Recommended Nikon Z9 Settings

The Nikon Z9 is Nikon’s most complex camera yet, with a gigantic menu and almost unlimited customization. If you just got the Z9, where do you even start? In this article, I will provide detailed information on the camera settings I personally use on the Nikon Z9 and explain how to set your camera optimally.

Of course, there were one perfect way to set the Nikon Z9, it wouldn’t have so many menu options in the first place. Chances are that the best settings for you won’t look exactly like mine. But this should at least give you a good starting point if you’re running through the Z9’s menu for the first time. I also tried to provide context behind any important decisions that I made.

• Note: I have a separate article here called Nikon Z9 Menu Banks Explained. For the list of settings below, I assume that you have some familiarity with how Nikon’s menu banks work. If not, read that article first!

With that, let’s look at the Nikon Z9’s menu items one by one.

Photo Shooting Menu

• Shooting menu bank: See other article on menu banks
• Extended menu banks: See other article on menu banks
• Storage folder: Default, don’t change
• File naming: Change to something custom (I picked NZ9)
• Role played by card in Slot 2: Backup (see below for more info)
• Image area
  • Choose image area: FX
  • DX crop alert: On
• Image quality: RAW
• Image size: Grayed out when shooting RAW
• RAW recording: Lossless or high efficiency star (landscape); high efficiency star or high efficiency (action) – see below for more info
• ISO sensitivity settings
  • ISO sensitivity: 64
  • Auto ISO sensitivity control: OFF (landscape), ON (action)
    • Maximum sensitivity: 12,800
    • Maximum sensitivity with flash: 12,800
    • Minimum shutter speed: Auto + 1 toward faster
• White balance: AUTO (AUTO1 Keep overall atmosphere)
• Set Picture Control: SD (Standard), Default values
• Manage Picture Control: No changes
• Color space: Adobe RGB
• Active D-Lighting: OFF
• Long Exposure NR: ON
• High ISO NR: OFF
• Vignette control: High
• Diffraction compensation: OFF
• Auto distortion control: OFF (Might be ON and grayed-out; not a problem either way)
• Photo flicker reduction: ON
• Metering: Matrix Metering
• Flash control
  • Flash control mode: TTL
  • Flash compensation: 0.0
• Focus Mode: AF-S (landscape) AF-C (action)
• AF-area mode: Single-point (landscape); 3D tracking as a starting point, but this will vary a lot based on your subject (action)
• AF subject detection options: Auto (but pick people, animal, or vehicle if you’re only photographing that type of subject)
• Vibration reduction: OFF if you’re using a tripod (landscape); ON (action)
• Auto bracketing:
  • Auto bracketing set: AE bracketing
  • Number of shots: 0F
  • Increment: 1.0
• Multiple exposure: OFF
• HDR overly: OFF
• Interval timer shooting: OFF
• Time-lapse video: OFF
• Focus shift shooting: OFF

A few of the settings above merit a more detailed discussion. First, some photographers will prefer to set “overflow” rather than “backup” for the role played by the second memory card. CFEXpress cards aren’t cheap, and because they are more durable than basic SD cards, some photographers may wonder if the era of needing a backup is over. I still think it’s worth setting this to backup, though, because of the chance that one day you might lose a card or erase it accidentally. It’s not a high chance, but the horror of losing a photo is never worth risking.

As for the “RAW recording” setting, the Z9 has three RAW recording modes, and all of them are viable choices: lossless compressed, high efficiency star, and high efficiency. In our Nikon Z9 review, we found no image quality difference between lossless and high efficiency star files. We only found a very slight loss of dynamic range with standard high efficiency files. To save memory card space and improve your buffer, high efficiency star or high efficiency is the way to go. However, those RAW files are incompatible with some RAW processing software, especially more obscure post-processing software. If you need maximum compatibility, go with lossless compressed.

“ISO sensitivity settings” is one of the most important menu options on the Z9 and most Nikon cameras, since it covers the camera’s Auto ISO behavior. Auto ISO, combined with aperture priority mode, is arguably the best and fastest way to set the Z9 for a lot of situations, especially wildlife and handheld photography. (See more in our article on Auto ISO.) I keep Auto ISO off for landscapes because I’m always shooting from a tripod. I leave it on for wildlife photography, with a fast minimum shutter speed to ensure that my subject remains sharp.

Most of the following settings, like vignetting and diffraction compensation, only affect JPEGs and not RAW files. However, Adobe and Nikon software uses some of this information when importing a photo for post-processing. For instance, by keeping vignetting correction to High, Lightroom automatically applies a vignetting profile to the Z9’s files. (You can add vignetting back manually without a problem, but it’s hard to apply manual corrections that are as good as the automatic profile.) Long Exposure Noise Reduction does impact RAW files, which is why I leave it on.

AF area mode is the final setting I’ll mention in detail here. It’s possible to set this with a button rather than menu diving, but either way, you’ll be changing this pretty frequently if you’re photographing sports or wildlife. Our article Nikon Z9 Autofocus Explained goes into the considerations behind some of the different options.

Video Recording Menu

• Shooting menu bank: See other article on menu banks (there aren’t separate video menu banks; these are the same banks as the photo shooting menu)
• Extended menu banks: See other article on menu banks
• Storage folder: Default, don’t change
• File naming: Change to something custom (I picked Z9V)
• Destination: Slot 1
• Video file type: Strongly depends on the resolution and compression levels you want. See the comprehensive chart in our Nikon Z9 Video Explained article
• Frame size/frame rate: 4K 30p is a good baseline (available uncropped in H.265 8-bit, H.265 10-bit, and ProRes 4:2:2 HQ)
• Video quality (N-RAW): High (note that High doubles N-RAW file size)
• Image area
  • Choose image area: FX
  • DX crop alert: On
• Extended oversampling: On
• ISO sensitivity settings
  • Maximum sensitivity: 6400
  • Auto ISO control (mode M): OFF
  • ISO sensitivity (mode M): 64
• White Balance: Manual, based on situation (auto should be avoided to prevent white balance drift)
• Set Picture Control: Same as photo settings
• Manage Picture Control: No changes
• HLG quality: No changes
• Active D-Lighting: OFF
• High ISO NR: Normal
• Vignette control: Normal
• Diffraction compensation: ON
• Auto distortion control: ON
• Flicker reduction: AUTO
• Metering: Matrix metering
• Focus mode: AF-S when focus point doesn’t need to change; AF-F to automatically track a moving subject; AF-C to manually track a moving subject
• AF-area mode: Single-point AF when focus point doesn’t need to change; Auto-area AF for people’s faces; varies for wildlife video and similar
• AF subject detection options
  • Subject detection: Auto (but pick people, animal, or vehicle if you’re only filming that type of subject)
  • AF when subject not detected: On
• Vibration Reduction: On
• Electronic VR: OFF (but ON when shooting handheld without a gimbal)
• Microphone sensitivity: Auto
• Attenuator: OFF
• Frequency response: WIDE
• Wind noise reduction: OFF
• Mic jack plug-in power: On
• Headphone volume: 10
• Timecode: OFF
• External recording control (HDMI): OFF

I am not going to go through the movie recording features, because it highly depends on what you are trying to do. Some of the features won’t work depending on what video file type you are going to shoot, so if you see anything grayed out or not working, you might need to switch to different video sizes in order to enable them. Note, however, that the various Picture Control, high ISO corrections, and so on, will affect video files (other than RAW video) and are important to set according to the demands of your project.

Custom Settings Menu

This is where a lot of people get lost since there are so many different settings. Here are the settings that I personally use:

• Custom Settings Bank: See earlier article on custom settings banks
• Focus
  • a1) AF-C priority selection: Release
  • a2) AF-S priority selection: Release
  • a3) Focus tracking with lock-on
    • Blocked shot AF response: 3
    • Subject motion: Steady
  • a4) Focus points used: ALL
  • a5) Store points by orientation: OFF
  • a6) AF activation: OFF (AF-ON Only) – please read below on this setting
  • a7) Focus point persistence: Auto
  • a8) Limit AF-area mode selection: (all checked, default)
  • a9) Focus mode restrictions: No restrictions
  • a10) Focus point wrap-around: OFF
  • a11) Focus point display: On for all three
  • a12) Built-in AF-assist illuminator: On (normal), Off (astro)
  • a13) Focus peaking
    • Focus peaking display: Off
    • Focus peaking sensitivity: 3 (high sensitivity)
    • Focus peaking highlight color: Red
  • a14) Focus point selection speed: Normal
• Metering/exposure
  • b1) ISO sensitivity step value: 1/3
  • b2) EV steps for exposure cntrl: 1/3
  • b3) Easy exposure compensation: OFF
  • b4) Matrix metering face detection: On
  • b5) Center-weighted area: Standard
  • b6) Fine-tune optimal exposure: No changes
  • b7) Keep exposure when f/ changes: Exposure maintenance off
• Timers/AE lock
  • c1) Shutter-release button AE-L: OFF
  • c2) Self-timer
    • Self-timer delay: 2s
    • Number of shots: 1
    • Interval between shots: 0.5s
  • c3) Power off delay: 1m, 1m, 1m, 1m
• Shooting/display
  • d1) Continuous shooting speed
    • Continuous high-speed: 20
    • Continuous low-speed: 10
  • d2) Maximum shots per burst: ∞
  • d3) Limit release mode selection: All checked
  • d4) C30/C120 options
    • Pre-release burst: Off (but when you want it on, I suggest the full 1 second)
    • Post-release burst: Max
  • d5) Sync release mode options: Sync
  • d6) Extended shutter speeds (M): On
  • d7) Limit selectable image area: Only DX and FX checked
  • d8) File number sequence: On
  • d9) View mode (photo Lv): Show effects of settings
  • d10) Starlight view (photo Lv): Off (Normal), On (Astro)
  • d11) Warm display colors: Off (Normal), On, mode 1 (Astro)
  • d12) LCD illumination: Off (Normal), On (Astro)
  • d13) View all in continuous mode: On
  • d14) Release timing indicator: Type B
  • d15) Image frame: Off
  • d16) Grid type: 3×3
  • d17) Virtual horizon type: Type B
  • d18) Custom monitor shooting display: Customize it to your preferences; I prefer one with absolutely nothing, one with basic camera settings, and one with a histogram + virtual horizon
  • d19) Custom viewfinder shooting display: Customize it to your preferences; I prefer one with basic camera settings and one with a histogram + virtual horizon
  • d20) High fps viewfinder display: Yes (smoother viewfinder but worse battery life)
• Bracketing/flash
  • e1) Flash sync speed: 1/200
  • e2) Flash shutter speed: 1/60
  • e3) Exposure comp. for flash: Entire frame
  • e4) Auto ISO sensitivity control: Subject and background
  • e5) Modeling flash: ON
  • e6) Auto bracketing (Mode M): Flash/speed
  • e7) Bracketing order: Under > MTR > over
  • e8) Flash burst priority: Prioritize precise flash control
• Controls
  • f1) Customize i menu
    • #1 Top – Shooting menu bank
    • #2 Bottom – Select custom settings bank
    • #3 Top – Metering
    • #4 Bottom – Auto bracketing
    • #5 Top – Interval timer shooting
    • #6 Bottom – Focus shift shooting
    • #7 Top – Monitor/viewfinder brightness
    • #8 Bottom – Warm display colors
    • #9 Top – Vibration reduction
    • #10 Bottom – Long exposure NR
    • #11 Top – Focus peaking
    • #12 Bottom – Split-screen display zoom
  • f2) Custom controls (shooting)
    • Fn1 button: Recall shooting functions (hold)
      • Shooting mode: Manual
      • Shutter speed: 1/4000
      • Aperture: f/0.95
      • Exposure compensation: -0.3
      • ISO sensitivity settings
        • ISO sensitivity: 64
        • Auto ISO sensitivity control: On
      • Metering: Matrix
      • White balance: AUTO1
      • AF area mode: Wide-area AF (C1), with my C1 being a very large area
      • AF subject detection options: Animal
      • Focus tracking with lock-on: 3, erratic
      • Release mode: Continuous high-speed (20 FPS)
    • Fn2 button: AF-area mode + AF-ON
    • Fn3 button: Recall shooting functions (hold)
      • Settings listed under Fn1 button above
    • Fn button for vertical shooting: Exposure compensation
    • Protect/Fn4 button: Access top item in MY MENU
    • AF-ON button: AF-ON
    • Sub-selector center: None
    • OK button: Select center focus point
    • Audio button: Shooting menu bank
    • QUAL button: Metering
    • Vertical multi-selector center: None
    • AF-On button for vertical shooting: Same as AF-ON button
    • Video record button: Focus mode/AF-area mode
    • Command dials: Defaults
    • Lens Fn button: Access top item in MY MENU
    • Lens Fn2 button: Access top item in MY MENU
    • Lens Fn ring (clockwise): Off
    • Lens Fn ring (counterclockwise): Off
    • Lens memory set button: Save focus position
  • f3) Custom controls (playback)
    • Fn1: Off
    • Fn2: Off
    • Fn3: Off
    • Fn button for vertical shooting: Off
    • Fn4: Protect
    • Ok button: Zoom on/off (100%)
    • Audio button: Voice memo
    • QUAL button: Rating
    • WB button: Select for upload to computer
    • Vertical shooting multi-selector: Switched
    • Main command dial: 1 frame
    • Sub command dial: 10 frames
    • Video record button: None
  • f4) Control lock: Off on all three
  • f5) Reverse dial rotation: Exposure compensation unchecked, shutter speed/aperture checked
  • f6) Release button to use dial: Off
  • f7) Reverse indicators: bottom option (minus on left, plus on right)
  • f8) Reverse ring for focus: Off
  • f9) Focus ring rotation range: 360
  • f10) Control ring response: Low
  • f11) Switch focus/control ring roles: Off
  • f12) Full-frame playback flicks: All off
  • f13) Prefer sub-selector center: Off
• Video
  • g1) Customize i menu: All default
  • g2) Custom controls: Set to match “Custom controls (shooting)” options whenever possible; otherwise, left at defaults
  • g3) Control lock: All off
  • g4) Limit AF-area mode selection: All checked
  • g5) Focus mode restrictions: No restrictions
  • g6) AF speed: +2
  • g7) AF tracking sensitivity: 5
  • g8) Fine ISO control (mode M): On (1/6 EV)
  • g9) Extended shutter speeds (mode M): On
  • g10) View assist: On
  • g11) Zebra pattern: On, all defaults
  • g12) Limit zebra pattern tone range: Highlights
  • g13) Grid type: 3×3
  • g14) Brightness information display: Histogram
  • g15) Custom monitor shooting display: Customize it to your preferences; I’m happy with the defaults
  • g16) Custom viewfinder shooting display: Customize it to your preferences; I’m happy with the defaults
  • g17) Red REC frame indicator: On

That’s a massive number of settings, especially once you include all the custom button assignments!

One important thing to discuss is the AF-On button. For advanced photography, it is usually far preferable to autofocus via the AF-On button rather than half-pressing the shutter button. The first thing I do upon getting a new camera is disable autofocus from the shutter button, and assign it somewhere else. Since the Z9 already has a dedicated AF-On button, that’s the focusing method you should use instead. For more information on why back-button focus is so important, read our article here.

Second, I’d like to go through some of my custom control assignments. These are the most important and most personal part of the Nikon Z9, and you definitely may choose to assign different functions than I did. The general recommendations I’d make are as follows:

• For anything that you want to press one-handed while also taking a picture, assign it to Fn1, Fn2, Fn3, the sub-selector center, the AF-On button, or the OK button. Those are the only custom buttons that are easy to press with your right hand while keeping your pointer finger on the shutter button. (The movie record button works if you use your middle finger to take the photo, but it’s not very ergonomic.)
• I recommend keeping Fn1 and Fn3 the same, because when you’re shooting vertically, Fn3 is in the place that your muscle memory will associate with Fn1
• Fn1 (when horizontal), Fn2, and Fn3 (when vertical) are the three custom buttons that are easiest to access both vertically and horizontally. Put your most important and most-used settings there.
• Don’t strain to come up with a dedicated function for every button. If you run out of obvious choices, either leave a button unassigned, or duplicate its assignment with something else (i.e. assigning Fn4 to review photos even though there’s already a dedicated review button)

I assigned Fn1 and Fn3 to “Recall shooting functions (hold),” which is a useful tool for quickly setting the Z9 to a pre-determined state. It’s similar to a menu bank in a way. This button resets the Z9 temporarily until you press the button again. I use it to rapidly change my Z9 to wildlife photography settings that I know are guaranteed to capture a sharp subject, albeit at a high ISO, with a shutter speed of 1/4000 second and a burst of 20 FPS. My chosen aperture of f/0.95 under “Recall shooting functions (hold)” just means that the lens will switch to its widest aperture setting. You can set “Recall shooting functions (hold)” however you want, though – for instance, to enable the Z9’s 30 FPS mode and pre-shoot burst.

The last one worth mentioning is my setting for Fn2, “AF-area mode + AF-ON.” When I hold down Fn2, the Z9 treats it as the AF-On button, but it also switches quickly to my chosen AF area mode. It’s a quick way to revert to your favorite AF area mode for unexpected action without missing a beat.

Playback Menu

I rarely ever touch anything in the Playback menu, since that’s only used for displaying pictures on the rear LCD or the EVF. The only three settings that I ever mess with are “Playback display options,” “Picture Review,” and “Rotate tall.”

The “Playback display options” is useful because it lets you choose what information to see when reviewing a photo. For instance, you can see the exposure settings or histogram of a photo by pressing up/down on the direction pad to scroll through different views. I leave the following options turned on: “Focus point,” which allows me to see where I focused; “Highlights” to show overexposure in shots (a.k.a. “blinkies”); “RGB histogram” to analyze potential exposure issues by each color channel; “Overview,” which gives me a summary of my exposure (shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length, etc); and “None/Picture Only.”

As for the “Picture Review” setting, I keep this off. I don’t want the Z9 popping up the photo I just took every time. For some genres, like landscape photography, it’s not a big deal – but if you’re photographing action, automatic picture review can be pretty annoying.

The last Playback menu option that is important is “Rotate tall,” and I always keep this setting off. I don’t want my Z9 to rotate vertical images to fit a skinny part of the LCD when I review photos – it is much easier to rotate the camera to see a vertical image.

Everything else is pretty unimportant. You can leave it at the defaults or change it if you happen to have a preference.

Setup Menu

These settings are mostly one-time things that you’ll set when you first get your Z9 and never mess with again. For example, language, time zone, and date are all changed in the setup menu.

I would put monitor brightness into your “My Menu” for quick access, or (as I mentioned above) add it to one of the i button options. Keep viewfinder brightness at Auto.

One interesting new option on the Z9 is “Finder display size (photo Lv)” which can shrink the size of the viewfinder image. If you wear glasses, you may want to select “small” so that you can more comfortably see the entire viewfinder image.

I highly recommend switching “save focus position” to ON. This way, when you turn off and on the Z9, it will remember how far away the lens has focused, and reset to that point. (Otherwise, the lens automatically resets to approximately infinity focus each time the camera is turned off, which is not very useful behavior.)

You’ll definitely want to keep the “Sensor shield behavior at power off” option set to ON, so that the dust curtain on the Z9 protects your sensor as you change lenses.

An interesting thing about the Nikon Z9’s lack of a physical shutter curtain is that it is a very quiet camera. You may want to add a shutter sound (found under “Camera sounds”) so that there’s an audible confirmation each time you take a photo. Alternatively, you can embrace the Z9’s nature and keep “Silent mode” on. These don’t affect image quality, just user experience.

Most photographers will want to leave “Touch controls” turned on, and if you do, I recommend keeping glove mode turned on. It makes the Z9’s touchscreen a bit more sensitive, which I didn’t find bothersome in everyday usage, and was helpful when I wore thin gloves.

“Location data” is another useful setting in the Setup menu. When this is on, it adds GPS data to every photo you take with the Z9. I find this very useful as a landscape photographer, although it drains a small amount of battery life, and some privacy-conscious photographers will surely want to keep it turned off.

I recommend keeping “Energy saving (photo mode)” on most of the time to add some battery life, although it can lower the refresh rate of the display, so for the smoothest performance, leave it on.

Finally, turn “Slot empty release lock” to LOCK! This way, the Z9 won’t take photos without a memory card, which is helpful because you’ll immediately know that something’s wrong (i.e. that you need to insert a memory card).

Network Menu

The Nikon Z9 has a new menu called the “Network Menu” that exists to help connect your Z9 to other devices more easily. If you’re not actively trying to connect the Z9 to something like a smartphone, a computer, or another camera, the only setting you’ll ever need in the Network Menu is “Airplane Mode,” which disables the camera’s WiFi and Bluetooth features.

My Menu

If there are any menu settings that you intend to access frequently, My Menu is a great place to put them. I add ISO sensitivity settings, Starlight View, Monitor brightness, Video file type, and a few other options here that I want to be able to access quickly. Since most of the Z9’s settings can be accessed with a dedicated button, or at most with the i button, I recommend keeping My Menu slimmed-down to only a few options for the sake of convenience.

Conclusion

I hope you’ve found this guide useful in setting up your Nikon Z9! Let me know in the comments if you have questions about any of these settings or why I chose to set them up this way.