Z9 photo thread

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John Woodworth said:
Sid, Have you seen a Snow Leopard? To photograph one would be awesome!
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Nope not yet. Hopefully in the next 2 years. I do not know the finer details, but you can refer to the following links of two of the operators in case you are interested. They are professionally run. I think one of them is holding one in late Jan 2022. They are usually about 12-15 days long, cost under 2000 USD after taxes. More importantly, the pages give out detailed itinerary of the trip. It can be a starting point for your research in case you ever plan to go for such a thing...

https://www.toehold.in/travel/spiti-tour-packages/

https://www.toehold.in/travel/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2020/07/leopard-see-down.jpg

https://www.toehold.in/travel/spiti-tour-packages/

https://www.darter.in/photography-tours/wildlife/snow-leopard-photography-tour-winter-spiti/
 
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thelordofthelight said:
@John Woodworth , I have seen and photographed one and it's by far the most memorable and challenging expeditions I've been part of. What makes it amazing is the whole experience end to end. First off, these are extremely rare animals to even spot and in summer season, you generally don't find them on areas that humans can approach as they stay at really crazy altitudes but during the winter, they do come down to slightly lower altitudes, which itself is physically and mentally exhausting for us. There are no high end resorts with top facilities as the government wants to keep that place real wild so there are just these eco friendly home stays. So you get to stay at local villages (about 10-15 local homes) and hosting tourists is their source of income too. Few folks in our group had altitude sickness and had to go back to the base. For me it took about 2 days to get acclimatized but in the end it was all worth the effort (it went upto -50 degrees celcius) . I spent about 11 days at Himalayas and had 2 opportunities. First one was just a glimpse with no photo opportunities but the second one gave us a 10 minute window where the snow leopard just kept walking along the ridge of a mountain. It was quite far even with a 900mm equivalent field of view but I got some decent record images showing the habitat ( I was using a D500 with a 300mm f2.8 and a 2X TC). I will probably post a couple of images on the image threads.
Click to expand...

Wow. You should share a couple of pics. I don't see them in your Instagram.
 
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ElenaH said:
@PhilM , I obviously used the wrong term in not native language. We sometimes say in German "plasticity" in photography meaning how the lens "drawing" the picture and how the objects appear. So, the appear more dimensional, rounded, standing out. You want to starch the hand into the picture and touch the object.
Nothing is deformed, Phil. Except my English 😂
The lenses render differently. And to be honest I like the F-mount lenses on z9 more... If it is only because of aperture - I don't know.
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There are some murmurs about the Z lenses being more like Sony lenses. Exceptionally sharp, but rendering a slightly flattish image with a sharp transition to the background, 'with all other variables being equal.' I think 24-70 f4 lens is seen as one. I have never used Z glass, so I have no clue. However, I often notice Sony telephoto primes having such characteristics. (No offence to Sony users). I guess there is no scientific way developed yet to measure such nuance, so such observations can easily get shot down sighting lack of measurable data points, variables, & human bias. Hope someone comes up with a method...
 
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Pale-billed flowerpecker in my front yard!
Z9 500 pf 1/640 f5.6 ISO 400 EV +1.3. Cropped. High key image!
DSC_4075-01-01-01-small.jpg
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https://flic.kr/p/2mW6THX
 
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Congrats to everyone who posted shots here from the Z9, there are many very nice images. I will be heading down to Ding Darling on the 20th, but it doesn't look like my Z9 will arrive in time since I am not in NPS. Hopefully there will be someone there shooting a Z9 that I can chat with and maybe at least just see one in person.
 
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Hut2 said:
(y) (y) (y)
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I guess the DXO mark ratings explains some of it.

Perceptual sharpness score with the D850 & 400 f2.8 FL is 40, while the T-stop is 3.2. On the D500 it is merely is 15 with a T-stop of 4, considering it is a crop sensor using less light.
I can see the same pattern with Canon 5dsr/ telephoto prime & 7D /telephoto prime combo. It is reasonable to assume that Z9 will score higher points too like the high megapixel D850.

https://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Niko...0mm-F28E-FL-ED-VR-mounted-on-Nikon-D850__1177

https://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Niko...0mm-F28E-FL-ED-VR-mounted-on-Nikon-D500__1061

I guess it is not just IBIS & AF tune factors. Surely there is more to it! IDK.
 
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sid_19911991 said:
Yeah, I am pleasantly surprised. I am not doing anything different. It is all gear (Z9) & nothing to do with skill. :)
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I have no way to quantify it, but it sure feels to me like my 500PF w/ 1.4xTC is noticeably and consistently faster on my Z9 than it was (w/o TC) on my D500 or D850. Again, this is my "observation" based on 2'ish year with the 500PF on the DSLR's vs. just over 2 weeks with the Z9.
 
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Here's a sequence of a Black Skimmer taken at South Padre Island in Texas. I shot several sequences and found the 3D and Eye Focus worked very well. All photos with Z9, FTZII and 500pF with 1.4TC. 1/2500 at f8, ISO 800. AF set to 3D with Blocked Shot set to 4. All shots are cropped to 22MP with minor Lightroom adjustments.
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sid_19911991 said:
There are some murmurs about the Z lenses being more like Sony lenses. Exceptionally sharp, but rendering a slightly flattish image with a sharp transition to the background, 'with all other variables being equal.' I think 24-70 f4 lens is seen as one. I have never used Z glass, so I have no clue. However, I often notice Sony telephoto primes having such characteristics. (No offence to Sony users). I guess there is no scientific way developed yet to measure such nuance, so such observations can easily get shot down sighting lack of measurable data points, variables, & human bias. Hope someone comes up with a method...
Click to expand...

The Z70-200 also exhibits this phenomenon. But even my 500PF has a kind of "flat rendering" that lacks a certain 3D look. My Sigma 500mm f4 has the organic 3D look, and tons of smooth transition into the background.
In comparing it to the 500PF, I could not get the same busy background even when setting the aperture to beyond the f5.6 of the 500PF to as much as f7.1. The 500PF simply has a more abrupt cut off and does not extend into the background as smoothly, regardless of aperture settings. It simply is a characteristic of the lens design.
The 500PF and also the Z lenses have other qualities though. I guess we live in an age of different lens design now.
 
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ChrisM said:
The Z70-200 also exhibits this phenomenon. But even my 500PF has a kind of "flat rendering" that lacks a certain 3D look. My Sigma 500mm f4 has the organic 3D look, and tons of smooth transition into the background.
In comparing it to the 500PF, I could not get the same busy background even when setting the aperture to beyond the f5.6 of the 500PF to as much as f7.1. The 500PF simply has a more abrupt cut off and does not extend into the background as smoothly, regardless of aperture settings. It simply is a characteristic of the lens design.
The 500PF and also the Z lenses have other qualities though. I guess we live in an age of different lens design now.
Click to expand...

My 500 pf on the D500 renders that 3d pop image very well. Often more than an f4 500 lens! However, it gives a flattish result with the Z9. The focal length matters a lot I guess...
 
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lpphototx said:
Here's a sequence of a Black Skimmer taken at South Padre Island in Texas. I shot several sequences and found the 3D and Eye Focus worked very well. All photos with Z9, FTZII and 500pF with 1.4TC. 1/2500 at f8, ISO 800. AF set to 3D with Blocked Shot set to 4. All shots are cropped to 22MP with minor Lightroom adjustments. View attachment 30166View attachment 30167View attachment 30168View attachment 30169View attachment 30170
Click to expand...

I haven't 3d so far. Mostly toggle between full area & large. How does the 3d compare to the other two?
 
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thelordofthelight said:
@John Woodworth , I have seen and photographed one and it's by far the most memorable and challenging expeditions I've been part of. What makes it amazing is the whole experience end to end. First off, these are extremely rare animals to even spot and in summer season, you generally don't find them on areas that humans can approach as they stay at really crazy altitudes but during the winter, they do come down to slightly lower altitudes, which itself is physically and mentally exhausting for us. There are no high end resorts with top facilities as the government wants to keep that place real wild so there are just these eco friendly home stays. So you get to stay at local villages (about 10-15 local homes) and hosting tourists is their source of income too. Few folks in our group had altitude sickness and had to go back to the base. For me it took about 2 days to get acclimatized but in the end it was all worth the effort (it went upto -50 degrees celcius) . I spent about 11 days at Himalayas and had 2 opportunities. First one was just a glimpse with no photo opportunities but the second one gave us a 10 minute window where the snow leopard just kept walking along the ridge of a mountain. It was quite far even with a 900mm equivalent field of view but I got some decent record images showing the habitat ( I was using a D500 with a 300mm f2.8 and a 2X TC). I will probably post a couple of images on the image threads.
Click to expand...
sid_19911991 said:
Nope not yet. Hopefully in the next 2 years. I do not know the finer details, but you can refer to the following links of two of the operators in case you are interested. They are professionally run. I think one of them is holding one in late Jan 2022. They are usually about 12-15 days long, cost under 2000 USD after taxes. More importantly, the pages give out detailed itinerary of the trip. It can be a starting point for your research in case you ever plan to go for such a thing...

https://www.toehold.in/travel/spiti-tour-packages/

https://www.toehold.in/travel/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2020/07/leopard-see-down.jpg

https://www.toehold.in/travel/spiti-tour-packages/

https://www.darter.in/photography-tours/wildlife/snow-leopard-photography-tour-winter-spiti/
Click to expand...

Thank you both for your replies. You are fortunate to live in such a beautiful and diverse country.

I just added these to my bucket list.
 
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Hey folks, somebody tried Z9 in the cold weather? I mean really cold.
Two days ago I was photographing with Z7 by minus 16 Celsius and the screen/monitor switched off. I couldn't persuade it to switch on again ;-) So, I couldn't review my photos. EVF worked well. The battery life was decreasing like my speed when I see a police with a radar measuring speed limit...
Interestingly, the same situation was with the camera of my partner. He uses Sony A7R IV.
Perhaps, mirrorless saving the energy this way?
How it is with Z9?
It looks like for very cold conditions D850 will be my choice. DSLR always worked like a tank. Also by minus 20 Celsius.
 
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Z9 vs Northern Harriers. They stayed too far away so everything was shot with teleconverters and cropped. The AF struggled a bit when the birds were far out but in reality they were too far out to make a photo anyway. on the odd occasion they came in "close" and you got a tracking lock it was very sticky.

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ElenaH said:
Hey folks, somebody tried Z9 in the cold weather? I mean really cold.
Two days ago I was photographing with Z7 by minus 16 Celsius and the screen/monitor switched off. I couldn't persuade it to switch on again ;-) So, I couldn't review my photos. EVF worked well. The battery life was decreasing like my speed when I see a police with a radar measuring speed limit...
Interestingly, the same situation was with the camera of my partner. He uses Sony A7R IV.
Perhaps, mirrorless saving the energy this way?
How it is with Z9?
It looks like for very cold conditions D850 will be my choice. DSLR always worked like a tank. Also by minus 20 Celsius.
Click to expand...
My initial guess would be you had ice formed on the eye sensor
 
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ElenaH said:
Hey folks, somebody tried Z9 in the cold weather? I mean really cold.
Two days ago I was photographing with Z7 by minus 16 Celsius and the screen/monitor switched off. I couldn't persuade it to switch on again ;-) So, I couldn't review my photos. EVF worked well. The battery life was decreasing like my speed when I see a police with a radar measuring speed limit...
Interestingly, the same situation was with the camera of my partner. He uses Sony A7R IV.
Perhaps, mirrorless saving the energy this way?
How it is with Z9?
It looks like for very cold conditions D850 will be my choice. DSLR always worked like a tank. Also by minus 20 Celsius.
Click to expand...
Yes, Brad Hill's blog scroll down to 2nd January 2022 . He states that the Z9 spent 4 hours sitting on a tripod at -25 Deg C and was left on the whole time and didn't fail.

Natural Art Images: Voice: Brad Hill Blog

The Blog of Brad Hill, wildlife photographer. Cameras, lenses, camera gear, field tests, conservation, photo tours, and other bits of questionable wisdom from a young-at-heart nature photographer!
www.naturalart.ca www.naturalart.ca
 
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lpphototx said:
Yes, I saw that message several times while using the FTZII, 500pf and TC2.0. I cleaned the contacts on the lens and TC a couple of days ago and have not had the message since. I was also getting a "clunking" noise which I assume was from the VR system when this error came up.
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Camera is new, ftz2 is new, lens is new.... can't belive I dirt the contacts in 2 days. Thanks anyway to try to help
 
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