Z System: Common Problems, including User Mistakes

[fcotterill]

A useful check list to troubleshoot. I plead guilty to a few of these

Common Problems I Keep Having to Answer About | Thom Hogan

Some common problems to check for with your Nikon Z mirrorless camera

www.zsystemuser.com

 

[mjais]

I recently drove (30m) to a park in Munich and then the Z8 wouldn't take a picture. Turned out I left the card at home
After about an hour, I was back with a card and got some nice shots.
But now I always double check that a card is inside a camera before I put it into a backpack.

I also check settings like AF, fps and that I do not have a self-timer or delayed exposure turned on (e.g. after a landscape shoot) when I go after wildlife. Sometimes I forget to turn off delayed exposure or set the camera to the wrong shooting bank. Best to check all this before the flying unicorn shows up and you only got one shot

 

[ajrmd]

I recently drove (30m) to a park in Munich and then the Z8 wouldn't take a picture. Turned out I left the card at home
After about an hour, I was back with a card and got some nice shots.
But now I always double check that a card is inside a camera before I put it into a backpack.

I also check settings like AF, fps and that I do not have a self-timer or delayed exposure turned on (e.g. after a landscape shoot) when I go after wildlife. Sometimes I forget to turn off delayed exposure or set that camera to the wrong shooting bank. Best to check all this before the flying unicorn shows up and you only got one shot

Another strategy is to always leave a spare battery(ies) and card(s) in the backpack, presuming you take your backpack.

 

[NorthernFocus]

Consistent with @Steve saying that most problems occur four inches behind the viewfinder. I'd go as far as saying 99.9 percent of problems. Personally I fear some day my skull will implode as the vacuum caused by the void between my ears increases.

 

[Palouse]

I've been bitten several (OK, Many) times by the "mirror-up" setting on my D2x, which required 2 push of the shutter release. But my best operator error was driving 100 miles to photograph a wind farm in an intense thunder/lighting storm, only to discover that I had forgotten (??) to loda my 2 camera bodies in my pack!

 

[wotan1]

My biggest problem is that I put the card into the reader for processing and I forget to get it back out and into the camera. Fortunately I shoot with Z9's so I have dual CF B slots.

I just bought another Delkin Black card so now I have fairly high capacity cars in the 2 spot so even if I forget I still have plenty of card capacity. For a trip I am going to bring my card reader so I should not have to be down to one card for more than one shoot.

I have taken to storing everything I might need in my backpack so the chance of leaving something behind is less now.

 

[Krümelkraft]

I recently drove (30m) to a park in Munich and then the Z8 wouldn't take a picture. Turned out I left the card at home
After about an hour, I was back with a card and got some nice shots.
But now I always double check that a card is inside a camera before I put it into a backpack.

That is the actual reason why I have two cards in the camera. When I forget to put No.1 back into the camera after downloading pictures, I still have No.2 inside.
It happened to me several times.

 

[agrumpybirdphotographer]

Consistent with @Steve saying that most problems occur four inches behind the viewfinder. I'd go as far as saying 99.9 percent of problems. Personally I fear some day my skull will implode as the vacuum caused by the void between my ears increases.

Yip me too Dan, only gets worse with age as well in my experience…..

 

[Lee R]

My biggest problem is that I put the card into the reader for processing and I forget to get it back out and into the camera. Fortunately I shoot with Z9's so I have dual CF B slots.

I just bought another Delkin Black card so now I have fairly high capacity cars in the 2 spot so even if I forget I still have plenty of card capacity. For a trip I am going to bring my card reader so I should not have to be down to one card for more than one shoot.

I have taken to storing everything I might need in my backpack so the chance of leaving something behind is less now.

That is the actual reason why I have two cards in the camera. When I forget to put No.1 back into the camera after downloading pictures, I still have No.2 inside.
It happened to me several times.

I have my Z8 and Zf networked to my home router using infrastructure mode. You can select exact or all photo's from the back LCD and once in the networks range it'll upload automatically to a folder on my desktop ready to get dropped into Lightroom or whatever I'm using. It's a lot faster than Snapbridge and I just go about doing whatever while the camera offloads. That way there's no constant pulling of cards or pulling the rubber flaps off to use the usb cable. And I can't forget my memory cards that way.

Both use 802.11 AC which can transmit up to 1.3GB/s.

 

[Anjin San]

I have my Z8 and Zf networked to my home router using infrastructure mode. You can select exact or all photo's from the back LCD and once in the networks range it'll upload automatically to a folder on my desktop ready to get dropped into Lightroom or whatever I'm using. It's a lot faster than Snapbridge and I just go about doing whatever while the camera offloads. That way there's no constant pulling of cards or pulling the rubber flaps off to use the usb cable. And I can't forget my memory cards that way.

Both use 802.11 AC which can transmit up to 1.3GB/s

I’m going to look at setting that up. My current method is to use a card reader…and hving learned the importance of standard procedures in my submarine days…my process to offload is the same every time…although it is a slightly different process on the road with the laptop. Always doing it the same way makes it muscle memory to some extent and minimizes the likelihood of leaving the card behind. I also have a master packing list for both trips and local outings tha5 I always follow to remember everything.

I normally keep the wifi off in my Z8s…if I set this up and then turn wifi off does it need resetting up every time. Leaving it setup would affect battery life of course.