First Setup
What should you change on a brand-new Nikon Zf before your first shoot — and which settings live on its dials, not in the menus?
Format both cards in the camera
Formatting builds the folder structure the camera expects and clears a card that has lived in other devices. This body has two slots that take different cards: one accepts an SD card — UHS-I and UHS-II are both supported — and the other a microSD card, which is UHS-I only. The microSD shares the battery chamber: insert it before the battery, and remove the battery before removing it. The Format screen asks which slot; run it once for each.
Make the second slot a backup
Set Secondary slot function to Backup: every picture is recorded to both cards at once, so a failed card is an inconvenience, not a lost shoot. The factory setting, Overflow, only touches the second card when the first one fills — one copy of everything until then. Primary slot selection, one item above, chooses which slot leads; lead with the SD slot, which takes the faster UHS-II cards. Videos play by a different rule: their card is chosen in the Video Recording Menu under Destination, not by the stills slot settings.
Three dials, no menu-diving
Exposure on this body is physical. The shutter-speed dial clicks in whole (1 EV) steps from 1/8000 to 1/2 second, then 1–4 seconds in red, plus X (flash sync), T and B; turned to 1/3 STEP it hands shutter speed to the main command dial in 1/3 EV steps out to 30 seconds. The ISO sensitivity dial sets ISO 100–64000 directly; at its C position, ISO is set instead in the menus ([ISO sensitivity settings]), the i menu, by touch or by a custom control — and Auto ISO is chosen there. An exposure compensation dial and a mode selector (AUTO, P, S, A, M) complete the top plate. Leaving X, T, B or 1/3 STEP requires holding the shutter-speed dial lock release while turning.
The honest file
The working quality setting is RAW + JPEG fine — the JPEG to share, the RAW as the negative. The decision is RAW recording. At FX Large the Zf writes 6048 × 4032 pixels (24.5 megapixels) per frame, and the three compressions run in descending order by file size: Lossless compression, High efficiency ★, High efficiency. In Nikon's own words, High efficiency ★ produces pictures that compare favorably in quality to those produced by lossless compression — in a smaller file.
No U1 here — save to a card
Vibration reduction to Normal for everyday, static subjects — Sport is the mode for panning and subjects moving rapidly and unpredictably — and Link VR to focus point can tie stabilization to the active focus point. Then save: there are no U1/U2/U3 positions and no shooting menu banks on this body. Setup Menu → Save/load menu settings writes the whole menu configuration to the card in the primary slot; load it back any time, or onto another Zf. Exposure needs no saving — the dials hold it physically.
Do the steps now, in order, then run Save menu settings so the configuration sits on your SD card. Finish by working the shutter-speed and ISO dials through their locked positions once, so your hands know them before a shoot does.