Happy Lunar New Year everyone, I’ve been shooting/editing photos from Nikon cameras for well over 20 years now. (Examples can still be found right here on this /Journal) From consumer digicams, to prosumer bridge cameras, to the affordable DSLR revolution back in the early 2000s. Is it my favorite camera system? Probably/maybe since I do use the brand a lot, but I also like the Canon system just as much. For me it all really does come down to the pictures and colors that these camera systems first render on the back LCD that makes me rate them 1A or 1B.

My main Nikon work cameras are all very aged and beat up so I figured it was time to finally get a mirrorless FF Nikon camera.

 

So I added a Z5–the first one, not the latest and greatest of the various FF Z mount cameras. Nope, a camera that came out in 2020 and is on sale right for $1000 body only. Depending on where you are from that’s still a very large sum of money. It’s not lost on me that most of us Americans complain about traffic (whilst sitting in newer cars with heat and A/C), or even complain about doing laundry, when back in the day our family wasn’t fortunate enough to even have a washer and dryer. The online debates over camera tech is definitely wasted energy compared to more serious things in life.

The Z5 works as an addition to my camera garage because I don’t need it to be anything more than a simple photo machine.

Things I find useful:

• In body Image Stabilization for all my Nikon lenses
• It works with my many Nikon lenses with the adapter
• It still uses my old batteries
• It has 2 SD card slots
• It has a somewhat slow burst rate, but a very generous buffer
• by virtue of it being a mirrorless camera, you can preview exposure and color in realtime
• charging/powering via USB-C is very handy
• a quieter mechanical shutter than even the quietest DSLR, the Canon 6D

Real quality of life gains for sure. Much of the great things about mirrorless cameras in general can be applied to the Z5. If you are shooter that struggled with exposure and color balance (a problem that goes all the way back to the film days), I think anyone would appreciate having a Z5. As with everything though there are tradeoffs when you “upgrade” cameras and technology.

Some cons, at least for me from using and testing this for about a month:

• the wake up speed of the Z5 isn’t as fast as the R8
• the autofocus does get confused a lot with action scenes
• the silent shutter is too slow for sudden pans or fast moving subjects. It also shows a lot of banding with some lights. (For shots of food it’s perfectly fine)
• the slight delay after taking a picture and auto display is slower than I would like

Other first world nit picks:

• I still prefer the Nikon raw files and color from the pre D750 sensors (of which this is a mirrorless version of)
• I now have to edit the photos in a different way than my older Nikon cameras + NX2
• there will probably not be a Nikon adapter with a built in AF motor for the massive library of F Mount D legacy lenses
• the rubber around the eyepiece easily picks up lint and dust

Here’s a photo of the FTZ II adapter. How this little necessary thing is $300 new I have no idea.

Here are some photos of the Z5 and some lens combos. No matter how great the camera or sensor I really do put more value in the way a camera and lens balances in the hand. It’s similar to jumping from console to console with all their different controllers. Fighting game aficionados can tell you that certain controllers can make some competitions much harder.

The Z5 and 105mm 1.4E F mount actually feels pretty nice and balanced. The combo would be even more solid and easy to operate one handed if the Z5 had an extender grip to rest my pinky finger on it.

The Z5 and 24-70mm 2.8G is the lens that I’m trying to build around to see if it’s a stable build/endgame camera setup. For years this PJ/Event photographer necessity only really came out in work situations and never on my other fun outings with friends and such. Much has been written about this once crazy expensive lens since the beginning. Some will tell you it’s the best single do everything lens. Others will say it’s ironically not wide enough, nor does it zoom in far enough. I think I’m somewhere in the middle.

By putting it on the Z5 I think it does give an immediate +1 to composing options. On a DSLR we’re usually more prone to just shooting from eye height, which produces standard okay photos, but using this setup with two hands like a phone shooter can get you the proper tilts needed for many photos. Only problem is the lens is just darned heavy and long for this medium sized mirrorless camera. For quick draws it doesn’t balance how I would like it, as it is massively front heavy. The strain on the wrist is a consideration too for overhead shots of crowds. But since I don’t have any native Z mount lenses yet this first review will have to be with my existing F mount lenses.

The motion blur in the photo is an attempt to show how this particular combo will require some stress and strain on your wrist. I think I might consider only primes for the Z5 in the future. If you shoot multiple cameras like me it’s a bit of a surprising boat anchor still on my side, but if you carry just one camera and are fully focused on this Z5 and never let it go to sleep you really can get every single responsible shot that you need off the list.

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Sample Product Shots with the Z5

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Spend a few minutes scrolling on my site, and you’ll know I really love color. It’s a part of my culture and community for sure. Nothing bland, from the food to the environments that’s for sure. One of the best features of the Z5 is that even though it doesn’t have the latest picture controls you can still modify many color, contrast, and sharpness settings in the camera.

I really wanted to set up the out of camera files of the Z5 to best match my Canon cameras as best I could. So that meant a more low contrast magenta tinted pastel look to the colors. Almost all these photos are out of camera or slight editing in NX Studio.

Would you believe these apricot trees bloomed super early this year?  And then came the two consecutive weekends of snow/ice.

Above: Z5 and 200mm f/2 Below: Z5 and 500mm f/8 Mirror Lens

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Food Photography with the Z5

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Real World Portraits and Event Photos with the Z5

So that’s it for now, just another Nikon camera for me to use to take photos.

This camera costs less than the D70 that I bought in 2004. It cost less than the D90, D200, D300–I could go down the entire expensive list. It even costs less than some point and shoot digital cameras out now. It’s rare to find a “bargain” in this day and age. As I write this in 2026 the Z5 can still be bought new for $1000 from many retailers. If you shoot Nikon or have a bunch of lenses you can adapt for free this is a great value proposition if you primarily value still photos of life, people and places like me.

Thanks for making it this far! Please view the PHOTO GEAR section to see what I’ve created with Nikon, Canon, Fujifilm, Sony, Sigma, Olympus, etc etc :o)