Nikon Z7 II

GREAT REVIEW. I’m kinda reentering the photo landscape after a wee bit sabbatical. Having tough time making a decision between nikon z7ii or sony a7r4. I tend to lean towards wildlife/portrait and some landscapes. Any suggestions? Thanks for the great site and information.

Thanks for a comprehensive review with respect to typical uses of the Z7 II. It is arguably the best camera for serious landscape photography. Unfortunately, the Z II series is still weakened by underwhelming trimming by Nikon of essential features. On one hand, these cameras now offer ~10 different AF modes; on the other it remains impossible to use these efficiently where and when really needed: ie shooting active subjects, including “non-sitting” portraits. This gap in Custom features remains their main failure for wildlife in my experience.

It is disappointing you allow to Nikon to get off from its persisting failure to expand the options in Custom settings to assign at least 1 other AF Mode to a Fn Button. As they stand one can only use a single AF Mode at any time (sure AF-modes can be scrolled using Record+Front dial, but this is too slow).

The Lens-Fn button on a high end telephoto (eg 70-200 f2.8E FL, 500 f4E PF) are also muted, and thus they are useless with all the existing Z cameras. With Fn1 and Pv, this Lens-Fn is set to one of 4 AF Modes on my D850 [Custom Menu f1: AF-area mode + AF-On]. Relying on this powerful customization built into these Nikon DSLRs dictates no camera qualifies for wildlife photography if it lacks these features; especially a modern Nikon camera priced at

Even if these Zed cameras lack the powerful scope of Photobanks and Custom Banks of Pro DSLRs, this should not be a pathetic excuse to ignore expanding the capabilities of the Custom menus. Nikon made the same mistake with the underwhelming Custom Options of the D780, which could be an excellent ILC for shooting wildlife and sports, especially in lowlight conditions.

It is features/functions “under the hood” of a camera that today matter more than ever, because advances in sensors and AF technology have leveled off. These ILCs offer the photographer many options. Too many reviews dwell on spec sheets and little more. It is rare to read a review that drills into how experienced photographers actually use a relatively high spec camera on the more challenging subjects (eg active subjects). To stand above the hoi polloi of internet influencers, the discerning reviewer is challenged to dissect out and criticize missing features/functions less obvious because they are buried under the hood and not displayed in official spec sheets. These criticisms matter more than ever as advances in sensors and AF technology has leveled off.

As many of us know too well, Nikon has its irritating traditions. The one is crippling the options assignable to Control buttons (eg Fn2/Fn3) of all its cameras (unlike CaSony’s). It is frustrating Nikon continue to ignore such obvious, in fact simple additions, which would improve the scope and performance of their new cameras. They own all the code empowering key features in the D500 and D850. Fortunately, a Used D850 [$2000-2300] is a bargain, a Used D500 even more so [$1200-1400 vs $3000 ]. At every opportunity, Nikon deserve to be hammered for these failures.

I ordered the z 7 ii this morning, plus the 14-30mm. This afternoon I find this brilliant article that confirmed that I made the, for me, right choice.
Cheers!
Jan, Sweden

What a great article guys! One of the best and most comprehensive articles I have seen to date on this camera.

I unfortunately lost all my cameras and accessories in one of the wildfires in California. So I am starting all over again. I really like the Z7ll and plan to purchase it because of the outstanding picture quality of the 45MB sensor. I do plan on using the camera sometimes for video and I am concerned about memory card speeds. I have read your article about memory cards but cannot find anything in regards to speed needs for 4K 60fps video recording. I know the Z7ll has larger built-in buffer than the Z7, so what minimum write speed of a card to I need to do occasional 4K video on the Z7ll?

Fantastic review. You checked all the boxes why Nikon is in a difficult position in terms of the demands of sports and wildlife. Firmware updates could rectify some of the issues like object auto tracking and birds’ eye auto focus which are available on current models of their competitors at similar prices. FPS and Buffer Capacity can only arrive, hopefully, with the Z9 and at more than twice the current prices. The R5 will then be priced at half the price for the same specifications. I currently shoot the Z7 ll for everything accept wildlife for which my R5 is dedicated. This is a solution which many Nikon users are and will be choosing. I do believe that Nikon has already lost the competition for the action photography market segment and they know it.

Please review Nikon Z6 ii..

Great review and excellent pictures guys.

I’m still undecided on what camera to buy. I had a D850 and it constantly underexposed, and I bought the Z7 when it came out and I had focusing problems with it. I think the best Nikon I have owned was the D810. I really want to stick with Nikon, but the competition is steep and some of the other manufactures have some compelling features on their cameras.

It seems as though the Z7II is a great camera, but none of the features stick out above the rest. Since I sold my Z7 I have been using a Fuji XT4, and I have really come to like Fujifilm cameras. I’m debating between buying a Nikon Z7II, a Sony A7R IV, or the Fuji GFX 100S.

My only reservation with the Fuji GFX 100S is it seems the lens choices are somewhat limited, and I’m not sure what’s in the works for the lens line-up down the road, especially with regard to wide-angle lenses.

Nasim, I know you went the route of Fuji medium format some time ago; and with that said do you recommend the Fuji GFX 100S over the Z7 II (landscape, architecture, portrait)?

The sample images look great. I notice the lenses are f2.8 or better. What would the photo quality be like with the f4 zooms? Thanks

Nasim, your following statement isn’t accurate:
“Even if you’re adapting lenses via the FTZ adapter rather than using native lenses, you’ll still get about five stops of stabilization assuming your lens has VR (vibration reduction) of its own. If you’re adapting a non-stabilized lens, that drops to about three stops of image stabilization from the Z7 II’s IBIS.”
Nikon on their FTZ adapter website states:
“For the first time, you can experience fast aperture NIKKOR primes like the AF-S NIKKOR 105mm f/1.4E ED or AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.4G ED with up to 5 stops of 3-axis VR image stabilization. NIKKOR lenses that already have VR, like the AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR, get the added benefit of roll axis for a total of 3-axis VR.”
So, for non-stabilized lenses, the IBIS stabilization does not drop to three stops, but is limited to three axes.

Sound very good – bot no thanks.
I don’t want to print larger than A2.
I don’t agree with you in saying that 45mp is a matter of cheap hard drives – it’s also about processing power. I bought a MacBook because I was fed up with other makes failing after 3 years – and my MacBook is now 10 years old (I’m an Apple sceptic, but in fairness they passed that test). I’m not going to trade up just because it can’t cope with large files.
It’s a very difficult issue – producing improved goods in an environmentally sustainable manner. And with digital photography, it’s not just the camera. Nor is it just about the Tech – at a recent workshop I had a dilemma about whether to take to task a nature photographer who was talking about flying off to Alaska (from Europe) to photograph wildlife. CO2 anybody?
I recently gave away a Nikon D50 – still working after 15 years (and I got it used!). I have A3 prints from it on the wall.
Something has to give. I’m not sure what it’s going to be … or when …