Use Your Nikon Mirrorless Camera as a Telescope

If you own a Nikon Z6, Z7, Z8, Z9, or Zf-series camera, there’s an often-overlooked feature you might just love. It’s possible to assign the focus magnification to the Fn1, Fn2, and movie record buttons, amongst others.

With the high-resolution EVF, you can then instantly see your subject at 50%, 100%, 200%, and even 400% (on some models) magnification. When you want to return to the normal view, all you need to do is press the same assigned button again.

This feature is mainly intended to ensure critical focus on your subject, especially when performing manual focus. I now find myself using this feature most often just to see distant subjects really, really close up.

While it’s true that you can hit the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons to creep in on high magnification, I find it preferable to instantly jump between high/normal magnification. I also find it simpler to locate my assigned function button instead of the ‘+/-‘ buttons on the camera back while looking through the EVF. As a bonus, the +/- buttons are also smart enough to center on the focus point/subject box.

200% zoom on rear camera monitor, Nikon Z9 and 500mm lens

The samples I’ll show in this article are shot viewing the Nikon Z9 rear monitor, which has far less resolution than the EVF does. The same zoom feature works for both the EVF and the monitor. The Z8 and Z9, for instance, have a 3.68 million-dot EVF but only a 2 million-dot monitor. I didn’t have any easy way to photograph the EVF, so I shot the rear monitor instead. Just keep in mind that your viewfinder will show a much more detailed image than these monitor shots.

If you own a Z8 or Z9, there’s an added bonus that the viewfinder operates in real-time, without any time lag at all.

I used my Nikkor 500mm f/5.6 PF lens in these sample photographs.

Prepare to assign a button to the screen Zoom on/off feature

Selecting the Fn2 button for assignment on the Z8

Select the Zoom feature

Select a zoom magnification (some models go up to 400%)

The zoom view is automatically centered where the focus point is located when performing auto-focus, or else where the subject is found if it’s recognized. It’s possible on the Z8 to have the zoom centered on where the subject appears (instead of the focus point), when using subject recognition with manual focus. Similar to a telescope, you’ll probably need your camera on a tripod with telephoto lenses if you use a high zoom magnification. Many times, the 200% and 400% zoom options are simply too powerful.

The multi-selector arrows are intelligent and know to move in small amounts when you’re zoomed in. This allows you to gradually move around the image and manually track small subject movements.

If you prefer, you can also move around your subject by swiping your finger on the monitor while zoomed in. When I tried this on my Z8 camera, at least, it would even re-focus on the new center of the monitor. This was unexpected and impressive. Be aware, however, that this mode will snap a photo, too. If you don’t want this, then disable or select “Playback only” in the wrench (Setup) menu “Touch controls”.

Nikon Z9 rear monitor using 500mm lens

In the shot above, the subject was automatically grabbed and surrounded by a grey box. The focus point, in this case, won’t be used for centering the zoom; the grey box will be used instead.

Rear monitor after pressing the Fn2 button for 200% zoom

Nikon Z9 rear monitor using 500mm lens

200% zoom rear monitor (warm air shimmer blurs the image a bit)

You may want to change the zoom factor that you use, depending upon which lens is mounted on your camera. Just go back to the Custom Controls menu to alter the magnification.

If you haven’t tried this feature yet, you’re in for a treat. You won’t have any excuses for not verifying a sharp photo. You won’t have to wait until you review the shot to know if you nailed the focus.