Nikon Z50 APS-C mirrorless takes on Canon EOS M50 and Sony A6400

Nikon's not exactly late to the mirrorless party. It was there in the early days with its Nikon 1 series, an odd line based around a 1-inch sensor which eventually fizzled away. But it is the last company to bring an APS-C enthusiast model to a market segment dominated by the Sony A6400 and Canon EOS M50, and to a lesser extent, the cheaper and more entry-focused Olympus Pen E-PL9. Based around Nikon's full-frame Z mount, the new Z50 APS-C is accompanied by two new lenses that are more in line with what photographers at this level need when it comes to price and features. The package should definitely appeal to Nikon fans.

Though smaller than the company's entry-level SLR, the D3500, it's still roughly the same size and weight as the A6400. The M50 is a little smaller and lighter because it's based around Canon's smaller EF-M mount. 

The Z50 doesn't have the same body as its full-frame siblings, the Z6 and Z7, but it does have a similar big comfy grip, magnesium alloy body and a slightly off-center viewfinder.  It supports the same mount adapter for using F-mount lenses, but Nikon doesn't bundle it as it does for the higher-end cameras. The sensor is the same as the one found in the D500.  

It's got all the competitive features, including a flip-down touchscreen display with a selfie-specific mode, 4K video and the ability to record 1080/120p slow-motion video in-camera, time lapse and interval timers, an OLED viewfinder, eye-detection autofocus and so on. 

The one feature that continues to be frustratingly absent from these cameras, in-body image stabilization (IBIS), remains absent here as well. 

Nikon Z50: Nikon's first APS-C mirrorless design doesn't break new ground

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The two new kit lenses, typical slow-ish 16-50mm and 50-250mm models, together cover the most popular general-purpose shooting range and incorporate optical stabilization with roughly 4.5 to 5 stops of compensation, respectively. They're manually collapsible rather than power zooms, which means you get the annoying message telling you to extend the lens (with an extra rotation of the zoom ring) every time you start up. On the Z50, the 16-50mm lens does make an attractively compact package.

A control ring, which you can program for any number of adjustments, has a smooth rather than stepped movement so you don't hear a click when shooting video and designed for minimal focus breathing, the slight but frustrating reframing that occurs when you're focusing video.

The Nikon Z50 will ship in November 2019 in three kits: body-only for $860, a kit with the Nikkor Z DX 16-50mm f3.5-6.3 VR for $1,000 and a dual-lens kit with the 16-50mm and Nikkor Z DX 50-250mm f4.5-6.3 VR lenses for $1,350.  

At the other extreme, Nikon also debuted its much-anticipated reboot of its ultrafast Noct film lens, the Nikkor Z 58mm f0.95 S Noct, which is optimized for night shooting -- a small LCD displays lens settings for viewing in the dark -- and reproducing point light sources. It's got both of Nikon's top coatings, Arneo and Nano Crystal Coat, and of course fluorine on the front element for protection.

There's a lot of glass in it, so it's pretty heavy. And so's the price: It will be $8,000 when it ships at the end of October.