Nikon Z6 - Easy Exposure Compensation?

I recently purchased a Nikon Z6 body and an inexpensive aftermarket F-mount to Z-mount adapter, as I don't own a single Nikkor AF-S lens (all my Nikkor AF lenses are AF or AF-D lenses), so I figured no reason for the extra expense and size of the Nikon FTZ.

I was hoping for the following behavior:

- Set aperture on the lens

- Set shutter speed on the rear command dial

- Enable Auto-ISO

- Set exposure compensation on the front command dial (without holding a modal button)

However, it appears that the Easy Exposure Compensation custom setting isn't enabled in M exposure mode (according to the Z6 manual). With Auto-ISO enabled, though, why not?

I tried to simulate this behavior in P, S or A modes. But none of them appear to work either. In fact, these modes don't really seem to work at all and I have to keep the camera in M. Is this behavior just not available at all? Or should I have bought the FTZ after all?

(To be fair, it is not so bad to hold down the EV-shift modal button, but it's in an awkward position. I would also love to have the option to use Program mode and have the camera auto-select a reasonable shutter speed and reasonable ISO, so I don't have to remember to manually move the shutter speed from 1/8000 when I am shooting during the day to 1/80 when I am shooting in the evening).

The FTZ doesn't have an aperture follower ring, so you can't "set the aperture on the lens" and then do anything that requires metering, because the camera won't know the actual aperture until it stops down. (Unless you can get it to run pre-stopped-down? I don't know the Z6. I'm reasonably sure you couldn't on, say, a D7500, which has the same limitation.) I presume you can't use aperture priority mode with the aperture set on the lens either, for the same reason. If it's an electronic lens, you should be able to set the aperture from the camera, but then you're "using up" the dial you want to use for easy-ISO.

For what it's worth, I usually shoot G lenses (so I can't set the aperture there either) on my D8x0 bodies, and just use manual with auto-ISO, and use EC to shift if needed. It depends what I'm doing, though.

Am I confused?

As a new Z owner, I like the OP's proposed operational plan. I have both types of adapters with me on a trip, but don't have an AF(D) lens with me to experiment settings with.

With the FTZ, all program exposure modes should work with chip equipped lenses, I think, just not AF.

With "dumb" lenses, I prefer the small lighter aftermarket adapter. I have been using the normal compensation method, but will try other settings to see what might work in A mode.

inexpensive aftermarket F-mount to Z-mount adapter

One without CPU contacts I presume? Basically a hollow tube without any means of communication between the lens and the camera?

In fact, these modes don't really seem to work at all and I have to keep the camera in M. Is this behavior just not available at all? Or should I have bought the FTZ after all?

Did you enter the lens data in the non-CPU lens menu?

(To be fair, it is not so bad to hold down the EV-shift modal button, but it's in an awkward position.

Use f6 to set the camera to allow to make changes without holding the button while turning the dial - press and release the button, then turn the dial.

I don't have an Z6 (or Z7), so I can't check. Attaching any lens via a dumb adapter onto a Sony A7 Series body just works.

Manual exposure mode is, errrrr, fully manual.

Manual exposure mode with Auto ISO enabled isn't manual at all just another way to get automatic exposure control while being "free" to choose whatever aperture and shutter speed you like. I use that setup on my Nikons almost exclusively nowadays. Since it is an auto exposure mode, you do need exposure compensation.

Even in "true" manual mode (with no auto-ISO) exposure compensation still lets you shift the meter reading, I believe. (I lost confidence as I wrote that, but I think you can effectively shift to say what you want to be in zone 8, say, and then spot meter to achieve it.) Certainly with auto-ISO, EC works - it's my usual mode of operation, with EC trying to compensate for however much I disagree with Nikon's meter at any given point.

Even a real FTZ or a clone with electronic contacts won't listen to the lens's aperture dial position correctly, because there's no feeler following the AI aperture ring - same reason that some dSLRs can't meter with AI lenses or if the aperture on the lens is set to anything but the minimum.

I have, in the past, thought that it might be interesting to allow use of the lens aperture ring and use the "aperture" dial on the body for easy ISO or easy EC. I've a feeling that doesn't work, although I'm not near a camera to try it. It's particularly annoying because I believe the D5/D500/D850/D7500 generation lost Easy ISO as an option, having moved the ISO button to the right side (at last). This means you have to take your index finger off the shutter to change ISO, whereas on the older bodies, in the right mode, you didn't.

I should play with my camera and see how much of what I've just written is rubbish...

Even in "true" manual mode (with no auto-ISO) exposure compensation still lets you shift the meter reading, I believe.

True - dialing in exposure compensation when in M mode essentially "moves" the 0 point of the exposure meter.

Update: I have not figured out a better way than using the +/- button, but the Z6 definitely needs compensation in dark environments when the photo should look dark, Night street scenes, inside cathedrals, and so on. Z6 wants to overexpose these, IMO.

The menu option of easy compensation did not seem available to me, also.

Use f6 to set the camera to allow to make changes without holding the button while turning the dial - press and release the button, then turn the dial.

Thanks to Dieter Schaefer I have been doing this. It's not exactly what I wanted with easy exposure compensation, but it is very helpful.

Basically my Ai-S Nikkors and other MF F-mount lenses run in stop-down metering mode, which is just fine as the EVF compensates brightness.

I find that in dark conditions I simply set the minimum shutter speed that I can comfortably handhold for the given focal length and trust the auto-ISO. That works fine.

In bright conditions, however, I have to twiddle the shutter speed command dial until I see the ISO raise above ISO 100 to know that I'm not blowing out the highlights. This is a funny way to do things. And in really bright conditions, I have to manually twiddle the minimum ISO to Lo 1.0 as 1/8000 isn't very fast with wide-aperture primes. (Yes, I could add an ND filter also . . .)

And because the EVF on the Z6 is so awesome at compensating, I find that when I have to rapidly switch back and forth between bright and dark conditions, I sometimes end up taking a photo at 1/8000 and ISO 51,200 instead of 1/30 and ISO 200. Crazily enough, in bright conditions ISO 51,200 doesn't look half bad, but obviously this is not preferable.

Manual exposure mode is, errrrr, fully manual. So why would you need a separate control for exposure compensation?

He called it manual but it's really auto because he had auto ISO on.

I suppose it's only 'cos of film that 3 dial cameras don't exist.......:D

I mean, no-one uses different sized balls of cotton wool pushed into the loadspeaker to change the volume of their stereo, they use the amplifier control, AKA ISO!