I'm just curious, but what will you do once the SD card is full? You could buy another, but that's a very expensive form of storage per byte. Maybe you don't shoot very much? I also learned the hard way, SD is the least stable form of storage.

At some point, you are going to have to dump the card onto a hard drive. I remember the old days of floppy disk cards, where I had dozens, maybe hundreds lying around the office. The time I wasted trying to find a file I had saved on any particular one.... jeez.

One last thought, I've lost or misplaced several SD cards over the years, but never my laptop or desktop!

So much misinformation and drivel to the point of utter nonsense. This is why I stopped reading F-Stoppers and watching their slanted YouTube postings. But then again, who would click on this headline, “All well and plentiful for us photographers. Technology races ahead for a mere $10 a month!”

Terrific as always Jules!

A great story about the coach with the pink scarf. She was diagnosed last month with breast cancer and negotiated with her doctors to postpone surgery a week so she could coach her team this week.

Quarterfinal round yesterday

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I like Hogan's reviews generally. But I don't take them as gospel. He was slow to recognize the inevitable coming of mirrorless and could not get past the D850 and D5 for a long time. Nevertheless, his reviews tend to be technically thorough, but from an engineer's viewpoint and Quiote-ish.

IMHO, the Z6, Z5, and Z7's were always a stepping-stone series at low cost to hold market share with a large, loyal Nikon audience. I'm not as hamfisted as the OP and can generally keep my Z6 focus point centered. I hope to see a Z6III soon and will trade my current Z6 in for one. But I shoot with my Z9 80% of the time anyway.

I don't see ultimate customization as the question here. The OP wants to lock his focus. If you have followed his rants before, you know he doesn't want to spend $4k or $5400 on a Z8 or Z9. Zf is the minimal-cost camera to get that done. Compromise is to be expected.

Limited customization does not mean it won't get the job done. As a Z9 holder, I can tell you that some of that is overkill. Everyone likes to imagine themselves in the field, eyes glued to the viewfinder, never looking up as their tactile fingers make a dozen adjustments every minute or so like a rapid-fire programmer. But the truth is, once you set SS, F-stop and Auto ISO plus a preferred AF method, two command dials and a function button to hand off focus lock to 3-D covers 95% of your session.

But using equipment you're not happy with is?

Such as? It looks like a Z6 with an Expeed 7 processor to me. Please elaborate.

Have you considered trading in for a new full-frame mirrorless Zf? Upgraded sensor, 24.5 mp ad 30fps (plenty for wildlife), Z8 and Z9 AF capability. Good price at $1999 minus your Z6ii trade value. Now here's the kicker... I checked with Nikon (for free) and you can lock the focus point.

Kevin answered:
"You can assign a control to lock your focus point with [focus-point lock] in the custom controls (shooting) menu option f2. You can read more about this within the reference guide for the Z f camera body.

https://onlinemanual.nikonimglib.com/zf/en/csmf_custom_controls_shooting_guid-57b970f2-f4e8-dd7e-5b02-e178bced40c6_219.html"

So simple even I set up in 5 minutes.

Crucial.com for the external SSD. https://a.co/d/aMCPCLV
fits into the hub. https://a.co/d/390cxBw

More info https://youtu.be/qobp3WhaTLM?si=eVq0OF3Xt1V4MFOI

Only OS and applications on my main drive. Apps for anything, not just editing. But any data goes on the external drive.

This scenario doesn't make sense unless you had asked to send the camera to them and have them physically disable the toggle switch. You keep trying to put a square peg into a round hole. The Z6 and Z6II do not have the function you desire and they likely won't as they are now ageing tech. Unfortunately, wishing will not make it so. Your only true answer is to upgrade to a Z8 or Z9 which do allow for a locked focus point. Or wait for a Z6III.

After much reading, I recently switched from PC and bought a Mac mini M2 with 32 GB of RAM and only 512 GB of storage. I only put apps on the main drive. I added a 4TB external SSD that plugs in a hub and use a Thunderbolt 4 to connect to mini. That’s my storage and it’s fast and seamless. I found online a Crucial 4TB m2 card for about $200 vs the $1200 more to let Apple do it. I also backup all to an external 8TB HD using Time Machine, a portable 5TB SSD monthly and subscribed to Backblaze. The cost savings covered everything new and then some. And I use my old 27” NEQ monitor. I’m happy and it works for me! Several YouTube videos online about how to set up the external hub.

Yes, otherwise it would only be a photo gallery.

Thanks all for your kind comments. I don't normally do BW. But this day was so foggy, I could barely see the heron. The composition stuck in my mind and I instinctively had to shoot a few frames. Once I started to edit, BW quickly became the best option.