The combination of PASM-switch, wheels and dials is a tricky thing with the Zf. Some people are also discussing how to switch Auto ISO on and off.
If you like to control everything you choose M. If you want the camera to help a littel then you choose S or A. Therefore I tried all configurations and handling options for S and A that came to my mind, observed how the Zf worked and set up a table.
For wildlife and fast action you want to control S, and let the camera choose the lowest possible ISO and a fitting A. For other subjects you want to control A, and let the camera choose S (and ISO?).
In the table you can see what happens if you turn the ISO-Wheel and the Shutter-Wheel to a certain position (except B,T,X), if Auto-ISO is on or off. The actions of the photographer are maked bold/italic.
For example PASM=S (ID=S1), Auto-ISO=ON, S-Wheel =1/3STEP, ISO-Wheel at any position, S is controlled by photographer with the dial (front or rear as you set it up) >>> the camera takes care of A and ISO.
I found three settings where the camera is always "frozen" in base ISO (=100). None if them would I ever want. My prefered setting for PASM=S is S1. For PASM=A it is A2.
Interestingly turning the ISO-Wheel away from C seems to override Auto-ISO. In PASM=A and ISO-Wheel=C the Zf seems to invariantly set ISO=100.
I would like to know if other Zf owners see the same camera behavior. Please check the table below and leave a comment!
And, is turning the ISO-Wheel to non-C-values the simple solution to override Auto? If so, you can always leave Auto ISO=ON. Turning the ISO-Wheel with two fingers of the left hand is simple and safe, since the grip (a must have) is on the right hand side.
Looking forward to your comments!
Interesting, though I may disagree with your "nevers" (A1 being my own "Most of the time" ;) ).
I don't get what you mean by "Optimal A" in the A2 and A4 lines "Camera"s Priority". For me, in those cases, it's just "fastest S" (but maybe it's just a "cut and paste" problem).
For my part, what I did is put Iso settings in the red "Rec" button (if I want to switch to video, there's always the ... video switch :D ) . That way I can switch between auto and manual iso the fastest way I can and switch easily between your A1 and A3 cases which are those I use most. I nearly never use "S". If I need to control speed, I always find "M" more convenient on any camera, and of course even more on the Z f.
Also, to my sense, I find that "old school dials" are optimal for "M" on this camera.
And also, I suggested some firmware camera enhancement here that could lead to even more versatile "M" or "A" mode to my sense :
(there may be some typos though)
Let me know what you think ?
I found a Youtube tutorial which seems to clarify ISO settings on the Zf:
To explain my "never A1" : I was wondering why I would want the Zf to stay at base ISO. The behavior of the ISO wheel and Auto-ISO (override) are hard to predict from Nikon's manual.
Anyhow, this is very likely my fault. Forget about my table. Rather check the youtuber's information.