This year I added Nikon mirrorless cameras to my photo business and have been very happy with them. After spending so many years mastering the Nikon DSLR cameras, including writing many books and teaching hundreds of workshops on those systems, I came to really trust the performance of Nikon’s DSLR cameras.

Platforms like the Nikon D5, D850 and D500 are excellent and are some of the best cameras ever created. Now that I’ve started using the Nikon Z-series in my business, I wanted to set up the buttons and functionality to match those DSLRs as closely as possible.

Autofocus performance is critical for me, but unlike the D5/D850/D500, the Z 6 and Z 7 don’t have a dedicated exterior button you can press to quickly access the AF options. This video shows you how to set up a function button for quick access to the AF mode settings such as:

AF Servo

  • AF-S
  • AF-C
  • Manual

AF Area Mode

  • Single
  • Group
  • Wide-S
  • Wide-L
  • Auto Area (with eye-tracking)

Even though can access these settings from menus, it is so much more efficient to quickly press a button while rotating the command dials. If you own a Nikon Z 6 or Nikon Z 7, then I encourage you to make this change. You won’t regret it!