Settings Need Muscle Memory

My Menu on my Z 9 … you can click to see all the options

If you have a Z 9, D6 or any Nikon body, you know what I’m talking about. There is a boat load of options / features / tools available to us with the push of a button. It is after all a very complicated computer we’re using to bring back to share our visual stories. But I gotta tell ya I’ve picked up a few photographers camera and push a button and I felt like I was launching Starship and with kinda the same results … rapid disassembly! Most definitely we need to experiment with the feature we associate with a certain button to see how it aids our photography but there is a time when we need to stop experimenting and get to shooting. The biggest issue I’ve come across with photographers is, there are TOO many available options! How to narrow them down, that’s the challenge. What I recommend is finding the top ten and making those your primary. Why ten? Because we have ten fingers and when it comes to muscle memory, that’s most folks limit. Programming buttons with features is only as good as your remembering IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE which finger hittin what button makes what feature come to life.

I state quite honestly that I can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. It’s knowing my own limitations combined with the photographs I want to bring home that I set up all my settings and program the various buttons as I do. We all have a different logic system, physical abilities and most importantly, passion to tell our stories. The settings I have listed below while being my everyday settings, they are just a starting point for you. Think through those top ten you depend on most and use that as a starting point and then put the power of Nikon’s engineering and craftsmanship in your hands! Literally!!