Official Nikon Z9 Launch, Info, and Discussion Thread

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Hi @Steve

Thinking about your "Secrets To The Nikon Autofocus System - Mirrorless Edition" eBook and the Nikon Z 9. Do you think the Z 9 will be an update to the current eBook or will it be a new eBook?

I guess it will take you awhile to prepare the writeup, assuming you manage to get one in the first delivery batch do you have a feeling how long it will take to test and update the eBook for the Z 9?
 
Hi @Steve

Thinking about your "Secrets To The Nikon Autofocus System - Mirrorless Edition" eBook and the Nikon Z 9. Do you think the Z 9 will be an update to the current eBook or will it be a new eBook?

I guess it will take you awhile to prepare the writeup, assuming you manage to get one in the first delivery batch do you have a feeling how long it will take to test and update the eBook for the Z 9?
I think it'll just be an update. The AF system looks like it's close to the current one (with the addition of 3D), only it works better. I think most of what's in the book will remain the same. As for timeframe, no way to know. I need to get one first and then I'll have a better idea. I'd guess Feb / March at the earliest for the update, but we'll see.
 
I think it'll just be an update. The AF system looks like it's close to the current one (with the addition of 3D), only it works better. I think most of what's in the book will remain the same. As for timeframe, no way to know. I need to get one first and then I'll have a better idea. I'd guess Feb / March at the earliest for the update, but we'll see.
Welcome back. I better start reading that one ... I got it for my wife when she got a Z50. The owner of the brick and mortar store I have a pre order in at just got back from iceland 11-18-21 and posted an image of a Z9 and the heading just said Look what I have in my hand. I do not know if he stopped at Nikon in CA on the way home or it arrived at his store in Idaho.
 
I think it'll just be an update. The AF system looks like it's close to the current one (with the addition of 3D), only it works better. I think most of what's in the book will remain the same. As for timeframe, no way to know. I need to get one first and then I'll have a better idea. I'd guess Feb / March at the earliest for the update, but we'll see.
Steve.I think you should first release a Sony AF system & I am booking an advance copy now
 
Steve.I think you should first release a Sony AF system & I am booking an advance copy now
LOL, I'm not even close to that one! I haven't had enough time with the Sony AF system or the Sony system in general. The reason people like my books is they are accurate and they can depend on the information presented. The first time I rush one out I lose my reputation.
 
LOL, I'm not even close to that one! I haven't had enough time with the Sony AF system or the Sony system in general. The reason people like my books is they are accurate and they can depend on the information presented. The first time I rush one out I lose my reputation.
Hopefully after you get your hands on the Z9 you’ll be back to Nikon lol.
 
I’m disappointed at this point that the generation 2 Z6&Z7 I have still haven’t received a substantial firmware update. All in all I’m still satisfied with both cameras for 85% of what I do. I have learned a valuable lesson with this experience and that is to never buy something hoping a future update will improve it. I won’t make that mistake again. I’m on the fence whether I will purchase the Z9 or not but honestly if they just improve the generation two software I’d be a happy camper. I’ve seen lots of post’s saying the generation two bodies are hardware limited but I absolutely disagree with that. They nearly have the generation one bodies as good as the generation two at this point with only one processor. I think we would be wrong to assume there’s not lots of potential left in these generation two bodies. I’m just not sure with the condition of my arms that the weight of the Z9 would be doable long-term for me. I would certainly like to get my hands on one and try it for sure.
 
It focuses fast .How ever I feel the algorithm may be getting confused.I will try to post pictures asap to clarify the issue
I fully agree, the subject recognition isn’t as reliable for a small bird in the middle of leaves and branches but it’s still scary good. But yes, if you are after once if a lifetime pictures, you will get better reliability with the smallest flex spot.
 
I’m disappointed at this point that the generation 2 Z6&Z7 I have still haven’t received a substantial firmware update. All in all I’m still satisfied with both cameras for 85% of what I do. I have learned a valuable lesson with this experience and that is to never buy something hoping a future update will improve it. I won’t make that mistake again. I’m on the fence whether I will purchase the Z9 or not but honestly if they just improve the generation two software I’d be a happy camper. I’ve seen lots of post’s saying the generation two bodies are hardware limited but I absolutely disagree with that. They nearly have the generation one bodies as good as the generation two at this point with only one processor. I think we would be wrong to assume there’s not lots of potential left in these generation two bodies. I’m just not sure with the condition of my arms that the weight of the Z9 would be doable long-term for me. I would certainly like to get my hands on one and try it for sure.
I have no idea what will happen for the gen 2 Zs, I don't even own a Nikon (yet), but I find it logical that the bodies with the less good AF are updated first. And it's actually quite admirable from Nikon to provide such a significant improvement to bodies 2 (well 3 if you count on the Z 9 is the third gen in term of AF) generations back!
If I understand your post correctly, the Z6/7 gen 1&2 share the same processor, and that might be the limiting factor in updating gen 2 ? They might already hitting their processor limits?
I wish that sort of customer care was more common. We all know quite a lot of camera bodies could perform better than they do with some firmware love, but it rarely happens intentionally to sell a newer body. I'm not saying every camera could be 2x better, but certainly quite a few things could be marginally or significantly improved and aren't. Let's hope this great firmware update thing from Nikon never stops and inspire more brands to do the same. In fact, coming from software development (not as a developer), I would find perfectly acceptable that firmware could be paid when they bring a significant improvement over the original body you paid for.
 
I have no idea what will happen for the gen 2 Zs, I don't even own a Nikon (yet), but I find it logical that the bodies with the less good AF are updated first. And it's actually quite admirable from Nikon to provide such a significant improvement to bodies 2 (well 3 if you count on the Z 9 is the third gen in term of AF) generations back!
If I understand your post correctly, the Z6/7 gen 1&2 share the same processor, and that might be the limiting factor in updating gen 2 ? They might already hitting their processor limits?
I wish that sort of customer care was more common. We all know quite a lot of camera bodies could perform better than they do with some firmware love, but it rarely happens intentionally to sell a newer body. I'm not saying every camera could be 2x better, but certainly quite a few things could be marginally or significantly improved and aren't. Let's hope this great firmware update thing from Nikon never stops and inspire more brands to do the same. In fact, coming from software development (not as a developer), I would find perfectly acceptable that firmware could be paid when they bring a significant improvement over the original body you paid for.
The generation two bodies actually have 2 expeed six processors and the generation one bodies only have one, so in theory they should be capable of doing twice the amount of certain processes. It may not be that they’re capable of doing twice the amount but having two processors instead of one they should absolutely be able to do more. I think it would be in their best interest to release a firmware update for these cameras sooner rather than later to stop the bleeding at this point. They’ve lost a lot of loyal customers over fumbles in their mirrorless endeavor for sure.
 
The generation two bodies actually have 2 expeed six processors and the generation one bodies only have one, so in theory they should be capable of doing twice the amount of certain processes. It may not be that they’re capable of doing twice the amount but having two processors instead of one they should absolutely be able to do more. I think it would be in their best interest to release a firmware update for these cameras sooner rather than later to stop the bleeding at this point. They’ve lost a lot of loyal customers over fumbles in their mirrorless endeavor for sure.
Then I'm sure they will and just served the ones with the longest frustration first maybe :)
 
Then I'm sure they will and just served the ones with the longest frustration first maybe :)
That’s a good point and I hope you’re right. Again for the most part I’m very pleased with the z6ii and Z7ii especially the ergonomics. I’ve owned Nikon cameras for close to 16 years and have never had any issues. I really want them to succeed as we all should. Competition keeps innovation at the forefront.
 
I fully agree, the subject recognition isn’t as reliable for a small bird in the middle of leaves and branches but it’s still scary good. But yes, if you are after once if a lifetime pictures, you will get better reliability with the smallest flex spot.
It would not focus on this one though the bird was in the open & the focus point was on the bird
1637332513872.png

It would not focus on this one talso hough the bird was in the open & the focus point was on the bird
1637337862316.png

It focused a bit later on the lower after i changed focus on the top bird & refocused on the lower bird by which time the bird had slighly turned uts head .This is very inconsitent focus behaviour
1637337978049.png
 
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To me this implies Nikon is planning to bring some of the goodies from the Z9 on to Z6/7 II. Obviously they can't/won't offer these upgrades before the Z9 is out in the wild. It also implies it is very unlikely to see anymore major upgrades to the Z6/7 bodies due to HW limitations.

Then I'm sure they will and just served the ones with the longest frustration first maybe :)
 
It would not focus on this one though the bird was in the open & the focus point was on the bird
View attachment 27617
It would not focus on this one talso hough the bird was in the open & the focus point was on the bird
View attachment 27618
It focused a bit later on the lower after i changed focus on the top bird & refocused on the lower bird by which time the bird had slighly turned uts head .This is very inconsitent focus behaviour
View attachment 27619
What do you have the priority set to? Focus or trigger or balanced? I use balanced; it sacrifices a few fps so I don’t get the full 30 (but I seem to get the full twenty), but I have not run into any issue like what you are showing.
After 5000 shots I don’t think I had more than a dozen with focus issues.
 
What do you have the priority set to? Focus or trigger or balanced? I use balanced; it sacrifices a few fps so I don’t get the full 30 (but I seem to get the full twenty), but I have not run into any issue like what you are showing.
After 5000 shots I don’t think I had more than a dozen with focus issues.
Balanced.I am trying to ascertain the pattern where the focus falters so that I am prepared for it & shift focus & then refocus to get the focus correctly.
 
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