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7 underrated settings for Nikon Z cameras

Darrell Oakden Photography

18,101 views

In this video, I share seven of my best tips for setting up your Nikon Z camera — the exact techniques I use on my Nikon Z8 to improve my workflow and take sharper, more creative photos. Whether you shoot with a Nikon Z6, Z7, Z9, or even another camera brand, these tips will help you get the most out of your gear.

Topics I cover include:
✅ How to use Back Button Focus for faster, more accurate shooting
✅ Customising your i Menu for quick access to essential settings
✅ Button assignments that make your camera more intuitive
✅ Auto Focus optimisation and Subject Detection setup
✅ Using the Self Timer for sharper handheld or tripod shots
✅ Exploring Focus Shift Shooting for perfect focus stacking

Throughout the video, I’ve included plenty of my own photography so you can see these settings in action and get a feel for my style and results.

If you enjoy photography tutorials, camera setup guides, and Nikon tips, make sure to like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon so you don’t miss future videos!

Hope you enjoy this video and your photography

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00:00 – Intro
02:02 – Reverse dial setting
04:07 – Back button focus
06:31 – Auto focus modes
09:20 – Auto Focus & Subject Detect
10:13 – Semi Auto modes - Aperture Priority
11:53 – Assign functions to buttons
14:30 - Assign functions to the i Menu
15:37 - Use the self timer for sharper shots
16:58 - Focus shift shooting
18:38 – Final Thoughts

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20 Comments

@janielawson6553 9 months ago

Reversing the dials is the best!

@welly5658 8 months ago

Great, you video's dont rush through missing steps, thanks for your help much appreciated.

@RT-rt9rt 9 months ago

Darrell, thanks for sharing your Nikon knowledge. Greatly appreciate it. 👍👍👍👍👍👍

@andywhiteside16 10 months ago

that was excellent Darrell something I need to do

@colinballard1219 10 months ago

Good video thanks for sharing

@rusemers 7 months ago

Thank you so much providing this information in such a concise and understandable way. It will save the rest of us significant amounts of time and wasted effort through having to crawl up the learning curve.

@chocolatecatdad 9 months ago

Excellent video, I think the most important is one can customize the settings on one's camera to suit one's needs.

@TimeBender-pov 10 months ago

I wish I'd known about the reverse dial options when I'd gotten my 7II! Thank you for making this video!

@johnclay7644 10 months ago

informative video

@StephenBrooks-e9m 10 months ago

I have a canon, so I’m going to have a look to see what I can do

@the_rat_run 9 months ago

My Z50 then Z50 II dials were already the 'right' directions out of the box! But at least I know what the dial reverse function does! Informative & interesting, thanks.

@stewarta2505 10 months ago

Great video Darren, the reverse dial makes sense if you have exposure indicator horizontal. I leave the dials as default, so to the right is up (higher) aperture and speed, to the left is down. You can set button lock, so when you press a button you can release allowing you turn dials without having to hold the button. I’ve set joystick centre press to single point & Af to give instant access to lock onto small subjects. The ability to ‘cycle’ through buttons is great. ATB

@golfsafetyexpert3478 8 months ago

Is there any way to set auto exposure bracketing with the self time to allow exposure bracketing and focus stacking in U1? I have a Z7 2 please

@levscape 9 months ago (edited)

04:55 This setting does not control back button focussing, it is a setting that tells the camera to prioritise speed over accuracy. For example, setting it to "Release" tells the camera to take the photo regardless of focus confirmation, whlst "Focus" tells the camera to only take a photo when focus is confirmed. The Release + Focus option is just a balance of the two. The setting you want to change is "a6: AF Activation" (on my Zf) to "[AF‑ON only] The camera does not focus when the shutter-release button is pressed halfway."

@ClaudePatrao 9 months ago

Why not use the Program mode where you can control either the shutter speed or aperture with or without auto iso

@RolandFeltrini 9 months ago

The first thing I changed after unboxing my Z8 was to change the default setting for the sensor shield from OFF to ON. Thus the shield will allways close, when I turn off the camera.
Its a default I cannot really understand.

@tkphotosz 6 months ago

Hi Darrel. I came upon your video just today and it's very helpful. I used a Nikon ZF. I set up the auto focus mode Wide-L as my default. I also set up the video record button to Cycle AF Area-Mode. But after selecting a focus mode via the video button, I could not get back to the Wide-L default focus mode. Pressing the video button to cycle through the different focus modes does not show the Wide-L mode. Am I missing some steps in setting up the focus optimization?

@bernhards.1167 3 months ago

please explain it to me like I am 5....been photographing since 15 years never got the concept of the whole backbutton focus shennanigans...is it really only because some people find it annoying to keep their finger on the half pressed shutter button? Because that achieves essentially the same thing as I understood it right? or am I missing something? I keep hearing this tip so often but I can't wrap my head around the fact of how it is useful?!

@keithgrafton5006 9 months ago

You are missing a trick by not using Auto Iso for birds, Use auto iso and manual camera settings eg 1/1000 sec at widest aperture and let auto iso do its job,

@eljayr4669 10 months ago

I am a lot older than you and although you gave a very clear and instructive video you lost me after about 5 minutes and I stopped watching. Modern cameras have so many menus that do help for better photography but it is all way above my head. This is the reason I have never bought a new camera. I really enjoy my wildlife photography and a modern camera would definitely improve the quality of my pictures but as nobody ever sees my pictures and I am very happy with them I will just remain with my old equipment.