Nikon – Z50 Mirrorless Camera Two Lens Kit with NIKKOR Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR and NIKKOR Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR Lenses – Black

When my D5300 broke, I wasn’t sure what to purchase as a replacement. I have been shooting Nikon APS-C cameras for about 8 years and have a 35mm f1.8 lens, a 10-24mm Nikon DX lens, a 55-200mm kit lens, plus an external flash.
It would have been cheaper to just get a D5500, but the superior autofocus capabilities and smaller size had me considering the switch to mirrorless. I considered going full frame, but due to cost, how frequently I use my camera, and my skills as a photographer, I decided to stick with APS-C sensor options this time around. That left me to consider the options from Sony, Fujifilm, and Nikon. A local Best Buy has a great photography section that allowed me to play with all 3.
Several reviews have mentioned how challenging the Sony menu system is to navigate, and my time in the store supported this. The prices of Sony lenses was a bit high and a consideration since I already had a nice selection of Nikon F mount lenses. The Fujifilm was great to use, and they have a great selection of high quality, well prices lenses. If you are starting from scratch, I’d recommend considering the Fujifilm, in addition to this Nikon.
Ultimately, I went with the Nikon because (1) it was the easiest to use, (2) had the necessary features I wanted, (3) was well priced, (4) and allowed me to use my 35mm and 10-14mm lenses with the FTZ adapter plus my Nikon Flash.
I have been really pleased with the purchase so far.
PROS
EASY TO USE: The camera and menu system are very intuitive and easy to use. One thought I had in the purchasing process was, what good is a great camera if you can’t figure out how to tweak the settings effectively and take great pictures?
KIT LENSES BETTER THAN EXPECTED: All of the pictures I uploaded were taken by the kit lenses. The compactness of the 16-50 lens makes this camera almost pocketable and easy to walk around with. We just spent a week at Disney and I never had the thought of “I’ll just use my phone” because carrying this camera around and keeping it accessible was just so easy. The quality of the pictures (sharpness and color) with the kit lenses has exceeded my expectations. The Image Stabilization in the kit lenses has been the most impressive. I took this camera on a hike and the IS makes images usable to about 1/5 sec (or slower!), where my D5300 was prone to showing shake at anything less than 1/30 sec.
GREAT AUTOFOCUS: As promised, the mirrorless system has great autofocus and is able to quickly lock in on my fast moving children and take great photos. This has been my favorite part of this camera: it is just so much easier to get photos of the kids.
ISO PERFORMANCE: On the D5300, once you got above ISO3200 the pictures got pretty grainy. On the Z50, I’m pretty happy with how the photos look up to ISO10,000 which makes photographing kids on the move indoors or at night a much more relaxing process.
FTZ ADAPTER: The adapter works great, but the kit lenses have been performing so well, I haven’t used it as much as I would have thought (I used to shoot almost exclusively with my 35mm lens).
CONS
ISO JUMPS HIGH: One small complaint: I feel like the auto ISO jumps higher than it did on my D5300. Where the D5300 might have selected ISO3200, now I’m at ISO6400. Since the higher ISO shot actually looks better on the Z50, I can’t really complain, but it is something I noticed.
ANIMAL AUTOFOCUS: I tried to take pictures of apes swinging on ropes in Animal kingdom and none were great. The autofocus would focus on the rope etc. but had a hard time locking in on apes that were kind of far away. I’m guessing other cameras in this class would have struggled as well, but the much more expensive Z6 and Z7 do have animal eye detection now so it’s possible they would perform better.
Overall, this has been a great camera. I love how easy it is to carry around, and how effortlessly it makes taking picture when I’m out with the family. One tip: I did setup the User modes so that U1 is tweaked to be pictures of things (higher saturation, etc.) and U2 is setup for pictures of people (requires faster shutter speed, etc.) I found that when I’m walking around and want pictures that surpass my celllphone’s capabilities, but I don’t really want to think about taking a great picture, this makes the photography pretty effortless. I do still shoot on “A” and “M” most of the time, but for just a day with the family, I’m pretty happy with that setup.

I bought this camera to replace my Nikon D7200 and I’ve not regretted this choice yet. The Z50 is a great beginner mirrorless camera (I.e. good entry level camera). The Z50 is much lighter (to be expected since it’s mirrorless) than the D7200. The kit lenses are at least functional, even if they aren’t prime lenses. But I also bought an adapter at the same time so I can use the lenses I used to use with the D7200. The preview is nearly the same as the actual final shot which helps with adjusting exposure and lighting. I’d buy this again if I need a new camera, but I hope to have the money to buy the Z5 or Z6 in the future.