Thom Hogan

I've pointed out both the simplification and complication that the Zf places on the user in several articles (and in my book). The simplification comes in the way of "not that many customizable controls," while the complication comes in how the dials and button+dial things interact. 

Here are the basics of how I'm working with the Zf at the moment:

1. I tend to be either a Manual exposure or Aperture-priority exposure user. Which one I use depends a bit on what I'm doing, but given those two modes and my other choices, I need the Front Command dial to control apertures and the Rear Command dial to control shutter speeds to work consistently quickly. Thus, my shutter speed dial is set to 1/3STEP.
2. I don't use Automatic ISO, as even with the nuances in the settings on the non-dial cameras, it can set things ways I need to override. Thus, surprisingly, with Auto ISO turned off, the ISO dial is useful to me. It's very easy for me to control ISO with my left hand directly without removing my eye from the viewfinder. However, there's a downside to that: you need to avoid the C position because that locks the dial, and you need to verify ISO often because the dial can be turned accidentally in camera handling if you're not careful.
3. Because I'm in Manual exposure mode a fair amount of the time, I wish the exposure compensation dial did have a lock on it. In Manual exposure mode you don't want the dial on anything other than 0, because anything else changes the metering bar on you, and it's easy not to notice that this is the case (you have to look elsewhere for the +/- icon). I can't use C because I'm using the two Command dials for aperture and shutter speed some of the time.
4. If I'm doing something where Hybrid Button Focus is what I want, I configure my Zf differently than my Z8/Z9: I leave focus on the shutter release and put AF-ON+AF area mode=3D tracking on the AE-L/AF-L button. The reason for this is that I don't have many more buttons to configure on the Zf, so have to settle on the simplest approach. This does mean that I also have to have a way to get out of Hybrid Button Focus quickly, which leads to:
5. My DISP button is programmed to show the first item on MYMENU. That button is right above the actual MENU button, so top button is first thing on MYMENU, bottom button is go to last MENU item used.
6. I need a way to change the viewfinder, so the Fn button gets the former DISP function. But I also reduce the number of viewfinder variants to two (Custom Setting #D18), which means this button becomes a toggle ;~).
7. I like a Focus Mode/Area button (particularly since I have the shutter release set to focus), so the red movie button becomes that.
8. From there, it becomes putting the 12 most important things I need to set on the i button menu, and loading another five frequently used menu items on MYMENU.
9. Finally, I dial in Lossless compressed raw, and my other regular photo settings. 
10. Save everything in SETUP > Save/load menus settings > Save menu settings onto an older, small SD card I carry with me, and I'm (mostly) done. I put mostly in parens because if I ever have to re-load those settings, I'm not done. I still have to manually check items #1, #2, and #3, as they aren't part of that file!

I outline and elaborate on how you make these decisions and what some of the better choices are in my Configuring and Using the Zf book.

Don't copy my settings blindly. Every time I write down specific settings, some readers just automatically set their camera the same. That isn't likely to work for you long term. We each have our own needs and photography style that has to come into play when setting our cameras. That's why it takes hundreds of pages in my book to describe the thought process you need to go through when making your decisions. However, I've provided my basic settings here because some have questioned whether I can really use the Zf for my photography. The answer is, I can, with some simplifications, while avoiding complications.