Nikon Z50 II + DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 + Backpack

With its fast autofocus and high image quality, the Nikon Z50 II is a very powerful camera in a compact package. I like to take it with me when I go out. The only thing I miss is built-in image stabilization, because I often take photos in the dark.

Fast autofocus
I take the Z50 II with me when I go out for an afternoon of photography in the city. Here I capture various subjects, such as the church, the canals, passing cyclists and a flying pigeon. I notice that the autofocus is very fast and accurately recognizes subjects. I capture a cyclist on the market and the autofocus follows him until he disappears from the frame. I use the 3D tracking mode for this. The camera also has no problem recognizing birds. I use the Nikon 16-50mm kit lens myself, but I can imagine that this camera with a telephoto lens is very suitable for bird photography. With the autofocus settings I choose from even more different types of subjects, including cars, planes, bicycles and dogs.

Picture Control
On the top of the Z50 II is a Picture Control button. When I press this, an overview of various built-in filters opens. With these filters I can give my photos and videos a special effect with one press of the button. There are a total of 30 filters in the camera, including Monochrome for a black and white effect or Pop for an extra colorful image. I use these filters regularly and find it useful that the camera has a special button for this. Do you want even more filters? Then you can make them yourself or download them via the Nikon Imaging Cloud website. Here you can also find filters that other photographers have made. You can add a maximum of 9 extra filters to the camera.

Razor-sharp videos
During my city walk I also make videos of the city. I film the market square and notice that the smallest details look razor-sharp, such as pedestrians on the other side of the market. This is due to the 4K resolution. I prefer to film moving subjects in full HD at 120 frames per second. For example, I film the horse-drawn carriage that passes by and slow down these images afterwards. This way I put more emphasis on this special moment. I also like that the camera has the pre-release capture function. With this, the camera records images one second before I press the shutter button. If I have to quickly grab my camera during a photo moment, I miss the moment less quickly.

This camera has everything I wanted, except for the limited wide angle. The 16mm lens offers no more than 'standard' wide angle and I had to order the 12-28mm Nikkor lens. Manually setting the focus works perfectly: you point to the (tilting and fold-out) touch screen where you want to focus, then press the magnifying glass button and you can focus perfectly. Manually setting the shutter speed, aperture and (low) ISO value also works perfectly: the screen then shows how the photo will approximately turn out, including the number of bars that you over- or underexpose. Perfect for making HDR shots, which the camera can also do automatically, but with manual HDR I got better results. Noise reduction can be switched on for long shutter speeds. Then it takes twice as long, but the result is worth it. I haven't tried any other functions yet, such as video and microphone quality. Battery life is approximately 1.5 hours, so you will need an extra battery. You also need a heavier USB charger than the one you use to charge your phone. A light charger does nothing (charger light does not light up) and I almost returned the camera. A 64GB card holds 4000 photos in highest JPEG quality.