Nikon reveals the Z50 II – a modest update of its hobbyist mirrorless camera with an identity crisis

Nikon has updated its four-year-old Z50 with the Z50 II. The mini-DSLR-style successor comes with the same 20.9MP APS-C sensor, but packs Nikon’s latest Expeed 7 processor, which delivers a raft of performance-based improvements.

Nikon says the Z50 II has the same subject detection autofocus options as its professional Z8 and Z9 mirrorless cameras, with nine subject types to choose from, 3D tracking, custom-size autofocus areas, plus a smarter AF-A option (autofocus auto). It also debuts a Product Review mode, which easily switches focus between people and objects, much like Sony’s Product Showcase autofocus mode.

Burst shooting now comes with one second pre-capture for a 15fps or 30fps High-speed Frame Capture+ mode (JPEG only), while 4K video up to 30fps is now oversampled from 5.6K, which means it should be nice and sharp.

After the Z6 III, the Z50 II is Nikon’s second camera that works with Nikon Cloud. In addition to online image upload and storage services, users can upload custom color profiles directly to the Z50 II from the Nikon Cloud community (Nikon calls them Picture Profiles), in a similar way to the new Panasonic Lumix S9, complete with a new Picture Profile button for quick access. Neat.

Then there are the improvements to the handling of the Z50 II. It has an updated EVF with twice the brightness of the Z50, a larger 3.2-inch vari-angle touchscreen with a new hinge for twist and rotate movements, a larger hand grip, while it’s part of Nikon’s only series of mirrorless cameras to feature a built-in flash.

The Z50 II costs £849 body only, £999 with the 16-50mm lens, or £1,199 for a twin lens kit that adds the 50-250mm lens (US and Australia pricing to…