Z 7II

As someone with two Expeed 6 bodies (Z50, Z7ii) which I used for years before getting my Z9...it's not impossible, but you're going to work much much much harder for those BIF shots than with the newer processor. I should know, because I spent years with the Z50 and Z7ii, and especially for birds th

That even though the AF is incredible, there is a learning curve with mirror less AF. I came up through the Z6 then Z7ii that made the learning curve steeper but there are still some aspects to it that are distinctly different than your DSLR. Don't shoot 20fps unless you really have to, it is a lot

I bought one a few months ago. Very impressed with it. The low-light capability blows away my D850. I took shots of hummingbirds at 10k-40k ISO and with the denoising in Lightroom, they look like butter-no grain, clean. The AF is much better than the Z7ii I used to have (sold it and bought the D850)

16-year gap between my F and Z body. I've been holding off on moving to Z because too much of the value in my eyes is in video. I could get a Z6III for the E7 processor, but the majority of the money spent will be on video specs I'll never touch. While the Z bodies made with photo shooting in mind,

The Z7 or Z7ii are still a leading class landscape camera. If landscapes are your thing, pick up a used Z7 on Marketplace for cheap. The only disadvantage to the original Z7 has to do with its slower AF and tracking algorithms. You don't need lightning quick AF for landscapes. That being said, how o

Z8 has slightly worse dynamic range than a D850. This will be noticable in how much you can pull from shadows in post processing. You can compensate for it by avoiding ISO 100-500, by exposure bracketing or by overexposing images. In most circumstances, you won’t notice it at all. Z7ii does better i

They don’t share a sensor. The Z8 has a stacked sensor with a higher readout speed and no shutter paired to an Expeed 7 processor. It’s a Z9 in almost every way except for the grip and a few other niceties. The Z7ii has a BSI sensor (non-stacked), shutter, and 2x Expeed6 processors. It’s also physic

The autofocus in the Z6III is significantly more important here than the higher MP sensor on the Z7II. Especially if OP goes to any air shows.

Anything but the z7ii. I find it’s great on a tripod but recently shot a wedding and found it losing/missing focus a lot..

You already know the Z5 is not optimal. I upgraded from Z7ii to Z8 and the difference was enormous. Yours is even further behind. Obviously I haven’t used your combination myself but for small, fast moving birds in flight, the body makes a huge difference. No doubt in my mind, it’s just not capable