Hi Ray,
I have a Z6 and have had no problem in making crops and getting very high quality prints from them. I've done some printing on the US equivalents of both A2 and A3 of some landscapes from our Banff trip earlier this year and details are very clear. Everything was handheld and as others have noted, IBIS is essential to providing the stabilization of the image capture. Modern software does the up-resolution extremely well so clarity is preserved. I've been experimenting with Gigapixel AI to see how it compares with the internal LR implementation but have not made a decision yet. From Nikon's perspective, it's likely that the need for high density pixel DX sensors is quite small and this would also drive the cost of a DX camera up. Marketing departments drive these decisions.
Hi Alan,
It would be interesting to see comparisons using the same lens with the Z50 and Z6, cropping the Z6 image to the same FoV as the uncropped Z50 image. The 24mp Z6 would need to be cropped to around 10 mp. I think the 20mp Z50 image would definitely be more detailed in those circumstances.
Of course, the Z6 has its own advantages because it's full-frame. If no cropping is required because you have the right focal length of lens for the circumstances, then the Z6 image should have noticeably better SNR and lower noise.
My current walk-about camera is the Nikon DX5300 with 18-140 mm lens. Its light weight and versatility, combined with reasonable image quality, are its attractive features. The total weight of the camera and lens is around 1 kg.
The Z50 with both kit lenses, the 16-50 and 50-250, weigh slightly less than 1 Kg. With just the 50-250 lens attached, the total weight is a mere 800 gms. That's the main feature that attracts me, a significantly wider zoom capability with no increase in weight. With the 16-50 mm lens attached, the combined weight of camera, battery and lens is just 533 gms.
However, the question of improved image quality remains unanswered, so far. The difference between 20mp and the 24mp of the Nikon D5300 would be insignificant, I imagine. However, if the Z50 has an improved DR of at least half a stop, and hopefully more, then that would be an incentive for me. If the two lenses covering a range from 16 mm to 250 mm are significantly sharper than my current 18-140 zoom, which is rather soft at the edges, then that might clinch the deal for me, depending on the degree of improvements.
If the Z50 had a 32 mp sensor, as the equivalent Canon EOS M6 MkII does, I think I would already have ordered a Z50 with the two kit lenses.
I guess I'll just have to wait until reliable reviews and comparisons become available. DXOMark seems a bit slow with its analyses these days.