. For instance, a running antelope? Wasn't a problem. A small bee-eater doing constant, fast gyro movements? Problem. It's not that the Z5II doesn't do better than the Z5/Z6/Z6II in this instance, but rather that you start to find you can't 100% trust it. Of course, you're taking a long burst of images, so some of them will be fine, maybe most. This is a bit different than with the Z8/Z9, where I'd expect that with proper setting and camera handling, all of them would be fine. For what it's worth, I noticed this problem most with 3D-tracking, and not so much with the larger area, subject detected modes. 

At 5 fps continuous mechanical shutter, I wasn't seeing any real problem in any mode, but as I ratcheted that upwards to the 11/14 fps max, I started to lose focus sometimes in burst sequences, again, particularly with 3D-tracking. Note the "sometimes." Generally, if the Z5II missed focus on an image, it responded by correcting focus subsequently.

So what about the Silent mode all-electronic shutter? Here the issue is that we have a 60Hz stream, not the 120Hz stream of the Z8/Z9. Coupled with more additional rolling shutter and on very fast and erratic movement—again, those small birds—I sometimes, though rarely, saw focus misses I wasn't seeing out of a Z8/Z9. 

Thus we don't quite get Z8/Z9 performance due to the shutter differences, but that said, I've now used the Z5II both on safari and at my local bird feeders and nature area, and I'm perfectly happy with the focus performance overall. At this price point, I'm not sure there's better.

Further, there's good news: the Z5II has the same -10EV low light rating as other recent Nikon cameras. (Remember, though, that specification is at base ISO with an f/1.2 lens. With the 24-50mm f/4-6.3 kit lens, that's more like -5EV at 50mm.) In a low-lit corner of my office I get near instantaneous focus at 2.5 seconds and f/6.3 as the exposure at ISO 100. And on an inexpensive kit lens which isn't known for being fast focusing. The AF Assist Lamp didn't make low light focus faster, so I'm even more perplexed why Nikon even continues with that masquerade. 

Image quality: Almost nothing new to talk about here. The Z5II uses a time-proven image sensor that's well-known for its high level of image quality. At 24mp full frame, there really isn't a better choice. Yes, the original Z5 has a bit more base ISO dynamic range, but the Z5II's dual gain makes a mockery of that small win when it switches in at ISO 800. Yes, EXPEED7 does a bit better at noise reducing JPEG files than EXPEED6 did, but I'll bet you can't see that, only measure the small difference.

The truly new thing is that you now can build your own Flexible Picture Controls with NX Studio and import them for use on your Z5II. You can also download dozens of ones created by others via Nikon Imaging Cloud. This begins to truly open up the JPEG capabilities of the Z5II (and Zf, Z50II, Z6III, and Z8, which also support this). I can't overemphasize how much difference this can make, even to your raw file users. 

Wait, what? I'll use the harsh Botswana mid-day as an example. You often get in situations where you are photographing an animal on the wrong side of the light (bottom example, above). Moreover, that animal is already dark colored and might be in shade. How's the focus system see detail in black and near black? Well, not so great at times. However, I created a Flexible Picture Control that boosted shadows more up to where I'd place them in the raw converter, and tweaked a couple of other bits, and sure enough, I saw a difference in focus performance in that "dark side of the (elephant) moon" scenario. Again, the focus stream is being done via what the viewfinder is seeing, so if what you're seeing in the viewfinder is underexposed, it's as if you're using the camera in lower light conditions. Beyond that, using a Flexible Picture Control showed me more of what the raw image was going to look like when I processed it, and sometimes that motivated me to not take the photo and move the vehicle to see if I could get something better.

I haven't talked much about Nikon's JPEG rendering in recent reviews, since it's been pretty darned good for a long time. However, I thought I'd give you a direct example of that with the Z5II. One of the following sets of images was taken at ISO 100 at camera JPEG defaults, the other at ISO 25600. Which one is which?

The top row is ISO 25600. In the detail at the right you'll see two things: a pebbling of noise, plus less edge detail on the hair and helmets. You might also notice that overall contrast increased a bit (white went whiter). However, this is still impressive performance, and I haven't even begun to try tweaking settings to make the results better.

Overall, I'll repeat: image quality out of a Z5II is about as good as you'll get at 24mp. If you're not getting great image quality, it's not the camera that's the problem. Nikon mastered tonality and color a long time ago, and now they're giving us more tools that allow us to change small (and large) nuance. 

Final Words

There's not much to complain about with the Z5II, particularly when viewed as an all-around camera choice. As others have written, it's clearly the best entry-level full frame camera on the market at the moment. The only real drawback is that "entry level" now also means US$400 more expensive (at current list prices). Still, the Z5II is a complete, competent, still camera and video tool that pretty much does everything the great majority of users would need. This is all done with a new level of performance that's quite better than the original Z5 (e.g. frame rates, focus system, nuanced changes in Picture Controls, etc.). 

The Z9 generation changes really upped the game for the Z5II compared to the original Z5. You now have Pre-Release Capture, Pixel-shift shooting, much more user customization capability, and a far better and responsive autofocus system. Video is better in almost every respect. Nikon Imaging Cloud opens up new direct-to-cloud capabilities. Even subtle things, such as the new Picture Control button simply make the Z5II so much friendlier and easier to use than its predecessor that you didn't realize how buried many functions were in the customization-deprived Z5. 

• Compared to a Z5 — No brainer; the Z5II is a far better camera.
• Compared to a Z6II — Still a no brainer; the Z5II is a far better camera.
• Compared to a Zf — You sacrifice speed of operation and customization capability by buying a Zf
• Compared to a Z6III — Okay, here we get some improvements over the Z5II. The Z6III has a better viewfinder, less rolling shutter, a better buffer, no small impairments to autofocus, 6K video, and MC-DC2 support. But it's a bigger and heavier camera.

Had Nikon been able to keep the Z5II at the same functional price point as the Z5, it would have been the steal of the century. The Z5 was already a bargain (and still is); a very functional and complete camera for a very modest price. The price bump for the Z5II starts to break the "bargain" aspect of the Z5—though we've yet to see what will happen to Z5II pricing at holidays and via Instant Sales—but then the Z5II also adds so much to what you got before you really can't find fault with that. Given the current offer of an included one-year subscription to Lightroom CC that comes with the camera in the US (which matches up well with Nikon Imaging Cloud), there's an enormous amount of value packed into the US$1700 list price. So much so, that many would be hard-pressed to justify any other 24mp full frame camera. 

About my only caveat is that the Z5II isn't truly an action camera, though it does a credible job if you don't try to press it to the very top frame rates it's capable of (mostly due to sensor read-out speed and viewfinder update limitations). However, the Z5II is an exceptionally well-rounded offering, and as far as I'm concerned brings the D750 type of product close to state-of-the-art. The Z5II is probably all the camera most people really need. I really didn't feel I was losing much when I picked up my Z5II instead of my Z8 on a recent African safari.

Highly Recommended (2025 to present)

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