Other nice extras include solid battery life (rated to 330 shots, good for a full day of shooting in my testing), a joystick to control the autofocus point (something I sorely missed in the Zf), dual SD card slots, and weather resistance. That is, in short, a hell of a full-frame camera for under $2,000. Competition Photograph: Scott Gilbertson Buying a camera isn’t just buying a camera, it’s buying into a system of lenses, a particular type of color science, and a potential upgrade path. All of these things together still make the Nikon Z5 the best deal out there. The Nikon lens system is fantastic, with everything from massive wildlife lenses (the Nikkor Z 180-600mm being a standout) to the surprisingly capable 40mm pancake. The image quality from the Z5II is excellent. I find Nikon’s JPEG noise reduction to be a bit much, but the results are great when shooting RAW. There are obviously higher-resolution sensors, and that’s part of what makes this a compelling buy: Invest in the Z5 now, spend more on …