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Review on πŸ“· Nikon Z6II FX-Format Black Mirrorless Camera Body by Robert Aiono

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Full Nikon mirrorless camera

The Nikon Z6 was and still is a great camera, but reviewers on 'Tube gave it a lot of derision. Some of the criticisms were unfounded, while others were entirely justified. The Z6 II fills in all the gaps that caused this criticism. The TLDR of this camera is that it is an upgraded Z6. Nikon listened and updated the Z6 in every way needed. However, reviewers will pit this against Sony and Canon, but Nikon's target audience isn't people who switch camera systems. Instead, Nikon's audience is its own base of DSLR consumers who might want to switch to mirrorless cameras. The theme for the Z6 II (note that Nikon doesn't call it the "Mark II") has two parts. Internally, this camera is faster and has a larger buffer due to the inclusion of a second processor. High-speed continuous recording has been increased by two frames per second from 12 to 14. There are now two card slots (1 x XQD/CFExpress Type B and a USH-II SD card). I wish there were two identical cards for the sake of simplicity. The Z5 has two SD card slots if that's what you prefer. The Z6 II supports a vertical battery grip with portrait photography buttons. So now there are two sets of buttons with an extra handle. It has the same sensor as the Z6, so there are no changes. At the time of writing (November 15, 2020), none of the major photo editing software packages have currently been updated to support the raw .NEF files they create. This is normal with newly released cameras and updates should be available soon. Meanwhile, you can shoot in RAW and JPEG format to edit RAW files later. Alternatively, you can use Nikon Capture NX software. My firmware is 1.00. Firmware updates will make it even better (like video updates in February 2021). It uses the en-el15c battery but supports the older en-el15 and en-el15b batteries. I think the biggest improvement so far is the wide eye detection area, which lets you turn on the red box in the viewfinder, limiting eye detection to only eyes within the red box. This way you give the camera a helping hand on where to look for eyes. This is a fairly unique approach that I don't think any other camera system supports. Overall, the Z6 II feels more familiar than different. If you have a Z6, you may not need to upgrade to the Z6 II depending on your needs. Whether you're shooting still life, street or portrait photography, the Z6 is still a great camera. Professionals and wedding photographers (business owners) will likely want to improve on the autofocus, dual memory card slots, and speed. If you're shooting time-lapse or wildlife, I think this is a great upgrade for you because of the speed boost. This is a complete Nikon camera. Nikon gave everyone what they wanted with the Z6 II.

Pros
  • Decent performance
Cons
  • Miscellaneous Miscellaneous