Appendix A — HUD tool reference
Every tool button, the tab it lives on, what a tap does and whether a long-press opens an options sheet. Visibility and order are configurable in Options ▸ HUD tool buttons.
| Tool | Tab | Tap | Long-press | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | AF/MF af_mode | CAMERA SETUP | Toggle / cycle | — | Autofocus / manual focus switch (AF-S, AF-C, MF). |
| | AF Area af_area all bodies (Z5, Z6, Z7 and Z50 use the body's standard AF-area setting) | CAMERA SETUP | Toggle / cycle | — | AF area mode — where the camera looks for focus (wide, single-point, tracking…). |
| | Subject subject_detect Z8, Z9, Z6III, Zf, Z50II, Z5II, ZR | CAMERA SETUP | Toggle / cycle | — | Subject detection — people, animals or vehicles priority for AF. |
| | MF Dial mf_slider | CAMERA SETUP | Toggle / cycle | — | Manual-focus dial. Drive the lens focus motor remotely with a precision ruler slider (yellow reference line). Long-press the MF button to choose horizontal or vertical orientation — photo and video each remember their own. PULL ON opens the floating focus-pull panel (drag it anywhere): with the slider at your first mark, tap A to store it, refocus and tap B for the second mark — the pills show each point's position. The ◀/▶ buttons then run a smooth, eased focus transition to A or B over the selected time; tap the timer chip to cycle the duration (0.5 s → 5 s in half-second steps) and tap either button mid-run to stop. The elapsed time shows in the panel title while a pull runs. |
| | PZ Dial zoom_slider Z8, Z9, Z6III, Zf, Z50II, Z5II, Z30, Z50, Zfc, ZR — with a Nikon power-zoom lens attached | CAMERA SETUP | Toggle / cycle | — | Power Zoom dial (PZ). A spring-back rocker that drives a power-zoom lens: push toward W (wide) or T (tele) and release to stop — in Auto the drive speed follows how far you push. Long-press the PZ button to pin a fixed drive speed (−5…+5, same scale as the body menu) or to switch the slider between horizontal and vertical. With a speed pinned you also get W/T direction plus Start / Pause / Stop transport buttons for hands-off automatic zooms at constant speed. A / B pills store and recall exact zoom positions (PZ3 lenses): tap an empty pill to STORE the lens's current zoom position, tap it again to RECALL — the lens drives itself to that spot — and long-press to clear. The recall drive runs at the pinned speed when one is set; in Auto (no pinned speed) it uses the body-menu default (0). Positions are stored per lens, so a preset saved with one lens won't drive another. The live focal length shows next to the readout. Greyed out when the attached lens has no power zoom. |
| | VR/IBIS ibis | CAMERA SETUP | Toggle / cycle | — | In-body stabilisation (VR/IBIS) on/off and mode. |
| | Meter metering | CAMERA SETUP | Toggle / cycle | — | Exposure metering pattern (matrix, center-weighted, spot, highlight). |
| | Pic Ctrl picture_ctrl | CAMERA SETUP | Toggle / cycle | — | Picture Control profile — the camera's color/tone preset (incl. flat/N-Log looks). |
| | ADL active_dlighting | CAMERA SETUP | Toggle / cycle | — | Active D-Lighting — in-camera highlight/shadow protection. |
| | HighISO NR hi_iso_nr | CAMERA SETUP | Toggle / cycle | — | High-ISO noise reduction strength. |
| | Skin Soft skin_softening Z8, Z9, Z6III, Zf, Z50II, Z5II, ZR | CAMERA SETUP | Toggle / cycle | — | Skin softening amount for interview/beauty work. |
| | Non-CPU non_cpu_lens all bodies except Z50 | CAMERA SETUP | Toggle / cycle | — | Non-CPU lens data — register manual lenses so IBIS and EXIF work correctly. Tap a slot to make it the active lens. LONG-PRESS any slot to edit it or to fill a free one: lens name (up to 36 characters), focal length (0.1 mm steps below 100 mm) and maximum aperture (F0.01 steps below f/10) are written straight into the camera's Non-CPU lens data — the lens you are shooting with stays selected, and the picker labels update as soon as the body confirms. CLEAR SLOT empties a slot again. |
| | Level virtual_horizon | CAMERA SETUP | Toggle / cycle | — | Virtual horizon / level. Shows camera pitch and roll with smooth motion for perfectly level shots. Long-press for roll/pitch numbers and angle-ladder labels. |
| | Img Area img_area | IMAGE SETTINGS (photo) | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | Image area / crop for stills (FX full-frame, DX, 1:1, 16:9). |
| | Tone tone_mode Z8, Z6III, Zf, Z50II, Z5II, ZR | IMAGE SETTINGS (photo) | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | Tone mode for stills — SDR or HLG (HEIF) capture. |
| | Quality img_quality | IMAGE SETTINGS (photo) | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | Still image quality — JPEG/HEIF Basic/Normal/Fine, RAW, or RAW + JPEG combinations. |
| | Size img_size | IMAGE SETTINGS (photo) | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | Still image size (Large / Medium / Small). |
| | RAW raw_rec all bodies except Z30, Z50, Zfc | IMAGE SETTINGS (photo) | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | RAW (NEF) compression — Lossless, High Efficiency★ or High Efficiency. |
| | Release release_mode | IMAGE SETTINGS (photo) | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | Release mode — single frame, continuous low/high bursts, self-timer and C15-C120 pre-capture modes. |
| | HF Flicker hf_flicker Z8, Z9, Z6III, Z50II, Z5II, ZR | CAMERA SETUP | Toggle / cycle | — | High-Frequency Flicker Reduction (Nikon HF flicker) on/off — the body's own setting for the current mode (photo or video). Hidden by default: enable it in Settings → tools. While it is On and the exposure program allows it (M or S in photo, M in video, shutter 1/30–1/8000), the shutter chip and Body Control tile show Nikon's fine-tune format — only the denominator with one decimal, e.g. 512.0 instead of 1/500 — and the Shutter sheet gains ◄ faster / ► slower rows that step the fine-tune one dial click at a time. Available on Z-series bodies that support it; on other cameras the button reads not available. |
| | Focus focus | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | Focus-peaking overlay. Highlights in-focus detail with a colored stroke. Long-press for the Focus assist menu: Peaking color (a swatch window that stays open and docks at the screen edge so you compare colors on the live feed — X returns to the menu), Line thickness (Thin / Medium / Thick — the stroke width only, detection is unchanged) and 'Threshold & tuning…', which opens a live slider over the feed: 0 shows only the crispest, highest-contrast edges, 50 is the factory detection, 100 also lights up soft edges and fine texture such as hair or fabric. Pills in the same drawer: THIN/MEDIUM/THICK, GRADED (stroke strength follows sharpness instead of a solid line) and TONE (relaxes the detection on flat profiles — N-Log, Log3G10, HLG — so the same slider position looks alike on every tone). Everything here is part of an app preset. In fullscreen, long-press a Quick Button bound to Focus to cycle the peaking color on the fly. |
| | Zebras zebras | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | Exposure zebras. Diagonal stripes over areas above your set brightness threshold — separate Highlight and Middle-Grey zebras with their own colors and levels. Long-press for modes, levels and 'Auto Standard per Tone': ON loads the standard levels whenever the codec/tone (or view LUT) changes; OFF remembers your own levels separately per tone. |
| | Exp Meter exp_meter | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | — | Exposure Meter — a draggable Nikon-style meter fed by the body's own exposure indicator. The small + and − buttons step exposure compensation by the camera's smallest EV increment. Long-press the EXP button to choose vertical or horizontal orientation. |
| | Punch punch | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | Focus punch — the BODY's live-view zoom (LiveViewZoomArea), not a digital crop: tap cycles Entire display → 100 % → 200 % → 400 % (only the levels this body offers — the list comes from the camera itself), hold picks a level directly. Long-press a level in the sheet to star it: one favourite makes the tap toggle that level ↔ Entire display; two or more make the tap cycle through the starred levels only — star "Entire display" too if you want Off in the loop. The punch follows the AF point: Tap-AF moves it. "Snap to detected subject" (row at the bottom of the sheet): On punch-in centres the zoom window on the face / eye / subject the body has detected the moment you punch in; Follow keeps re-centring while the subject moves; Off leaves the window where the focus point is. Works with the body's AF subject detection and, on bodies that have it, MF subject detection. The tool is hidden on bodies that do not announce live-view zoom. Punch can also sit on a fullscreen Quick Button A / B (Options → Video or Photo tool table): tap behaves like the HUD button, long-press opens the level sheet, and while the body is zoomed the button lights and prints the current level (100% / 200% / 400%). While recording the body allows only Entire / 100 % (no change at all in RAW codecs), and the camera magnifies its own monitor only — the app feed stays full frame while recording or on HDMI. |
| | Guides guides | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | Framing guides. Aspect-ratio markers (2.39:1, 1.85:1, 4:3 …) drawn over the feed. Long-press to choose ratio and style, dim everything outside the active frame, or magnify the live view so the guide fills the screen (uniform scale, single guide). |
| | Z Field zfield | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | — | Z Field exposure assist. Colors the image by exposure zones from crushed shadows to clipped highlights — a light-meter view of the whole frame. Long-press for the menu: 'Edit colours…' opens a live panel over the feed where you pick one color per stop (the stock Nikon Z palette first, transparent, or a custom color) and watch the overlay and legend change as you tap; 'Save Current as Preset' stores that palette under a name, tap a preset to apply it, long-press to rename or delete. Presets and the current colors are part of an app preset. See the 'Z Field — Exposure Assist' section below. |
| | F.Color falsecolor | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | — | False color. Maps IRE brightness ranges to 10 reference colors — the legend shows the exact 0-100 IRE range for each color. Long-press for the menu: 'Edit bands & colours…' opens a live panel over the feed (right edge in landscape, bottom in portrait) where you tap a band for its color (stock palette, transparent, or a custom color) and move its START level with − / + — the overlay and legend follow instantly, so you see exactly what you are about to save. 'Save Current as Preset' names and stores those bands + colors; tap a preset to apply it, long-press to rename or delete. 'Auto Standard per Tone' ON loads the standard cine bands whenever the codec/tone changes (hand-editing or loading a preset switches it OFF so your setup isn't overwritten). Presets and the current bands are part of an app preset. |
| | 3D LUT lut | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | 3D/1D LUT preview. Applies a color-grade LUT to the monitor feed only — recording is untouched. Long-press to pick or import .cube files. Accepted: standard Adobe/DaVinci/RED .cube files — any 3D size from 2³ to 128³ (17, 33, 64, 65, 125 all load) and 1D LUTs (LUT_1D_SIZE, expanded on import); TITLE and DOMAIN_MIN/MAX are honoured. Not supported: .3dl, .csp, ICC. 33³ is the sweet spot for live view; larger cubes work but take a moment longer to import and to push to background windows. Organise the menu: '+ New folder…' creates your own folders; long-press a folder to rename or delete it; long-press a LUT for Move to folder… / Rename / Delete. Inside a folder, '+ Import … into this folder…' files a new .cube there. Bundled packs and LUTs you delete are only hidden — Options ▸ Display ▸ Restore bundled LUTs brings them back. Folders and renames are library organisation and are not part of an app preset. |
| | Wave waveform | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | Luma waveform scope. Brightness distribution across the image, left-to-right. Long-press for trace color, channels, Peak hold (Off / 2 s / 5 s; the Parade has its own) and the built-in spot meter — a draggable square on the feed whose pixels get highlighted on the waveform (size S/M/L + highlight color in the same menu). |
| | Histo histogram | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | Histogram. Tonal distribution from shadows (left) to highlights (right), drawn as a filled R/G/B + luma area chart. Long-press for RGB or luma mode, 64 / 128 / 256 bins and Peak hold (Off / 2 s / 5 s). |
| | Parade parade | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | RGB parade. Separate red / green / blue waveforms — spot color casts and channel clipping instantly. |
| | Vector vectorscope | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | Vectorscope. Plots chroma (hue + saturation) exactly like a hardware scope — analysed straight from the live feed, any codec. Long-press for skin-tone line, zoom (1×/2×/4×), 75 %/100 % targets, graticule style and plot quality. |
| | Anam. anamorphic | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | — | Anamorphic de-squeeze. Un-stretches footage shot with anamorphic lenses (1.33×, 1.5×, 1.8×, 2×) — or type any CUSTOM factor of your own in the same menu. The custom factor also appears in the Gallery player's de-squeeze cycle. Photo and video keep their own de-squeeze setting. |
| | Grid grid | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | Opens options | Composition grid. Thirds / golden-ratio overlay. Long-press for grid type. |
| | Safe safearea | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | — | Safe-area markers. Action- and title-safe rectangles for broadcast delivery. |
| | Radar traffic | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | — | Exposure radar — a per-channel clip / crush meter. Each R/G/B bar counts only the pixels that are genuinely clipped (at the tone's measured clip level) or genuinely crushed (below the Z Field's −6 zone for that tone), so SDR, N-Log, HLG and R3D are each judged on their own curve. A bar starts filling and its lamp lights once more than 3 % of the frame is clipped or crushed; the noise bar estimates sensor noise in the darkest areas. |
| | Audio audio_meters | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | — | Audio meters. Live input levels with peak hold, drawn over the feed. |
| | S-Mo slow_motion bodies with high-frame-rate movie modes — the picker lists only what the connected body offers | MONITORING | Toggle / cycle | — | Slow motion (S-MO). Switches the camera into its high-frame-rate capture modes — the picker lists only the resolution / frame-rate pairs the body actually supports, and the resolution and frame-rate chips in the top banner update each other so an impossible combination can never be sent. The S-MO chip shows the playback slow-down factor (e.g. ×4) while active. |
| | Level audio_sens | AUDIO | Toggle / cycle | — | Input level / sensitivity for the active microphone. |
| | Mic In mic_input Z6III, ZR | AUDIO | Toggle / cycle | — | Microphone input selection (built-in, external, line). |
| | Wind wind_reduce | AUDIO | Toggle / cycle | — | Wind-noise reduction filter. |
| | Attn attenuator | AUDIO | Toggle / cycle | — | Attenuator — pads hot inputs to prevent clipping. |
| | 32-bit float32 ZR | AUDIO | Toggle / cycle | — | 32-bit float recording — capture without gain-staging worries. |