The following are my recommendations for someone buying a Z50 and attempting to complete a solid, basic travel system:
- Z50 body — duh!
- Extra EN-EL25 battery — serious users will often dip into a second battery on busy days
- Dual EN-EL25 charger — charge both batteries with one device
- 12-28mm f/3.5-5.6 Z DX VR lens — the way to keep the kit compact yet capable of really wide work
- 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 Z-DX VR lens — the basic kit lens covers the mid-range focal lengths well
- 50-250mm f/4.5-5.6 Z-DX VR lens — the best way to get small, competent telephoto
All of the above fits into a Tenba BYOB Insert 9, believe it or not, though it's a very tight fit (hint: camera into bag before last lens). You might want to go a size bigger or find an alternative bag. But the BYOB Insert 9 slips nicely into my briefcase type bag.
50-250mm on left, Z50 with 16-50mm in center, 10-20mm mounted on FTZ adapter on right. Just enough room to stick my charger on top of the 10-20mm.
If the Tenba fit is a little tight for you, there's a less expensive option that's a bit bigger in each dimension: the S-Zone camera insert bag version 2.0. That three-lens Z50 kit fits very nicely in the S-Zone, with room for the charger all lens hoods.
Nikon themselves makes a similar bag they call The Travel Kit (US$60) [link to NikonUSA]. Like the Tenba, getting a three-lens system into this bag is pushing it. It's more appropriately a two-lens travel bag with room for charger.
You'll probably want a HN-40 lens hood for the 16-50mm lens, but third party knockoffs are cheaper. The 10-20mm takes an HB-81.
In terms of SD cards, the Z50 is best used with UHS-I cards, and 95MBs write speed with U3 video speed is basically what you want. You can find faster cards but they won't be faster in the camera—they might on your card reader ingesting to your computer—and you want to avoid slower, older cards (e.g. not UHS, and <95MBs).
I put a Stabil FTZF Arca Swiss foot on my FTZ. I carry a small Neewer FP-25b plate for the Z50 body (no longer available, apparently; it's difficult to find a really small plate that fits the narrow Z50 body correctly; even the Peak Design Camera Clip sticks out from the body).
Do you need more protection on the small Z50 body? easyCover makes silicone protection covers, but I dislike how they make the AE-L/AF-L button a bit more touchy to deal with. They do provide a little more protection against casual bumps on the front and side of the camera body, though. But leather half-cases do that, too. Probably a more useful protection would be to get a small bag that fits the Z50 for carrying. If you're really casual in your handling of the camera, a screen protector is probably a wise investment.
The appropriate flash for the Z50 is the SB-500, in my opinion. The SB-500 is a small flash, appropriately sized for the Z50 system. It provides more light than the internal flash, is up higher off the camera and thus better for avoiding redeye, has a tilting head for bounce flash, and has a front-facing LED that's useful for fill in close video work.
Speaking of video, pretty much any small hot-shoe mounted microphone works better than the internal mics. Nikon sells an ME-1 for that purpose, but you can get a less expensive and more practical mic elsewhere. If you're into vlogging, I personally use the Rode Wireless Go Premium pack (which includes a lavaliere mic, and is wireless).
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