Where Are the Zf and Z6III Firmware Updates?

After the Z5II’s announcement last week (details of the announcement on this post here), I took a look at some of the videos and articles done by people who have tried out the pre-production units, and realized that the Z5II would come with a firmware very similar to that the Z50II.

That is to say, it would include a lot of the newer customization options that were added to the Z8/Z9 via firmware updates (such as being able to set “Cycle AF-area mode” to a custom key, or being able to set the “Delete” function to a custom key during playback).

When I tried out the Zf loaded with the pre-release FW2.00 at Nikon’s booth in CP+ 2025 earlier this year, on top of the Nikon Imaging Cloud access options, the “f2: Custom Controls (Shooting)” custom settings also saw many new additions to it, bringing the level of customization to that of the Z8/Z9 (and now, the Z50II and Z5II too), as well as fixing the infamous rear-screen bug of the Zf.

And since Nikon did mention themselves that the Zf would see an update to gain access to the Imaging Cloud, it is only a matter of time before the Zf’s firmware update would land.

Which then raises a very interesting question - why does the Z6III’s firmware feel a bit nerfed as compared to the supposedly lower level Z50II and Z5II?

With the exception of the Z6III (and Zf for now), all the EXPEED 7 based bodies, FX or DX, would come equipped with a dedicated Bird AF in its subject detection options. While I know that for the Z6III the animal detection AF would work for birds too, it just feels strange that the Z6III, supposedly being the top-of-the-line hybrid camera, lacks that option, as well as the other customizations available for setting custom functions to the Fn keys. These customizations can be viewed as quality-of-life improvements, and many of which would benefit working photographers. And if the pre-release Zf FW 2.00 were to be a clue, most of the customizations seen in the Z50II/Z5II are just firmware based and can be added via an update.

There might be issues or difficulties that we do not know about regarding implementing the options in Z6III, or perhaps the presence of some other bugs that they would like to iron out, or perhaps there some are extra additions or goodies they would like to include in the major firmware update of the Z6III - all of which only the Nikon engineers would know and I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt. But nevertheless, I personally think as a sign of good faith Nikon should release the major firmware update for Z6III before the Z5II officially ships, so that current owners of Z6III would not feel left out, or in harsher terms, cheated, that a lower level body would have the improved menu options and customizations.

Final note: these are just my personal observations, opinions and speculations, and are by no means rumors or confirmations of any sorts regarding firmware updates coming any time soon.

Nikon Zf Purchase and Opinions

I have been wanting to get an Expeed 7-based 24MP body for a while now, and currently the only choices are the retro-inspired Zf with a tried-and-known 24MP BSI sensor, or the modern Z6III with a 24MP partially-stacked sensor.

Having a Z8 makes the proposition of a Z6III kind of weak, especially when the retail price of the Z6III is taken into consideration - it feels that a lot of the extra benefits of the partially stacked sensor are geared towards videographers, and all the extra speed that are implemented for stills can be covered by my own Z8.

This narrows my choice down to either getting the retro-inspired Zf now, or waiting for a mythical Z5II to appear with Z6II’s internals on an Expeed 7 CPU.

Nikon’s winter cashback campaign this time round included the Zf, which definitely made the whole idea of getting something now a lot more appealing than to wait for the unicorn, whose existence has yet to even been rumored.

However, I had my own reservations about using the retro-styled body, specifically how the gripless body would handle, as well as how the buttons and dials would work together as I am more used to the modern camera interface.

Before plunging in blindly, I rented the Zf for a week to see for myself if I could manage the ergonomics, as well as testing its actual imaging performance to see if it would bring any benefits to me.

Long story short, the Zf is not without its quirks, but it definitely is a highly capable camera, and somehow its retro-styling does kind of make the entire photography flow a little more fun and engaging, and upon returning my rental unit I went ahead with purchasing a set for myself, and have been putting it through its paces over the past few weeks, learning a bit more about the camera every time I use it.

While the details of the ergonomics and imaging capabilities are written here in the equipment page, I'd like to just end of this post with a little wish list of what could be changed and/or added via firmware to make it a more engaging camera.

• Ability to customize the trash can (delete) button in shooting mode

• Auto ISO on/off toggle custom function, which works regardless of where the ISO dial is set at (instead of having to press the ISO custom function button and turn a dial). Or at least allow the custom ISO function button to work even if the ISO dial is not at “C” position.

• Ability to set Auto-ISO limit to 100

• Cycle-AF custom function pretty please!