Nikon Canada Inc. has introduced its new full-frame FX format Z5II camera, which comes housed in a lightweight body, fast and intelligent autofocus (AF), good low-light performance, one-touch film-inspired colour presets, and an ultra-bright viewfinder.
The Z5II uses the same high-power EXPEED 7 image processing engine as Nikon’s highest calibre professional models, the Z8 and Z9. It affords extremely fast AF with subject detection powered by deep learning (AI) technology.
This highly accurate, high-speed focus is a massive leap from its predecessor, locking in at approximately one-third the time, says Nikon. The new camera now uses a highly sensitive back-illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor for rendering textures and details, even in dimly lit situations like indoors or nighttime landscapes, with minimal noise. You can also use a dedicated Picture Control button and tools like Imaging Recipes and Flexible Colour Picture Controls.
The AF on the Nikon Z5II is precise and super-fast, locking-on and tracking a wide range of moving subjects. The AF system can detect up to nine types of subjects for stills and video, including people (faces, eyes, heads, and upper bodies), dogs, cats, birds, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, airplanes, and trains. The Z5II also offers high performance features from pro level Z models.
3D-tracking AF mode keeps the target subject in focus even if it moves rapidly or erratically. This allows for subject tracking, even at high burst speeds, for sharp images when photographing sports, animals, or other fast-moving subjects.
The first full-frame mirrorless Nikon camera with AF-A focus mode. In this mode, the camera automatically switches between AF-S and AF-C focus modes in response to subject movement or changes in composition with still shooting. This allows the camera to automatically focus on the subject, with no setting adjustments when photographing. This new feature makes it simple to photograph pets, kids, or other subjects whose movements are difficult to predict.
Enjoy fast continuous shooting speeds with a maximum frame rate of 14 frames per second (fps) in mechanical shutter mode and up to 15 or 30 fps (electronic shutter) with full autofocus. A Pre-Release Capture function when shooting in C15 and C30 modes is capable of recording images buffered up to one second before the shutter-release button is fully pressed, capturing the action before a user can react.
It’s equipped with a full-frame back-illuminated CMOS sensor and the EXPEED 7 image-processing engine. Images and video are rendered with minimal noise, and good AF detection abilities in low light. Whether shooting indoors, twilight cityscapes or the night sky, the Z5II is built to help you capture confidently in nearly any light, preserving details and textures throughout the broad ISO range.
Make use of features like autofocus detection down to -10EV5; a broad standard ISO sensitivity range of 100-64,000, expandable to Hi 1.7 (ISO 204,800 equivalent); five-axis in-camera vibration reduction (VR) system; focus-point VR7 that tailors stabilization to the area covered by the active AF point; Starlight View Mode for focus and composition in low light; Warm Colour Display Mode to preserve night vision when working in complete darkness; and extended shutter speeds up to 900 seconds (15 minutes) in manual exposure mode for extreme long-exposure nightscapes and star trails.
The camera comes with a 3.2-inch Vari-angle, rotating LCD touchscreen with up to 3,000 nits brightness while the electronic viewfinder is ultra-bright. It has a deep and comfortable grip with front, back, and top covers made from magnesium alloy that’s durable as well as dust- and drip-resistant.
The Nikon Z5II is the latest camera to support one-button access to Picture Controls, plus compatibility with the Nikon Imaging Cloud. The dedicated Picture Control button includes imaginative film-inspired looks that instantly change the colour tone and colour of a scene. Press to see in real-time the effects of up to 31 built-in colour presets plus Imaging Recipes you can download.
Nikon Imaging Cloud connectivity allows you to download a variety of free Imaging Recipes by Nikon and created by popular creators, and to apply these recipes when shooting. In addition, the Z5II supports Flexible Colour Picture Control for creating your own unique colour styles using Nikon’s free NX Studio software. Flexible Colour allows for a wider variety of colour and tone adjustments, including hue, brightness, and contrast. These settings can also be saved as Custom Picture Controls that can be imported to the Z5II for use while shooting.
For content creators, the Z5II can capture 4K/30 UHD video, with no crop; has in-camera video recording options with 12-bit N-RAW8, 10-bit H.265, and 8-bit H.264; N-Log tone modes for colour grading; full HD/120p for creating 5x slow motion videos in 8-bit H.264; Hi-Res Zoom using 4K resolution to zoom up to 2x in-camera during Full HD shooting, without any loss of quality; Product Review Mode for switching focus between the user and any objects that they hold up to the camera; upgrade streaming while connected via UVC/UAC-compliant USB port so it works as a webcam for live streaming; and ports for headphones and microphones.
Additionally, the Nikon Z5II has dual SD card slots, a bird detection mode, portrait functions like Rich Tone Portrait and Skin Softening, and Pixel shift shooting.
The Nikon Z5II full-frame mirrorless camera will be available in April 2025 for an MSRP of $2,299.95 for the body only, or with the Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/4-6.3 lens for $2,699.95.