Nikon Z5 vs Nikon Z5 II - Image Quality Comparison
Introduction
How much image quality difference is there between the Nikon Z5 and Nikon Z5 II?
To find out, I compared a series of side-by-side landscape and night sky RAW images captured with both cameras to evaluate detail, ISO performance, dynamic range recovery, and low light image quality. While both cameras use 24 megapixel full frame sensors, the Nikon Z5 uses a traditional CMOS sensor and EXPEED 6 processor, while the Nikon Z5 II introduces a backside illuminated sensor paired with Nikon’s newer EXPEED 7 processor. The big question is whether those hardware changes lead to meaningful improvements in real-world image quality.
Testing included landscape image comparisons, ISO performance from ISO 100 through ISO 25,600, underexposure and overexposure recovery tests, and night sky examples.
Watch the Full Comparison
Watch the full side-by-side comparison below, including landscape image comparisons, ISO testing, dynamic range recovery, highlight recovery, and night sky performance testing.
Key Takeaways
Overall Image Quality: Under normal shooting conditions, the Nikon Z5 and Nikon Z5 II deliver extremely similar image quality. Daytime landscape images looked nearly identical with excellent detail, color, and sharpness from both cameras.
ISO Performance: Through much of the ISO range, both cameras performed very similarly, though the Nikon Z5 II consistently showed slightly cleaner files at higher ISOs. The difference is subtle and mainly noticeable when closely inspecting shadow areas.
Dynamic Range Recovery: During three- and four-stop shadow recovery tests, both cameras performed nearly identically with little meaningful difference. At more extreme five-stop recovery levels, small color shifts appeared, with the Nikon Z5 II leaning slightly green and the original Z5 showing a slight magenta shift. Noise performance remained extremely close overall.
Highlight Recovery: During one-, two-, and three-stop highlight recovery tests, both cameras behaved very similarly. At extreme recovery levels, image quality deteriorated significantly on both cameras with little meaningful difference between them.
Night Sky Performance: For astrophotography and extreme low light shooting, the Nikon Z5 II produced cleaner files with less visible noise, particularly when exposure was pushed in post-processing. The difference became most noticeable in dark shadow areas and higher ISO examples.
Bottom Line: In normal photography situations, image quality between the Nikon Z5 and Nikon Z5 II is extremely similar. The Nikon Z5 II does provide modest improvements to high ISO and astrophotography performance.
RAW Files
Download the original RAW files from this comparison to inspect the images yourself, test your own editing workflow, and evaluate image quality in Lightroom, Photoshop, or your preferred RAW editor.
Check Current Pricing
Check current pricing and availability below:
Nikon Z5 II
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Nikon Z5
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Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 S
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Nikon Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 S
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Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 S
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Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8 S
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