Nikon ZF - Shutter Locking/Blank Screen

[Aural]

I had this issue happen to me a back in December while I was out shooting on vacation. Seemed to happen after the Zf was exposed to some rain. While it was annoying to be interrupted and having to wait for the camera to reset (didn't want to take out battery in the rain), the most unfortunate part was that when this happened in the middle of a burst, all the photos from that particular burst seemed to not be saved on the SD card. I tried cleaning the lens contacts after returning to the hotel, but the issue continued for the next couple days. I should note that it only happened when I had the Tamron 35-150 Z I rented, so whether it was the camera or the lens, I can't be sure.

Since then, I've shot around 6k photos on the Zf on old and the newest firmware, both on native and adapted glass, and have not seen the issue pop up again, but I have also not shot in the rain since then. So again, hard to know if the issue is actually solved or it was due to the rain.

 

[Seannissey]

Further to my initial post, I recently updated the firmware to 1.20 on the ZF body and so far so good with the lock up issue.

A bit of background

I use the ZF for work and shoot around 5k-8k of images per week

Prior to upgrading the firmware I would experience the camera locking up around 8-20 times during the course of a wedding day, sometimes at key moments, (for safety I had my 28-75 mounted on another body so I could quickly stay in the action) (not ideal)

Ive used the body with 7 different lenses and the lock up happened with every one mounted so I feel its not a lens issue, I tried different modes, different RAW compression, flash on/off, no soft release mounted, pretty much any permutation of settings you can imagine.. but it persisted.....

Since the upgrade to firmware 1.20 Ive shot 4 weddings (circa 20k images) without a single lock up... fingers crossed it stays that way..

so if you are having issues with this on the ZF defo give the new firmware a go

Good luck

That’s great! As an aside, what are you using as a back up body? I should’ve asked and is contemplating a back up to my ZF.

Currently the Z6ii as a backup during wedding days(with the 85mm on) but hoping the Z6iii or Z8 will be added in next..

So glad the ZF issue is(for now) sorted! The ZF is such a capable camera but I just lost my trust in it and felt like I was in limbo and I was already looking this week to buy something else for work..

 

[Seannissey]

I had this issue happen to me a back in December while I was out shooting on vacation. Seemed to happen after the Zf was exposed to some rain. While it was annoying to be interrupted and having to wait for the camera to reset (didn't want to take out battery in the rain), the most unfortunate part was that when this happened in the middle of a burst, all the photos from that particular burst seemed to not be saved on the SD card. I tried cleaning the lens contacts after returning to the hotel, but the issue continued for the next couple days. I should note that it only happened when I had the Tamron 35-150 Z I rented, so whether it was the camera or the lens, I can't be sure.

Since then, I've shot around 6k photos on the Zf on old and the newest firmware, both on native and adapted glass, and have not seen the issue pop up again, but I have also not shot in the rain since then. So again, hard to know if the issue is actually solved or it was due to the rain.

Thats weird and could quite possibly be the rain. ( a bit worrying that the files did not write to the card though!!! :-0)

I shoot a lot of Scottish Elopements in full on conditions and have had cameras go super glitchy or die on me during shoots in torrential downpours.. but some will return to normal after a few days drying out..(my D780's LCD completely went offline for 3 days until it dried out for instance)

For the ZF this was happening with all the lenses I mentioned and at fully dry weddings so for mine at least it seems like a firmware bug.

Hope it sorts itself out and you have some hassle free shooting from now on

 

[JulietteM]

Further to my initial post, I recently updated the firmware to 1.20 on the ZF body and so far so good with the lock up issue.

A bit of background

I use the ZF for work and shoot around 5k-8k of images per week

Prior to upgrading the firmware I would experience the camera locking up around 8-20 times during the course of a wedding day, sometimes at key moments, (for safety I had my 28-75 mounted on another body so I could quickly stay in the action) (not ideal)

Ive used the body with 7 different lenses and the lock up happened with every one mounted so I feel its not a lens issue, I tried different modes, different RAW compression, flash on/off, no soft release mounted, pretty much any permutation of settings you can imagine.. but it persisted.....

Since the upgrade to firmware 1.20 Ive shot 4 weddings (circa 20k images) without a single lock up... fingers crossed it stays that way..

so if you are having issues with this on the ZF defo give the new firmware a go

Good luck

That’s great! As an aside, what are you using as a back up body? I should’ve asked and is contemplating a back up to my ZF.

Currently the Z6ii as a backup during wedding days(with the 85mm on) but hoping the Z6iii or Z8 will be added in next..

So glad the ZF issue is(for now) sorted! The ZF is such a capable camera but I just lost my trust in it and felt like I was in limbo and I was already looking this week to buy something else for work..

Glad it worked for you as well! I heard the Z6iii will be in the higher price bracket and more customized for videography, but all rumors at this point. When it comes out, if I can grab a discounted Z6ii, I think that would be a good back up since you confirmed it's your current set up! Thanks.

 

[Aural]

Thats weird and could quite possibly be the rain. ( a bit worrying that the files did not write to the card though!!! :-0)
I shoot a lot of Scottish Elopements in full on conditions and have had cameras go super glitchy or die on me during shoots in torrential downpours.. but some will return to normal after a few days drying out..(my D780's LCD completely went offline for 3 days until it dried out for instance)

For the ZF this was happening with all the lenses I mentioned and at fully dry weddings so for mine at least it seems like a firmware bug.

Hope it sorts itself out and you have some hassle free shooting from now on

Funny you mention Scotland - that was where I was on that trip with the Zf! Not sure about year-round weather but it rained 5/7 days I was there in Edinburgh and surrounding areas so I was shooting in the rain whether I wanted to or not. And yeah the files not writing to the card really sucked, but luckily I didn't lose too many important shots I couldn't reshoot right away.

Hopefully it was the firmware and not the lens, as the 35-150 does produce some stunning images while being super flexible and I'd probably like to pick one up for myself.

 

[Howard58222]

Had lots of issues with Nikon Zf shutting down. Often when using flash. Displaying shutter not working screen. Sent camera in and had no help from Nikon. Great solution JulietteM.

Most excellent thread.

 

[Aural]

Small update:

I've since shot around 10k photos on the latest firmware (1.20), and have just had the issue happen again to me this past weekend. 40mm f/2 attached, dry sunny day, shooting in continuous burst. No pixel shift or bracketing, shooting RAW files only on a 128gb SanDisk SD and a 256gb Samsung microSD for backup. Was using the included official Nikon EN EL-15c.

I immediately turned off the camera, removed the battery, put the battery back in, powered it back on, and was able to continue shooting (a fix I read somewhere but can't remember exactly where).

Annoying, and it still seems like Nikon has yet to acknowledge or fix the issue. However from the "horror" stories I've read on here about how Nikon isn't particularly helpful or responsive when sending in the bodies regarding this issue and the several week turnaround times, I'm hesitant to send mine in and will probably just deal with it. 1 in 10000 is manageable and hopefully it doesn't get higher than that rate.

 

[sirhawkeye64]

Small update:

I've since shot around 10k photos on the latest firmware (1.20), and have just had the issue happen again to me this past weekend. 40mm f/2 attached, dry sunny day, shooting in continuous burst. No pixel shift or bracketing, shooting RAW files only on a 128gb SanDisk SD and a 256gb Samsung microSD for backup. Was using the included official Nikon EN EL-15c.

I immediately turned off the camera, removed the battery, put the battery back in, powered it back on, and was able to continue shooting (a fix I read somewhere but can't remember exactly where).

Annoying, and it still seems like Nikon has yet to acknowledge or fix the issue. However from the "horror" stories I've read on here about how Nikon isn't particularly helpful or responsive when sending in the bodies regarding this issue and the several week turnaround times, I'm hesitant to send mine in and will probably just deal with it. 1 in 10000 is manageable and hopefully it doesn't get higher than that rate.

Are you using a threaded soft release button? This issue I think came up months ago and some determined that with certain threaded releases it can cause the camera to lock up and that removing the threaded release helped or eliminated the problem.

Have you also tried another card to see if the issue comes up. Sandisk cards are known to not necessarily be the fastest cards even their pricer models. Also how fast is the Sandisk? I know the microSD is only UHS-I but Samsung's models and speeds can be confusing (for example they have some of the Evo cards that can only write about 130 MB/s but they are advertised as if they are "premium" cards.

I Haven't run into a lock-up yet ,except for if I fill the buffer, but I know when that happens and it's not a camera defect, and I also don't use a threaded soft release either, so I'm not sure if the card speed and/or a threaded release is maybe an issue. I"m also running v1.2 (v1.1 from what I heard, had some issues but it was mostly AF related).

 

[Fotoslavo]

I have the same problem, it happened about 7-10 times over the course of a year, after the latest update 1.21 too. I'm thinking of removing the micro SD card completely.

 

[Varjohaltia]

Glad to hear I'm not alone. Will have to see if removing the Micro SD card makes a difference. Really hoping for a proper fix though.

 

[Jezm]

It happened to me today. This is the second time it has done so — both were during shoots. It hasn't happened from casual shooting around the house.

If it helps anyone else finding patterns, I have:
- Sandisk SD card and Samsung pro microSD, in backup mode.

- Snapbridge set up to do gps tagging on my phone

- Not a high write throughput: no burst shooting. Perhaps a shot-per-second very briefly for a moment.

 

[zormic]

My problem started a few weeks after I bought the Zf, in November 2023. The random factor was driving me crazy, and I sent it for service four times, where everything except the sensor was replaced—yet the same issue kept happening.

Since none of that helped, I decided to write to Nikon in the EU, where I immediately got a response saying they would look into the issue and find a solution. They approved a replacement for my Zf, and I picked it up three days ago.

After just 88 clicks, the same problem appeared again!?! On a completely new camera, without restoring the settings from the previous one—everything was at default.

My question for everyone is: do all of you experiencing this issue use SnapBridge with your cameras? (I use it connected to an iOS device.) In my opinion, that’s where the problem lies. I’ve noticed that, for reasons unknown to me, SnapBridge occasionally disables the Auto Download option by itself. Looking back, I’ve realized that during those periods, the dreaded message “The shutter is closed. To start shooting, press the shutter-release button.” did not appear.

So, how many of you use SnapBridge Auto Download and are experiencing this issue?

I am also certain that Nikon is aware of this problem because it’s impossible for my second camera to develop the same issue right from the start. Someone mentioned on another forum that FW 2.0 will address this problem, though they didn’t provide a source for that claim:

Fix for an intermittent camera error that results in the message “The shutter is closed. To start shooting, press the shutter release button” that some are reporting.

You can see it at this link:

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1845944/0

I’d appreciate responses from anyone experiencing this issue and any insights that might help solve it.

 

[sirhawkeye64]

My problem started a few weeks after I bought the Zf, in November 2023. The random factor was driving me crazy, and I sent it for service four times, where everything except the sensor was replaced—yet the same issue kept happening.

Since none of that helped, I decided to write to Nikon in the EU, where I immediately got a response saying they would look into the issue and find a solution. They approved a replacement for my Zf, and I picked it up three days ago.

After just 88 clicks, the same problem appeared again!?! On a completely new camera, without restoring the settings from the previous one—everything was at default.

My question for everyone is: do all of you experiencing this issue use SnapBridge with your cameras? (I use it connected to an iOS device.) In my opinion, that’s where the problem lies. I’ve noticed that, for reasons unknown to me, SnapBridge occasionally disables the Auto Download option by itself. Looking back, I’ve realized that during those periods, the dreaded message “The shutter is closed. To start shooting, press the shutter-release button.” did not appear.

So, how many of you use SnapBridge Auto Download and are experiencing this issue?

I am also certain that Nikon is aware of this problem because it’s impossible for my second camera to develop the same issue right from the start. Someone mentioned on another forum that FW 2.0 will address this problem, though they didn’t provide a source for that claim:

Fix for an intermittent camera error that results in the message “The shutter is closed. To start shooting, press the shutter release button” that some are reporting.

You can see it at this link:

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1845944/0

I’d appreciate responses from anyone experiencing this issue and any insights that might help solve it.

I don't use snapbridge much for the camera, at least not for long periods of time yet (as i just now figured out how to get it to connect since this was a struggle in the past for many). That being said, I haven't run into the shutter lock-up yet, and I've done a lot of burst shooting and regular shooting with the Zf (now at about 7,000 shots on the shutter in about a year). I do use Sandisk Extreme Pro cards in my cameras though, but some people have reported this issue I think separate of SnapBridge (they weren't using it with SB so it likely is a camera issue for those who are experiencing it). I should note that my Zf is not one of the first few batches, as I bought mine in late Feb of 2024, so about 4-5 months after release so maybe some of the early ones have a defect, although that doesn't explain why you'd be experiencing the issue on a brand new one. Some have reported that it can be caused by a soft-release button (one of the screw-in types) if you use those.

 

[AWG_Pics]

My problem started a few weeks after I bought the Zf, in November 2023. The random factor was driving me crazy, and I sent it for service four times, where everything except the sensor was replaced—yet the same issue kept happening.

Since none of that helped, I decided to write to Nikon in the EU, where I immediately got a response saying they would look into the issue and find a solution. They approved a replacement for my Zf, and I picked it up three days ago.

After just 88 clicks, the same problem appeared again!?! On a completely new camera, without restoring the settings from the previous one—everything was at default.

My question for everyone is: do all of you experiencing this issue use SnapBridge with your cameras? (I use it connected to an iOS device.) In my opinion, that’s where the problem lies. I’ve noticed that, for reasons unknown to me, SnapBridge occasionally disables the Auto Download option by itself. Looking back, I’ve realized that during those periods, the dreaded message “The shutter is closed. To start shooting, press the shutter-release button.” did not appear.

So, how many of you use SnapBridge Auto Download and are experiencing this issue?

I am also certain that Nikon is aware of this problem because it’s impossible for my second camera to develop the same issue right from the start. Someone mentioned on another forum that FW 2.0 will address this problem, though they didn’t provide a source for that claim:

Fix for an intermittent camera error that results in the message “The shutter is closed. To start shooting, press the shutter release button” that some are reporting.

You can see it at this link:

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1845944/0

I’d appreciate responses from anyone experiencing this issue and any insights that might help solve it.

I don't use snapbridge much for the camera, at least not for long periods of time yet (as i just now figured out how to get it to connect since this was a struggle in the past for many). That being said, I haven't run into the shutter lock-up yet, and I've done a lot of burst shooting and regular shooting with the Zf (now at about 7,000 shots on the shutter in about a year). I do use Sandisk Extreme Pro cards in my cameras though, but some people have reported this issue I think separate of SnapBridge (they weren't using it with SB so it likely is a camera issue for those who are experiencing it). I should note that my Zf is not one of the first few batches, as I bought mine in late Feb of 2024, so about 4-5 months after release so maybe some of the early ones have a defect, although that doesn't explain why you'd be experiencing the issue on a brand new one. Some have reported that it can be caused by a soft-release button (one of the screw-in types) if you use those.

I have had the Zf for about a month, bought new at a local B&M, and have shot about 3100 images on it. When I received the camera, I put it in airplane mode immediately for battery life reasons. I also used a soft release button for the first 1000 or so images. I did get a brief lock up a couple of times in that initial use period, but as I was figuring out the camera, it may have been something else I did to cause it. I did not like the soft release button, removed it, refined my camera settings, and have not had any lock up since. Very happy with the camera.

 

[madecov]

I've had my Zf for a bit over a year. I use Sabrent 512gb cards. I do use a soft release button and have since getting the camera. I've not had a lock up yet.

The soft release threading doesn'treally effectthe shutter button, a threaded old style cable release doesnt work on the Zf.

this has to be a firmware glitch.

 

[sirhawkeye64]

I've had my Zf for a bit over a year. I use Sabrent 512gb cards. I do use a soft release button and have since getting the camera. I've not had a lock up yet.

The soft release threading doesn'treally effectthe shutter button, a threaded old style cable release doesnt work on the Zf.

this has to be a firmware glitch.

With the soft releases though, some had suggested that if the threading is too deep, where it presses in the button unintentionally, or makes it otherwise more sensitive to pressure could cause it. This issue has been around since the camera was released and now with about 2 firmware revisions, if this was a bug, it hasn't been figured out yet, but my guess is it's not a wide enough problem and there has to be some other explanation aside from firmware. If it was firmware bug I would think it would be pretty easy to replicate. Has Nikon acknowledged this issue (I can't recall)?

I'm curious if this is perhaps more prone in Single shot mode. They could have a mechanism to help detect unintentional shutter presses in S mode to help protect the shutter in the case of unintentional presses (say if you're walking with the camera on a rapid strap and it hits your leg). Since the Zf's shutter button is easier to trigger/press than a regular Z camera, it might be that (a protection measure).

I also wonder if people are confusing lock up with the limp mode that the camera goes into when the buffer is full, which with only SD cards I could see it happening quite a bit since they write slower than a CFE card and so limp mode may be more common. I personally don't shot a lot of burst shots on the Zf and haven't run into this lockup that people are talking about. Not saying it doesn't exist, but there may be other explanations.

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