NewsZ5IIc announced, the Z5 II with no viewfinder. Who is this for?

Nikon have just announced the Z5IIc. As far as I can tell its a Z5 II with the viewfinder taken off, $1,399, shipping mid October.

I genuinely dont get it. Who's buying a full frame body with no EVF so they can hold it out at arms length like a phone? I use the finder on my Z6 II for literally everything, at the football its the only way I can follow the ball at all. Rear screen is for checking I havent cut someone's head off after.

Am I missing something or is this just Nikon filling a gap in the price list

Z5 II owner here and I would NEVER give up the EVF, at a car show in full sun the rear screen is basically a mirror! But my buddy shoots everything on the back screen anyway so I guess theres a market.

IMHO it's for the folks who bought a Zfc for the looks and never once put their eye to it. Plenty of those around. I see them at the trailheads up on Mount Lemmon, nice little silver camera held out at arm's length, kit lens, shooting the view like it's a phone. Nothing wrong with that. They're out taking pictures, which is more than some of the folks on gear forums manage.

Nikon's not daft either. Somebody in marketing has the sales numbers and I'd bet the number of people who never touch the finder on the cheaper bodies is higher than any of us would guess. Take the EVF out, knock some money off, and you've got a full frame camera for somebody moving up from a phone who'd be put off by the price of the regular Z5 II.

Not for me, mind you. Try composing a hawk at 600mm on a rear screen in Tucson at noon...

• Walt

People moving up from phones, and vloggers. It'll sell fine.

mfrost said:

People moving up from phones, and vloggers

They've already got the ZR for vloggers though haven't they? Thats what gets me

davey1892 said:

They've already got the ZR for vloggers though

ZR is cinema camera with very different price and different buyer. This one is cheap full frame for people who want small body and Nikon colours and never used viewfinder in their life. Also I think in few months price difference to normal Z5 II will be bigger, then it makes more sense.

davey1892 said:

Who's buying a full frame body with no EVF

I'd rather have the Zf's dials than lose the finder, but I can see someone buying it as a cheap second body to live on a gimbal or a tripod. Plenty of people doing interviews or product work never look through a finder at all, they're on an external monitor or the flip screen the whole time. For them the EVF is just money spent on a part they never use.

Wouldn't be me...

darkslide said:

live on a gimbal or a tripod

Tripod for night stuff, honestly makes sense. I compose astro on the rear screen anyway, nobody is looking through a viewfinder at 1am at a black sky. Tilt the screen up, magnify on a bright star, focus, done. If it were $500 less than the Z5 II I'd think about one as a dedicated astro body to leave on the tracker all night.

Still waiting for the Z7 III rumor to turn into an actual camera though. Why did the chicken cross the road? To check NikonRumors.

davey1892 said:

hold it out at arms length like a phone

Or at your waist. Shooting from the waist on the street is a legit way to work, it's how half the TLR guys worked for decades. People react way less when your face isn't behind a camera. They see a guy fiddling with a gadget, not a photographer pointing something at them. Not my thing, I want a finder or nothing, but don't sneer at it.

I could never do birds without an EVF. But my sister keeps asking me what camera to buy and she has never once used a viewfinder on anything in her life, so honestly this might be her camera!

davey1892 said:

I genuinely dont get it

You don't have to get it, Dave... you're not the market. Nikon would quite like to sell a camera to somebody under fifty for once. Just saying

Fair. Im 52 so you've got me there