Nikon Z50

I love photography. And I love a no-compromise gear that allows taking great photos. To the extent that I often go on multi-day mountain hikes with a (relatively) huge DSLR and a bright telephoto lens strapped to my backpack. But the Nikon D850+70-200 f/2.8 combo is NOT with me all the time. And there is so much truth in what they say - the best camera is the one that is with you. I like telephoto perspective. It also helps taking aerial "window seat" type photos.

My "other" set (when I simply could not afford lugging the D850 and the big lens is the D5500 (APS-C) + 28-300 (translating to 42-450mm range) zoom lens. At 1.3kg it is about half the size / weight of the big one. But still at 1.3kg it is more than I can carry - for example - for my morning city runs.

I have always been skeptical about the current wave of mirrorless cameras. They are not that much smaller / lighter. Having some spare time I recently visited one of the countless camera stores in Tokyo to actually touch the cameras. Shopping via Amazon is fine, but to form an own opinion it is good to actually touch and hold the gear. I have never had the Nikon Z7 nor Z6 in hand and - to my expectation - both proved to be relatively big and heavy in real life. Certainly smaller than the D850, but quite on par with it's smaller/older brother - the D750. (D750, BTW, is - I think - the best balanced camera that Nikon has ever made).

And then I put my hands on the Z7's smaller sibling - the Z50. This one was an instant WOW! Somebody must have put some serious effort to get the ergonomics right. Felt almost like the D750, only (significantly) smaller. Of course, it is a "crop" body (APS-C, or DX in Nikon's nomenclature). It feels just great. But the greatest thing about the Z50 is the narrow aperture zoom lens - the Nikkor Z DX 50-250mm F4.5-6.3 VR It is an equivalent of an almost 400mm zoom, weighing about 400 grams! Add another 400 grams of the Z50 body and you have an excellent 800-gram package that can be strapped to a belt to be taken almost everywhere. I made a 16-km run in a park with it, and yes, this is something I have no problem having attached to my belt during almost any activity. This lens / body combination is standing out. A real game changer.

Other than that, the Z50 body itself is just barely lighter compared to the D5500 DSLR (only 40 grams lighter - supporting my general point on mirrorless). The real difference is the lens. I never thought a narrow aperture plastic zoom would get me so excited! Also the AF system on the Z50 is better compared to the D5500. It is not able to beat the absolutely phenomenal D850 auto-focus, but in D850 the AF comes with a price - the bulk. The only way to improve a conventional AF is to make it bigger. Mirrorless potentially have a path forward without the bulk of a high performance / wide coverage AF hardware. The mirror itself does not add the bulk. The AF sensor does.

With the launch of the Yellow Program, Nikon is confident people will love the Z50. I tend to agree. Let's see what the others think :).

And finally: dear Nikon, we badly need a Z-mount version of this: AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm F1.8G. Ideally with VR...