Nikon Zf firmware 2.0 released

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abc123brian said:

Changes from “C” Firmware Version 1.21 to 2.00
Note: Users of the following software will need to update to the latest versions.
  • • NX Studio version 1.7.1 or later, NX Tether version 2.2.0 or later, IPTC Preset Manager version 1.3.0 or later, SnapBridge version 2.12.0 or later, NX MobileAir version 1.2.0 or later
Note: The changes listed below under “Still Photography”, “Video Recording”, “Playback”, “Controls”, “Displays”, and “Network” are detailed in the Supplementary Firmware Update Manual.
Note: Due to the addition of new menu items, some Custom Settings menu items have been renumbered.
■ Still Photography
  • • Added support for the Nikon Imaging Cloud service.
    • - Importing imaging recipes (image editing settings published on Nikon Imaging Cloud) to the camera is now available.
    • - Uploading images taken with the camera to Nikon Imaging Cloud and automatically transferring them to other cloud services is now available.
  • • Added support for importing Custom Picture Controls based on “Flexible Color” created in NX Studio.
  • • Added [Birds] to [AF/MF subject detection options] > [Subject detection] in the photo shooting menu.
  • • Added [Large] to the size options available for [Secondary slot function] > [JPEG primary - JPEG secondary] in the photo shooting menu.
  • • Added new bracketing increments for use during auto bracketing with [AE & flash bracketing], [AE bracketing], or [Flash bracketing] selected for [Auto bracketing set]. This change also applies to [Interval timer shooting] > [Options] > [AE bracketing] > [Increment].
  • • Long exposure noise reduction is now enabled when the following menu items are set to [ON]:
    • - [Interval timer shooting] > [Electronic shutter options] > [Electronic shutter]
    • - [Time-lapse video] > [Electronic shutter options] > [Electronic shutter]
    • - [Focus shift shooting] > [Electronic shutter options] > [Electronic shutter]
  • • Flash mode is now set to off when [Focus shift shooting] > [Interval until next shot] is set to [0] during focus shift.
■ Video Recording
  • • Added support for the Nikon Imaging Cloud service.
    • - Importing imaging recipes (image editing settings published on Nikon Imaging Cloud) to the camera is now available.
  • • Added support for importing Custom Picture Controls based on “Flexible Color” created in NX Studio.
  • • Added [Birds] to [AF/MF subject detection options] > [Subject detection] in the video recording menu.
  • • Added low ISO sensitivity options to [ISO sensitivity settings] > [ISO sensitivity (mode M)] for use during N-Log video recording.
  • • Added [Hi-Res Zoom] to the [VIDEO RECORDING MENU].
  • • Added a [Hi-Res Zoom speed] item to the [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU] in position of g7.
  • • Added options for customizing the brightness information display to g15 [Brightness information display] in the [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU].
  • • Added a function to include file names used in the camera when recording videos to an external recorder that supports file name transmission via HDMI. The following Atomos external recorders support this function (as of March 2025).
    • - Ninja V *
    • - Ninja V+ *
    • - Ninja (2023 models)
    • - Ninja Ultra
    • - Shogun (2023 models)
    • - Shogun Ultra
    • - Shogun Connect *
      * Some recorders may require an ATOMOS OS upgrade or paid activation of the recorder. Contact ATOMOS for details.
■ Playback
  • • Added [Customize retouch options] to [Retouch] in the playback “i” menu.
  • • Added [Auto image rotation] in the playback menu.
  • • Added [Auto series playback options] to [Series playback] in the playback menu.
  • • Added a width of 4608 pixels to the size options available for [Resize (current picture)] and [Resize (multiple pictures)] for [Retouch] in the playback “i” menu when RAW images are displayed.
■ Controls
  • • Separate settings are now available for [ISO sensitivity settings] > [Auto ISO sensitivity control] in the photo shooting menu when the ISO sensitivity dial is set to C or to a value of 100 to 64000.
  • • Added [Save and load power zoom position]* to f2 [Custom controls (shooting)] and g2 [Custom controls] in the [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU].
  • • Added a [Zoom ring control (PZ lens)] item to the [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU] in position of f11.
  • • Custom Settings f12 and g8 in the [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU] is now [Assign power zoom]. In addition, [Power zoom speed] has been divided into two items: [Power zoom speed (zoom buttons)] and [Power zoom speed (zoom switch)]*.
  • • Added [Focus point border width] to a10 [Focus point display] in the [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU].
  • • Added an [Easy ISO] item to the [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU] in position of b3.
  • • Added an [Exposure delay mode] item to the [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU] in position d5.
  • • Added [Half-press to cancel zoom (MF)] items to the [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU] in positions d18 and g16.
  • • Added to the custom control roles assignable via the following items in the [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU]. New reset options have also been added.
    • - f1 and g1 [Customize i menu]
    • - f2 [Custom controls (shooting)] and g2 [Custom controls]
    • - f3 [Custom controls (playback)]
      Note
    : Added an advanced feature of [Exposure setting (mode M)] to Custom Setting f2 [Custom controls (shooting)] > [Command dials] > [Exposure setting] and exposure compensation and ISO sensitivity can now be set using the command dials in photo shooting in mode M.
    Note: The command dial roles in mode S can now be switched using Custom Setting g2 [Custom controls] > [Command dials] > [Exposure setting] when recording video.
  • • Added [Double-tapping operation] to f4 [Touch Fn] > [Assign touch Fn] > [Move focus point] in the [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU].
  • • Made updates to [Non-CPU lens data] in the [SETUP MENU].
  • • Increased the character limit from 3 to 256 for “Category” entries in IPTC presets.
* This feature is available with NIKKOR Z 28-135mm f/4 PZ lenses (as of March 2025).
■ Displays
  • • Added focus-distance information to the focus distance indicator displayed during manual focus.
  • • Live view display zoom is now up to 400%.
  • • The option selected for [Viewfinder display size] (formerly [Finder display size (photo Lv)]) in the [SETUP MENU] now also applies in video and playback modes.
■ Network
  • • Added a [Nikon Imaging Cloud] item to the [NETWORK MENU].
    • - Firmware can now be downloaded directly from Nikon Imaging Cloud.
  • • Added features to [Connect to FTP server] in the [NETWORK MENU].
  • • ATOMOS AirGlu BT accessories and MC-N10 remote grips can now be used together.
  • • A warning now appears when the connection to an ATOMOS AirGlu BT accessory is unstable or disrupted.
■ App-Related Changes
With NX MobileAir:
  • • the camera live view display for photo mode now shows NX MobileAir status, and
  • • camera settings saved to a memory card using [Save/load menu settings] can now be downloaded to the smart device or copied from the smart device to the camera memory card using NX MobileAir.
■ Other Changes
  • • Changed the video low-capacity warning so that it is now displayed in white on a red background when there is less than one minute remaining. The warning is now also displayed when recording is not in progress.
  • • The RGB histogram is now easier to view when [Mode 1] or [Mode 2] is selected for d12 [Warm display colors] in [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU].
  • • Fixed the following issues:
    • - Some operations would prevent the focus points from being displayed or cause delays in monitor display.
    • - The monochrome option would not be available in the “i” menu when B&W (black-and-white photo mode) was selected.
    • - The exposure compensation icon appeared in the settings display for g2 [Custom controls] > [Command dials] in the [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU].
    • - Files could not be uploaded if the destination folder name contained half-width spaces when an FTP server was added in the connection wizard in [Connect to FTP server] > [Network settings] in the [NETWORK MENU].
    • - The camera would sometimes stop responding if the monitor was closed while zooming in the image during playback when connected to an external monitor or recorder via HDMI.
    • - The displayed images would be corrupted when zooming in during playback with the camera monitor closed and the camera connected to an external monitor or recorder via HDMI.
    • - The values on the control panel would remain on after the camera was turned off and the lens was removed while the camera was connected to SnapBridge via Wi-Fi and upload of pictures to smart devices was enabled even when the camera was off.
    • - Renamed d13 [Display on during burst] in [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU].
Click to expand...
Sorting through all the new Zf updates and the “Non-CPU” lens labeling in the “i-menu” seemed to be an easy place to start …. I like this!
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That is an excellent find. I just labeled all mind in Non-CPU Lenses last night, 7 manual lenses by name now which is nice. Also very nice we can adjust the EXIF aperture data with the command wheels.
 
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John Navitsky said:
i suspect it’s actually an architectural limitation. my suspicion is the jpg pre-capture is actually exploiting the evf data stream. max pre-capture is 120fps, same as the evf.
Click to expand...
It is a possibility but I don’t think that is it is using the EVF feed. My Zf and Z50ii also have precapture and don’t have separate feeds. Also, the EVF feed is likely not full resolution. Most likely the precapture is using video in some way instead of the standard stills mode and the entire code needs to be rewritten to address it and there could be a hardware limitation in why they went that way. But it would be easier to capture a jpg from video that a .nef file.
 
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abc123brian said:
It is a possibility but I don’t think that is it is using the EVF feed. My Zf and Z50ii also have precapture and don’t have separate feeds. Also, the EVF feed is likely not full resolution. Most likely the precapture is using video in some way instead of the standard stills mode and the entire code needs to be rewritten to address it and there could be a hardware limitation in why they went that way. But it would be easier to capture a jpg from video that a .nef file.
Click to expand...
So here goes...
I’ve been digging into the hardware specifics a bit more, and I’m fairly confident the Z8/Z9 could technically handle HE RAW precapture. It feels like a firmware decision rather than a hard hardware limitation.

Some rough numbers for context:

Sensor output: The Z9/Z8 stacked CMOS is ~46MP, 14-bit readout. Conservatively, that's:
46 MP × 14 bits ≈ 644 Mb per frame, or ~80.5 MB/frame uncompressed RAW.

At 20 fps, that’s around:
80.5 MB × 20 = ~1.61 GB/s uncompressed.

However, HE RAW is typically around 1/3 to 1/2 the size of uncompressed RAW, depending on scene complexity. So you’re looking at maybe ~500–800 MB/s in HE RAW precapture, which is already more efficient than JPEG at high quality (JPEGs from the Z9 full-res are surprisingly large — around ~20–50 MB/frame at best quality, which adds up fast).

Sensor-to-buffer bandwidth: The sensor’s internal stacked DRAM (Sony-derived) has estimated bus speeds in the 10–12 Gbps range, well beyond these numbers. And the EXPEED 7 processor is rated for extremely high throughput, given it’s already handling 8K60p RAW video internally, which is heavier than stills capture at burst rates.

Buffer capacity: Z9/Z8 buffer sizes are around 1000+ RAW frames before slowdown, so even a precapture buffer of a few seconds of HE RAW is entirely plausible.


Given these numbers, the bottleneck doesn’t seem to be bandwidth or processing — it's likely firmware optimization or design priorities (heat management, feature segmentation, etc.). Also, if precapture is implemented smartly (dropping to lower bit depth during capture, or delaying HE RAW compression until post-buffer), it could easily stay within the system’s tolerances.

In short, the hardware seems to be there. The JPEG-only precapture feels more like a conscious design limitation rather than a true technical ceiling.

Would be great to see this explored in a firmware update — even a modest HE RAW prebuffer of 1–2 seconds would be a game-changer for action and wildlife shooters.

If anyone has teardown data or deeper internal bus specs, would love to sanity-check these estimates!
 
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maxxus46 said:
Buffer capacity: Z9/Z8 buffer sizes are around 1000+ RAW frames before slowdown, so even a precapture buffer of a few seconds of HE RAW is entirely plausible.
Click to expand...
this is not the buffer, you’re thinking about a combination of the buffer plus the ability of the card to empty the buffer almost as fast as it fills

from a design perspective a pre capture system would be best designed such that it never writes to the card until you commit to begin recording thus the actual buffer, ie, the in-camera memory is the important part

i don’t think we know exactly how large the buffer is, but we can get a feel for it with the r)emaining counter in the bottom right of the evf and we can see it’s quite small

this suggests the amount of frames using raw it could hold is quite small, ie maybe 1 second at 20fps

so yah, without more understanding of how the imaging pipeline works, we could say, yah, it might be able to have a small raw pre capture capability

and for me, and likely others, i’d be happy with a .25s or .5s pre capture

however if you look at how nikon designed pre capture, they clearly are thinking of a different use case with the parameters they provide. thus, i suspect nikon doesn’t feel that would fit the use case they are designing to and thus, the way i think they think… it’s not worth doing
 
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maxxus46 said:
However, HE RAW is typically around 1/3 to 1/2 the size of uncompressed RAW, depending on scene complexity. So you’re looking at maybe ~500–800 MB/s in HE RAW precapture, which is already more efficient than JPEG at high quality (JPEGs from the Z9 full-res are surprisingly large — around ~20–50 MB/frame at best quality,
Click to expand...
i think we should assume the buffer is at the beginning of the imaging pipeline.

ie,

sensor —-> buffer —-> picture adjustments —-> encoding—-> write to card

that is to say it comes from the sensor and is put directly in the buffer memory which means it likely is always going in UNcompressed.

to do what you suggest means they’d have to take the uncompressed image, compress it and then put it back in the buffer.

if the image were compressed going into the buffer, we’d likely already have this feature.

i think we can safely say there is a difficulty based on how the imaging pipeline is designed that makes this problematic or impossible
 
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we also have to remember that even if it is not problematic to write post encoded images back into the buffer, you still need to use the buffer for buffer purposes, like providing a spot for images to be stored while they are being written to the card, and none of this will be acceptable if there are glitches in your capture stream
 
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John Navitsky said:
we also have to remember that even if it is not problematic to write post encoded images back into the buffer, you still need to use the buffer for buffer purposes, like providing a spot for images to be stored while they are being written to the card, and none of this will be acceptable if there are glitches in your capture stream
Click to expand...
I think there’s a bit of conflation between buffer stages and data flow. Imaging pipelines typically use multiple buffers: sensor output buffers (via DMA), intermediate buffers during ISP, and output buffers before encoding or storage.

When you mention compressing and then writing back to the buffer, that suggests a loop, but pipelines are generally linear. Data moves from one buffer to the next: read, processed (compressed or otherwise), then written downstream. There’s no need to send data back to the original buffer.

Whether compression happens before or after buffering depends entirely on which buffer you’re referring to. Some architectures even apply early-stage compression (sensor-level or ISP) to reduce bandwidth before reaching the main memory buffer.

So it’s not about reversing flow — it’s about where compression is introduced relative to the pipeline’s buffer stages.
 
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maxxus46 said:
Imaging pipelines typically use multiple buffers: sensor output buffers (via DMA), intermediate buffers during ISP, and output buffers before encoding or storage.
Click to expand...
i think in this, we agree and the reality is we have very limited information about their design and it’s difficult for us to make conclusions of any certainty based on what we know
 
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John Navitsky said:
this is not the buffer, you’re thinking about a combination of the buffer plus the ability of the card to empty the buffer almost as fast as it fills

from a design perspective a pre capture system would be best designed such that it never writes to the card until you commit to begin recording thus the actual buffer, ie, the in-camera memory is the important part

i don’t think we know exactly how large the buffer is, but we can get a feel for it with the r)emaining counter in the bottom right of the evf and we can see it’s quite small

this suggests the amount of frames using raw it could hold is quite small, ie maybe 1 second at 20fps

so yah, without more understanding of how the imaging pipeline works, we could say, yah, it might be able to have a small raw pre capture capability

and for me, and likely others, i’d be happy with a .25s or .5s pre capture

however if you look at how nikon designed pre capture, they clearly are thinking of a different use case with the parameters they provide. thus, i suspect nikon doesn’t feel that would fit the use case they are designing to and thus, the way i think they think… it’s not worth doing
Click to expand...
All of this makes sense. I have no doubt that the next generation of Z9 / Z8 will incorporate RAW prerecapture in some form. I suspect it wasn’t accommodated in the Z9 design spec and performance in later test firmware proved unsatisfactory. It’ll come, but in time. For now, I’m not concerned about it.
 
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beano said:
Might be useful for someone -> after updating mine to the new FW, I had to reset to factory defaults before the new auto/manual ISO mode would work as intended (via the ISO dial). So if yours is acting weird wrt mode this after the update, you know what to do ;)
Click to expand...
Mine will not change ISO by spinning the dial after installing new FW. I'd really like to avoid resetting the camera. Any ideas?
 
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I tried the reset after saving my settings. The ISO dial worked as everyone says it should with 2.0. I then loaded my settings back. The ISO dial stopped working. I must have something (?) in my settings that is messing this up, but I have no idea what it is.
 
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Do you have a somewhat related question? I received my ZF in time for a planned trip. I am learning about the camera and trying to set it up so it is similar to my Z9. Can I program the front dial to adjust shutter speed in manual mode? It seems like a basic method to have in this level of camera. If possible, could someone assist me in how to be able to reprogram the front dial for shutter speed?
 
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Mjmagee said:
Do you have a somewhat related question? I received my ZF in time for a planned trip. I am learning about the camera and trying to set it up so it is similar to my Z9. Can I program the front dial to adjust shutter speed in manual mode? It seems like a basic method to have in this level of camera. If possible, could someone assist me in how to be able to reprogram the front dial for shutter speed?
Click to expand...
If you set the shutter speed dial on top to 1/3 step it defaults to front dial for aperture and rear dial for shutter speed. I haven’t looked but I would assume you can swap them the same as you did on your Z9. It would be in the custom controls shooting menu.
 
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abc123brian said:
If you set the shutter speed dial on top to 1/3 step it defaults to front dial for aperture and rear dial for shutter speed. I haven’t looked but I would assume you can swap them the same as you did on your Z9. It would be in the custom controls shooting menu.
Click to expand...
Yes, the controls for main and sub command dials can be set in custom settings f2: Command dials.
 
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beano said:
Might be useful for someone -> after updating mine to the new FW, I had to reset to factory defaults before the new auto/manual ISO mode would work as intended (via the ISO dial). So if yours is acting weird wrt mode this after the update, you know what to do ;)
Click to expand...
You didn’t have to reset to defaults. It’s not obvious but after upgrading the firmware if you put the iso wheel on C and select auto iso and then move the iso dial off C to any # and select auto ISO off, it will then work as you expected. That being when you later put dial on C it will be auto iso and when you move off C it will set iso to the # selected.
 
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Bikeman said:
You didn’t have to reset to defaults. It’s not obvious but after upgrading the firmware if you put the iso wheel on C and select auto iso and then move the iso dial off C to any # and select auto ISO off, it will then work as you expected. That being when you later put dial on C it will be auto iso and when you move off C it will set iso to the # selected.
Click to expand...
Like said, mine was acting weird, and I had to reset to get it to work proper. I did exactly as you have described, and for one or two tries, it worked - then it went goldilocks on me, and I had to reset to defaults.

So yes, I had to reset it at the end. It is probably good practice to reset things after FW upgrades, same goes for computers when I do BIOS updates, I always reset to factory defaults, and it seems to avoid most issues. Anyway, whatever works best for you, use that method - my comment was aimed at that unfortunate enough to run into the same hassle I did.
 
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beano said:
Like said, mine was acting weird, and I had to reset to get it to work proper. I did exactly as you have described, and for one or two tries, it worked - then it went goldilocks on me, and I had to reset to defaults.

So yes, I had to reset it at the end. It is probably good practice to reset things after FW upgrades, same goes for computers when I do BIOS updates, I always reset to factory defaults, and it seems to avoid most issues. Anyway, whatever works best for you, use that method - my comment was aimed at that unfortunate enough to run into the same hassle I did.
Click to expand...
Sorry I didn’t realize it had worked for you initially. Just trying to save someone else from tho kin they had to reset to defaults as only way to implement.
 
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Bikeman said:
Sorry I didn’t realize it had worked for you initially. Just trying to save someone else from tho kin they had to reset to defaults as only way to implement.
Click to expand...
Ha, no worries, appreciate your feedback though. Yeah, it was quite funny that it work on the first try it two, but then just went cray-cray on me, and that was it, haha. But all good since the reset, had it out quite a few times and been faultless since ;)
 
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