# Do you really need all this?



## Dave Maciak (Dec 11, 2021)

Back in prehistoric times I moved up from an F to an FTN,  Wow! A camera with an onboard light meter!  What next? This afternoon I read the Nikon ad and tech specs for the Z9.
Unless you're a pro, do you really need all of that or do you just like to have all those features--and never use most?
Reminds me of some of the 4WD vehicles I see loaded with everything to go off road.  Most go off road through the carwash and never see dirt.  Don't get me wrong, I use a D780 and a lot of features are rarely used or just ignored.
Sorry if this boils your blood, but I wonder.


----------



## Jeff15 (Dec 11, 2021)

The best thing I ever did is get rid of my DSLR gear......


----------



## 480sparky (Dec 11, 2021)

Many of the 'features' are software-driven.  They don't add any weight or mechanicals to the camera.


----------



## Ysarex (Dec 11, 2021)

Dave Maciak said:


> Back in prehistoric times I moved up from an F to an FTN,  Wow! A camera with an onboard light meter!  What next? This afternoon I read the Nikon ad and tech specs for the Z9.
> Unless you're a pro, do you really need all of that or do you just like to have all those features--and never use most?
> Reminds me of some of the 4WD vehicles I see loaded with everything to go off road.  Most go off road through the carwash and never see dirt.  Don't get me wrong, I use a D780 and a lot of features are rarely used or just ignored.
> Sorry if this boils your blood, but I wonder.


Comes with the camera, you're free to ignore. I have a Nikon Z7. I bought it for the sensor. I use the sensor and I use the light meter and metering functions to help me better use the sensor, I use the EC function and semi-auto exposure modes to better help me use the sensor and I use the single focus point AF function frequently but not always. If the camera does anything else I don't want to know about it.

I started with film and cameras without built-in light meters back in the late 60s. When digital showed up I made the switch -- very positive move. Digital is so much easier.


----------



## Hardus Nameous (Dec 11, 2021)

I don't use all the features on my D3200.  I also haven't used the self timer on my FTN so technically I haven't even used all the features of that camera either.  I am an amateur of amateurs though.......


----------



## 480sparky (Dec 11, 2021)

I can't think of any camera I've ever used, no matter when, where I used the T setting.


----------



## NS: Nikon Shooter (Dec 11, 2021)

480sparky said:


> Many of the 'features' are software-driven.  They don't add any weight or mechanicals to the camera.



+1


----------



## ac12 (Dec 11, 2021)

No
I probably use less than 20% of the functionality of my camera.  And I don't do any video.

But it allows more people to use the same camera.
Example, I probably use less than 20% of the functionality of my camera (no video).  But someone else may use a different 20% (some video), and someone else yet another different 20% (LOTS of video).  But we use the same camera, rather than three different cameras.


----------



## NS: Nikon Shooter (Dec 11, 2021)

-

This is a place to confuse things bit.

Throughout the menus, there are options to do or not and possibly
in 3, 5, or more flavours. Every time, a choice must be made. When
it is done… why think about it anymore.

My D850, for one, is set so that I have no more than three things to
check or confirm prior to SR. That doesn't mean that I use only three
controls on it but that I am left with only those.

I am sure many are not aware that they use their cameras a lot more
than they think.

Am I confusing things even more?


----------



## MartinCrabtree (Dec 11, 2021)

I have an F5 and am far from using everything it offers. However there's a few I find rather handy. I've had it long enough to have used most of the features at least once. It's equipped with the MF-28 back so has even more than a standard F5. One I've yet to use but am itching to is trap focus. I want to use it at the race track in a specific corner that offers interesting action. 

That being said I have a '72 Nikon F I enjoy using too. Meter's toast so I use it with my Weston Master II. I have a Nikon FM2n too. Nice simple camera that is a joy to use. A couple Nikon digitals too. In the end it's horses for courses. I find it better to have and not need than to be left wanting.


----------



## weepete (Dec 11, 2021)

Nah, most people see my car and probably think I'm an 4x4 SUV soccer mom. But on the weekends I go target shooting, fishing, and out into hills in winter.


----------



## Lez325 (Dec 12, 2021)

weepete said:


> Nah, most people see my car and probably think I'm an 4x4 SUV soccer mom. But on the weekends I go target shooting, fishing, and out into hills in winter.


Me too - I have a Landrover Discovery 2019 with all the kit- I was a Gamekeeper until I retired last year I go shooting( .223 & 243 to name a couple ) too and an off road 4x4 is a must for me - especially for photographing wildlife 

I digress_ shoot with several Sony FF bodies and once the menus / settings have been set I leave them set - probably don't use more than 40% of capability

Les


----------



## Lonnie1212 (Dec 12, 2021)

This has been a very good thread and I've enjoyed reading the responses of others. I have often thought that most electronic items have options that most people will never use.  The same is especially true of cameras..


----------



## RAZKY (Dec 12, 2021)

I use the viewfinder, meter, and shutter release button. Most everything else is a playpretty.


----------



## snowbear (Dec 12, 2021)

I use some features on the D750, ignore others, like video.  I bought it for the sensor, not all of the features.

Our Gladiator, though capable, is bone stock; I have no plans to stray.  No off-roading yet, but I do plan on some "soft" roads once we are done with some extended family things.  Hoping this will lead to some photo ops.


----------



## Dave Maciak (Dec 12, 2021)

MartinCrabtree said:


> I have an F5 and am far from using everything it offers. However there's a few I find rather handy. I've had it long enough to have used most of the features at least once. It's equipped with the MF-28 back so has even more than a standard F5. One I've yet to use but am itching to is trap focus. I want to use it at the race track in a specific corner that offers interesting action.
> 
> That being said I have a '72 Nikon F I enjoy using too. Meter's toast so I use it with my Weston Master II. I have a Nikon FM2n too. Nice simple camera that is a joy to use. A couple Nikon digitals too. In the end it's horses for courses. I find it better to have and not need than to be left wanting.


I still use (once in a while) my FTN also with hand held Luna Pro.  The FM is still as smooth and trouble free, and the MD12, as the day I bought it new.  No, I don't use all the D780 offers, but what I do use it's great. However, to tell the truth, I've become more and more interested in film.  To that end I carry the FM in my bag regularly along with the 780.


----------



## Strodav (Dec 12, 2021)

There are different needs for different types of photography.  I have my D500 set up for birding with BBF, and Fn buttons set to go from multipoint AF to single point AF and from matrix to spot metering usually in manual mode with auto ISO. Being able to program my camera to handle the fast action of wildlife / BIF significantly increases my keeper rate.  My D850 is set up for landscapes / seascapes where I usually have lots of time to set up a shot and use the focus stacking and focus peaking functions of the camera.  So I might not use all the features of my camera bodies, but I have learned to use the features that are helpful in the different types of photography I enjoy.  It helps me capture more good images right in camera with minimal tricks in Post.  I am really looking forward to getting the Z9 I have pre-ordered as it will be my first camera with eye tracking AF as well as tracking for things like cars, bicycles, ...  Bring on the new features as they make me a better photographer.


----------



## Dave Maciak (Dec 12, 2021)

snowbear said:


> I use some features on the D750, ignore others, like video.  I bought it for the sensor, not all of the features.
> 
> Our Gladiator, though capable, is bone stock; I have no plans to stray.  No off-roading yet, but I do plan on some "soft" roads once we are done with some extended family things.  Hoping this will lead to some photo ops.


Thanks for your post.  Bone stock Gladiator should handle some interesting situations (like your D750).  Yep, once off the road many photo ops!


----------



## PaulofOregon (Dec 14, 2021)

Ysarex said:


> Comes with the camera, you're free to ignore. I have a Nikon Z7. I bought it for the sensor. I use the sensor and I use the light meter and metering functions to help me better use the sensor, I use the EC function and semi-auto exposure modes to better help me use the sensor and I use the single focus point AF function frequently but not always. If the camera does anything else I don't want to know about it.
> 
> I started with film and cameras without built-in light meters back in the late 60s. When digital showed up I made the switch -- very positive move. Digital is so much easier.


Agreed- and I OWNED a photo lab at the time I went to my first dSLR! A Canon 10d, Canon didn't have it 'right' with their earlier versions, a studio that used us for printing thought she could eliminate film with a d60- BAD! 'Rainbow' gradients, almost as bad as if it they were GIF files limited to a color space of 256!


----------



## greybeard (Apr 27, 2022)

Last summer I had a D850 with several top shelf nikkor lenses and a z50 with the 2 lenses.  I needed some cash so I sold the D850 and most of my FX lenses.  That left me the z50 with the 2 z lenses, the ftz adaptor and a 105 micro nikkor.  To be honest, I can do everything  and more I did with the D850 with the z50.  The d850 was really too much camera for me.  All I do is take pictures of my grand kids, flowers, bugs and scenery.  I never enlarge anything larger than a 16x20 and 99% of what I shoot never leaves my 17" laptop.  I may buy some more gear but, I'll never go back to a big heavy dSLR.  Will I ever go full frame mirrorless?  Only if I have a specific need to do so and at this point, I don't see this happening.


----------



## Dave Maciak (Apr 28, 2022)

greybeard said:


> Last summer I had a D850 with several top shelf nikkor lenses and a z50 with the 2 lenses.  I needed some cash so I sold the D850 and most of my FX lenses.  That left me the z50 with the 2 z lenses, the ftz adaptor and a 105 micro nikkor.  To be honest, I can do everything  and more I did with the D850 with the z50.  The d850 was really too much camera for me.  All I do is take pictures of my grand kids, flowers, bugs and scenery.  I never enlarge anything larger than a 16x20 and 99% of what I shoot never leaves my 17" laptop.  I may buy some more gear but, I'll never go back to a big heavy dSLR.  Will I ever go full frame mirrorless?  Only if I have a specific need to do so and at this point, I don't see this happening.


----------



## mrca (Apr 28, 2022)

To view an image on your cell phone or lap top, 12 mp is more than enough.   So if  you aren't printing, why do you need 46 much less 100 mp?   Are  you cropping that severely all the time?  If so, perhaps need to consider your capture.   I do my own printing and a 20x36 is fantastic with 46mp.  But just printed an 8x10 from a 12 mp slightly cropped, so sharp makes your eyes bleed.  I had one of the earliest popular dslrs, a nikon d200 and was amazed at all the gizmos all over the camera.  I shoot lots of 35mm film have 3 controls, shutter, aperture and focus.  Iso is set and left the whole roll.   I use a hand held meter.  So the dozens of settings on the outside of my d850 and in the menu somehow I live without.


----------



## petrochemist (Apr 28, 2022)

None of my cameras share the features of the Z9, so I guess I don't need them.
There are many that I'd like to have & and a number that some my current cameras have that a Z9 would lack.

I don't have any lens adapters for the Z mount, but they're available for most of the mounts I use. If I somehow got a Z9 I suspect it would rapidly become my main camera, but it certainly wouldn't replace all my other cameras. One spec that is likely to rule this out for many years is the price...


----------



## cgw (Apr 28, 2022)

Dunno but the old "horses for courses" axiom seems apt in discussions of DSLR-vs-MILC. My Nikon D7200 kit with 35/40/50/85 primes is collecting dust after picking up Fuji MILCs and fixed focal length APS-C p&s cameras like the Fuji X-100T and Ricoh GR II. The D7200 kit stood in for my film stuff but gradually led me to see what I really wanted was lighter, faster-handling, less-obvious gear--plainly a new paradigm I couldn't quite make out when I first got the Nikon DSLR.


----------



## SquarePeg (Apr 28, 2022)

480sparky said:


> I can't think of any camera I've ever used, no matter when, where I used the T setting.


And I use it all the time so glad they included it!


Lonnie1212 said:


> This has been a very good thread and I've enjoyed reading the responses of others. I have often thought that most electronic items have options that most people will never use.  The same is especially true of cameras..


everything‘s extra until you need it and it’s not there!

I am waiting for the software update that allows my XT2 to to have the in camera focus stacking that some of my friends cameras have.


----------



## 480sparky (Apr 28, 2022)

SquarePeg said:


> And I use it all the time so glad they included it!
> .........




T, or B?  There's a difference.


----------



## SquarePeg (Apr 28, 2022)

480sparky said:


> T, or B?  There's a difference.


On my xt2 the T mode can be used for various speeds from 1 sec to 15 minutes.   I use it for night shooting and long exposures all the time - especially if I’m  using my cheap shutter release with the camera’s built in intervalometer to do a series for stacking.


----------



## AlanKlein (Apr 28, 2022)

480sparky said:


> Many of the 'features' are software-driven.  They don't add any weight or mechanicals to the camera.


The menus hurt your brain.


----------



## Old Skool (Aug 5, 2022)

Dave Maciak said:


> Back in prehistoric times I moved up from an F to an FTN,  Wow! A camera with an onboard light meter!  What next? This afternoon I read the Nikon ad and tech specs for the Z9.
> Unless you're a pro, do you really need all of that or do you just like to have all those features--and never use most?
> Reminds me of some of the 4WD vehicles I see loaded with everything to go off road.  Most go off road through the carwash and never see dirt.  Don't get me wrong, I use a D780 and a lot of features are rarely used or just ignored.
> Sorry if this boils your blood, but I wonder.



Another question is do you want? I don't want. 
What has always been interesting, despite all the advancements of new tech, people go and buy the latest and greatest, yet they are a no better photographer. Having more correctly exposed images or in focus images does not make a better photographer btw. People get confused.
Imo, there are many Z9 owners out there who will never get better as they are too busy drooling over the tech in their hand to worry about how they could actually make their images better. I see this all the time.


----------

