Since many, if not most raw post processing software reads the settings from the NEF file and try to duplicate as a starting point what the JPG would have been, you could say all those things affect the raw file as the raw file records the settings. But if you are talking about just the raw image data, from your list:

yes :: Long exposure NR, ISO sensitivity
no :: White Balance, Picture Control, Auto distortion, Color space, Vignette control, High ISO NR,
Can affect exposure choice in auto modes and therefore what data is recorded :: Active D-Lighting, ISO sensitivity, Auto ISO, Max ISO, Min SS

My first Nikon was a D600. I still have it and use it despite acquiring since then D800, D810, and Z6. The shutter problem was never as big as it was made out to be, but if it has been replaced, it's a definitely a non-issue. If the only camera I had was the D600, I'd still consider myself lucky and be quite happy. Of course there's no guarantees, but it'd pretty hard to go wrong with deal you've found.

The d8 custom setting already mentioned will do it manually, but if you are using a trigger that is more than just an manual center pin so the Z can detect it's presence, the camera automatically switches to d8 off mode. Try a better trigger.

I use Godox lights and triggers and I know they cause the automatic switch. I think most HSS- or TTL-capable triggers or lights work.

For portraits, any of your choices will work quite well. If you are really splitting hairs, the D850 being full frame would have a noise and sharpness advantage over the D7500, and the D7500 would have an AF point coverage advantage over the D850 (which is not insignificant when doing portraits). The Z6 is both full frame and has better AF point coverage than either of the others and in general has better focus accuracy than either of the others, so it would be my pick -- for portraits.

If you also think you might want to do high action photography like action sports, then the dSLRs (D7500, D850) might be the better choices as the Z6 isn't quite as good at fast focus prediction/tracking.

They're all good cameras, so you can't go wrong.

It sounds to me like you may need to play with the JPEG engine Picture Style. You may have chosen a style or style option that flattens out the highlights.

Adorama is a good company. They screw up from time-to-time but it pretty rare and they make good on it. I have no hesitation ordering from them.

I might suggest though that your friend take a careful look at the bundle. Many bundles' additions are a pile of junk they can't otherwise get rid of. If the bundle costs any additional amount, he may want to reconsider and go for a non-bundle.

Once again MT, thank you for the info.

Darn you MT! That deal is *way* too good to pass up. I loaded up a pretty big cart which is now waiting for B&H to come back online tonight. (I guess I should have scanned UHH last night.)

While I'm waiting for B&H, do you have recommendations for holders?

Thanks for the heads up!!

Version 2.6.0 works fine with Z6 / Z7 lossless compressed NEFs but it still has problems with uncompressed NEFs.


Very loosely similar by intention.

In that case, the answer is probably none. That would in most cases have more to do with the lens and/or the post processing (local contrast and/or wide radius sharpening).

This is an interesting question that might be worth continually asking, and perhaps having on-going threads about.

The best answer I've heard so far was a judge a few years ago looking at a picture of a beautiful scene of a Swiss village and grassy hillside sparsely populated with resting and grazing sheep. He suggested to the owner that it was a shame the closest sheep wasn't looking back to the camera. He admitted it was a beautiful scene, but non-the-less, just a snapshot. Anyone could go there and record a similar image. The judge said that to him, what elevates a photograph from a snapshot is a "twist" or something to make it unique.

I'm not quite sure how to quantify uniqueness or twistiness, but there's no question in my mind that some photos have something about them that you can instantly see and make you want to look at it, and others, that might even be very similar, just do nothing to grab the eye or viewer's attention. It might be multiple things happening simultaneously -- like characters interacting in an unusual way, or an interesting spread or color of light on a beautiful landscape. Or it might be something funny or ironic happening in the frame.

I heard another judge who owned a gallery suggest that the only thing that mattered to him anymore was "impact." He noted that technical excellence and composition had almost nothing to do with what people bought. The thing that sold almost all his pictures was impact. I'm not any more sure how to set something up for impact in advance as opposed to realizing it in the final image, but I might ask the question of whether it's impact that separates snapshots from something better.

Perhaps you could elaborate on what "perceived sharpness" in this context means to you.

I'm confused. You think f/2.8 on an E lens will handle low light better than f/2.8 on a G lens? Isn't low-light focus a camera (not lens) feature?

That's interesting. So you used a D7000, correct? If you were hand-holding it, did you do a high-speed burst while moving into it, or something like that?

What did you stack? ( exposure-average, exposure-addition, exposure-hdr, focus, ... ? )