Nikon · Zf · Free lesson
Common fixes
What fixes the Nikon Zf's known problems — everything suddenly black and white, soft frames, recordings that stop, cards that confuse?
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Everything black and white: the photo/video selector is sitting at its third position, B&W. Soft frames at slow speeds: Custom Setting d5 — let Auto choose the electronic front-curtain shutter. Recordings end: the 125-minute cap or the temperature cutout. Cards confused: stills and video keep separate slot settings, and the microSD lives behind the battery.
B&W: photo/video selector → photo · Soft frames: Custom Settings → d5 Shutter type → Auto · Stops: 125-min cap · Setup → Auto temperature cutout · Cards: Photo Shooting Menu → Secondary slot function · Video Recording Menu → Destination
Cameras Decoded — Camera Select
Everything is black and whiteThe selector's third position. The photo/video selector has three positions — photo, video and B&W. At B&W the camera shoots monochrome full-time and [Set Picture Control] offers only [Monochrome], [Flat Monochrome] and [Deep Tone Monochrome]. Rotate the selector back to photo. RAW files keep their colour data; only JPEGs and previews committed.
Soft at "safe" speedsd5 [Shutter type] → Auto. The Zf has a real mechanical shutter, whose movement can blur slow-speed frames (shutter shock). Custom Setting d5 on [Auto] uses the electronic front-curtain shutter at slow speeds to remove it. EFCS's fastest speed is 1/2000. Whole-stop shutter jumps mean the shutter-speed dial is on its numbers — 1/3 STEP hands it to the command dial.
The recording ended itselfThe 125-minute cap, or the heat cutout. Every shot is capped at 125 minutes. Earlier stops are usually the Auto temperature cutout (Setup Menu — Standard intervenes early, High buys time while the body heats), a slow card (high frame size/rate video wants UHS Speed Class 3, 250 MB/s or better), or the battery: roughly 90 minutes of video per EN-EL15c charge.
The two card systemsStills and video keep separate books. Stills follow Primary slot selection and Secondary slot function; videos follow Destination in the Video Recording Menu — neither reads the other. The SD slot accepts UHS-II cards; the microSD slot is UHS-I only and sits behind the battery (remove the battery before removing the card). Lead with SD for both systems.
Try it now
Click the selector through its three positions, set d5 to Auto, and make the two card settings agree — Backup for stills, the SD slot for video — before the next shoot asks.