C2PA – Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity – came to the Z 6III with the 2.0 Firmware update. This is cutting edge, brand new stuff (Beta) and with it being new, questions pop up. The first is, “I installed the firmware update but can’t find C2PA in the menus!” That’s is correct, it’s not there until you finish up installing it via the Nikon Imaging Cloud website. In short, your Z 6III (only Nikon currently capable of C2PA) talks to the Nikon Cloud where the certificate is created that then resides in the Z 6III. Before going further and giving you the impression I fully understand this new technology, I do not. But I have done a deep dive in the past 24hrs and want to share what I’ve learned. The most important things are, this is Beta and, this will be important in the years to come.

What does this all do for you? The short story is, it creates a document that another party can access (if attached to the image) with all, and I mean all, that has been done to a particular image since the shutter went click. Nikon created a page (you need to be signed in to view) with a short rundown into C2PA. If you have the latest version of Ps, in the Window drop-down menu you will see Content Credentials (Beta) which I have just started to explore. What’s the purpose of all of this? In the short form, it’s to assure the viewer that what they are seeing is what was photographed and not created by AI. In the long form, the implications are far-reaching. For now, I just wanted to explain why you don’t automatically see the option in your menu and provide a little insight into where this technology might be going. It is cool and a hat tip to Nikon for spearheading this effort as C2PA comes to the Z 6III.

Ami’s gift to engage our hearts with her stories is a true gift! Her latest The Last Rhinos: A New Hope, is magnificent and is simply, a must see!

I Love Photoshop World! It’s a ton of fun creating the new classes I’ll be presenting (Costa Rica Birds & ACR Presets & Masking), working with all the other spectacular instructors, and meeting all of YOU! Registration is open and waiting for you to click. Head to the web site, check all who is teaching, what they are teaching and then join in. Can’t wait to see you there!!!

Sensor cleaning with Z bodies is nowhere as often nor as traumatic as it was in the days of the DSLR! I love that. If cleaning your sensor makes you nervous, then by all means you should have Nikon clean it, which is what they recommend in the first place. With that said, I still receive emails asking if sensor cleaning has changed with the Z 8 or Z 6III? The quick answer is no, the same as in my Sensor Cleaning ’19 with one, small exception. With the Z 9 / Z 8, I go into My Menu and change Sensor shield behavior at power off from On to Off. With that, I pull the battery, turn on the Z 9 Z 8 to bleed off any power that might remain in the system, then proceed to wet clean the sensor as needed. I then insert the battery into the Z 9 / Z 8, and go to My Menu > Sensor shield behavior at power off from Off to On. That’s it, nothing to it. Just keep in mind this is how I do it and is not recommended in the instruction manual.

And just as a reminder … practice your gentle touch with the swab PRIOR to cleaning. With the swab in its plastic sleeve, practice having a light touch by pressing down the swab/plastic sleeve so the end of the plastic sleeve BARELY bends with the pressure you’re creating. easy peasy!