rkaminer Loc: New York, NY

what was said above is essentially why the focus pointer position needs to be locked, the pointer is usually not where the subject is composed on the EVF and by the time you reposition the camera to the focus zone over the subject, lock the focus by pressing the shutter release half down and then recompose, the subject is gone. Let's make sure we don't confuse the pointer on the EVF; which is a small area where the focus measures the distance and locking the focus down so it does not refocus when recomposing; two different items.
Moving the pointer to be on the subject is pointless if the subject is no longer there. Therefore locking it to the area where I believe the highest probability is that the subject will be in that part of the EVF, it will improve the odds of taking a picture that is in focus.

Not sure why this is a difficult issue to understand. Some of the UHH's have said that it's easy to move the pointer, it only takes a second (not true, I timed it and took me 4s. to reposition) so why bother to lock it down? OK, but if I can't get a picture in focus because the focus area or pointer wanders around, I would submit to everyone, that this is a good reason to have a lock. Which was the initial question: Is there a lock?

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I had actually softened my stance toward mirrorless cameras quite a bit over the past two or three weeks until Grandpaw raised this question and we finally started getting some abswers. (I entered my first response only because the world was silent in response to his initial question. We now seem to be gradually seeing why answers were so slow coming back.) This discussion is leading me to reexamine that a little bit.

As an industrial engineer for over 40 years, my professional interest has been focused on three areas:
- Where people are doing work.
- Where machines are doing work.
- At the boundary between where people and machines are doing work.

There are a whole host of rules defining what should happen when the "man-machine interface' is properly designed and working correctly. Very near the top of the list is that once operating parameters are set, the machine should never do anything to change them, especially in an unexpected manner. The ability to achieve this varies, as you might well imagine, but it is the goal nonetheless. As described here, the Z6 autofocus system fails this goal, with no available countermeasure to prevent the failure. That is a design flaw, whether by intent or by execution.

What is of great interest to me is that even after three years, one or more firmware updates, and the release of a new hardware version, the flaw seems neither to have been corrected or even acknowledged. Comments made in this discussion clearly indicate that it is a design flaw, not just a failure to satisfy the opinion of one or two users. My conclusion is therefore that purchasers of this camera (and perhaps other models) have been too willing to accept whatever they were given until Grandpaw had the 'audacity' to voice the problem. A second possibilitu, of course, is that the problem has been reported, but the manufacturer has chosen to ignore it.

Of course, both of these situations are problematic. And both really call into question whether these new systems are really the miracles of engineering that they are claimed to be.

My hope is that one or more owners will enter a formal report of the issue with the manufacturer, and that the manufacturer will then take prompt action to correct it. This will help restore credibility to both groups.

mikeroetex Loc: Lafayette, LA

4s to push a joystick that is already right beside your thumb? Geez, it must take you 10s to fire the shutter! Aren't you gonna miss the shot anyway?

mikeroetex Loc: Lafayette, LA

Again, it is an almost entirely different focusing system. If you leave the Z in Wide Area Mode, dang near the whole box of focus points are covered. The focus will lock onto the bird or sports athlete. You don't have to worry about getting a tiny dot on a bird. I recommend you watch Hudson Henry's results before passing judgement and jumping on the hysteria train. Start at 3:13 https://youtu.be/GcAyzLRrdws. Steve Perry also has a pretty good review. He is a bit more subdued and likes his Z's as a complement to his D5, D850, but not as replacements. https://youtu.be/YqKaUjjaA70

User ID

That is the problem. Apparently you’ve also found no solution, either. Seems like there really isn’t any.

The OK button can be assigned to center the target. But there’s no way to put the target right where you want it and keep it there. The problem is not about focus lock. It’s about target location lock ... specifically the lack of it. Whatever you meant by “focus lock” just doesn’t apply here, BBF or otherwise.

baron_silverton Loc: Los Angeles, CA

As mentioned Nikon is not going belly up. To what recent product are you referring?

Leitz Loc: Solms

You wrote your question very clear in the title. Unfortunately, this is the UHH, where common sense is uncommon.

baron_silverton Loc: Los Angeles, CA

Also, surprised that you bought a Z6 as a pro in many fields of photography - the Z6II out performs the Z 6 in AF across the board and has redundancy with the 2 slots. Not sure what pro work you do, but since it is in many fields of photography surely you do events and that being the case I would definitely think you would want the 2 slots, the better low light and better face/eye tracking.

I have both and actually like them both - but have to admit the Z6II is just better.

Again, not trying to be argumentative but Nikon is not going out of business anytime soon - the latest financials speak for themselves - that said, I am wondering what product brought you to that conclusion.

I'd be interested in your professional opinion (and I mean that sincerely - not sarcastically). :)

rkaminer Loc: New York, NY

It’s not just pushing the button that takes 4 seconds; it is moving the pointer to the position where you want it to be. If you would try to look into the EVF and then move the focus pointer joy stick to reposition the focus area, you would realize it is not a s simple as 1s. The alternative is to move the camera viewing to position the pointer where the subject is, push down half way on the shutter release and lock to focus. Then reposition the camera and compose as necessary. Clearly none of these methods would be solution for wildlife and moving subjects.

mikeroetex Loc: Lafayette, LA

A simple push in of the joystick immediately centers the focus target, 0.5s. Put bird or moving subject in center of viewfinder and press BBF, another 0.5s. Have you shot wildlife with a Z6 yet? This guy came swooping over my shoulder and I only had a moment to react. Shutter speed isn't high enough, granted, but camera caught up with him. I wasn't even on the beach to shoot birds, I was just amused at them stealing food from a toddler's picnic and fired off a few shots and with my Z7 in hand, not my Z6 which is always set to higher FPS and shutter speed. I only offer this to show it can be done with a little practice!

grandpaw

I think pushing the joy stick in is the best work around but I would still prefer to be able to lock the focus point in any position I like. All my other Nikon’s have this ability.

rkaminer Loc: New York, NY

I assume I need practice to work around this flaw of no able to lock the sensor position. There is always a work-around process to overcome the mistakes in a design. However that was not the point, the initial question was: Is there a lock for the focus pointer. I also said I have the same issue l; then the responses went into the facts of that a lock is not necessary because,..... etc. that’s nice and everyone was helpful, however a lock would solve all these arguments. I don’t see why a software change can’t make one of the buttons a lock. It’s done for the focus and exposure controls.
BTW thank you for showing it can be done, I had tried various techniques in the past and only one out of five pictures came in properly focused; the others missed the mark.

The end of this blog is “No, there is no lock”.

Bill_de Loc: US

Removing that feature must be what makes mirrorless better.


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User ID

Should it happen, I will NOT at all be shocked. That much is fact. BTW there’s only one product under discussion.

I *should* be sad to see Nikon go, but since I’m done with them as of their current latest failure, their actual final demise will not impact me directly.

rkaminer Loc: New York, NY

I will go out on a limb and believe Nikon is not going anywhere. The failure of a lock button design is not an indication of the company as a whole being a failure. There maybe valid engineering issues or just sitting on the back burner of the drawing board. By making these issues known, Nikon and most companies will decide if it is worth the effort to include the remedy. In the meantime I will practice the suggestions given by the friendly UHH’s members.