Nikon called, and I answered.

An unexpected path...

Look, if you know anything about me, it's that I have always been a Sony shooter. I live and breathe their gear, and I have been incredibly humbled by my working relationship with that brand. I'm so lucky to collaborate with the company that makes my camera(s) of choice.
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So when Nikon reached out to me earlier this month, I was quite surprised.
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They invited me to an exclusive multi-day event called "Creators Camp". Just a few days later they announced their brand new camera: the Z5II. Let me tell you... it's a fantastic tool. More on that later.

Who was there?

The experience was incredible. First of all, the creators they invited were unbelievably inspiring! Over the course of our time in Austin, we were carted around to some really interesting locations to shoot (subjects being hired models and musicians) with the new camera.

Although we had different backgrounds and the other creators are masters at crafts vastly different than mine, we were truly more alike than I could ever have imagined. The reality is, we're all artists, and as soon as I started chatting with them, it felt like I was more at home than ever before.

Not only did I enjoy the company of fellow creators, I also got to spend those few days alongside one of Nikon's finest ambassadors (Todd Owyoung) and the Nikon team themselves. Y'all... these are some of the nicest people I've ever met. I'm being 100% serious about this.

Throughout the trip, the team made it clear that while getting the first hands-on with the new Z5ii was exciting, the main purpose was for us to build a relationship—to get to know them, and for them to get to know us.

Now, about that camera...

I feel like these days I get less and less excited about new cameras. The reason is - almost every single new camera is excellent. We are truly spoiled with choices in this era; technology has evolved to a point where image quality is no longer the defining feature. So what is it that makes the Z5ii so exciting to me?
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Nikon is being very aggressive. See, this camera has some absolutely incredible features:

• A low-light beast of a sensor which will undoubtedly be great for astrophotography (I'll be testing it very soon).
• Pinpoint autofocus (this feature allows you to autofocus on the stars. No other camera company has a feature like this AFAIK).
• Warm Colors mode - this converts the screen to a red tint and low brightness - designed to protect my precious night vision while I'm under the stars. Nikon-only feature.
• Extended Shutter Time - this one seems kinda silly to mention: it simply allows you to take exposures up to 900s... but then I am reminded that the majority of Sony cameras CAN'T DO MORE THAN 30s WITHOUT A REMOTE 💀. C'mon, Sony...
• Starlight View - this mode is like enabling night-vision goggles on the camera's viewfinder. The benefit here is obvious: you can easily compose your shots in pitch darkness.
• 14-bit RAW Video - this one is just crazy, no Sony body regardless of pricepoint has this.

Okay, so now that I've listed all the tech mumbo-jumbo, here's why I'm actually really excited about this camera:
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​They're selling it for $1,700.

Compared to my previous pick for top astrophotography camera, Sony's A7IV (which costs $2,500), this is a really amazing value.

Not only does the Z5II have better features, but it manages to do so for 68% the cost. Let's say for the sake of argument (since the A7IV is quite old now) that Sony releases a successor in the near future; will it compare in price?

For landscape astrophotography, I just cannot imagine what sort of features an A7V could offer that would justify paying an extra $700 (or more, if Sony increases the price). To add to all of that, the A7IV still has the horrendous Star Eater problem still which can only be avoided by buying a new camera of theirs released after the A7RV.

Another concern may be lens selection. This is where Nikon's Z mount is beautiful - because of its (large) design, it is able to adapt basically any lens. That means if you really wanna keep your Sony lenses, you can shoot with them on the Nikon. That being said, I think the best lenses for landscape astrophotography are made by Sigma and (most) can be natively used with Nikon.

The only issue

Nikon mirrorless cameras do have one flaw at the moment, and I wanted to be transparent about this. It seems to only be present in extreme processing done in deep space astrophotography (the kind you'd use a telescope for) and has to do with the processing of their raw files. This has been documented very well by fellow astrophotographer Mark Shelley on his website and this was once again one of those moments the Nikon team won me over. As soon as I told them about the issue, I put together a detailed email describing the issue (thanks to Mark's documentation) and they sent it straight to their engineering team. They reassured me that user feedback is a very high priority for their products and issues like this have been resolved with firmware in the past. Being able to give direct feedback like this is invaluable to me as a photographer who has been frustrated by camera bugs in the past.

Will I switch?

One thing is for sure - Nikon has a special place in my heart going forward. Being shown this kind of support does wonders for an artist like me. Also, they let me borrow a Z5II and 20mm f/1.8 lens for the next few months! I am heading to one of the darkest places in North America tomorrow and will get the chance to properly test it for some landscape astrophotography - I can't wait. Maybe I'll become a multi-system person, or maybe I'll switch over fully - only time will tell!

Thanks for reading,

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Mike