I use my Nikon camera’s video record button… for photos! Here’s why

Nikon Z8 close-up on black background with lens flare over record button .

If you’re a stills photographer, you might have never pressed the video record button on your camera. Not ever! But I press this little red button on my Nikon Z8 hundreds of times every single shoot, because it toggles a very handy function on / off. Everything!

So, what do I mean by that? Well, whether you’re looking through your EVF or the rear LCD, you’ll notice a heads-up display with a plethora of information – including your exposure settings, an exposure meter, battery life and you may have set up some optional extras such as a virtual horizon or histogram.

You can find 'Live view info display off' in the 'Custom controls (shooting)' menu (Image credit: Future)

This is all useful information but, if I find myself really refining a composition, it can sometimes be a little bit distracting. That’s where the good ol’ record button comes in, because when in photography mode, I have it set to toggle the HUD on or off.

Turned off, the only thing that’s left on the screen is your chosen grid and focus-point indicator. Everything else disappears, enabling you to cancel out the visual noise and focus entirely on your composition.

As far as I’m aware, this works on all Z-Series cameras. However, it’s not the only function you can assign to the record button. That’s right, in photo mode, it essentially becomes a sneaky custom-settings button! To set your record button to disable the HUD, do the following…

1. Hit your Nikon's 'Menu' button
2. Head to the 'Custom Settings Menu' (pencil icon)
3. Use the D-pad or joystick to scroll down to 'Controls' ('f')
4. Select 'Custom controls (shooting)'
5. Select the little camcorder icon and hit the 'OK' button
6. Select 'Live view info display off'

You’ll notice that there's a swathe of other custom settings you can apply to the record button, including setting the white balance or metering, or toggling AE lock or cycling through the framing grid displays, and much more.

So, there you have it. Cut down on visual noise by assigning ‘Live view info display off’ to your Nikon’s record button.

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