chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY

Thoughts on the new Z5...first looks/thoughts.

Looks good to me - what the Z6 should have been? 2 card slots and vertical grip ability, plus all the good features of the Z6. This might become my first serious mirrorless (well, first MILC at least).

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

I do not need a new mirrorless camera, I already have three Olympus M43 bodies to go with Olympus and Panasonic lenses and that is enough. Nikon got into the mirrorless arena kind of late but they seem to have in production excellent mirrorless bodies and the Z5 surely will be one of them. It surprised me that while the professional Z7 has only one card slot the Z5 has two.

AF seems similar to the flagship model and noticed I said "seems." 24 Mp. are more than enough pixels for excellent images. Video is of no interest to me but video with the professional models appears to be better. I have not seen exhaustive reports on this camera yet but keep in mind the camera will be introduced next month so we will have plenty of opinions when this happen.

I seldom buy new but my advise would be to wait a while till it is evident the camera performs well and potential bugs are figured out. During that time Nikon could easily update the software in camera. The price is somewhat high in my humble opinion for what they are calling an entry mirrorless camera at around $1300. Once a lens is added its price is not that far from the Z6. Those prices should fall within the first six months after introduction.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

I've ordered one. I have the Z50, Z6, and a Z7. I like all of them.

chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY

Cool. It looks like you have the dream team of Nikon DSLR and mirrorless. I will probably order one within the next month or so. I was going to go with the Z50 crop but I do want a FF to balance with my D7200.

They tagged the Z5 "entry level" but it seems like it is what the Z6 should have been.

FiddleMaker Loc: Merrimac, MA

David, good to hear from you. You have been somewhat quiet for awhile but then again you are retired, I think.

leftj Loc: Texas

Kinda looks like it may be a Z6 killer.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

If it can't be mounted on a selfie stick that rules it out for me.
--Bob

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Most new camera's on the market are just plus a few features removed from it's predecessor.
Darn if they all don't all have f stops, shutter speeds and ISO settings. Interesting that they have not come up with any camera yet that DOES NOT have these, I wonder why? I wonder why.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Right! My first thought was, "Here's a cheapie they stripped down to sell more units." It seems more like a less expensive choice of a good camera, and I like the two SD slots.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

If you think back to the early DSLRs (several years of them), they shared a couple of common characteristics...they all "took pictures;" but they were all pretty painful to use. In Nikon's case, the D200 was the first model that had decent usability, but the D300 still provided a pretty big leap forward. Much the same thing is going on with the mirrorless designs.

In addition, it appears that Nikon is working to drive a pretty big pricing revolution, in their favor. The Z5 is being ballyhooed as an entry level camera. To me, this is just about the most honest thing that Nikon has done since entering MILC market. A thorough read of the brochure documents that this is a pretty seriously "gelded" camera. I cannot see any serious reason for a person who already has a serviceable camera to buy one, especially at what is a quite ludicrous price for an "entry level" camera. And I also doubt that anyone not in the midst of a hysteria attack of some nature would be seriously interested in the 24-50mm lens. Come on now...a 50mm f/6.3 lens on a full frame camera? For $400?

From what I can read in the absence of a manual, the Z5 may offer a few minor benefits over a D7500 for close to twice the price. It certainly does not approach a D780 (or even a D750) based on the information currently available, at a similar price.

AlanW Loc: Upstate NY

I have a Z6 and would still choose that over the Z5 for my types of shooting. The biggest shortcoming of the Z5 is the continuous shooting speed of only 4.5 fps vs 12 fps on the Z6. No top lcd and lower res on the rear lcd are a bummer also.

https://photographylife.com/nikon-z5-vs-z6

Regards,

Alan

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

I think it’s a good move by Nikon but I definitely don’t think it’s what the Z6 should have been. It has lots of great features that the Z6 has, IBIS, the same processor and AF module. It has a couple of things the Z6 doesn’t, dual card slots, (overrated and both SD, a plus for some, not for others, and the thing I’d like, the ability to shoot using USB power. It’s a feature packed entry level FF mirrorless. If I was just looking to go mirrorless I would be tempted. But it also lacks a few things the Z6 has, advanced video capability, a high frame rate and the BSI sensor. So if your shooting video, use a lot of burst mode or shoot in low light then the Z6 is clearly the better camera.

chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA

...haha...no way, look at the stats. I'll keep mine, thankyewverymuch (and, of course, still be grumpy about the lack of a vertical grip).

rangel28

The Z5 looks like a nice camera but Nikon has designed this camera to be entry level FF mirrorless. The Z6 has a better sensor, better video capabilities, much faster FPS, better build, and a top status panel. The Z6S will likely be the camera that takes the place of the Z6, albeit at a much higher price. Expect the Z6 to be discounted again in the months to come (it was $400 off earlier this month) as the launch date of the Z6S approaches.

User ID

Hard to explain. Maybe later. Don’t lose any sleep over it for now.