[Dr.AD]

Nikon Z5 with Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR

Pangong Lake (Ladakh) shot with Nikon Z5 and Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR (95mm, f/9, 1/200s, ISO 100)

After using an entry level APS-C DSLR for three years, I finally upgraded to a full frame mirrorless system (Nikon Z5). In this mini-review, I will cover my initial impressions and experiences.

For the last three years, I was using Nikon D3500 DSLR (with 24MP ASP-C sensor) along with two kit lenses: Nikon AF-P DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR, and Nikon AF-P DX 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED VR. To add to those, I had purchased a couple of good quality Nikon primes: AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G and AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G. Both of these prime lenses proved to be excellent for my needs. And then I had also bought an old-fashioned manual prime lens (AF NIKKOR 50MM f/1.8D - the AF part did not work on D3500, and it was a full manual lens on D3500) just for the fun of manual photography and enjoyed that too.

So the above was my kit for last three years. I got some nice photos with this kit, and also got seriously hooked on to photography. I did many photography trips, and also became active in some photography communities. I knew that one day I would switch to a better system, and finally, this year, based on my seriousness about photography and increased activeness in the photography communities, I decided to move on to a full-frame system.

For some reasons, for a long time, I was lured by the Sony A7 series of full-frame mirrorless. A7III was on my shortlist for a while. However, given that by now I was well familiar with the Nikon system, I decided to stick to Nikon. Also, I am going to keep using my Nikon D3500 anyways (more on that later) along with this new camera, and therefore, wanted to stay with Nikon so as to minimize my confusion with two different camera systems at the same time. So in the end, I decided to buy Nikon Z5.

I bought this Nikon Z5 sometime in August 2023. Since then, I have already used this system for about 3 months, and this review is based on this three months of usage. These three months did include a few travels where I got to use this camera a lot - I took many photographs and got a good understanding of the camera's strengths and weaknesses.

Use-case and type of photography: Before I go further, let me state my intended use case for the new camera and the type of photography I would do with it. I primarily shoot landscapes and car photographs. As simple as that.I never shoot videos (never shot a video with D3500 in last three years). I am primarily a still photographer. My choice of camera was heavily driven by this.

Photos with this camera: Since I got this camera three months back, I did plenty of car and landscape photography. And this camera turned out to be perfect for those purposes. You can see the photos I took with this camera in various threads listed below:

1. I took this camera with me for a recent TeamBHP meet, and did car photography there. The results are shared here.

2. I took it with me on our recent Ladakh trip, and the photographs are shared here.

3. I recently did a couple of drives to Hampi and Goa, and the results are shared here.

As you can see, all those are primarily car and landscape photos, and photos of still objects.


Price and Package Details: In August 2023, I got this combo of "Nikon Z5 + Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR + additional battery" for about ₹1,44,000. Now the prices seem to have increased and the same combo is available at about ₹1,50,000.

That 24-200mm lens is a popular choice with this camera. Since I am primarily a travel photographer, the versatility that this focal length range offers was the main appeal to me, and therefore I chose this lens. And I am glad I chose this. For instance, in my Ladakh trip, I took plenty of shots at the telephoto range of this lens and the long range was extremely useful. This lens is not from the Nikon Z 'S' series, which indicates the best optical quality meant for pro photographers. Thus, this lens is not the absolutely the best in terms of optical qualities. However, from all trusted international reviews, I could see that this was still a very good lens in optical qualities (maybe just a tad below the S line quality), and the useful focal length range makes it an ideal travel companion. So I went for this lens.

The other lens that is quite a popular with this camera is "Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4 S" lens. This has a faster and constant aperture of f/4, and is also the 'S' line, which means this is a pro grade lens with the absolute best optical qualities. And this lens was about ₹10,000 cheaper as a combo with the camera than the combo I got. Therefore, at first, I was tempted to go with this lens. But the limited focal length was the main limiter. Eventually, after some back and forth thought, I decided to go with the 24-200mm range even at the cost of slight loss in optical qualities, and even at ₹10,000 more.

More on the lens and the versatility later in this review.

Here is a photograph of the camera+lens combo, which is quite compact by full-frame standards:

Nikon Z5 Review:

Here are my initial impressions and observations after using Nikon Z5 for last three months. Please note that my reference benchmark is my previous APS-C DSLR (Nikon D3500), and lot of comparisons will be with that.

Differences from more expensive Nikon bodies: The first thing one notices from the price is that this camera is much more affordable than other Nikon full-frame mirrorless bodies such as Nikon Z6II (which costs about ₹2,00,000 for the same lens combo), and Nikon Z7 (which is way more expensive). Below are the key differences which help keep the cost of Z5 low.

1. Slower frame-rate: Z5 has a max frame rate of only 4.5 fps (for continuous shooting), whereas Z6 and Z6II offer a frame rate of 12 fps. Thus, Z5 is significantly slower in burst mode than Z6 or Z6II. This would matter a lot to those who do action photography. For me, it is not a big deal and I am quite OK with 4.5 fps too for my kind of photography. But fast action and wildlife photographers may find 4.5 fps too slow.

2. Cropped 4K Videos: Z5 is not for 4K videos. It offers 4K videos but at heavy 1.7X crop factor. It does offer uncropped 1080p videos at 60fps. In comparison, Z6 offers full uncropped 4K videos at 120fps! If you shoot videos, especially 4K, then Z6II is the one you must buy and not Z5. But since I never really shoot videos, I was OK with Z5.

3. Non-BSI sensor: Z6/Z6II has a Backside Illuminated (BSI) sensor, where Z5 has a non-BSI version of the same 24MP full-frame sensor. This theoretically means that at higher ISO values, Z5 images will have more noise than Z6II images. However, this only applies to ISO 6400 and above (from the detailed test reports I saw). In my experience, even at ISO 3200, the noise even in Z5 is very low (more sample images later), and hardly noticeable. And even beyond that, the difference in noise levels in the BSI and non-BSI versions seem very minuscule from the test reports I saw. Overall, in my usage (again, I will share images below), I found the noise to be very low and I do not think non-BSI sensor is any issue in real-world image quality, at least till ISO 6400. I rarely take photos at higher ISOs than 3200, so I do not really care about high ISO noise.

Other than the above three points, Z5 offers the exact same 273-point hybrid Autofocus system that Z6 and Z6II have, it offers the same brilliant 3.69M dots OLED viewfinder (this viewfinder is really a highlight of the camera; it is lovely!) and even offers dual SD card slots which Z6II misses out on. Overall, for my needs of still photography, Z5 offers almost everything I need at ₹50k lesser than Z6II, and that is why I decided to go with Z5.

Handling and weight: Nikon Z5 has a body weight of 675g, which is noticeably heavier than my previous D3500 which was only 365g. However, I actually prefer the heavier weight. The camera feels substantial in hand, with good grip and stability, compared to D3500 which sometime felt too light and had no stability when taking hand-held shots at slower shutter speeds. The Z5+24-200 lens combo weighs around 1.25kg and from my experience of traveling with this camera for last 3 months, I think this is a sweet spot for camera weight (not too heavy to travel with and not too light to feel unstable in hand). I never felt it to be too heavy to hold in hands. The weight distribution between the lens and the body is quite even too, and that makes it easier to handle this camera and it feels very stable in hands.

The dials and buttons are extremely ergonomic, as with any Nikon camera, and the menu system is very familiar to me thanks to my prior Nikon experience. This is a full feature body with two dials (I love two separate dials for shutter speed and aperture, which I missed in my D3500), two custom buttons, a touchscreen, and a great OLED viewfinder. The viewfinder is large and bright, and has a very good resolution with 3.69M dots. This is much better than the viewfinder on Sony A7III which has a much smaller resolution.

The body is full weather sealed and dust proof too. This will be handy in the monsoon drives and monsoon photography. My previous D3500 was not weather proof, and that made it difficult to use in the rainy season. I am glad to finally have a weather proof camera now.

Initial Test Photograph: Before going on to various aspects of this camera, let me show you the initial (one of the very first) test images I shot and my observations from that, as the very first impressions of this new camera and lens combo.

My wife has kept a pot hanging in our utility balcony, and I use that as a test object to try various photography techniques and lenses. It is a nice test object because it is often in a mix of sunlight and shade (challenging lighting conditions to test dynamic range), there is a sharp pattern and texture on the pot to test image sharpness and clarity, and there is a distant green background to test the out of focus areas and colors. And the pot itself has a unique earthen brown color to test the color accuracy of the camera.

First test photo of my usual test object with the new camera:

(200mm, f/6.3, 1/200s, ISO 4500m)

I always shoot in RAW (12-bit uncompressed) and I post process the images in Adobe Lightroom. But on Z5, there are two card slots and there is an option to store RAW in Card 1 and JPEG in Card 2. So I chose than option, and just for curiosity, I checked the JPEG out of camera. The above image is that JPEG straight out of the camera.

To my pleasant surprise, this straight out of the camera JPEG came out excellent. The colors are very accurate, the shadows on the pot are recovered very well with lot of detail and texture, and sharpness is good enough (the limits to sharpness are often my own hand-help photography skills and not the camera or the lenses), and overall the image is very pleasant to me.

Also I noticed something very interesting. I had used Auto ISO option with the max limit of ISO 6400. And I used "Aperture Priority" mode (that is almost always my preferred mode) with aperture widest at f/6.3 at 200mm focal length. There, even in the daylight conditions, the camera chose a very high ISO of 4500 (I would have chosen no more than ISO 200 there), and still got a totally noise-free image. Later I checked in RAW too and there was no noise even at high ISO of 4500.

Then I learnt the trick of using high ISO even in daylight conditions to recover shadowy details. I suspect this is how the camera captured those shadowy details well, and the sensor is good enough to keep the noise very minimal even at ISO 4500. Especially for a non-BSI sensor, this is better than I expected and I am happy about this. I could not have done this trick with my D3500, where at any ISO beyond 800, the image had too much noise for my liking.


Autofocus: Z5 has the same 273-point hybrid-AF system found in more expensive Nikon cameras such as Z6/Z6II, and this system is more than good enough for my needs. The coverage in the viewfinder is great, and it has the advanced modes such as eye detection, including animal eye detection. Face detection and eye detection work very well and very fast, as expected. Overall, nothing extraordinary here, but it is a good system at par with any modern mirrorless AF system. It is light years ahead of the basic 9-point AF system in my D3500.

However, to be honest, I have not really tested this AF well enough yet. I usually shoot still objects, and for that, I prefer manually selecting the focus point (it is very easy to manually move the focus rectangle using the AF joystick). That works very well for still objects, but that does not test any of the advanced AF functions of the camera. I have still not photographed any fast moving objects to comment on the AF performance in those cases. From what I read in international reviews, the AF system is a bit non-intuitive and a bit sluggish for really fast moving objects, and somewhat behind the best AF systems from Canon and Sony. I will see when I ever have to shoot such fast moving objects (maybe shooting cars on track in a track day sometime).


In-Body Image Stabilization (IBIS): The camera has a 5-axis in-body image stabilization and that works very well. Of course, I use a VR lens anyways. In comparison, my D3500 did not have any IBIS, and it solely relied on the lens VR. With that, I often had to stay at 1/80s as the slowest shutter speed for hand-held photos (all my photos are hand-held photos; I am too lazy to use a tripod).

However, I assume it is thanks to IBIS in addition to lens VR, with Z5 I am getting acceptable results even at 1/30s hand-held! For example, in the recent TeamBHP meet that I mentioned above, we did a car photoshoot in the evening. Towards the end of that photoshoot, it got quite dark and I got to to test the low light and low shutter speed performance. I got quite decent photos even at low shutter speeds and high ISO.

For example, for this shot of @Pearljam's Verna, which was taken in late evening, I could get away with 1/60s hand-held:

(62mm, f/6, 1/60s, ISO 125)


And then when it got even darker in the late evening, I had to increase the ISO to 1250 and decrease the shutter speed to 1/40s (and I decreased aperture to f/8 to get the sunstar effect on the headlights), I still could get away with this hand-held shot of XUV500 of @EeshanC:

(41mm, f/8, 1/40s, ISO 1250)

This was certainly not possible in my D3500. This is surely thanks to the full-frame sensor with low noise, and IBIS. But notice here that the XUV500 is purple in color, and this very low light scenario, the color got messed up. It is very difficult to capture the tricky colors like deep purple in very low light scenes (they are easier to capture in good lights).


Low Light Performance (ISO and Noise): Coming from an APS-C camera, I m certainly impressed with the low light performance and low noise even at high ISO. I have seen that up to ISO 6400, the noise is very well controlled (for example, even at ISO 4500 in the first test image I shared above, there was no noise). I already gave a couple of example of low-light performance above, but here are a couple more.

This flower was shot in late evening, in fading light, at high ISO:

(200mm, f/8, 1/200s, ISO 1800)

I did not have to do any noise reduction in post. The noise, even at ISO 1800 was very minimal straight out of the camera.

And below is an example at relatively high ISO (3200).

This wheel of @ROG_AK's Scorpio N looked amazing in the late evening light, and I shot it at high ISO of 3200:


Here, even at ISO 3200, the noise was negligible straight out of the camera , and I did not have to reduce it in post. This is why I said that in my real-life experience, a non-BSI sensor is not looking like an issue at all. I am unlikely to shoot at higher than 3200 ISO in any case.


Image quality and colors out of camera: Although I always shoot in RAW (12 bit uncompressed), and edit the images in Adobe Lightroom (LR), I found that with Z5, I have to do minimal edits in LR, compared to D3500 images. In D3500, it was possible to get good images (and I got some nice images with that camera in last 3 years for sure), but it did require a good amount of work in the post. With Z5, the image quality is quite nice straight out of camera, and my post processing work has reduced to a minimum. The colors are very accurate straight of the camera, when the light is good (low light color accuracy can be a bit tricky, as in most cameras except the absolute high end ones). I hardly need any color correction in the post now.

For example, the opening picture I shared at the top of the post is almost straight out of the camera (it needed very minimal post processing). The dark blue color of Pangong Lake and the grayish browns on the mountains are captured very accurately by the camera!

Another example where I needed almost zero post processing, and I could use the image straight of the camera is this, of the magical roads through the vast landscapes of Ladakh:


(65mm, f/9, 1/160s, ISO 100)


One more example (and a good test) of color accuracy is this photo of my Red 320d:

(50mm, f/6.3, 1/250s, ISO 100)

Here, the red color of car is captured very accurately by the camera, along with the muted blue of the sea. The reason I say this is good test is because this red is not easy to capture accurately by basic cameras. My Samsung S20 FE 5G camera, for example, created artificially darker blues of the sea here, and a slightly pinkish tint to the red car. It mixed up the blues and the reds in order to get those saturated, "pop-out" colors. But the Nikon Z5 captured the bright red precisely without saturating the blues of the sea (that sea at that time looked exactly as captured in the image here).

Although I mentioned color accuracy, to be honest, I used a circular polarizing filter (CPL) for both the shots I gave as examples of color accuracy. Some of the nice deep color's credit goes to CPL too, I guess. But nevertheless, even without CPL, I have seen that the color accuracy of the camera is much better than what I have seen in the past with my D3500, as well as with most of the mobile phones, including some high-end flagship phones.

Below is one example where I was quite happy with color accuracy even without CPL this time:

(73mm, f/6, 1/250s, ISO 100)


Dynamic Range: Without referring to the technical measurements of dynamic range published in many online reviews (which all indicate this camera has an excellent dynamic range, typical for a modern full-frame sensor), from my own experience, I am very happy with the dynamic range of this camera. Hopefully from some of the images above, you can judge the dynamic range. In this area, the Z5 is leagues ahead of my old humble D3500 (as expected from a full-frame sensor compared to an ASP-C sensor). With D3500, I had to do a lot of post processing to recover the shadows and do noise reduction and somehow balance out the challenging dynamic range images. But with Z5, the images, even with high dynamic range, look very good out of the camera and require minimal post processing.


Advanced features (focus stacking, exposure bracketing etc): The camera offers a long list of advanced features including focus stacking and exposure bracketing. I am yet to try these features. I am too lazy to use a tripod, and hence I have not tried focus stacking for landscapes yet. However, it will be very useful for getting tack sharp landscape photos, and of course also for photographing my scale model cars!


Battery life: The CIPA rated battery life of Z5 is 470 shots. That is quite decent. As is known, real-life battery life is usually more than CIPA rating, and that seems to be the case with Z5 as well. In my experience, I am getting down to about 50% of the battery after about 400 shots, and that is more than enough for me! Besides, the camera comes with an additional battery, and it is very easy to charge the battery directly in camera using a USB C cable. Overall, battery life is not a concern for me when using Z5 (Usually for full-frame mirrorless cameras, battery life is quire low, but luckily not with Z5).


Niggles/Issues: The only issue I faced so far is that on a couple of occasions, the electronic viewfinder went bad (instead of the image, I could just see random scrambled pixels all over). I was a bit worried when it happened the first time. But just switching the camera off and then back on solved the problem. Then it happened a second time too recently, and again, switching off and on solved it. I might get it checked at the Nikon service center if this happens again.

Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR Review

As I mentioned earlier, I had a choice between this Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR lens or the Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4 "S" lens which is a true pro grade lens (and the "S" lens was actually ₹10k cheaper in the same combo). But I chose the 24-200mm lens for the sheer versatility it offers in choosing the right compositions thanks to the focal length range.

And I am so glad I picked this lens. Earlier, with my D3500, I had a few prime lenses (35mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/1.8), and a telephoto lens (70-300mm), but it was a pain to change lenses every time, or to choose just the right lens before stepping out for a photoshoot.

But with this 24-200m lens on the Z5, I did my entire Ladakh trip with this single lens attached the camera all the time, and never had to worry about changing lenses, and yet got all the photos I liked. I usually like to use telephoto range of the focal lengths for my compositions, even for landscapes. I like the optical compression and the subject isolation that longer focal lengths offer. Earlier, while shooting landscapes, it was a pain to suddenly have to change the lens to a different telephoto lens. But now with a single lens, I am getting great compositions and I am loving those.

Just this versatility and the ability to shoot telephoto landscapes on to go created so many nice photography opportunities for me and in my view that is worth the slight loss of sharpness due to this not being the Nikon "S" line lens (the true pro grade lens).

For example, while walking around in Nubra Valley Sand Dunes in Ladakh, I could get this composition which I really loved (and this photo got selected in Flickr Explore! section, the most coveted selection on Flickr, and received positive feedback from worldwide photography community):


(140mm, f/8, 1/400s, ISO 100)

This composition was only possible because of the focal length I had available on the lens already attached to the camera (else changing lenses while standing in that dusty desert would probably have been the last thing on my mind).

Another example of the utility of larger focal lengths is this photograph below. I was standing at a Monastery near Leh, and was shooting wide angle landscapes. From there, I had a great view of the Leh Airport, and saw a SpiceJet flight ready to take off. I waited there for the flight to take off, and thanks to my telephoto range of 200mm, got this shot at full 200mm end of the lens:

(200mm, f/8, 1/250s, ISO 100)


And then later when the aircraft turned and came closer to me, I got an even closer shot:

(200mm, f/8, 1/200s, ISO 110)


One more "telephoto landscape" composition that I really loved is this photograph of Namgyal Tsemo Monastery, Leh, at just the right time when the sunset rays lit up the otherwise dark mountains:

(160mm, f/8, 1/200s, ISO 220)

All such compositions would have been missed if I had the 24-70mm lens and had to scramble to change lenses at the critical moment.

One more (and the last) example of the utility of the focal length range is this evening at a sea side restaurant in Goa.

While I could take such 24mm wide angle sunset views...

(24mm, f/9, 1/80s, ISO 100)


I could also, at the next instant when I spotted a composition in mind, could capture this frame which I like for some reasons:

(71mm, f/9, 1/80s, ISO 140)


And then, I spotted another abstract idea and using full 200mm end, could capture this somewhat abstract photograph:

(200mm, f/9, 1/200s, ISO 250)

For all my trips in last 3 months, I carried this single camera and lens combo, and never missed anything else. I know the optical qualities of this lens are not in the league of the "S" line of lenses, and it is not wide enough in aperture, but the versatility it offers in the focal length range, and the creativity it enables in my compositions is more than enough for me to balance that slight loss in optical sharpness and wide apertures. I am in absolute love with this lens since my first trip with this lens.

Bokeh: This lens is quite slow (f/4-6.3) and is not known for the best creamy bokeh. However, it gives a decent bokeh under right conditions, as can be seen in this sunflower photo:

(115mm, f/6.3, 1/500s, ISO 100)

The bokeh is certainly not creamy soft, but it is acceptable to some extents.

Talking of bokeh and this type of shallow Depth of Field photography, the ideal lens with this camera is Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S (which is the proper S line lens), which has absolutely the great reviews! This is on my "to buy" list now and I will end up buying this soon. But for now, for all my travel and landscape photography requirements, the 24-200mm lens is proving to be amazing!


Handling and weight: The lens weighs 570g, and together with the Z5 body, the whole system weighs about 1.25kg. I find this quite good and never felt it to be too heavy. The lens (570g) and the body (675g) offer the perfect weight distribution too, and that makes it much easier to handle this system. And this system is compact enough that it fits in a relatively small shoulder bag (does not even need a full camera backpack), and I love that too. Overall, for my travel needs, this simple and compact, one-lens package of Nikon Z5 and Nikon Z 24-200mm lens is proving to be great and I am totally loving it.


Full-frame vs ASP-C experience and pros and cons:

As I mentioned above, the low light performance, high ISO performance with minimal noise, slow-shutter speed hand-held performance (thanks to IBIS), great color accuracy and excellent dynamic range straight out of the camera (I need minimal post processing) are some of the key advantages for me of this full-frame mirrorless system compared to my old APS-C camera.

The full-frame systems are supposed to be heavier too, but the additional weight is not bad in the case of Z5. I am actually quite happy with the Z5 and the lens weight and maybe find it even more optimal than my ultra-lightweight APS-C DSLR.

However, it is not that full-frame is always better. There are a few cases with APS-C cameras are actually better. One obvious factor is size. In the exact same bag where I can fit my Nikon Z5 with the 24-200mm lens attached to it, I can fit my Nikon D3500 with a 16-55mm kit lens attached and an additional 70-300mm telephoto lens!

Second advantage is the 1.5X crop factor for focal length. With the 1.5X crop factor of APS-C, that compact and light 300mm APS-C lens is effectively 450mm focal range. A 450mm lens on full-frame will be crazy heavy and expensive!

My Full-Frame and APS-C Nikon cameras (with a few more lenses) in one picture for comparison:


And finally, something that directly matters to me in landscape photography, and maybe the main reason I might keep my ASP-C camera too, is that due to a shallower Depth of Field (DOF) on full-frame camera, it is much harder to get the entire landscape in tack-sharp focus. I will have to resort to focus stacking on Z5 eventually to get full tack-sharp landscapes. And I am a bit too lazy for that. In all the landscape photos shared above, which were all hand-held single shots (no focus stacking), you can see a variation in sharpness across depths. On the other hand, with APS-C camera, with much wider DOF, it is relatively easier to get tack-sharp landscapes from front to back, say at f/9 or so, even without focus stacking. For this reason, many landscape photographers actually prefer APS-C cameras over full-frame cameras.

For these reasons, I have decided to keep my APS-C camera and lenses for now. I will use that camera once in a while. Especially with the tiny 50mm 1/8D, it is a lot of fun to use the D3500 in full manual mode. I really enjoy that combo more for the simple manual photography fun than the quality of images, as I wrote in my review of that lens here, and I am sure to keep that lens and use it for fun from time to time.


Summary: As you can judge from the review above, for my requirements of travel, landscape and car photography, I am very happy with this Nikon Z5 and Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR combo. This is a nice single lens combination that sufficed on my recent trips and I plan to use it a lot in the coming months. It is a compact and lightweight combo that is easy to pack in a shoulder bag. If anyone is looking for a full-frame mirrorless camera for still photography, this is an excellent combination at an affordable prices. However, if you are looking at a camera for 4K videos, and for fast action shots at high speed burst mode, then this is not the camera for you. For that, you have to spend more to get Nikon Z6II (if not Z7 or better), or look for comparable Canon or Sony cameras which offer faster continuous shooting rate, faster and better autofocus than Z5, and also uncropped 4K video capabilities.


To end this review, I could not resist sharing another picture that I took with this camera in Ladakh that I really liked. And this photograph was also selected in Flickr Explore! and received very positive feedback from the photography community.

Pangong Lake, Ladakh, under Sunset Rays (66mm, f/9, 1/80s, ISO 140)

Thank you very much for reading this!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[TheDarkKnight]

Great review and even better pictures Dr.AD. I do have the same camera and my reasoning for upgrading to the Z5 rather than the Z6/Z7 was same as yours, no need for videos.

My current setup is the Z5 and the Z 50mm 1.8S lens and let me tell you, there is some magic in the pictures this lens clicks. I recently went on a trip to Europe with only this combination and taking beautiful pictures was just effortless.

I’ll do suggest saving up and getting the 50/35mm S lens as soon as you can as they take your photos to the next level. I’m still learning photography so haven’t yet looked at adding more lenses but the one lens I have in mind is the Z 24-120 F4/S which is just as good.

Cheers.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by TheDarkKnight

Great review and even better pictures Dr.AD.

Thank you very much!

I do have the same camera and my reasoning for upgrading to the Z5 rather than the Z6/Z7 was same as yours, no need for videos.

Oh cool. Yes, just for still photographs (no videos and no high speed action photography at high FPS bursts), Z5 is as good as Z6/Z7 for all practical purposes.

My current setup is the Z5 and the Z 50mm 1.8S lens and let me tell you, there is some magic in the pictures this lens clicks. I recently went on a trip to Europe with only this combination and taking beautiful pictures was just effortless.

Nice! Yes Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S is most probably my next lens. Every review and every user experience I have read on that says it is a great lens. Many reviewers call it one of the best lens ever from Nikon's entire history.

In fact I was going to buy it the same day when I got the Z5. The only reason I hesitated to buy is that 50mm is not something I use often. I usually like longer focal lengths for my compositions. I like to focus on simple compositions and isolate subjects, and not include a lot of things in one frame. Just as examples, if you see the photos I shared in this review, most of them are taken at longer focal lengths. That is just may natural tendency in compositions. Therefore, I may not end up using the 50mm lens a lot.

Going back to my APS-C DSLR experience, I have the highly rated Nikon DX 35mm 1.8G lens, which has an effective focal length of 52.5mm. I rarely used that because I just do not find enough compositions at that focal length. On the other hand, I also have the FX 50mm 1.8G lens, which has an effective focal length of 75mm. And I used that a lot because I found plenty of compositions at 75mm.

Therefore, I was wondering if I should buy Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8 S instead of the 50mm f1/.8 S. This was the reason in delaying that purchase. 85mm is more suitable for my liking and style of compositions, but on the other hand, the 50mm lens has better reviews and absolutely the best optical qualities.

Anyways, I will decide soon and will end up buying one of these two lenses.

[century]

Kudos Dr.AD., very good review and great photos!

Selling Nikon for more than a decade, I am happy that you sticked to Nikon and did not jump the ship and bought Sony.

Best choice for your use, I must say. Also Nikon Z5 (24-200) kit is still selling at 144k with two batteries and 6k cashback when financed. So, it's cheaper to own now!

The 24-70 is go-to lens kit of wedding photographers, though 24-120 is better (but expensive).

Regarding your thinking of buying 85mm 1.8 S, I will say, "GO FOR IT". It is great for portraits too! Very creamy bokeh (please don't mind, it's not bookeh) and excellent for low light photography too. Also 85mm has cashback of 8k too (from the dealers' end), though earlier it was 10k. I get scheme details in the first week of every month, so for November, cashback can change. A good price of this lens would be less than 48k.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by century

Kudos Dr.AD., very good review and great photos!

Thank you very much!

Selling Nikon for more than a decade, I am happy that you sticked to Nikon and did not jump the ship and bought Sony.

Great to meet a Nikon expert and professional here.

Regarding your thinking of buying 85mm 1.8 S, I will say, "GO FOR IT". It is great for portraits too! Very creamy bokeh (please don't mind, it's not bookeh) and excellent for low light photography too.

Ok great. That is what I was thinking too. Thanks for confirming my understanding of the utility of 85mm 1.8 S. And thanks for correcting me on "bokeh" :-)

A good price of this lens would be less than 48k.

Cool. I know a very good and reputed camera dealer in Bangalore. I will check with him and if I get it under 48k, then the deal is done :-)

[skhattar]

Thanks Dr. AD for the review of Z5 and some interesting pictures. I have been a Nikon D7000 user for a long time. I own a 50mm 1.8, Tamron 17-50mm F 2.8, 18-55mm & a 70-300mm.
Time to shed some weight and upgrade! The biggest drawback with older DSLR is the screen. We are now so used to high quality screens on our phone, that the images on the screens of these older DSLR's just don't do justice to the pictures. The pictures do come out great. But, you can only establish that once you move them to a computer. Just my thoughts on why I no longer use my D7000 as much.

Originally Posted by century

Kudos Dr.AD., very good review and great photos!

Selling Nikon for more than a decade, I am happy that you sticked to Nikon and did not jump the ship and bought Sony.

Best choice for your use, I must say. Also Nikon Z5 (24-200) kit is still selling at 144k with two batteries and 6k cashback when financed. So, it's cheaper to own now!

.

Hi Century! Since, you are in this field. You can perhaps shed some light on the below queries:

1. What's a good price for a Z6ii with 24-120 F4/S Kit?
2. Is an upgrade to the Z6ii in the horizon?
3. What's your take on a Nikkor 100-400 with a teleconverter 1.4x?

[Samfromindia]

Nice review of the entry level Full Frame mirrorless camera from Nikon. My D5200 is almost a decade old now and I was contemplating buying this for long but still haven't pulled the trigger. This is a modern D610/750 replacement of DSLR world. The body only is currently going on at sale for 85K which makes this a great buy.

How are your experience with the FTZ adapter & using the older F lenses ? Also just curious, why did you buy the legacy 50mm 1.8D lens when you already have the G ? You can always focus manually on the G as well I remember getting the 50mm 1.8G for 8.6K back in the days, the D was around 5 at that time.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Samfromindia

Nice review of the entry level Full Frame mirrorless camera from Nikon. My D5200 is almost a decade old now and I was contemplating buying this for long but still haven't pulled the trigger.

Thanks. My earlier camera was D3500, which has almost the same sensor as D5200. Actually it has exactly the same sensor as the newer D5600, which has a few improvements over D5200. Therefore, I was almost in the same boat.

The image quality with Z5 sensor is noticeably better than that with D3500/D5600 sensor. The main advantages are significantly lesser noise (I almost never have to do noise reduction in post now, which I had to do all the time with D3500), noticeably better dynamic range, and much better color accuracy (I almost never have to adjust the colors in post with Z5 now, which I had to do all the time with D3500).

Other than that, D3500 was quite good too. In good light (where I could shoot with less than 400 ISO), with not a very challenging dynamic range in the composition, and with some extra work in the post, D3500 could take almost as good pictures as Z5. But in other cases, Z5 image quality is significantly better than that of D3500/D5600.

How are your experience with the FTZ adapter & using the older F lenses ?

I have not tried any FTZ adapter or F lenses on Z5 yet. The Z lenses are noticeably better than the F lenses. There is a huge improvement in optical qualities and sharpness with Z lenses (especially the S line). For example, if you read comparison reviews of 50mm FX f/1.8G and 50 mm Z f/1.8 S lenses, you will see that the Z S lens is much better in optical qualities than the FX G lens. For this reason, I have decided not to bother with using F lenses on Z camera, and instead acquire my own set of Z lenses over time .

I will keep my F lenses and will keep using those on my D3500 as a backup camera (and for experimentation and learning purposes). But I will not try to mix and match the F and Z. No point compromising on the otherwise brilliant image quality of the Z sensor and Z glass by using older F glass.

Also just curious, why did you buy the legacy 50mm 1.8D lens when you already have the G ? You can always focus manually on the G as well I remember getting the 50mm 1.8G for 8.6K back in the days, the D was around 5 at that time.

I chose the 50mm 1.8D lens for several reasons. First of all, it was very cheap. IIRC, I bought it for some ₹7k, which was very cheap compared to about ₹17k I paid for G lens. Further, yes, with G lens I can choose manual focus too. But the D lens forces me to use full manual mode. The camera does not even read the aperture and exposure from the lens. Therefore, the camera will throw error if I am in any mode other than M mode with D lens. This forces me to use full time M mode and I enjoy that for my experimentation and learning.

Further, the D lens has the old fashioned aperture rings which I love. I wanted to own a lens with that ring. The lens has a very mechanical feel to it. The camera does not read the lens parameters. I have to set the aperture and focus by turning the rings on the lens, and I love that. And finally, the lens is so compact that when attached to D3500 camera, the whole system is as compact and light as some of the point and shoot cameras. I love traveling with this combination which is so light and compact and forces me to use full manual mode and rotate those rings for each picture. Not very logical reasons, but somewhat old fashioned romantic ideas of photography that make me love this D lens.

I learnt a lot by traveling with just the D lens and practicing photography with that. It is lovely lens that is a great tutor too!

[century]

Originally Posted by skhattar

Hi Century! Since, you are in this field. You can perhaps shed some light on the below queries:

1. What's a good price for a Z6ii with 24-120 F4/S Kit?
2. Is an upgrade to the Z6ii in the horizon?
3. What's your take on a Nikkor 100-400 with a teleconverter 1.4x?

Hello to you too!

Extremely sorry for the late reply. Was busy reading new threads while not checking the forum

To answer your questions:

1. With finance like BFL/HDFC/PineLabs: 212000 less 10K instant cashback. Without finance: 204000 (free additional battery)
2. Yes. But I think it'll take some time.
Also there is a new launch: Nikon Zf. Much better focusing, easy access dials. Price with 24-120: 227000 (free 64GB SD card + 128GB micro SD card + battery + L-shape grip) Buy this, you'll love it!
3. Lens is just great. If use case (focal length requirements) suits you, then go for it.

Regarding Zf: My younger brother (the actual artist in my generation) just bought Zf after selling his Sony A7RIII.
Zf is such a beauty

[skhattar]

Thanks Century.
I purchased the 6ii with 24-120 during diwali time.
I loved the look of Zf. I prefer the standard dials though. My hands are set on the normal dial setup, even though I started using a camera after a sabbatical. Although the Zf has better focussing and a better processor.
I am able to get great results with the 6ii. So, I am satisfied with my purchase.
And, this 24-120 Lens is spectacular.

Happy Shooting!

[century]

Originally Posted by skhattar

Thanks Century.
I purchased the 6ii with 24-120 during diwali time.
I loved the look of Zf. I prefer the standard dials though. My hands are set on the normal dial setup, even though I started using a camera after a sabbatical. Although the Zf has better focussing and a better processor.
I am able to get great results with the 6ii. So, I am satisfied with my purchase.
And, this 24-120 Lens is spectacular.

Happy Shooting!

Congrats! and accept apologies for my late reply. I don't know if my reply would be useful or not.

Do share some images. We Team-Bhpians love images!

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by skhattar

I no longer use my D7000 as much.


1. What's a good price for a Z6ii with 24-120 F4/S Kit?
2. Is an upgrade to the Z6ii in the horizon?
3. What's your take on a Nikkor 100-400 with a teleconverter 1.4x?

I am also in same situation as you.

D7000 user, been using it extensively in past 12 years or so (not so much may be in the last 3 years).
With dust + age etc, the pictures are not anymore vibrant like it used to be earlier.

So been eagerly waiting for ZIII which hasn't been coming inspite of multiple articles and rumors.

Finally went for ZF - I am not a fan of the design, it does look good. But not that great ergonomics for my use I feel.

However, compared to Z6II, this has improved AF and sensors which made me chose the same.

[skhattar]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

However, compared to Z6II, this has improved AF and sensors which made me chose the same.

Congratulations!

Certainly, Zf is an improved camera over the 6ii which is nearly a 3 year old model. As, I said before, I loved the looks of the Zf but I couldn't get past the ergonomics. The cost difference is not much between the two.

I just came back from a trip to Poovar, Kovalam and Varkala. I need to transfer the pictures to my iMac to see the results. I will update here when I do. BTW is this the right thread for the same? Sorry Dr. AD, it seems your thread has been hijacked.

My experience is the Nikon S 24-120mm F 4:
The 24-120 F4 is a great lens for everyday shooting and can be your one lens if you want to travel light.
However, I saw the lens struggle in low light conditions. The pictures were too soft for my liking. My iPhone 14 PM did a far better job considering that it is a f 1.9 ( I think). Again, I will be able to shed more light only after transferring the pictures. I will be considering a 35 or 50 1.8 Prime.

Happy Shooting!

[offroad]

I am also on the lookout for a camera. Thankfully I found this thread. I use a Nikon D5200 and have used for almost 10 years now. I am planning to upgrade. Couple of snaps I captured from my camera attached below.

I travel to remote locations and spend time in solitude. Wanted to buy a Nikon D850, but with Mirrorless cameras small and powerful, have dropped the idea of buying D850. Shall explore the Z series and see what I shall lock onto.