Nikon Z 5ii Preview, Features, Auto-focus and Low Light Performance
Introduction
It’s been 5 years since the release of the original Nikon Z 5, and fast forward now to 2025, the Z 5ii is finally here. What improvements can we expect from the brand new Nikon Z 5ii? Here's a first impressions video thanks to Nikon Singapore. In this video, I try out Nikon's latest mirrorless camera in the Nikon Z lineup, exploring its specifications, auto-focus, low light performance, vibration reduction and lots more!
Nikon Z 5ii, currently the most affordable full-frame mirrorless camera in Nikon’s Z lineup.
Form-Factor
The Nikon Z 5ii shares a very similar form-factor to the Z 6iii. It now has the same vari-angle screen that flips forwards so that you can see yourself in selfie-mode. At the same time, it doesn’t have the top LCD screen that the Z 6iii has. These things aside, it looks and feels like the same body and like the newer Z camera models has a dedicated Imaging Cloud button on its body.
The vari-angle screen is great for video content creators, though photographers like myself may prefer the old tilt screen.
Nikon Imaging Cloud button on the top panel allows for easy access to picture controls.
Camera Interface
With the new Nikon Z 5ii, you get pretty much the standard interface ports in most modern cameras, and good news if you’re thinking of getting one as a second body - it uses the same EN-EL15C battery as the Z 5/6/7/8 series of cameras.
2 SD card slots
Micro HDMI slot
USB C port
Mic in
Line in
Electronic Viewfinder
There’s not much improvements in this department, the Z 5ii boasts the same EVF as the Z 8 and Z 9 cameras, a 3.69-million-dot electronic viewfinder. I suppose Nikon need to hold back some of the features so there’s some differentiation between this and the Z 6iii. In case you’re wondering, the Z 6iii had a ground-breaking brightest EVF compared to other models in the market today.
Similar EVF to Nikon Z 8.
24 Mega Pixel Sensor and Low-light Performance
While the Nikon Z 5ii does not have a partial stacked sensor like the Z 6iii, it finally has a Backside-Illuminated Sensor (BSI). This was my biggest gripe with the original Z 5, which handled noise poorly. This new sensor does not have this issue, offering low-light performance as good as the Z 6iii & the Nikon Z F and has a dynamic range of -10 EV. With its Expeed 7 processor, you can shoot 14fps in jpeg or 11fps in raw, and C15 (C30 jpg) in high speed mode.
Z 5ii performs very well in low light. Note that this is a pre-production Z 5ii and I can only work with jpg files at this point.
Auto Focus and Vibration Reduction
AF gets a huge boost with 9 subject detection modes, 3D tracking. Nikon tells me that it can detect subjects at just 3% of the screen size. That’s really impressive! With vibration reduction, we’re getting 7.5 stops at the center focus point and 6 stops at the peripherals.
Face detection even when the subject is only 3% of the entire frame? I’ll take it!
Video
If you’re interested in this camera for video, it does have some impressive offerings
4k 30p no crop, 60p with 1.5 crop DX
N raw normal h265/264, N-log
Product review autofocus
Electronic VR
Vari-angle screen similar to Nikon Z F
The Nikon Z 5ii is an excellent, all-round camera that makes a very compelling entry-level full-frame camera.
Conclusion
So who is this camera for? I think Nikon has created a camera body that is a very compelling choice for an entry-level full-frame camera. It has many of the features you see in their top line camera models, all condensed in a small, light but yet affordable body. If you’re looking for your first full-frame camera, it’s hard to think of a better choice than the new Nikon Z 5ii.
Nikon Z 5ii Sample Image Gallery
Disclaimer: Photos were taken with a pre-production Nikon Z 5ii. At the time of writing, the camera’s raw files cannot be read by Lightroom so these are shot and edited as jpegs.
