This is the BEST and the MOST lucid explanation for setting up Z9. Till date I have not seen a better explanation. I most sincerely thank you for this video and the effort to put everything in the most easiest terms.

Thank you! I'm all set now!👍

Enjoyed it, Terry. My Z9 will be arriving shortly and these tips will be most valuable.

Great video! I've had my z9 exactly one week and have been searching for information and you provided a ton of it! Thanks, your newest subscriber!

Great video Terry my Z 9 arrives tomorrow and planning to shoot tomorrow afternoon. This will help me get started. Glad I discovered your awesome channel. Look forward to listening to your podcast.

Hello Terry, I received my Z9 body today. Watching your video got me on track for settings to photograph BIF. Thank you!

Thank you, Terry. Your videos are very helpful.

Just received my NPS pre-order Z9 early this week, and I'm still exploring settings. This is a good 'starting point' tutorial - thanks. I find that over time, we all modify the settings to suit our style and needs, but it's very helpful to have a close baseline. Thanks for taking the time.

Wow incredibly done Terry. This should have 1M likes!

Hi Terry, I am so excited as I will be getting my Z9 on Friday. Thanks for the tutorial. It seems pretty straight forward to set up. This will be my first Nikon camera as it is the only one that checked all the boxes for me in terms of an upgrade.

Hey Terry, i am not sure how I stumbled across your video, but i am glad I did. I am still finding my way around the plethora of information in the Z9 menu system. Not all of you tips suit my work flow but they are a great place to start so thank you very much.

I've been pretty much an AF-S focus guy on all my Nikons and have found setting up focus on my Z9 to be daunting...even for someone who's shot Nikon for decades. This was helpful. Look forward to more tips.

This was excellent video and informative. I will still read the Z9 nikon manual

Great video! I can’t wait for my z9 to finally ship!

Awesome job! Very helpful. Thank you!

Great Tips Terry, thank you sharing.

Excellent video, I'm literally waiting for FedEx to arrive with my Z9 (ordered in February) and a number of accessories, cards, extra batts, etc... I appreciate your work!

Some really nice tips, thanks.

It’s really amazing to setup my all new Z9 thanks a lot

I'm still waiting for my camera, but once I do get it, I plan to come back to what you are saying. Sounds very solid!

Well done and some good tips. Thanks

Great video Terry. Would love to see your use of banks and set up of i menu. I look forward to your ebook.

Terry Vander Heiden, thanks for the setup information. For new viewers, I found it helpful to go to the gear icon and slow the video playback speed down that I could stop the video playback in a timely fashion and view the menus Terry was showing. I used 75% which slowed the speech but made stopping the video to look at the settings easier.

Very very helpful for wildlife photography. I like it.

This is awesome and actually really helpful video . ...Appreciate your sharing 😊

Thank you Terry .I recieve my z9 in 2weeks your video is verry helpfull. Your name sounds verry Dutch. Greetings from the netherlands

Excellent info! Thanks

Still waiting on delivery of my Z9 but as I shoot mainly wildlife this video will help me enormously when it finally does arrive as most of what you’ve said here resonates well with the way I shoot and use my current D850. All I need now is the Z9 to arrive

Very helpful thank you

Thanks for the vid and guidance -- I received mine (the first 1 of a few) on 22 Jan and have been testing/using it since then -- after over 20k exposures later I am still learning. 20 FPS and 120 FPS have allowed me to capture images that were far far less possible or likely before the Z9. The AF is extraordinary -- but like any other camera not perfect. You and every other wildlife pro I know prefers 3D-tracking as their base option. I am far less confident - I never learnt this on my DSLRs and so I is assigned 3D-tracking to Fn2+AF-ON. I have assigned Fn1-auto-area+AF-ON, Fn3-9-point spot+AF-On AND Lens-=Fn1 to spot mode-AF. I have disabled manual focus, but by rotating the focusing ring on my lenses I am automatically in single point Manual focus. Back button focus is was a common preference with DSLRs - it is common with portrait shooters too. BUT now with the Z9 - we have the option to leave AF-On on the shutter button and assigning some other function to the AF-On button. For now I wear the back-button or other fn-button to activate AF-on and continue with Af-disabled on the shutter button. I have remapped all the other programmable buttons and the lens ring on my Z S line lenses - most importantly I have put picture review back where it was and reasinged protect image in review to rating. I have played with assigning Shooting Recall to various buttons and probably will return to this time and time again. But for now I need the discipline to set the correct settings each time. Like others I would like a single button to press and hold that switches the camera back to a set a complete saved settings.... and so on. I attended a Hawk shoot and was able to obtain 5-10 times the number of hits than I was only a month before with my D5. I also filled a 128GB card - the first time I have done this for a long time.

Great video. Note: If you use histogram on the camera while shooting it is a good idea to set picture profile to flat or neutral. Because when you set it to ex. Standard the histogram will show the resulting histogram and you will not see the full dynamic range represented.

Thanks!

Dear Terry: The best guide to the sensible settings on the Z9! I simply changed the language to English and followed your settings. Terry, you could perhaps make a video, which settings "how" you store in my menu, thanks for this abbreviation of the 900-page Nikon manual, greetings from Germany!

Just received my NPS pre-order Z9 On Wednesday last week, and I'm still exploring settings. This video helped me program Single point AF. Thank you.

Excellent Video! I ordered my Z 9 in November, have no clue when it will eventually arrive, your tips will make it an easy process once I do receive the Camera, consider me a subscriber, will be adding your Podcast to my devices as well 😀

Many thanks for this very helpfull video. I choosed F1 for recall shooting. If I set M + Auto ISO in my normal settings, it takes the checked settings and when I press F2 they are there and I can changing shutterspeed and aperture but I can‘t change exposure compensation. When setting the button, F2, the boxes including exposure compensation are checked…. The manual (Page 651) says , also exposure compensation on a function button could be changed „if an option other than off is selected for custom setting b3/ easy compensation“. Did I understood something wrong? If so, does someone know what it can be? I use this function to change quickly from action 20 FPS with area mode S or L to slower activities with 5 FPS and single point AF. The manual is unfortunately available in english only.

Thanks, Terry. You calmed my misgivings on purchasing the Z9. I was anxious about this Z9 . . . Did I make the right decision in, again, spending $$$$ for this camera? I have the D850 and D5, which I love. However, I was amazed at what the Sony A1 and Canon R5 could do tracking wildlife, especially birds. Many said that I should have gotten a Sony A1 or a Canon R5, but I didn’t want to change formats since I had some nice Nikon lenses, and wanted to be able to use those lenses. Steve Perry said that the Nikon FTZ adapter works great without any lost of quality. I found your videos, and it has really helped me to setup this camera for wildlife photography.

Hi Terry. Thank you for sharing your ideas for the Z9 settings. I am wondering what advantage BBF has when using AFC and Animal Eye detect on the Z9 (these should track the subject without the BBF necessity?). I understood BBF using DSLR without eye detection feature capability... Many thanks for your time.

Nice tutorial

Thanks so much for a wonderful tutorial. You have a relaxing style. It seems that my 2 day old Z9 may have some issues as whilst the Fn1 button does save, 2-3 don't save, even after hitting the ok button. Do you have any ideas ? Any suggestions are appreciated.

Good job, thanks for the video. I wish there was a way to program the mode button onto any button, was going to put mine on the upper joystick button but it won't allow me to do so. As a hybrid shooter I switch between stills and video often and need to change the mode every time. Wish there was a way to program the camera to remember the mode separately for stills and video!

Thanks very much. Valuable, packed and ready to use data like a fast food take away! Only 1 week ahead before my z9's arrival. Thanks so much for all your works and looking forward to watching your professional footages & captures. Regards from Istanbul / Turkey.

Thanks for this well explained video on the Z9!. I'm just setting mine up, think i missed something at 5.28 you are on AF-C with 3D tracking and once focus locks in the focus point turned green, i know this normally happens with AF-S and AF-C is normally yellow.

Hi Terry, Greetings from Ireland. Found this video most informative. Thank you. Look forward to viewing others. In looking on the Adobe site, I note that Nikon high efficiency RAW compression modes are currently not supported on Windows ARM64. Any infoi as towhen Adobe may update? What should I do? Will appreciate any advice. Kind regards, Ivan O'Riordan

great ！thanks my master

Thank you for that information. I just switched my Z9 and Nikon D810 OFF of back button focus because it cancels out my corded remote switch. A corded remote switch is much easier to use especially with the viewing screen on the Z9. No need to have my face on the camera and finger on the shutter release (which causes camera shake). This works very well for me on both the tripod AND monopod.

Awesome video... Thanks for the info... I have a question... you have mapped out the fn1 button for single point dynamic... Can the following be done? We have the back AF-ON button set to 3D tracking with human face and eye detect... And then we have the front fn1 button set to JUST the 3D tracking without any subject detection... Where I would need it... While shooting weddings there are many times when one needs to photograph a person (where the person detection with eyes is awesome)... But there are times when you need to just photograph the watch or ring... I know we can map the fn1 to engage single point autofocus... But I am interested in JUST 3D tracking... So affectively what I would be doing is turning the subject detection in 3D tracking on / off... while keeping the camera in 3D tracking mode...

A point worth noting is that Lightroom can be setup to use the settings applied in Picture Control with the Z9 enemy with RAW images. Unlike the D series. This I find is a huge benefit. I am finding I have to do a lot less work in post processing.

Glad found your video. Got my z9 yesterday. I took a still image but when hit play or preview, I got a black screen, no image. I imported to computer, also shown a black screen instead of the image I shot. Any suggestion?

Hi Terry, Just received my Z9 two days ago. I shoot mainly wildlife; and I found your video to be very helpful. I have watched several other videos about setting up the Z9 for action but seem to have missed something. When tracking a bird in flight do you continue to press the AF-ON button or does the camera remember what it is tracking? Thanks.

Hi Terry. Bill from Scotland here. I'm thinking about getting the Z9, but first would like to know if existing FX lenses, of which I have a few, will work well with this body. I already have a D500. Your videos are excellent, with great practical hints and tips.

I've not used a mirrorless camera, but punching in to 100% for focus assistance will be important. Is there already a button assigned to that, or would I need a Fn button or video button for that? Still waiting for the Z9, but I will also read the manual.

Hi Terry and thank you for the wonderful pointers...they have helped me so much!! I just got my Z9 about 2 weeks ago...and I have been out shooting wildlife. I have the camera set up at AF-C 3D and animals (cat face). However when I was out shooting Wild Horses, I would focus on their eye and get the "green square" over their eye (using back button focus) but then the "green square" moves automatically to the horses body. ?? I am keeping my finger on the back button, not releasing it, so I don't understand why it is not tracking the eye. Can you help me understand why this might be happening and why the 3D tracking of the eye does not seem to be working? Thank you for any help you may be able to give!!!!!!!

Excellent recommendations. My Z9 is on its way so I'm seeking advise for set-up. You mentioned that you set it to 3D Tracking for the wildlife photos. Which autofocus setting do you recommend for just regular landscape photos? Thanks.

Thanks Terry. I like your video, however, I am a bit baffled as I finally received my Z9 a few days ago. It has come pre-loaded with the most up to date firmware - 1.11, and I cannot find in the menus some of the things you outline in this video. Have some things changed since you produced this?

Thanks. Just got my Z-9 and am not a professional. All your hints worked nicely except “ I was not able to Set the Exposure Mode Button” to the Video mode. Not sure why.

How do i set it to take 20 FPS ? Thanks and a good video

Hola Terry, cuáles son las tarjetas de memoria Cfexpres tipo B que recomiendas en cuanto a velocidad real de escritura y lectura, porque dicen que no todas hacen lo que prometen, gracias

On my previous Nikon, I set the lens fm button to subject tracking. This isn’t an option on the Z9. Did I miss an explanation somewhere? With 3D tracking, it seems similar but not quite the same

First thing I did is set my FN4 to playback so the muscle memory works!

Hi Terry. I hope you can help me with this. I have just set my z9 up the way you reccomended and it all works fine. However I think I may have pressed something I shouldn't have. I now can't change my shutter speed. On the left hand side of the shutter speed There is now the letter L. looks like I have somehow locked it. Do you have any suggestions please ?

any issues getting sharp images. with the z9 and f lenses? 600mm F4 G

Excellent. However, how do I set up A through D shooting banks so, for example, bank A can be Afs (back button focus -red square turns green when in focus) and then use bank B for Afc people and bank C for Afc animals?

please post the liebe nk to the site where i can buy the ebooks

At 4:58 I notice Flash control is disabled. Can you please tell me how to enable it? Thanks

I feel like the back button focus is no longer needed for mirrorless camera, since the tracking is much more more reliable than DSLR Using AF-ON button for an alternative af mode works great. You can half press shutter to focus in auto area or other mode, while make AF-ON button to activate 3D tracking. If the camera already detected a subject in other focus mode, you can half press shutter and hold af-on button to switch to 3d tracking mode while maintaining the tracking subject, this can improve the tracking reliability, and less likely to jump to other subject.

Is there a way to set up a function button for back button focus when you want it say a landscape but use the shutter button for tracking action?

Back button focus is fine, but I find that I prefer to have one of the lens buttons set for focus..so I guess that is called lens button focus :)

Where in this setup does the shutter button get turned off?

You read the manual. That makes you a top 1% in my books. Just received the z9. I missed getting my Nikon Pro order in before the deadline. Better late than later.

Me who cannot afford this camera but stayed for the entirety of it. My D800 will have a long shelf life. At least for now.

This is about the most confusing video ever! Poorly explained. The back button settings are muddled. I rewound/played many times but never knew what yellow button you finally wanted. I finally gave up and turned it off. Very frustrating to try to follow your directions. Just list, in order, step by step, and the final settings for back button! Would appreciate a follow up detailed note.

Thank you! @keho_nature_photo

Thanks!