A year ago, I decided to take the leap from DSLR into Mirrorless after a hiatus from shooting film. The Nikon Z6II was my top choice. I come from an all Nikon system, so my D780 and its lenses more than complimented my 35mm Nikon F100. Now I should clarify that I already owned a Nikon Zfc, so this was more my leap into full frame mirrorless with the intention of a gentle and time-consuming transition. The Z6II and the D780 are nearly identical on the inside and came out the same year, so my thoughts on this camera are going to be almost purely from a tactile perspective.

There is an onslaught of technical reviews and side by side comparisons and I’m not here to waste your time with that. There is nothing that I can provide in those terms that hasn’t been said or demonstrated already. What I want is to give you a practical review from my observations from one year of use.

Weight & Size

One of the main things I noticed right out of the gate was that it was thinner than I expected. The Nikon D780 is a chunky beast, while the Nikon Z6II seems rather dainty in comparison. In my opinion this can be a pro or a con depending on the lens you’re using. If you have one of those sweet little prime lenses like the 26mm or 40mm, then it’s almost as inconspicuous as a bridge model camera and is great for street photography. On the other hand, if you’re still buying F mount lenses like larger 70-200mm or some kind of telephoto, it’s going to feel unbalanced, especially with the FTZII adapter.

Right now, my main lens is the 24-120mm f4 G ED, a great all-around piece of kit that I got with my D780. However, that lens with the adapter, on the Nikon Z6II is virtually the same weight as the D780 and lens, sans FTZII. So, it’s important to keep in mind that if you’re planning on making the change for the sake or saving space and weight in your bag, that won’t really happen until you upgrade your glass. The benefits of the mirrorless system are more in the lenses than the bodies for sure. Not just in terms of weight and size, but from what I hear, quality.

Viewfinder

Another thing that I really looked forward to was the EVF, and its ability to show me what my exposure would be before I snapped the shot. I’ve also made it a point to show my live view in B&W as that is how many of my images end up. This has prevented a lot of “shoot-check-reshoot” during my outings.

On the downside, for night photography it’s pretty awful. Frame drops, lag, noise, etc. It was a struggle to use while capturing the northern lights.

Design

If you asked me if I thought the build quality was equal to the D780, I would probably say no, but I don’t think I could pinpoint why. On my specific camera, the memory card slot door doesn’t stay closed as well as on the D780, but I’ve never grabbed another Nikon Z6II to find out if it’s just this camera. Many times though it opens as I’m taking it out of the bag.

Purely from aesthetics, it’s not my favourite Nikon. It’s too easy to say it’s ugly. Really I try to avoid paying attention to those things because what matters is getting the shot. This is why I have an unpopular opinion of the Nikon Zf. An overweight, counterintuitive toy for people who want to pretend they’re shooting film; Form over function at its finest. That being said I still prefer the look of DSLRs. Part of it is probably having to snap on an adapter for many of my lenses. Even sitting here with it on my desk, no lens mounted, I feel as though they could have done more. It’s as though they removed parts that made it a DSLR but didn’t add anything to innovate the design. No one is suggesting we go back to formula, but to me the overall appearance seems amputated.

Summery

In the first six months or so I didn’t touch my D780 at all, but on the last few road trips I found myself using it, especially for my telephoto lens. I gave myself an interesting comparison having these two cameras at once because I wasn’t really blinded by a technical upgrade. On paper these two models have the same innards, so my workflow choices came out purely from physical preferences. I considered getting a battery grip to give the Nikon Z6II a bit more heft, but with that added dimension comes its own issues.

Overall I’m happy with my Nikon Z6II and only regret not getting a kit zoom lens to go with it to replace my main lens.