I was out shooting with a friend and they saw in My Menu on the Z7 I had the menu option Image Size. They asked why … why would you want to limit the size of the file if you’d paid for a megapixel camera? Now that’s a really darn good question. I think my response surprised them so I thought I’d share it with you. To start off with, the Z7 and D850 have an option to change the file size they record. The Large file for the Z7 is a 45.4MB Nef (260MB once opened in PS) for example.
That’s a great big, gorgeous file that prints up big and beautiful. And when you come back from a week of shooting and file 4000 of those big, gorgeous images, that’s a lot of hard drive space eaten up. But what if you’re not going to make big ass prints, do you need those big files? In this example, I was taking some family portraits in less than desirable circumstances. I didn’t need or want big files for what I consider to be no more than “record” shots. When working on our Normandy Bound project and I’m taking detail shots that won’t even be a half page in a magazine, I don’t need those giant, beautiful files. So I simply go to My Menu, select Image Size and go with Medium or 25.6MB Nef files. It makes everything go faster, uses less storage space and takes care of my client. Shooting landscapes or subject where the potential is a large print, I go Large otherwise, I go with Medium. Hope that makes sense small files, when I do it with the Z7 / D850.