Preview function?

dachshund

Senior Member
Just got a new Z50, in setting up the functions, specifically the FN buttons, one of the choices is
“preview” there is brief explanation but not much detail. What is the purpose of this function, it doesn’t seem to do much. Anyone got any input?
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
The Preview option refers to a Depth of Field Preview... When you shoot with a small aperture, the camera doesn't close the aperture down until you fire the shutter... so consequently, you cannot see what the depth of field is for that aperture setting... Assigning the function button to "Preview" basically allows you to close the aperture down to the selected setting without firing the camera so you can "see" what/how much the depth of field is going to change...

Here's a test so you can see it working...

Set your aperture to its smallest setting... highest number
Focus on something about 8' away that has some distance to the back of the subject...
When you press the Preview function/button... You'll notice everything in front of, and in back of your subject is probably in-focus...

Now set your aperture to its largest setting... smallest number
Focus on your subject again...
Press your Preview... You'll now notice that the background is out of focus while your subject is In-focus...

Depending on which setting your aperture is set to, you can control the amount of depth of field (and that Bokeh, which is that blurry out-of-focus look that photographers try to strive for in certain situations.)
 

dachshund

Senior Member
Thanks, good reply. I’m used to using depth of field preview on my N80s and on several of my old film Nikons. Now I know what to look for. This is something my D5600 doesn’t have and I have missed.Why didn’t Nikon just say depth-of-field preview?
 
Last edited:

BF Hammer

Senior Member
DOF preview is a feature Nikon is not pushing so much for several years now. My D7000 has the DOF button and it is the default function. My D750, they just call the 2 front buttons operated by the right hand "function" buttons. The DOF preview is not even the factory default setting for the lower button, but I made it work that way. I still use it sometimes. I set the upper function button to activate the level indicator in viewfinder.
 
Top