The Nikon Z5 is STILL heavily discounted. Is Nikon getting ready for the Z5 II?

The Nikon Z5 opened up the Z line with a more affordable, smaller full-frame model but, nearly five years since the camera launched, the Z5 has become far more affordable. Older cameras tend to see steeper and more frequent discounts and nearly five years after the launch, the Z5 is almost as cheap as the crop sensor Z50 II. Those discounts and the impending fifth birthday raise a key question: is Nikon getting ready to launch the Z5 II anytime soon?

While five years seems like the perfect timing to launch a successor, the Nikon Z5 is a budget camera that has gotten better over the last five years. Why? Because as the Z5 has aged, the price has dropped. The Z5’s original list price wasn’t too far from the Z6 series, which is now on the Z6 III, but axed several features. Back in 2020, the Nikon Z6 felt like the far better value.

But now that the Z5 is getting on in years, it’s possible to pick the camera up for under $1,000 / £900, which is less than half the price of the newly launched Z6 III. The full-frame Z5 isn’t much more than the Z50 II right now, which has a smaller crop sensor. That makes the camera a far easier decision for photographers who are truly looking for a more affordable budget camera compared to when the Z5 sat at its $1,400 / £1,249 / AU$2,599.95 list price.

While the price of the Z5 that we originally complained about in our Z5 review has been – at least with temporary sales – fixed, the entry-level mirrorless camera is starting to show its age a bit. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Nikon Z5 II this year or the next.

But, with an entry-level budget model, what is Nikon most likely to change on the successor? The resolution is out – the Z6 III has the same 24.5MP as the Z5, so I wouldn’t expect the lower-tier camera to see any improvement in resolution when the higher-priced model did not. I speculate that Nikon will reserve the partially stacked design of the Z6 III for the higher-priced camera as well, but then again, sometimes it is more affordable to manufacture all the same sensors.

I suspect the biggest improvement could be moving from the EXPEED 6 to the newer EXPEED 7 processor. Even the Z50 II has the EXPEED 7, so Nikon isn’t afraid to put the processor in a more affordable camera. That should give the camera a boost in speed, which would be welcomed as the Z5’s 4.5fps bursts are quite slow by today’s standards. If the sensor isn't stacked, then the update to the newer processor would push the Z5 II speed closer to the Z6 III while keeping some separation between the two tiers.

One thing I think Nikon needs to continue to prioritize in the Z5 series is size. The Z5 isn’t just Nikon’s most affordable full-frame mirrorless, but, at the time when it launched, was the most compact of Nikon’s FX cameras with its kit lens. That, of course, was before Nikon introduced the Nikon Zf, which is both compact and retro-styled. But the Z5 and the Zf remain a ways apart yet in price and speed, with the Z5 sitting at the more entry-level spot for both price and performance.

The age and price of the Nikon Z5 make me think that a successor could be coming – and the latest Nikon rumors hint towards an impending launch as well. Rumors and speculation are all that exist for now, however, so Nikon fans will have to wait for an official announcement to see what Nikon has in store for the entry-level full-frame model.

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