Nikon ZF settings to pay attention to
Over the course of shooting Nikon for the past few years, and now the ZF for nearly a year, I’ve compiled a list of some key settings that you should check out and experiment with. Some of these will maximize your IQ, make the shooting workflow faster, or generally improve your experience with the camera. I have a long form video on these you can check out for maximum details, but I’ll provide a cheat sheet below for fast access.
Photo Shooting menu items
Image Quality - RAW + JPEG/HEIF Fine *
Whether or not you are interested in using/editing JPEG images, you should shoot both RAW+JPEG for one reason - in playback mode, the camera will default to a 2 megapixel embedded image if you’re only shooting RAW. By enabling RAW+JPEG, playback mode will display the full resolution 24 megapixel image instead, making checking for critical focus much easier.
Raw Recording - High Efficiency *
After years of testing, I have determined that HE* raw files have no downsides vs “higher quality” uncompressed options. HE* keeps file sizes smaller, keeps buffers larger, and are appropriate for all shooting situations.
White Balance - Auto2 (keep warm lighting colors)
This is my preferred starting WB for ZF raw files, where I use Auto0 (keep white) on my Z9.
Active D-Lighting - Auto
D-Lighting is a powerful feature, but hard setting it can lead to images that are lower contrast than you’d like for certain lighting scenarios. Leave on Auto maximizes benefits while helping to protect highlights and pull up very deep shadows.
Long Exposure NR/High ISO NR - OFF
These settings are best left to post processing software and can occasionally introduce anomalies in the image such as banding or odd tonal transitions.
Link VR to focus point - OFF
I have seen examples of severe image quality degradation when the focus point is far towards the left or right edge of the frame when this option is on. This is due to the way the IBIS unit moves in the Z axis to account for edge-of-sensor movement.
Custom Settings menu items
a4 Focus Points Used - All Points (more is better/more precise)
a8 Limit AF-Area Mode Selection - Disable Dynamic (unreliable and poor user feedback to where the focus point really is)
a12 Focus Peaking - On/Peak3/Red for maximum visibility
b5 Fine-Tune Optimal Exposure - 0 on first 3 options and +2/6 for Highlight-Weighted metering (makes HWM much more usable and not needlessly dark while still protecting highlights)
c3 Power Off Delay - Standby Time to 30s for good balance of battery savings
d5 Shutter Type - Auto for best balance of image quality and ease of use
d6 Extended Shutter Speeds (M) - On
f4 Touch Fn - All Touch Fn functions Off
Playback menu items
Auto rotate info display - On
Non-CPU Lens Data - Make sure to make an entry for every non-chipped manual focus only lens you use, and select that lens from this menu before shooting with it.
Hopefully this gives you a jump start on setting up your Nikon ZF! Did I miss a good feature? Let me know in the comments.