Hello Ladies and Gentlemen
It is wonderful you have your new tools and are learning to use them
But I am sorry - how about this as an idea -- please check the manual before stating X or Y is broken or asking a very simple question -- all the answers you need are in the guidance -- AND there is very specific guidance about which buttons can be allocated what roles. Almost all can.
Obviously by Manual I mean all the documentation available from the
Nikon Download Centre
You can also buy Steve Perry' Z8/Z9 wonderful guide or Thom Hogan's far more detailed bible. Hudson Henry has posted a very detailed explanation on YT which many of us have watched.
If you look at
THIS THREAD you will discover guidance and be able to share experience with others who are getting to grips with the Z8.
NOW please also follow this guidance -- set your camera to Stills, SINGLE release mode and Manual Exposure mode -- then go through the settings setting up your camera AND try it out BEFORE exploring every other option -- each of which have CONSEQUENCES when used. Keep TONE MODE in SDR for now.
CONSEQUENCE NO 1 -- 30, 60, 120 fps ONLY provide JPG (or HEIF) - so obviously RAW file options are Grey'd out == many folk seem to head of to 120fps and get themselves stuck
CONSEQUENCE NO 2 -- if you want to shoot at the highest FPS or the highests resolution and fps format video YOU MUST HAVE a top performing CF Express TYPE B card -- Delkin Black, ProGrade Cobalt or similar -- NO XQD or SD card will support these for more than a very few moments if at all -- the data write speed/volume is simply too large/high for these older slower cards. Sure an older card can last 4-6 seconds and then the camera states it cannot work with the card -- this is because the USER chose to use the WRONG card -- If you want or need to shoot 8.3k 60p HQ N-RAW N-LOG 12-bit footage then you have to have a TOP CFE-B x2 card - A suitable 650GB card fills in 15.19 minutes in High Quality and 25.03 minutes in Normal Quality (most of us should only use Normal quality)
CONSEQUENCE NO 3 -- do not use the SD/UHS ii card as BACKUP unless you want to severely throttle the camera's performance -- no SD card can accept data at the speed at which the Z8 needs when writing long bursts or high data videos. If you "must" have backups - simply select and copy images from your CFE-B card to the SD card when you have finished shooting action or whatever you need to keep safe. BTW - you could use the same time to offload to a mobile device using snapbridge as well.
CONSEQUENCE NO 4 -- the camera will ONLY shoot at 20 fps when shutter speeds faster than 1/200th are used - at 1/200th and a little slower fps drops to 15fps. It drops to even lower rates at slower shutter speeds.
ONLY use Nikon EN-EL 15C, 15B or 15A batteries -- please no more whining -- you have spent $4k on the body an extra $50 for a battery is little for you to have to pay. Buy the 15C if you want the best performance. Battery performance in a mirrorless body is different to a DSLR -- the fact a Mirrorless camera has an EVF means it uses a little more power. You can use a Z8 turned on for between 1 and 1.5 hours. So turn the camera off when you are not using it. Adjust EVF/LCD brightness and change time to standby to reduce battery consumption.
Z lenses Lenses with VR - lock the VR units when they are turned off (or the camera goes into standby) and unlocks when power is on again -- this makes a tiny sound -- get used to it.
Please go to the linked thread and share your experiences and questions there.