The year of 2018 brought us the Nikon Z2018 brought us two new mirrorless cameras from Nikon. The Nikon Z 6 & Z 7. Two promising cameras from the global imaging mega-brand that demonstrated how serious they were to invest in the full-frame mirrorless camera market. What we got, though, was a couple of cameras that were lacking some serious features. Now that we’ve seen the arrival of the Nikon Z 6 II, we’re standing up to say that this is what the Z 6 should’ve been in the first place.

However, nothing about the Nikon Z 6 II is revolutionary. No cutting edge tech to write home about and every upgrade was basically available at the launch of the Z 6. The only possibly ground-breaking upgrade is the EV improvement from -3.5 EV to -4.5 EV. A strong step that will help customers make the switch thanks to its more reliable and robust AF. Which now includes Eye-AF. 

Arguably the main improvements are in the AF department thanks to Nikon opting for a dual-processor system. Running on not one but two Expeed 6 processors, this a Nikon first for their cameras and is what has allowed them to make such improvements. To say this is why there is a boost in performance and AF is completely understood. But to not significantly improve the video capabilities to support internal N-Log is a bit shortsighted in my opinion, and if anything, it shows that Nikon is not too interested in fighting for a great deal of the video market, where likes of Sony, Canon or Lumix are particularly strong.

In testing, the Nikon behaved much like its predecessor and was a joy to shoot with. The layout is unchanged, so if for whatever reason you plan on switching from the previous model, you’ll find it as simple as can be.

Nikon’s loyalty does still appear to be lodged in the DSLR category with upcoming announcements of a D580 and D880. We will see bigger technological changes compared to their predecessors, not only due to time frame but also due to the fact that Nikon’s DSLR R&D infrastructures has been around a lot longer and is arguably taken more seriously compared to its soft approach to their mirrorless department.

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