Last weekend, we headed out for a traditional route scouting for next year's Loose at the Coast bikepacking event. As usual, this meant spending a good part of the weekend riding bikes, exploring new roads and trails, and stopping every now and then to take a photo or two. Or twenty.
Saturday was a bit of an exception, though. With rain in the forecast, I decided to leave the camera at the apartment. A decision I started regretting just a few hours into the ride. The rain was nowhere to be seen, while opportunities for great photographs seemed to be everywhere. But eventually, the forecast caught up with us. The sky opened, and we spent the final hours of the ride getting absolutely soaked. By then, I was rather pleased to have left the camera behind.
For the rest of the weekend, I had a slightly different camera setup with me. Thanks to our friends at Nikon Slovenia, I had the opportunity to try out the new Nikon Z5IIC, paired with the NIKKOR Z 35mm f/1.4.
Now, I'm not going to pretend this is a comprehensive camera review. There are plenty of people out there doing those, complete with resolution charts, autofocus tests, and detailed comparisons of every imaginable specification. Instead, consider this a few observations from someone who spends a fair amount of time riding a bicycle with a camera strapped to his back.
Old habits die hard
I'm old enough to remember a time when digital cameras didn't have live view, and if you wanted to take a photograph, or at least see what is in the frame, you had to look through the viewfinder.
And apparently, some habits are rather difficult to shake.
Throughout the weekend, I repeatedly caught myself lifting the Z5IIC to my eye, only to be reminded that there was nothing to look through. No viewfinder. Just the back of the camera staring back at me.
It happened more than once. Quite a few times, actually.
I suppose that says something about how deeply ingrained certain movements become after years of taking photographs. When I see something worth photographing, my hands automatically bring the camera up to my face. I don't consciously think about it. It just happens.
Which probably also means I'm not exactly the target audience for this particular camera.
I imagine someone who grew up taking photographs with a smartphone would find the whole experience perfectly natural. Hold the camera in front of you, look at the screen, compose, shoot. Simple.
Apparently, the C in Z5IIC stands for Casual. Which probably explains a thing or two. After years of bringing a camera to my eye, I might simply be too old-fashioned to be casual about photography.
For me, however, it required a bit of rewiring.
Familiar, but different
Having used the Nikon Z5II for quite some time now, picking up the Z5IIC felt immediately familiar. The camera sits nicely in the hand, the controls are where you'd broadly expect them to be, and the overall shooting experience feels unmistakably Nikon.
Well, almost.
The first thing I noticed, apart from the rather obvious absence of a viewfinder, was the missing joystick. It's one of those little controls you don't necessarily think about until it's gone. I use it quite frequently on my Z5II to move the focus point around, and while there are other ways to accomplish the same thing, I did miss it.
But I can live without a joystick.
A viewfinder? That's a slightly different story.
There is, admittedly, a very practical advantage to not having one, particularly when you're carrying a camera on your back while riding a bicycle. Without the protruding viewfinder and its rubber eyecup, the camera has a flatter profile and is noticeably more comfortable to carry. The Z5IIC is also around 80 grams lighter and 20 millimetres shorter than the Z5II. Neither sounds particularly dramatic on paper, but when you're carrying a camera on your back for hours, every little bit helps.
And yet, there were moments when I really wished I had a viewfinder.
Shooting in bright sunlight was one of them. Even with modern screens being as good as they are, composing a photograph in strong light can be a bit of a guessing game. A viewfinder makes life considerably easier in those situations, particularly when you're trying to pay attention to the finer details of a composition.
Interestingly, the Z5IIC also has a lower-resolution rear screen than the Z5II. I only learned that when comparing the specifications afterwards, because I certainly didn't notice any difference while using it. So, while it might look like a downgrade on paper, it wasn't one that affected my experience.
Another difference is the single SD card slot, compared with two on the Z5II. For casual shooting, that's probably not a dealbreaker. But when you're documenting a multi-day event or a bikepacking trip, having an automatic backup of your photographs on a second card provides some welcome peace of mind.
Which is not to say the Z5IIC is a bad camera. Far from it. It simply seems to be designed for a slightly different kind of photographer. I think I'll be sticking with my trusty Z5II for the foreseeable future.
The trusty 35mm
Alongside the camera, Nikon Slovenia lent me the NIKKOR Z 35mm f/1.4.
I've always enjoyed shooting with prime lenses. They're generally smaller and lighter than comparable zooms, which is always welcome when space is limited. Their relatively wide maximum apertures are another advantage, particularly when shooting in low light or experimenting with shallow depth of field.
My usual companion is the NIKKOR Z 40mm f/2, so the 35mm f/1.4 felt like a familiar, albeit slightly wider, alternative. The extra stop of light came in handy, giving me more flexibility in challenging lighting conditions and a little more control over how much of the scene remained in focus.
Paired with the Z5IIC's fast autofocus, the lens performed really well. I managed to capture some nice action shots, even shooting wide open at f/1.4, which is not always the easiest thing to pull off when photographing people riding bikes.
As it's not one of Nikon's S-line lenses, I wasn't expecting surgical sharpness, and that's perfectly fine with me. In fact, the overall image quality and rendering reminded me quite a bit of my trusty 40mm f/2. Both lenses produce images that I find very pleasing, without necessarily chasing optical perfection.
All in all, I really enjoyed using the 35mm f/1.4. It's a versatile focal length, the lens isn't excessively large, and that extra stop of light is certainly welcome. I could easily see myself taking it along on future bikepacking trips.
A small confession
There's one more thing I should probably mention before you start looking at the photographs.
Somewhere along the way, I apparently forgot to check the camera's image quality settings.
As a result, I spent the entire weekend shooting JPEGs instead of RAW files.
I only realised this when I got home and started importing the photographs. Not exactly my finest moment.
On the bright side, it means that the images accompanying this article are almost straight out of camera, with very little post-processing involved. So, in a way, you're getting a rather honest look at what the camera produces without much intervention.
Let's call it an unplanned experiment.
Back to the bikes
At the end of the day, the best camera is the one you actually enjoy using and, perhaps more importantly, the one you're willing to bring along.
The Z5IIC certainly has a few things going for it. Its relatively flat profile makes it an interesting companion for cycling, the handling is familiar, and there's something rather refreshing about a camera that encourages a slightly different approach to taking photographs.
But after a weekend of repeatedly trying to look through a nonexistent viewfinder, I've come to appreciate my Z5II just a little bit more.
Old habits die hard, I suppose.
See you out there!
Thanks to Nikon Slovenia for lending us the Nikon Z5IIC and NIKKOR Z 35mm f/1.4 for the weekend.
One last confession
And since we're already confessing things, I should probably admit that I committed a small sin against the Nikon-only setup. I also brought along my Viltrox 85mm f/2 EVO and couldn't resist taking a few photographs with it.
You'll find a handful of those below. Forgive me, Nikon.
