How To Setup Your Nikon Z6II & Z7II | EVERYTHING You Need To Know 

Best half hour I could have spent to learn about this camera. In truth it was closer to 45 minutes for me since I kept pausing and scrolling thru the menus and replaying. Awesome video, I learned a ton. Thanks.

I actually do not agree with the back-button-focus segment of the video. I agree with what is said about recent years cameras having, generally, less of a general need for back button focus in some cases, however, there is a crucial reason for needing the back-button-focus, regardless of how, what, when and where we are shooting - and that is; focus control. Regardless of your field/specialty of work in photography, whether you shoot portraits, sports, motorsports, events, wildlife, you name it, you do not want your camera to re-focus every single time you press the shutter button regardless of us needing it to re-focus or not. Having control over focus or in other words being able to control when the camera will focus/re-focus, is, in my opinion, one of the most important, crucial features in photography, in general. Separating focus activation from the shutter button allows for so much more control, that not using it is a heavy 'handicap' and is useful in only a handful of very specific situations within a few very specific fields of photography. I shoot mainly portraits, social events and motorsports, I do also go through occasional expeditions for my documentary and wildlife work on the side... I have rarely been in a situation where I had to switch and turn the shutter button focus back on, opposed to having the focus activation separate from the shutter button. For the audience this video is targeting, it might be a good idea to recommend turning that AF-ON option on aka. separating focus activation from the shutter button! Anyhow, a nicely made, informative video, covering everything that needs to be covered, in just 25 minutes!

23:00 Another benefit is that the picture style of the "always good exposed view" is almost always a fair amount more punchy, saturated and contrasty. Which in turn, makes the camera focus faster; because of the increased contrast. It's not a huge difference, but it's there . So if you are having troubles getting focus because of low contrast or low light, try disabling the setting "Apply settings to live view". But of course, remember to check your images.

Thanks for the video my z6 ii arrives Friday

Great overview. A few alternatives. I set WB to Cloudy 99% of time. If you only shoot raw, the WB is just a number in your shots' meta data and the camera does not have to analyze your image in order to guess the WB of the light in the scene. It only influences how Lr opens the file. Note that it results in sunset images looking warm and midsummer noon images look like the cool blue of a very hot day. If you shoot JPEG, that may be too much. The "Set picture control" profile may impact e.g. sharpening in video recording, even when you think you shoot "raw" movie. Like you, I discovered "Highlight" metering. Yes it looks, you'll feel, underexposed and I'd say we generally lose about 2 EV DR, but we have enough. My advice here is to not correct the image with the exposure sliders first, but to first lower the white point in Lr's Tone Curve (slide the top right function line horizontally left, retaining the straight line). This remaps the raw data to LR's internal gradation resolution and you retain full exposure slider range. The advantage of Highlight metering for, say, a wedding is you'll never have any part of a white dress blown out. You may want to watch out with black suits, though ;) I still shoot with AF activation by the AF-ON only option. It decouples focusing from the shutter button. To switch off the AE-Lock from the shutter button is valid in the case of Manual, yes, but in the case of Highlight-weighted Auto (A, or S) it may still be valid. In the past 55 years in photography, I always worked "manual" but Highlight changed that. I would therefor leave AF-ON on. Note, if you shoot Highlight, then you may get the same exposures in case of panning because you may keep the same, highest, highlight in the frame. I accidentally left the camera on auto exposure in a panorama shot and all exposures were identical - and had not expected this to happen, subconsciously.

Well done Dan! Appreciate the breakdown. Thank you.

Great Video Dan. Thank you for sharing

Great video Dan. Very informative. Thanks

Thanks very much for the video Dan. Easy to understand and your presentation style was great.

Great video Dan, Helped me tremendously on setting up my Z6ii !!!!

This is the tutorial I need, thanks for sharing.

THE BEST set up tutorial on RU-vid, really appreciate the time you took to make and share, awesome.

Great explanations. Thanks

This was so helpful. I just got a Z6ii and loved your video. Just straight to the point without all the stupid jokes and gimmicks.

Great video, My Z6ii is arriving today, currently use a d500 and am I big Backbutton focus guy, I posted a question in a Facebook Nikon mirrorless group, and everyone disagrees with you on that one point you made, back button focus is great and if you prefer shooting af-c 90% of the time, bbf is so helpful. A lot of people still prefer it.

Thorough and helpful, Dan. My comment (and question) is about focus. Honestly, I've never understood how adjusting the focus point in handheld shooting of still objects or scenes, either by pressing some (hopeful) point on the LCD screen or using the magnification button with back-button focus is the least bit efficient compared to simply setting up the camera for a small focus point in the center permanently (unless re-assigned in the menu, for example), using that point to focus, recomposing and pressing the shutter. It's old-fashioned, yes, but it's also simple and, with one exception*, works every time. It can be therefore be used every time, which further speeds up workflow. The one instance where this does not work is when you want to have something on the far side of the frame in focus at relatively short distances using wide apertures. Thing is, I can't seem to find way to fix that focus point on my Nikon Z7II. It has a bad habit of having moved to some random point in the frame without my having done anything deliberate to make that happen. By the way, am I correct that this camera, regardless of lens, cannot magnify the scene simply by rotating the manual focus ring on the lens? Using the AF-On button on the back of the camera is clumsy. Can you help?

Being using Sony for five years and just bought a Z62, the menu is much simpler than Sony A7iv pretty easy to use and it has similar feel as Nikon DSLR which I used for many years. Your review is vey clear, it is very helpful, thank you.

Really helpful…thank you

Very helpful and well presented. I've not done any serious photography in decades, since the days of film and my FM2. Honestly, I was a little intimidated at the prospect of setting this camera up right for me and this video was a giant help in getting me started. Thanks so much...

Picked up the Z6ii, with the kit lens, on a nice Black Friday-sale. Knew straight away where to go. Will accommodate my D750 nicely.

Thank you so much!

Thank you! I bought a Z6II two days ago and this was VERY helpful!

An awesome feature rich video, very helpful and very much enjoyed. Superb! Thank you for taking the time Hudson, I will be following you from now on.

So helpful thank you

Thank you for this video. It explained so much. This is my first expensive camera. I've always been an "auto" mode picture shooter but I'm wanting to branch out and learn more manual controls. You explained everything so simple and well.

Would you do a review of the Z6 II's Video settings? Would like to know the in-depth of it since I'm going to buy it in Aug/Sept this year😄

Thanks I am all set now

Love the vid!

This tutorial was excellent Dan! Thank you!

Really glad I came across this video! Very helpful when it comes to setting up the Z6II - especially for someone (like me) who for the past decade relied entirely on the D7100's auto settings. Now, with the Z6II, I'm hoping to learn the camera's manual mode to up my photography game, so I especially appreciate the pro tips. Thank you, Dan!

I got my Z6ii yesterday and this video popped up in my feed. Thanks a lot for this, helped me a lot! You got a new subscriber too 😉

Great!Just what I need.Thanks & have subscribed.

Great job! Just got my Z-6 II and went through the settings with this video, very helpful! Thank you :)

I just got a Z6ii and this was so incredible! I love the back button focus though 😘 Now I can’t wait to watch this again with my camera in front of me!

thanks, Lot @Dan Watson

Great video, Dan. I just bought the 6ii to replace my D750 -- which is a great DSLR as we all know. BUT I'm finding that a Custom Control button assigned to Flash Off is no longer available? Having a Flash off button, in conjunction with U1 and U2 for flash and no flash settings, is a very handy option to have when shooting events.

great! thank you!!!

you flew through this very quickly!

Very informative video thanks a million just set up my Z7ii today

That was great Dan. I just received my Nikon Z6 II. This was very helpful. Thank you>

Thanks, Dan, thank you so much for this! May I know how I can see the monitor changing live while I change the settings (aperture, shutter, and Iso)?

My wife bought me one for xmas and this was VERY helpful!!

Thanks a lot！

Great video. I have had my Z6ii for a week. It has been a bigger learning curve than any other camera upgrade I have had in the past. Can you give me more details about switching my main command and sub-command dials? Thanks.

Dan Watson, You have become better, and better, with each progressive video you publish. I am so very glad for you. You have become an ever increasing asset to the photographic world, and it is heartwarming to witness. Thank you for all that you do.

Hi Dan Great run though, I'm just having my first coffee at 13:00 I just got my Z6ii two days ago, so this will be a great help

All I need to do now is to buy a Z6 ll 😂 D850 + Grip + D5 battery first(gotta get that 9fps), and then Z6 ll rigged out with accessories and DJI Ronin gimbal for video. Why? Everyone's asking for video these days. Great video, helped me tweak some settings on my current DSLR, so thank you!

Hi Dan how do you get you menu up the side of your camera ?

Helpful. Thanks. I am also coming from a D610. There are a few buttons on the back that you didn't touch on. What does the little joystick do??

Very good video! Just purchased my Z6II with the 24-200 lens a few days ago from B&H. In fact I still haven’t unboxed it yet. I wanted to get some insight or direction in setting it up before I got into it. Your video was very helpful and I know I’ll be referring to it as I set it up. However I will probably use your recommendations with an exception for a few. I like to leave my ISO on automatic as I’m more interested in the photographing end of it rather than dealing with camera settings. I take unposed people pictures which would require quick response. I also take landscapes and low light photos (concerts). I’m planning on also purchasing a wide angle lens, most likely the 20mm 1.8 Z lense.

The Z6 actually focus better with live view assist off. I set an f1 button to switch it on for a preview. I do the same thing with different settings for a flash to check for ambient exposure. My f2 button is set for subject tracking. LowLight Af is not great. Shooting in AF-S with the light does help with live view assist off. You also used a space on the i-menu for the burst/timer. There is already a dedicated button for that and it can't be set to anything else

Video setup settings would be great 🤞

Do you have a video why not to use back button focus?

Thank you for your video. Would be interested in your setup for video.

Very good video but took a little time to get through it. I have a couple questions that seemed to change on my camera since the setup. I no longer have the image I want to take on my LCD screen but I have it in my viewfinder.I only get the menu on my screen in all modes. How can I change this? Also in M mode how can I change the settings for exposure? Also how do I set up the camera for spot metering and focusing? Love this camera so far! Certainly a learning curve to it.

If you are using back button focus and you take your z6ii out if continuous mode, does your back button still focus?

Interesting and helpful. I have been unsuccessful turning off the joystick. The frame is so small, I find myself moving the focus by accidentally hitting the joystick and it moves my focal point. Any tips?

Great video. I appreciate the explanation for each setting. Do you have one on the video settings?

Hi Dan, I have the Z6ii and noticed a you were going through the menu, some of the options were not available to me. For instance I can't open my White Balance menu. Additionally, all of the RAW image quality options weren't visible. Any thoughts?

Bonjour Dan, very interesting video. Have you also noticed that the switch on/off is a bit harder to switch on than off on the Z6II ? thank yoy

how about how to setup Nikon d850 or is it the same thing ish? thank you for making this video it has helped me a lot !!!!

I was at a wedding, and got terrible banding during the church ceremony with Electronic shutter. I think it also caps the higher shutter speeds. I just keep it on Mechanical shutter now. I use the Z6. I have the Z6II shipping out soon.

Have you ever tried "interval timer shooting" on the Z6II? My setting is A, auto ISO up to 51200, over 1000 shots. I have a random issue, first 10 to 20 shots are overexposed then it shows exposure back to normal gradually.

This was great Dan, I learned a lot but was somewhat overwhelmed at times so I downloaded the video and will study it some more before going back and watching it again. I’ve owned dozens of Nikons and my latest is the Z6ii but still use the Z7, Z50 and may acquire a Z30. Right now my Grand daughter has my Z50 (and loves it) and when she gets back from college (UC Boulder) it’s going to my 8th grade grandson for his next “semester”. I have a feeling that the two will be fighting over the Z50, so if the grand daughter’s parents don’t buy her a Z50, I’ll get the Z30 for her and proceed with lending the Z50 to the grandson. Thanks again for this great video and please keep them coming. Tom KC3QAC

Wow, that was an amazing 1/2 hour. As I just bought my first mirrorless (Z6II), this was a ton of help. I also spent more than 1/2 hour because I followed along and paused the video to change the settings on my camera. Thank you. One aspect of mirrorless and face detection that I have not seen mentioned is what setting would I use for multiple people in a shot. Obviously, face detection wouldn't work. On my D750, I would just close the Aperture to something smaller than f5.6. What is the ideal AF Mode setting on a mirrorless? Thank you.

Hey Dan, Great video and exactly what I needed. I noticed you mentioned not suggesting Back Button Focus. I recently upgraded to the Z6II after using the D750 since its launch, and I've been a huge fan of BBF. I've found it particularly valuable for focusing and reframing, as well as for capturing fast-moving objects or animals. I'm curious to understand your reasoning for why BBF might no longer be necessary with the Z6II. Could you explain more about this?

I came upon your channel when researching the Z6ii. Thank you for your review. Unfortunately (after real world testing) I sent mine back. I really wanted to love it but it wasn't meant to be. From an event shooters perspective there were just too many negatives. None of them "major" but for event shooting they were deal breakers. Pros: Amazing image quality out of the box for both still and video. Great ergonomics/weight/balance. The shutter is like butter (it just sounds solid). Good, fast (still) auto focus with reliable face detection. The kit lens is nice and sharp. The high ISO noise is amazingly low and provides amazing latitude. Great dynamic range. The body layout will be familiar to Nikon shooters. Cons: While the video quality is awesome the stabilization is (sorry to say this) way below what I expected. While the VR works well for stills it does not for video. Even walking as steady as I could there was still too much jump.The IBIS is excruciatingly horrible. It would jump around even when held steady. It's definitely something that needs to be addressed. When hand holding for video, the jello and distortion from the IBIS is unacceptable. I've never seen such erratic jumpiness. I was shocked by it. For me the viewfinder was not acceptable especially when shooting TTL for 30+ years. Sure you can brighten it and it gives you real time exposure feedback but for me the contrast is just not smooth enough and it looks like your viewing your monitor from 1 inch away. It's really tough on they eyes. I can't imagine shooting an 8-12 hour event times 50 a year. Mark my words that shooters using video screen viewfinders will definitely end up with eye issues from this type of view finder down the road. The back screen is nice and bright but it doesn't articulate which is an absolute must. In fact the screen doesn't even tilt 90° down like my D500. There are more minor issues but it's not my channel to elaborate. I just wanted to give a heads up to any professional event shooters. For stills absolutely go for it because the image quality is amazing but for video, unless you are shooting with a gimbal or tripod don't expect any time of usable stabilization body itself. For now I'm just sticking with my D500 and I just purchased a Panasonic HC-VX981 which shoots amazing video and has much, much better stabilization. I'm absolutely amazed that my Gopro 10 captures such amazing video which is rock steady and Nikon can't even come up with acceptable IBIS.

really good slow full intro to settings - I just ordered the Z7 II yesterday so this is good. I am a D850 photographer but these day the weight I carry on very long remote walks is becoming an issue to me. Looks like the menu system is very similar to the D850? Question though please. I back button focus and think I can do same with Z7 II; I also shoot manual - when I line up a shot I use focus peeking and also set up my camera to zoom in temporarily to see if my focus is pin sharp (can you consider explaining this set up at some point please?

nice tuto. thanks for d9 trick !!! I was upset when flash is on camera, i cannot set exposure correctly with shutter speed because camera brightens scene and needed to turn flash off every time. I don't make studio and wanted to make street photo with z6ii (V1.4 !)+24-70 F/2.8 BBF (af-on), af-c, auto iso, mode A, auto area AF people and there are no yellow boxes on faces or eyes most of the time while my iphone 12 pro max detects anything even small on display. I don't find the reason, i tried with people close to me in a street, further, a group and sometimes a yellow box appears but i can't wait or rely on that. any idea because all tutos i see especially with V1.3 and V1.4, it seems that they can follow anyone in the street with eye detetction.

Do you have a specific video for the Z7ii like this one?

thank you for this!! i noticed when I went into change my ISO (from the auto ISO screen), i set it to 100 and now I can't change it from 100 on camera. My camera is set to Manual mode so not sure why this is happening.. any ideas? thank you!

Which tripod, or stand is the camera sitting on in this video?

Nikon please allow a 1080p backup file at least - even if its only on 1080p mode.

Just here waiting for the NEW gimbal review coming July 1st but dope setup.

For some reason White Balance and Picture Control are greyed out in my Z6ii menu. I have firmware C: 1.50 and LF 1.00

I noticed that you have a monitor there in your image: I’ll watch the video to see if it answers my question but otherwise, my Z6ii (or 7 also) will only drive the FEELWORLD 4K monitor while in playback (not really much of a “monitor”). During “taping” the error “No signal” appears. What am I doing wrong?

Nikon raw weak processing on Lightroom. I'm facing this colour issue with the D750 and Z5. Nikon must work for that. overall best camera for portrait Photography.

Hello All! May be it will be helpful for Nikon 7zii owners. I had problem "Lens initialization failed" during the first attachment of 24-200 Nikkor Z Lens to camera. It was solved when I turn camera on with the lens adjusted to the maximum focal length - 200 мм. It was my second lens of this type. The first has defect of small plastic ring with Nikkor name at the front of the lens - the ring was not fixed correctly - it jumps out - I exchanged it. The first lens also has initialization error - but it was gone by turn camera off and on as suggested.

❤ beautiful 🤩 !! Do you always use Nikon camera 📸?

Hi Dan, do you think it’s okay to use NIKKOR Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR ?? Would the image quality still the same?? If ok, what would be your suggestion?

I just bought this camera and I have one sort of a dumb question. Do you switch off IBIS when on a tripod? Does this rule apply as we do with the VR on lenses? My dslr did not have IBIS so I am not sure how I should deal with this issue.

do you have a dedicated video for flash on the z6?

I have heard that Z cameras will not use Nikon SB-910 flash.

What's the difference between JPEG normal and JPEG normal(star)?

Hey Dan. . .Very well done! I'm not a pro, I'm an older (but not old) retired guy, but I've been shooting for years, put together a website of some of my photos and I'm just having a great time spending more time than I ever could before with photography. I'm on the verge of buying a Z6II, so thanks for this advice on setting it up. One question, I've also been shooting for years using back-button focus. Why should I stop that if I acquire the Z6II? Just wondering about specifically why it would no longer be useful. I enjoy shooting air shows, both static shots and planes flying, car shows, and sometimes a little sports. I'm so used to back-button I just wondered why I should give it up. Also, I've seen reviews that kind of put down Nikon and this camera. You seem like someone who would be honest about this. Would I be wasting my money with this camera instead of switching to Canon for example? I've shot Nikon for years and have several Nikon lenses I'd be expecting to continue to use. And the Z6II would let me get into a full-frame mirrorless camera at a reasonable price point. Just would like an honest opinion. Like I said, I'm no pro like yourself, but I've had a few inquiries about getting a print of a few of my images, so I'd like to go in the right direction with my next camera purchase to continue to improve my work. Thanks again, your videos are very helpful.

Can you connect an SSD to the Z 6 II?

No, this is not what I want to know, LOL. But, I want more (hehe)

I noticed that when I use flash, my live view automatically goes to auto even though I have my live view settings set to On. ???

I was disappointed to see that I can’t set the Z7-2 to mechanical shutter with the 24-120 Z lens. Thanks for the video

Hello sir, I'm a Nikon D750 user & also have many F mount lenses. Now I am planning to buy Nikon Z7ii camera. But confused about 2 lenses, Nikon 28-75 f2.8 and 24-70 f4 ?? Which is suitable for me ?? I'm a wedding photographer & never shoot video.. Please suggest me 🙏🙏🙏🙏

Next stop using an flash with the Nikon Z6II. Can you point me to some information?

Can I undo a custom function button? I set up as per your video the F1 function button for tracking and now my BBF button is no longer focusing with the green square. How can I fix this?

файний принт на футболці.

Dan, I recently rented the D780 and Z6II. To my alarm, the Z6II seemed to have worse autofocus than the D780. The autofocus system on the Z series often gets confused and cant focus on whats right in front of it, or it back focuses. No such issue with the D780. This is really disappointing and probably why so many mirrorless users are hesitant to pick up a Nikon. Biggest problem seems to be in auto are AF (on the z series). Would like to know your opinion as to how this is even possible. Will a Z8 fix this?

Disappointed by the aversion to back button focus. Once I found out that was a thing, I NEVER use shutter. Shutter button is for taking pics. None of this half press nonsense

You go to all the trouble of creating a fancy looking set to make this video, and then you stick the microphone in the top of the shot.

good video, up until the BS shilling for some crap hosting company

this guy is obviously well established however the advice of setting your jpeg to a small file size "so you can see a preview" makes no sense. It's taking space for nothing?... jpegs are so compressed anyway they transfer fast and don't take up a lot of space. large raw and large jpeg you'll be fine.

I say ASA! I'm an American!

The 1 youtuber throwing Nikon any love. You getting paid for this or free gear? Because they are running this company like a joke. Its literally the worst system for people to invest in right now. Constant layoffs, poor investment of money, extremely few lenses. Closed mount to 3rd party support….. 🤦‍♀️