As most of you know, I'm not much of a fan of trying to proclaim one brand better than another. I wouldn't, for instance, recommend that a long-term Z50 user upon seeing the Z50 II should go running to Canon, Fujifilm, or Sony. Nevertheless, it is worth speaking about what's happening at the US$1000 price point in the crop sensor realm now that the Z50 II has revealed its details.
- Canon — The US$1000 (currently discounted to US$879) model is the R10. 24mp, 15 fps mechanical shutter, 23 fps electronic. Video is 8-bit unless you enable HDR-PQ, a bit of an oddity. Focus is to -4EV. EVF is 2.36m. Rear LCD is 1.04m dot articulating touch. The camera uses the custom hot shoe for audio connections.
- Fujifilm — There's currently no US$1000 camera in the XF mount. The older XT-30 II and X-S20 straddle the price point, both with 26mp sensors. The X-S20 is about US$300 more than a Z50 II, so it has a couple of things the Nikon doesn't: sensor stabilization and 6K video. The EVF is 2.36m with a very low magnification, the Rear LCD is 1.84m dot articulating touch.
- Sony — Here we have the five-year old A6400 at 24mp as probably the closest pairing (list is US$100 less than the Nikon, but there's also now a US$150 discount). Again we're at 24mp, but with 4K/30 at 8-bit. Again with the 2.36m EVF, but a lower resolution 922k dot touch Rear LCD that only tilts.
The number one thing I hear from people upon learning the Z50 II's details is "oh, the outdated 20.9mp image sensor." I'd say two things to that. First, the difference in linear resolution between the Z50 II and the 20%+ more expensive Fujifilm X-S20 is about 12%. That's below the level most people can discern, though it does mean you can print 2" wider. But more importantly, that Nikon DX sensor holds its own against a DX crop of Nikon's top sensor (Z8, Z9). Indeed, the Z50 II is better in dynamic range from base ISO to about ISO 500 than a Z8. It's also a bit better than the Canon R10, about equal with the Sony A6400, and only slightly worse than the Fujifilm X-S20. Put another way, the Z50 II is going to record the randomness of photons just about the same as any decent camera produced in the last 10 years.
So I don't get the sensor complaints. I do need to check sensor readout speeds for rolling shutter impacts; apparently I didn't measure them before, and I can't find anyone who has (update: a German site says 1/41 [24.6ms], which is faster than a Canon R7). But at this price point rolling shutter would be expected.
The proof is in the pudding, they say. So once my production Z50 II has arrived, I'll start putting it through its true paces. But I'm not expecting it to disappoint.
