Kit #5: Distance Shooter
Total cost: £1,607
Camera: Nikon Z50 (£899)
An APS-C Nikon Z camera is a great option for travel photography – lightweight and fast, with superb image quality and some excellent lenses. For our money, the best bet is the Z50, which is cheaper than the flashy Nikon Zfc, and better equipped for stills than the vlogger-oriented Z30.
Nikon has done a clever job of balancing features to deliver a camera that’s capable and agile, offering a significant weight advantage over an APS-C DSLR. So in-body image stabilisation is out, and controls have been rejigged to better suit a smaller body. Even so, there’s still a top-notch electronic viewfinder, a deeply sculpted handgrip, making the Z50 a downright pleasurable camera to use. With a zippy 11fps burst mode, it’s well-equipped to capture fleeting moments, and you can pretty much leave the matrix metering mode to do its thing and be confident that you’ll consistently get accurate exposures.
To balance perfectly with the Z50, Nikon released a couple of DX-format Z-mount zoom lenses featuring a retractable design that makes them ideal for travel. It’s these we’ve picked for our complete kit.
Lens: Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR (£329)
This lens delives an equivalent focal range of 24-75mm. It’s got a Vibration Reduction unit built in that provides up to 4.5 stops of effective exposure compensation – handy, as this is a feature that the Z50 lacks. It weighs just 136g, making for one of the lightest APS-C set-ups you can field, and uses a fast ‘focus by wire’ autofocus system that delivers impressive precision.
Lens: Z DX 50-250mm F4.5-6.3 DX VR (£379)
When mounted on the Z50, this lens delivers an equivalent focal range of 75-375mm. That’s some seriously long reach for a diddy set-up like this, with the lens itself weighing just 405g. Once again, you’ve got Vibration Reduction allowing slower shutter speeds to be used handheld. We also especially like the silent control ring, which you can set to control manual focus, aperture or exposure compensation. It makes for a satisfying handling experience that complements the Z50.