Now that I’ve had the new camera for a couple of months I can actually have enough time to have a real opinion on the thing. Coming from a D70 bought back in 2004 the Z Series cameras are different enough that it’s a big leap forward, but similar enough that I’m not having to relearn everything from scratch.
First of all I do like the size of the thing. The D70 wasn’t huge as far as cameras go but it wasn’t something that you could toss in a pocket and just go about your day. While I could toss it in a backpack it was big enough that you really did know it was there. While the Z50 II still is a little larger than pocket size if you toss a pancake lens on there it’s getting down to the point where it feels like it’s almost something that you could just slip away.
The kit lenses that the camera came with are adequate. In my case I did get the two lens set with a 16-50 and a 50-250 zoom. They work fine, are lightweight, and take reasonable pictures. I’m not a fan of how far the 50-250 extends out when taking photos, it really feels a bit awkward but it’s not really my go-to lens and the only time that I pull it out so far is for grading photos of birds or things that I want to pull in closer so it’s not something that’s getting a huge amount of use so I’m disinclined to fix the issue by buying more glass.
The 16-50 works well, is small, compact, and basically disappears into the camera when it’s mounted. Given that it’s the default kit lens it’s definitely something worthwhile to keep in the pack.
The camera didn’t come with a charger for the batteries in the box, so that’s a bit of a downer but something that can be corrected easily enough with a bit of a browse through Amazon. The battery can be charged in the camera, however that does tie up the camera while charging a battery. One thing that’s interesting since the last time that I picked up a battery is that a lot of them show up with a USB-C socket right on the battery so as long as you have a power source that can provide USB power you are good to go. And sine most of the time I’ll be having a laptop with a USB power brick kicking around the lack of a dedicated charger isn’t as bad a thing as it was the last time around.
Handling wise the only thing that I’m not a fan of is the depth, it’s not quite long enough for my entire hand so my pinkie winds up slipping under the bottom of the camera when shooting. It’s not uncomfortable but I would personally prefer a little more length there. That would however make the camera heavier and bulkier so it’s a tradeoff that I can live with.
Battery life is good enough that most of the time I’m not worried about running out. I’ve been getting ~450 shots per charge off of the battery, not sure if that’s typical or not but good enough for what I’m doing.
So far I’m happy with the results I’ve been getting, now I just need to spend more time with the camera and find more interesting things to shoot. Looks like I’ll have to line up some more hikes in the coming weeks or something.