Hard to believe, I know, but it’s true.
All this time I’ve been complaining about this damn joystick thingy that controls the focus point on the Nikon Z series cameras, saying that it’s totally useless etc. but I’ve just discovered there IS a use for it, and it turns out that it’s VERY useful indeed.
Situation: out with my camera, early one morning, aiming to shoot the sunrise over the Pyrénées. Not unnaturally, the camera, equipped with the 70-200 f/4 lens, is firmly seated on a tripod. This is what I see in the viewfinder:-
The focus point falls on the flanks of the mountain (not a lot of contrast there) so to be sure I’m actually focusing on an area that the camera can use to focus, and instead of releasing the ball-head lock and moving the camera up to move the focus point, I moved the little joystick thingy up a couple of blips so that it was on the crest of the mountain and BAMM – it focused perfectly. All this WITHOUT moving the camera. I’m frankly astounded at just how long it has taken me to realize this.
I never thought I’d ever find a use for this damn thing – and now, in the space of a week, I’ve found that there is a use for it, AND that I can programme it to reset itself if I accidentally move it. The world is truly a wonderful place!
More news – it would seem that there is a new firmware update for the Z6/7 coming from Nikon this week. No confirmation, but it’s likely to enable people to use the ProRes RAW format for video enthusiasts, and improved autofocus. Still no news on the firmware update to enable the use of CFExpress cards – which are now available.