Menu Banks - Extended Menus - Custom settings (for both Camera and Video)

cammot1

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I’ve been working hard to better understand how to set up my Z9 using the Menu Banks. While the basic setup seems straightforward, things get confusing once you start using the extended menus and customizing settings further—especially when separating photo and video configurations.

Has anyone come across a site that explains all this clearly and logically, with proper context? Once you get past the first steps, it can get complicated if the fundamentals aren’t fully understood. It’s definitely a learning process that takes time and effort.

I do appreciate that you can save and upload settings, but it’s important not to delete them by formatting the memory card. Can anyone shed some light on these aspects of the setup?
 
The Nikon banks system is not intuitive. It goes back to at least the D100 in Nikon's DSLR product line. I think they missed an opportunity to redesign the customization menus and make the system more user-friendly with the migration from SLR to mirrorless platforms. But that is water under the bridge, at this point.

I've been using banks since purchasing a D500 in May 2018. It was not a system that made much sense to me, initially. The lightbulb moment for me came a few weeks after receiving the camera when I realized you don't need to save or recall anything when using banks. Yes, there is a tool in the camera menu allowing settings (including your banks) to be saved or recalled. But neither needs to be done to use the banks.

Banks allow for customization of Nikon professional cameras. Four banks - A through D - are associated with two different areas of the camera menu. The first are the Shooting banks, which are accessible atop the Photo Shooting menu (camera icon). These banks store settings made in the Photo Shooting menu. A second collection of four banks are associated with the Custom Settings menu (pencil icon)j. These store settings made in that menu.

Both the Photo Shooting and Custom Settings menus have four banks: A, B, C, and D. They are not linked. However, it is common practice to use the banks in pairs. It's really a matter of which usage is the better match for how you shoot.

I use four bank pairs: (A) Wildlife, (B) Birds, (C) Landscape, and (D) Portrait. I've renamed the banks. Since I'm in full manual exposure mode all the time, my customizations are geared around the release mode; autofocus, AF area and subject detection modes; and custom assignments to the function buttons.

For me, the key to groking with Nikon banks system was wrapping my mind around the fact I don't have to save or recall anything. The camera "remembers" or stores the Shooting and Custom Settings you've chosen. Both are set to their respective A banks as a factory default. So, even if a person isn't intentionally using the banks system, they're still using and customizing banks.

Since a typical wildlife photo shoot starts at dawn for me, settings in my "Wildlife" Shooting bank are 1/50-second shutter speed, lens wide open, ISO 12800, and a WB setting of 7690K. These settings will at least put me in the ballpark of what's needed when there's just enough light to make a decent photo. By the end of the morning when the animal activity has subsided, I'll be at 1/1000, lens wide open, ISO 500-800, and a WB setting of 5260K. I'll reset to the settings for pre-dawn twilight before powering off the camera.

If I'm not heading home but am planning to visit my favorite spot for raptors, I'll also get into my i menu to change both banks for "Wildlife" to "Birds". Since the sun is typically well up in the sky when I'm on a raptor shoot, the settings will be 1/2500, lens wide open, ISO 800 and WB of 5260K. The AF area mode will change from wide (large) to 3D.

It's far from the most intuitive system Nikon could have developed but, once a person groks the logic, it can be quite useful and powerful.

Good luck.
 
If all else fails, Thom Hogan has a whole book about Nikon customizations. I don't have that one but I do have his camera guides and they're excellent.
 
there were rumours, if not a preview of a beta firmware, that Nikon was planning to split off the Video settings in a different Bank from the Photo Bank.

Short story is they remain intertwined.

Nevertheless, the banks work well for my needs, when I switch between entire sets of settings for Wildlife, Macro or Landscape. They work well used with the iMenu and MyMenu. But it takes time to learn to get all these to work for you.

Check out Thom Hogan's Z9 ebook and his recent book in Nikon Z Customization

As the photo educator explains in one of his videos (see below), Nikon's banks work like bookmarks. They save your latest live configuration, which you can return to.

Fortunately Nikon allows saving and restoring the Bank settings to a CFExpress card on the Z9.

This link leads to recent discussion, with linked resources including the Hudson Henry video link in post #19

 
Thanks for all the replies, tips, and suggestions — much appreciated and all noted. At this point, it’s still very much a work in progress, but my current thinking is to set up just one or two menu banks and then create four custom banks.

It’s challenging to get everything perfectly dialed in — for example, birding and wildlife could easily fall into two separate banks. The settings needed for a stationary bird are quite different from those for a fast-moving action shot!

I also really like Hudson’s clever workarounds — especially saving settings by deleting images instead of formatting the card, and using quick-access setups through both the i-button and My Menu.
 
The Nikon banks system is not intuitive. It goes back to at least the D100 in Nikon's DSLR product line. I think they missed an opportunity to redesign the customization menus and make the system more user-friendly with the migration from SLR to mirrorless platforms. But that is water under the bridge, at this point.

I've been using banks since purchasing a D500 in May 2018. It was not a system that made much sense to me, initially. The lightbulb moment for me came a few weeks after receiving the camera when I realized you don't need to save or recall anything when using banks. Yes, there is a tool in the camera menu allowing settings (including your banks) to be saved or recalled. But neither needs to be done to use the banks.

Banks allow for customization of Nikon professional cameras. Four banks - A through D - are associated with two different areas of the camera menu. The first are the Shooting banks, which are accessible atop the Photo Shooting menu (camera icon). These banks store settings made in the Photo Shooting menu. A second collection of four banks are associated with the Custom Settings menu (pencil icon)j. These store settings made in that menu.

Both the Photo Shooting and Custom Settings menus have four banks: A, B, C, and D. They are not linked. However, it is common practice to use the banks in pairs. It's really a matter of which usage is the better match for how you shoot.

I use four bank pairs: (A) Wildlife, (B) Birds, (C) Landscape, and (D) Portrait. I've renamed the banks. Since I'm in full manual exposure mode all the time, my customizations are geared around the release mode; autofocus, AF area and subject detection modes; and custom assignments to the function buttons.

For me, the key to groking with Nikon banks system was wrapping my mind around the fact I don't have to save or recall anything. The camera "remembers" or stores the Shooting and Custom Settings you've chosen. Both are set to their respective A banks as a factory default. So, even if a person isn't intentionally using the banks system, they're still using and customizing banks.

Since a typical wildlife photo shoot starts at dawn for me, settings in my "Wildlife" Shooting bank are 1/50-second shutter speed, lens wide open, ISO 12800, and a WB setting of 7690K. These settings will at least put me in the ballpark of what's needed when there's just enough light to make a decent photo. By the end of the morning when the animal activity has subsided, I'll be at 1/1000, lens wide open, ISO 500-800, and a WB setting of 5260K. I'll reset to the settings for pre-dawn twilight before powering off the camera.

great post. if you don't mind, could you describe how you reset the bank?

If I'm not heading home but am planning to visit my favorite spot for raptors, I'll also get into my i menu to change both banks for "Wildlife" to "Birds". Since the sun is typically well up in the sky when I'm on a raptor shoot, the settings will be 1/2500, lens wide open, ISO 800 and WB of 5260K. The AF area mode will change from wide (large) to 3D.

It's far from the most intuitive system Nikon could have developed but, once a person groks the logic, it can be quite useful and powerful.

Good luck.
 
It’s challenging to get everything perfectly dialed in — for example, birding and wildlife could easily fall into two separate banks. The settings needed for a stationary bird are quite different from those for a fast-moving action shot!
Yes, however, those things are usually controlled by customization within the bank (e.g. assigning a different AF-area mode to a different AF-ON-active button. That can be done within a bank.
I also really like Hudson’s clever workarounds — especially saving settings by deleting images instead of formatting the card,
Ten years ago I would have said "never do this." These days I'd say "be cautious about doing this, particularly with SD cards."

The primary difference between deleting images and formatting a card is this: deleting simply places a 0 as the first character in the filenames in the directory, while formatting releases sectors and refreshes the exFAT tables (previously FAT).

Bugs in the underlying file operations used to be a real issue with deletion, though most have been squashed these days.Nevertheless, I still see issues at times when cards reach nearly full states. Nikon is very cautious as the card fills, but I've still managed from time to time trigger a bug when at capacity, and that has never occurred when I've formatted a card first.

The reason why I worry about SD cards is that they have no real memory controller—the camera is the controller—so bugs in the firmware can completely shellac a card. Technically, a format operation is supposed to clear and mark "sectors" [we can't quite call them that any more, because they're not physical sectors but virtual] so that everything starts from the same known state, and this is a well-known and well-documented process.
 
Some great responses here, pretty much everything you need to know about banks.

When I got my z9 I spent weeks learning about and setting up the banks. I wanted the Henry Hudson video multiple times.

As a dedicated birder who is very active, I have kinda given up on the Nikon bank system.

I shoot with A camera bank and A custom bank set to general birding settings the adjust as needed from there.

if I switch to a landscape or even a person, I change the subject detection type quickly in my 'my menu' which I keep on the video record button.

You mentioned you shoot wildlife starting at dawn. I do the same. Here is one Z9 function that I found works for a quick change.

''Recall shooting mode'.

Example: if I'm on a stationary bird in lower light (dawn/dusk) I'll have the appropriate settings for that (lower shutter).

If the bird takes off, my shutter will be too low to capture. So, I have a fast shutter speed programmed into 'recall shooting mode' and I have it assigned to a front custom button.

it will remain in that mode until the button is pressed again.

I'm sure there's a better way to do this, but I have yet to find it with the custom banks.
 
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Since a typical wildlife photo shoot starts at dawn for me, settings in my "Wildlife" Shooting bank are 1/50-second shutter speed, lens wide open, ISO 12800, and a WB setting of 7690K. These settings will at least put me in the ballpark of what's needed when there's just enough light to make a decent photo. By the end of the morning when the animal activity has subsided, I'll be at 1/1000, lens wide open, ISO 500-800, and a WB setting of 5260K. I'll reset to the settings for pre-dawn twilight before powering off the camera.
great post. if you don't mind, could you describe how you reset the bank?
I dial in a 1/50-second shutter speed, an ISO of 12800, and a white balance of 7690K. The camera will remember those settings in that bank. So, the next time I'm out for a sunrise wildlife shoot, the camera will be preset for that lighting.
 
Ten years ago I would have said "never do this." These days I'd say "be cautious about doing this, particularly with SD cards."

The primary difference between deleting images and formatting a card is this: deleting simply places a 0 as the first character in the filenames in the directory, while formatting releases sectors and refreshes the exFAT tables (previously FAT).
Thanks for the caution. That said, one still needs a way to safely store the settings files somewhere, especially since formatting the card will erase them. How would you suggest keeping those files securely preserved? I’d appreciate your perspective on this.

I’ve also been thinking about an alternative approach for saving and storing the settings files. Initially, I assumed it might be possible to save them externally — say, on a computer or phone — and then simply send them back to the camera via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi when needed. It seemed like a logical idea! Unfortunately, Nikon doesn’t currently allow files to be transferred to the camera electronically, only from it.

You’d think that if we can download images to our phones, it should work in reverse — but apparently not. So, setting that aside, would it work if we save the settings file externally and, when needed, copy it back onto an SD card before reinserting the card into the camera? Would that method be viable?
 
I’ve also been thinking about an alternative approach for saving and storing the settings files. Initially, I assumed it might be possible to save them externally — say, on a computer or phone — and then simply send them back to the camera via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi when needed. It seemed like a logical idea! Unfortunately, Nikon doesn’t currently allow files to be transferred to the camera electronically, only from it.
I do this. I save the settings to the card, put the card in a card reader on my computer and copy the settings file to a folder named with date and info about the settings. When/if I want it back on the camera, I use the card reader again and simply copy the settings file to the root level of the card. You can then load them in the camera.



f49a07cd503749b6967f48a91860c00f.jpg
 
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It’s challenging to get everything perfectly dialed in — for example, birding and wildlife could easily fall into two separate banks. The settings needed for a stationary bird are quite different from those for a fast-moving action shot!
I have separate "Bird" and "Wildlife" bank pairs. One difference is that animal subject detect is active in "Wildlife" while bird subject detect is active in "Bird". Also, when in the "Wildlife" bank pair, pressing the "DISP" button activates RSF (Hold) with bird subject detect active. 3D is the active AF area. When in the "Bird" bank pair, pressing the "DISP" button loads RSF (Hold) with animal subject detect active. Wide (Large) is the active AF area.

As for image settings, my defaults for "Wildlife" are 1/50-second, f/6.3 (lens wide open), ISO 12800, a white balance of 7690K, and sport IBIS activated. My wildlife outings typically start in predawn light. My defaults for "Bird" are 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 800, a white balance of 5560K, and IBIS off.

Keep in mind that your settings for a bird in-flight will work perfectly well for a perched bird in the same light. After making a few safety shots, slow the shutter speed to increase exposure (and improve image quality) and lower the ISO to maintain a pleasing image lightness. If your goal is to capture the bird launching in flight, you can keep those in-flight settings as is or increase shutter speed 1/3 to 2/3 stop and adjust ISO accordingly.
I also really like Hudson’s clever workarounds — especially saving settings by deleting images instead of formatting the card, and using quick-access setups through both the i-button and My Menu.
The i menu is a great resource.

Here's a pro tip for bird photography. A quick way to go from shooting raw to being in precapture mode is to keep the release mode dial set to "Quick Release Selection" and assign that function to Fn2. Have precapture activated in the menu. Shooting in raw disables precapture. However, using the third finger on your right hand to press Fn2 will open the release mode menu display in the EVF. Use your right thumb to rotate the rear command dial a couple of clicks to the JPEG burst rate of your choice.

This action takes less than a second and activates precapture for a launch sequence.
 
Thanks for all the replies, tips, and suggestions — much appreciated and all noted. At this point, it’s still very much a work in progress, but my current thinking is to set up just one or two menu banks and then create four custom banks.

It’s challenging to get everything perfectly dialed in — for example, birding and wildlife could easily fall into two separate banks. The settings needed for a stationary bird are quite different from those for a fast-moving action shot!

I also really like Hudson’s clever workarounds — especially saving settings by deleting images instead of formatting the card, and using quick-access setups through both the i-button and My Menu.
The habit I've gotten into after shooting
  1. Load settings from the card. That restores my baseline settings.
  2. Offload the images.
  3. Once I have at least two copies of the images (some people prefer three), format the card.
  4. Save settings to the card.
I also have a couple of slow SD cards that have my saved settings that I never use for shooting.
 
Since a typical wildlife photo shoot starts at dawn for me, settings in my "Wildlife" Shooting bank are 1/50-second shutter speed, lens wide open, ISO 12800, and a WB setting of 7690K. These settings will at least put me in the ballpark of what's needed when there's just enough light to make a decent photo. By the end of the morning when the animal activity has subsided, I'll be at 1/1000, lens wide open, ISO 500-800, and a WB setting of 5260K. I'll reset to the settings for pre-dawn twilight before powering off the camera.
great post. if you don't mind, could you describe how you reset the bank?
I dial in a 1/50-second shutter speed, an ISO of 12800, and a white balance of 7690K. The camera will remember those settings in that bank. So, the next time I'm out for a sunrise wildlife shoot, the camera will be preset for that lighting.
thanks! that was what i thought you meant, but i wasn't quite sure... a sort of manual reset, dialing the known parameters in again. if one does not change too many parameters, it is easy to remember.
(i usually use 3 banks: 'general-baseline'/'B&W 1:1'/'wildlife' and the fourth one is a copy of the first one (just in case i mess up/forget, i can always copy the 4th one back to bank 1 again. and of course i have a copy of the whole lot on a card). i know, perhaps a bit wasteful and/or nonsensical... !)
 
Ten years ago I would have said "never do this." These days I'd say "be cautious about doing this, particularly with SD cards."

The primary difference between deleting images and formatting a card is this: deleting simply places a 0 as the first character in the filenames in the directory, while formatting releases sectors and refreshes the exFAT tables (previously FAT).
Thanks for the caution. That said, one still needs a way to safely store the settings files somewhere, especially since formatting the card will erase them. How would you suggest keeping those files securely preserved? I’d appreciate your perspective on this.
I typically do quick formatting of a card after photos from a previous shoot have been added to my LrC catalog. Once every few weeks, I'll do a full reformat of the card. This is always done in camera.

After the full reformat, I'll often go into the "Setup" menu and save my settings. Then, I'll swap CF Express cards between the slots. Over the next few weeks, I'll shoot, import, and quick format the card in slot A until I decide to do another full reformat. The card in slot B has my settings.
I’ve also been thinking about an alternative approach for saving and storing the settings files. Initially, I assumed it might be possible to save them externally — say, on a computer or phone — and then simply send them back to the camera via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi when needed. It seemed like a logical idea! Unfortunately, Nikon doesn’t currently allow files to be transferred to the camera electronically, only from it.
When I first started using the banks, I quickly learned not to overthink or overemphasize rigorous saving of camera settings. For most photographers, it's not necessary to the day-to-day use of the camera. Over time as you get to know the camera, you'll make subtle adjustments to fine tune the custom configurations used for different genres. These subtle changes obsolete whichever saved settings you have.

If you remember to resave the settings once every one or two months, you'll be fine. When my main camera was a D500, I literally went years without saving the settings...or needing to recall them.
You’d think that if we can download images to our phones, it should work in reverse — but apparently not. So, setting that aside, would it work if we save the settings file externally and, when needed, copy it back onto an SD card before reinserting the card into the camera? Would that method be viable?
Absolutely. That's how most firmware updates are installed: download the new firmware to a computer, copy the file to a CF Express card that gets placed into the camera, install the new firmware. You can do the same thing with the settings BIN file: copy the BIN file from the CF Express card to your computer. It's a good backup and you can copy it back to a CFE card to restore the settings to your camera.

--
Bill Ferris Photography
https://billferrisphotography.pixieset.com/arizonaslittleserengeti/
 
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The Nikon banks system is not intuitive. It goes back to at least the D100 in Nikon's DSLR product line. I think they missed an opportunity to redesign the customization menus and make the system more user-friendly with the migration from SLR to mirrorless platforms. But that is water under the bridge, at this point.

I've been using banks since purchasing a D500 in May 2018. It was not a system that made much sense to me, initially. The lightbulb moment for me came a few weeks after receiving the camera when I realized you don't need to save or recall anything when using banks. Yes, there is a tool in the camera menu allowing settings (including your banks) to be saved or recalled. But neither needs to be done to use the banks.

Banks allow for customization of Nikon professional cameras. Four banks - A through D - are associated with two different areas of the camera menu. The first are the Shooting banks, which are accessible atop the Photo Shooting menu (camera icon). These banks store settings made in the Photo Shooting menu. A second collection of four banks are associated with the Custom Settings menu (pencil icon)j. These store settings made in that menu.

Both the Photo Shooting and Custom Settings menus have four banks: A, B, C, and D. They are not linked. However, it is common practice to use the banks in pairs. It's really a matter of which usage is the better match for how you shoot.

I use four bank pairs: (A) Wildlife, (B) Birds, (C) Landscape, and (D) Portrait. I've renamed the banks. Since I'm in full manual exposure mode all the time, my customizations are geared around the release mode; autofocus, AF area and subject detection modes; and custom assignments to the function buttons.

For me, the key to groking with Nikon banks system was wrapping my mind around the fact I don't have to save or recall anything. The camera "remembers" or stores the Shooting and Custom Settings you've chosen. Both are set to their respective A banks as a factory default. So, even if a person isn't intentionally using the banks system, they're still using and customizing banks.
Overall great explanation.

The highlighted paragraph above is the essence and one that frustrated me on D810 when I was primarily using D7200. I suspect this will initially trip up anyone using U1/U2.

I read all suggestions and watched videos online and thought I had configured the camera how I wanted. What messed it up was not paying attention to which banks I was using from time to time. If I changed something thinking I was in Bank A, I was actually in B and affected something else.

Now I am free of U1/U2. Since using G9ii and Z7ii side by side as primary bodies, I configured everything the way I want and simply switch between S and A modes most of the time. Whatever is different between the two cameras is taken care of in the Q/i menu.

For anyone to adapt to the banks easily, they should have never used U1/U2. Otherwise, there will be a lot of 'unlearning' to go through.
Since a typical wildlife photo shoot starts at dawn for me, settings in my "Wildlife" Shooting bank are 1/50-second shutter speed, lens wide open, ISO 12800, and a WB setting of 7690K. These settings will at least put me in the ballpark of what's needed when there's just enough light to make a decent photo. By the end of the morning when the animal activity has subsided, I'll be at 1/1000, lens wide open, ISO 500-800, and a WB setting of 5260K. I'll reset to the settings for pre-dawn twilight before powering off the camera.

If I'm not heading home but am planning to visit my favorite spot for raptors, I'll also get into my i menu to change both banks for "Wildlife" to "Birds". Since the sun is typically well up in the sky when I'm on a raptor shoot, the settings will be 1/2500, lens wide open, ISO 800 and WB of 5260K. The AF area mode will change from wide (large) to 3D.

It's far from the most intuitive system Nikon could have developed but, once a person groks the logic, it can be quite useful and powerful.

Good luck.
 
Since a typical wildlife photo shoot starts at dawn for me, settings in my "Wildlife" Shooting bank are 1/50-second shutter speed, lens wide open, ISO 12800, and a WB setting of 7690K. These settings will at least put me in the ballpark of what's needed when there's just enough light to make a decent photo. By the end of the morning when the animal activity has subsided, I'll be at 1/1000, lens wide open, ISO 500-800, and a WB setting of 5260K. I'll reset to the settings for pre-dawn twilight before powering off the camera.
great post. if you don't mind, could you describe how you reset the bank?
I dial in a 1/50-second shutter speed, an ISO of 12800, and a white balance of 7690K. The camera will remember those settings in that bank. So, the next time I'm out for a sunrise wildlife shoot, the camera will be preset for that lighting.
thanks! that was what i thought you meant, but i wasn't quite sure... a sort of manual reset, dialing the known parameters in again. if one does not change too many parameters, it is easy to remember.
And repetition helps. It develops habits.
(i usually use 3 banks: 'general-baseline'/'B&W 1:1'/'wildlife' and the fourth one is a copy of the first one (just in case i mess up/forget, i can always copy the 4th one back to bank 1 again. and of course i have a copy of the whole lot on a card). i know, perhaps a bit wasteful and/or nonsensical... !)
Hey, all that matters is that the available tools meet your needs...however you choose to use them.
 
It is very easy to make this far more complex than it needs to be. Remember you have to use this in the field and remember what you are changing when you change banks.
I must emphasise the need to keep as much the same between banks as you can, particularly custom controls — all my Z8 and Z9 bodies are set up almost exactly the same - for each type of shooting I expect to perform.
Particularly when shooting action/wildlife the buttons I use in relation to select different autofocus modes and shooting recall hold and any prefocus distance recall/set - often using buttons on the lens.
I use different banks for general “travel”/street; action/big cat wild life; BIF; landscape; macro; flash/studio; and various for video.
This is plenty for me to use and maintain — each time there is a FW update one has to go through to understand what has changed and adjust each bank’s settings accordingly - particularly when new menu items are added or changed.

If I want the same settings but different recall shooting hold - I will duplicate a bank and make the change in the copy. Most often I use RSH to switch to my instant action settings; whereas on other occasions, in difficult terrain I want to be able to very quickly engage or disengage Subject Detection and that can be assigned to RSH.
 
Thanks for the caution. That said, one still needs a way to safely store the settings files somewhere, especially since formatting the card will erase them. How would you suggest keeping those files securely preserved?
It's the "formatting dance."
  1. Load menu settings (you may have overriden something).
  2. Format the card.
  3. Save menu settings.
The problem with this is the parenthetical thought in Step 1: if you changed something from your normal settings, you now have to restore that change if you still want it.
I assumed it might be possible to save them externally — say, on a computer or phone — and then simply send them back to the camera via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi when needed. It seemed like a logical idea! Unfortunately, Nikon doesn’t currently allow files to be transferred to the camera electronically, only from it.
Not true. As I've noted elsewhere, FoCal Snapshots does exactly what you're asking for. But it's a subscription product (given Nikon's constant changes, you know why).
 
It's the "formatting dance."
  1. Load menu settings (you may have overriden something).
  2. Format the card.
  3. Save menu settings.
This is a practical and logical workaround! I hadn’t thought of it, but it should work. Thanks
 

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