Z7 menu settings

andiamo

The number of options is quite large. They are not well explained -- especially the combination of options for various shooting environments. Is anyone aware of a site that has recommendations for the best setting for landscapes, sports, portraits....?

ziggy53

Sorry I missed this question.

For settings suggestions you really need to get a general photography book.
Learn the Exposure Triad and how that applies to different combinations of Environmental Lighting vs Studio Lighting, (Ambient vs Flash Lighting, Ambient plus Flash Lighting) etc.
Practice in Manual Mode first, under controlled situations and with no expectations other than to learn exposure settings and consequences.
You might also consider a photography class at a local High School or Community College.

The answers are pretty vast, depending upon your intent.

For instance, Sports/Action/BIF photography is generally biased towards short shutter speeds, except when you want to show motion blur. Once you know whether you want to stop the action or blur the action, and set the Shutter Speed accordingly, you then set Aperture for the DOF and ISO for the exposure itself.

andiamo

Thanks for the response. I do know all of that, but the Z7 has many options and many of them interact. For example, what is the best trade off between vibration reduction and lower ISO? Without a better description of vibration reduction, it's hard to know.
thanks,
Eric

ziggy53

@andiamo said:
Thanks for the response. I do know all of that, but the Z7 has many options and many of them interact. For example, what is the best trade off between vibration reduction and lower ISO? Without a better description of vibration reduction, it's hard to know.
thanks,
Eric

VR, the Nikon abbreviation for "Vibration Reduction", varies by lens and the effectiveness can vary by user. It's best to test lenses for their effectiveness in "your" hands and under typical conditions for your style(s) of shooting. I, personally, never use the manufacturer's rating as I find them often too optimistic. In very gross terms I generally find that I can perform best up to around 1 stop less than the manufacturer's rating for VR, but some telephoto lenses may actually be less than that.

For a real-use scenario, if I have tested and found a stabilized lens to provide 3-stops of VR, that can mean an offset of 3-stops slower of ISO (say, from un-stabilized ISO 800 to stabilized ISO 100). This might be useful to maximize Dynamic Range in the scene while handheld, and allow a 3-stops larger aperture to reduce Depth-Of-Field, maintaining a given shutter speed to preserve exposure. Obviously, if you only need to trade 1 or 2-stops that works too.

In reality, and I can't stress this enough, experiential knowledge is the very best determinant for setting exposure. That includes knowing when to "push the limits" of what might be normally sensible and when to be extremely conservative with settings and technique.

About the only "absolute" VR/IS thing I follow is to turn off stabilization during tripod/monopod use, except during horizontal motion tracking when the lens has a stabilization mode for tracking. Even small vibrations can otherwise trigger the stabilization and cause unwanted image affectations.