But then the design of Z50 should have been like the drawing leaked initially, not like the "professional looking" Z50.
Aesthetics are everything for that crowd. When they decide they want a "nice camera" and look over the compact MILC options, they will only notice the aesthetics and MP. Sensor characteristics (beyond MP), AF performance, ergonomics, etc. won't even enter their mind. Women will pick the cutest camera, men will pick the one that looks the most professional. Overwhelming majority of people that buy ILC are men, so I think Nikon made a wise decision here.
Side note, I worked in the camera department at a consumer tech store in the early-mid 2000s and sold lots of cameras to this crowd. The D70 outsold the Rebel when it came out purely because the Rebel was silver so it didn't look as professional. The only women who bought a DSLR were the ones taking photography classes and they liked the Rebel more because of the silver, otherwise they picked a cute compact. Keep in mind, the only requirement for this crowd, the men that is, is the professional
appearance. I'd bet money few Z50 owners will ever bother to assign the Function buttons. I wouldn't be surprised if the Function button options are incredibly limited and are largely there to make an impression, as Nikon surely knows this. Most will only ever touch the menu button by accident. The perfect camera for this crowd is very small and light,
looks very professional, 500MP sensor that downsamples to 3MP and only controls are on/off, shutter, play button and touchscreen for review/delete.
