Trick to avoid dust during lens changes on Nikon Z6 and Z7 cameras

This video demonstrates a method to close the shutter curtains on Nikon Z cameras during lens changes to avoid dust accumulation while the mount is open, the same as the Canon EOS R camera does automatically.

Steps:
1) Turn the camera off.
2) Remove the XQD card. This isn't essential but a precaution to make sure the camera doesn't attempt to access the card when the battery is pulled in step 4.
3) Turn the camera on and wait a few seconds.
4) Remove the battery. This will trigger the camera to close the shutter curtains.
5) Perform your lens change. Be very careful to not touch the shutter curtains - they're very close to the mount on Z cameras and extremely delicate.
6) Reinsert your XQD card and battery and turn the camera on. You'll immediately see an error message asking you to press the shutter button. This is because the camera does not expect to find the shutter curtains closed at power-up - for orderly shutdowns the Z cameras always leave the shutter curtains open. Simply press the shutter button once to reopen the curtains.

[_Just_Some]

For new viewer of this video:
DO NOT DO THIS!

[lajdos]

Do not do that!!! every camera has an error count if you pass the max count the camera will block and won't relise the shutter, this is a way to send your camera to the service for a repair, and this is checked informetion passed by a persone who fixes cameras for over 15 years. If it was ment by nikon it would be an option without an error mesage like canon done, want to paye for repair i gues no

[VadimOm]

id rather have dust on my sensor that i can clean
shutter blades are way more fragile

[jiml]

This is the completely WRONG way to do this .

[patricksmith]

The problem is dust and debris is what causes shutter's to fail in the first place, which is why DSLR shutter's often go way beyond their estimated life. However if you use a rocket blower often to clean the dust out of the mirror assembly box, then you will extend the life. This is why I believe Nikon and Sony thinks it's a better idea to have the dust land on the sensor and not the shutter blades. I guess we'll see within the next couple years if the Canon EOS R camera's shutter under performs compared to Nikon or Sony!

[alwaysforwardyt]

Do you know you can delete a video from YouTube? If you read the comments, you may realize that you will cause more harm than good with your video. Why don't you remove it? Initially, l thought it was a good tip. Thanks god l read the comments and put my brain to work. You're getting views for the wrong reason. My 2 cents.

[bueb]

People worry too much about dust. Unless you're taking pictures of blank sky at f/22, you're not going to see it. And if you miss a 1-time shot because it took 30 seconds to change lenses instead of 5, you're going to learn quickly to never do this again. Not to mention breaking the shutter curtains is a WAY BIGGER PROBLEM than some dust.

[sjmheron]

There are electronic lockouts that happen when the camera is switched off that protect your data (on the memory card that is being constantly accessed by the camera while in operation) and your circuitry . These are important. You bypass all of them when you take the battery out while it's on. Do not do this.

[franciscokloganb]

Seriously, what's up with photographers and dust on the sensor? You do realize, that once the shutter starts opening and closing any dust that was on it, will still land on the sensor right? Doesn't matter what you do, unless you are in a controlled laboratory environment you can't control where dust particle will land, at most you will delay when they land on the sensor. Then again, cleaning the sensor isn't even hard, I've had harder time cleaning my laptops and desktops than I had cleaning my DSLR sensor. I'm not saying for people to be dumb and changing lenses against the wind, but you know what they say "10% effort 90% results, 90% effort 10% results". When people get to the point where they want to do this, they are clearly on the 90% effort zone.

[scotttibbles]

I've become dumber after watching this video.

[HR-wdcw]

To be honest, this method has popped up a lot of places but is not advised but most people. Dust is easy to remove if you have the swabs and proper cleaning supplies. The issue here is you run the risk of damaging the shutter, which could be more expensive than cleaning your sensor. I mean you also have to figure that some dust is not visible or is minimal. If you clean your sensor regularly and practice a bit of good habbits (ie. not changing lenses in windy/dusty conditions) then you should be fine. This is just one inherent drawback to ML cameras over SLRs. With SLRs the mirror assembly helped keep dust minimal as it acted as a barrier, but honestly I would not do this.

And as others have mentioned, some cameras have lockouts and error counts adn when you reach/exceed those, then you have to send it in for service (firmware update won't fix it). And this could be more costly than just buying a good sensor cleaning kit. I mean a kit of 12 swabs and solution costs about $40 and once you figure out how to clean your sensor, that could last you 2-3 years. far cheaper and less hassle than this method or risking the error-lock-out code issue. Even if you pay someone to clean your sensor it's maybe $100 per year for 2 cleanings (which is about as often as I clean mine and I'm always changing lenses). If it's just a few spots, just live with it and to spot removal in post.

This method (and a few others I've seen) can lead to far more damage and potentially costly repairs over time.

[Jima]

I would never risk doing anything that is going to cause a software error.

[lauriehwrdlh]

I struggle to understand why most mirrorless cameras dont have a sensor protection curtain when the mount is open.

[TheTukTuk]

Better way: point the camera downwards while changing lenses. Really, its not that hard. Just do it!

[markshirley]

Surely Nikon cold put this into firmware

[philmastman]

Not many photographers would want to go through that time-consuming process every time they need to change a lens. I certainly wouldn't.

[LEXPIX]

Nice hack, but sounds risky. My trick to minimize dust while changing lenses is to never change lenses outdoors or in a dusty environment.

Also keeping the camera body pointed down will help keep dust from settling on the sensor. I would also change lenses as quick as possible and to run a Clean Sensor operation after each lens change.

[boromir]

This is the most horrible and bizzare camera tip I have seen, ...ever. The lens change procedure takes more time than manual sensor cleanining from someone seasoned...
Is prevention of some dust getting on a sensor really such a huge deal worth of such over complicated, time consuming procedure which could cause reseting or even make damage to camera? The answer is obvious and simple. No, it isn't! Folks, be reasonable, ignore this awful "trick"!
This is not laboratory work or cooking, it's photography. It's about getting the shot. Nobody cares if you have some dust on a sensor as long as the pictures are good, it can always be retouched latter...
Use the camera, shoot with it, change lenses if you have to, be quick with it, don't waste time with camera and oportunities because of something so unimportant which doesn't have anything to do with capturing good photo.

[SuperBergfex]

Sounds dubious and simply doesn’t work on my Z7 with the latest firmware 1.03, which has been released one day after your video. Could you check that behavior with the latest firmware, please?

[vianditya]

This is really bad advice, there's a reason why every mirrorless camera except Canon and Leica M have the default shutters opened. The sensor has to be open all the time in order to get the live view for the EVF and only close when you take a picture (only use power when you take a picture). If the default is close like in Canon EOS R, then every time you turn on the camera..the battery will be used unnecessarily just to keep the shutter open. You will also get shutter count every time you turn on and off the camera.
And Leica M don't have EVF so no need to open the shutter to get live view.