.

[agrumpyoldsod]

Clearly the impact of different settings when shooting a wooden bird in good light while it rotates and moving off and back to another subject. Setting 1 jumps to the subject quickly AND setting 3, 4 or 5 can get stuck on the background. Based on this When shooting a slowly rotating wooden bird in good light set the a3 Blocked shot AF response to 1, possibly 2 AND Subject Motion to Erratic.
It is not clear which firmware was being used.

 

[David Gove]

zule 11 thank you for this video on the success of focus shifting from close to far and back again . I will certainly try position one as i have thus far used position 5 . Generally i have found that my old technique of secure focus at range and track in ( d500 , d850 ) does not work with a z9 . I have been amazed that snatched shots , more hope than realistic expectation have produced good results . Waders , Terns in flight , swallows have all been obtained in greater success ratios compared with the great D500 . Forums and You tube tutorials i have found Tto be a valuable source of applied research . So as a collective of keen photographers we are moving forward in our use of this great camera . I Actually think that what many now complain about and delete scornfully would have been dream shots 10 years ago .

 

[Griffym]

No voice over....not sure what I was watching. Language seemed to be in Japanese?

Wouldn’t you like an “Auto” setting option for how sticky the Lock On settings were. So many possible options! It could track how many times the user recomposed and pressed back button to re-establish focus and/or how rapidly the subject moved.

 

[agrumpyoldsod]

Wouldn’t you like an “Auto” setting option for how sticky the Lock On settings were. So many possible options! It could track how many times the user recomposed and pressed back button to re-establish focus and/or how rapidly the subject moved.

Have you looked at Canon's AF system settings?

 

[Griffym]

Have you looked at Canon's AF system settings?

Thanks, but of course not. I am not a Canon user. I have too much Nikon gear. My comment was actually about how Nikon could improve.
Yes I am aware that other systems use a different approach to this. I do have friends with Canon gear however, I bet some Sony shooters will also have a view on this.
My post was also intended to be a little ironic as well. but politely so.

 

[thelordofthelight]

@zule11 Thank you very much for sharing! This setting must be explored more and could possibly be the solution for close focus issue a lot of folks face (all camera brands). It is very clear from the video that a lock on setting of 1 is so responsive vs 3 to 5 that seems to struggle to pick a closer target. I always use a setting of 3 for normal shooting and 5 for action/BIF. In the world of DSLRs this setting worked very well and it seems with mirrorless it could be very different.
Lock on setting has always been a bit confusing as almost all the illustrations refer to a subject that move side ways and how the AF reacts when there is an obstruction momentarily. Theres hardly any explanation on how it works for subjects directly approaching the camera as the plane of focus shifts very fast. This video indicates there could be an advantage when using a setting of 1 for approaching subjects/BIF.

Nikon Z9 : Lock on settings - firmware 2.1​

 

[agrumpyoldsod]

Sure -- but the Z9 is a camera for pros who do seem to do better when they can optimise their settings to match their environment/subject/style. I worked with spectacularly good Canon shooters who did precisely that. We Nikon shooters have it easy -- 2 easy to understand tracking adjustments that is it.

What we Z9 shooters are really starting to understand, is that as our system evolves and improves so must we. We use a tool designed for a broad church of shooters and it is absolutely not a point and shoot. That is great. If there were one setting that should have been removed it is "P" mode. Why Nikon keeps leaving this on their Flagship Pro Body astounds me. The Marketing and PR department or a bunch of woke warriors must have sway to presumably make the camera more inclusive. NO it should be designed for pros who learn and apply their trade.

My non ironic comment is there seem to be a growing number of posts from folk who want an AI to take the picture for them because it is "too hard" for them to learn, practice and master their craft.

Being most ancient I broadly categorise them as Millenials, but more correctly "the worst kind of Millenials" - who seem to dive willingly, like lemmings off a cliff, into the pit of despair and whining. I know and work with some of the best kind of Millenials who bring energy, enthusiasm and a desire to learn. Offsetting the jaded grumpiness of us older folk.

But the rest. Well if only we could ignore them. That's what the great Millennials try to do, while rolling their eyes.

 

[fcotterill]

As with all ILC`s - "Focus systems are a tool that allow you to get the results you want easier. In that regard I believe I can safely say that the Z9 will help you do that better when compared to almost any previous camera. But if you think the Z9 is now effectively just a "point and shoot" camera, you'd be wrong, and you're likely to be eventually disappointed."

I've found Auto AF mode is much improved in FW2.1 : even for subjects moving in and out of vegetation. This includes testing on Helmeted Guineafowls running in and out of foliage. These birds are a challenge for modern DSLRs including D500, D5, D850. The D6 works well however but Subject Recognition in a Z9 has a distinct advantage. Nevertheless, any AF needs manual help, and /or correcting using Single-point mode.

Previously, I've found AutoAF mode better restricted to flying birds in a clear sky

 

[thelordofthelight]

Agree. I could finally test the FW 2.1 last weekend. Not much opportunities to photograph action but I was photographing some of the tiniest kingfishers that I also had an opportunity to photograph with older firmware. I was surprised with the AF improvements considering this was just an"x.1" update. For perched/ relatively predictable moving subjects, I always used to prefer 3D mode or Wide-L followed by 3D but I never used anything other than Auto-Area AF and the BEAF worked superbly. It was fast, super sticky and never grabbed the BG even once. BEAF is more decisive now and there is less dancing around of the AF box. I tried some random action shots and found the wide-L AF was also very sticky against cluttered BG. Can't wait to photograph more action. In my opinion, 2.1 is a significant update purely from an AF standpoint compared to 2.0. Although 2.0 had a lot of new features and customizable AF boxes, some of the finer issues like AF stickiness against cluttered BG, effectiveness of BEAF etc., remained unchanged.

1700 odd images and not once did I resort to anything other than Auto-Area AF!

As with all ILC`s - "Focus systems are a tool that allow you to get the results you want easier. In that regard I believe I can safely say that the Z9 will help you do that better when compared to almost any previous camera. But if you think the Z9 is now effectively just a "point and shoot" camera, you'd be wrong, and you're likely to be eventually disappointed."

I've found Auto AF mode is much improved in FW2.1 : even for subjects moving in and out of vegetation. This includes testing on Helmeted Guineafowls running in and out of foliage. These birds are a challenge for modern DSLRs including D500, D5, D850. The D6 works well however but Subject Recognition in a Z9 has a distinct advantage. Nevertheless, any AF needs manual help, and /or correcting using Single-point mode.

Previously, I've found AutoAF mode better restricted to flying birds in a clear sky

 

[Ken Miracle]

Agree. I could finally test the FW 2.1 last weekend. Not much opportunities to photograph action but I was photographing some of the tiniest kingfishers that I also had an opportunity to photograph with older firmware. I was surprised with the AF improvements considering this was just an"x.1" update. For perched/ relatively predictable moving subjects, I always used to prefer 3D mode or Wide-L followed by 3D but I never used anything other than Auto-Area AF and the BEAF worked superbly. It was fast, super sticky and never grabbed the BG even once. BEAF is more decisive now and there is less dancing around of the AF box. I tried some random action shots and found the wide-L AF was also very sticky against cluttered BG. Can't wait to photograph more action. In my opinion, 2.1 is a significant update purely from an AF standpoint compared to 2.0. Although 2.0 had a lot of new features and customizable AF boxes, some of the finer issues like AF stickiness against cluttered BG, effectiveness of BEAF etc., remained unchanged.

1700 odd images and not once did I resort to anything other than Auto-Area AF!

I have not tested Auto-Area AF since this update came out thanks for this update ... I will have to try it out !

 

[ButlerKid]

I have not tested Auto-Area AF since this update came out thanks for this update ... I will have to try it out !

I look forward to your thoughts on Auto-AF mode versus the other modes!

 

[nautiboy]

One minor little comment (and maybe someone else can confirm) ... today I went to get the location of some of my shots and realized there was no location data. I normally have it set to record location data. I checked my camera and location data was turned off. Then I checked my other Z9 and it was also turned off. If it were just one of them, I would chalk it up to me accidentally doing it, but since it's on both, I'm guessing that the 2.1 firmware update turned it off. I normally do a quick check of the settings after doing a firmware update, but apparently I forgot to check this setting. I did save my settings before the update, but since my quick check seemed to indicate that the settings were retained, I didn't bother restoring.

Not a big deal, but sometimes I really want/need the exact location where I was shooting, so I thought I'd mention it for anyone else for whom that might matter.

 

[Ken Miracle]

One minor little comment (and maybe someone else can confirm) ... today I went to get the location of some of my shots and realized there was no location data. I normally have it set to record location data. I checked my camera and location data was turned off. Then I checked my other Z9 and it was also turned off. If it were just one of them, I would chalk it up to me accidentally doing it, but since it's on both, I'm guessing that the 2.1 firmware update turned it off. I normally do a quick check of the settings after doing a firmware update, but apparently I forgot to check this setting. I did save my settings before the update, but since my quick check seemed to indicate that the settings were retained, I didn't bother restoring.

Not a big deal, but sometimes I really want/need the exact location where I was shooting, so I thought I'd mention it for anyone else for whom that might matter.

Puzzling indeed happening with 2 bodies. My location data did not turn off with the firmware update? I do disable it temporarily from time to time to save battery by turning on airplane mode in my I menu.

 

[nautiboy]

Puzzling indeed happening with 2 bodies. My location data did not turn off with the firmware update? I do disable it temporarily from time to time to save battery by turning on airplane mode in my I menu.

Yes, puzzling indeed. I decided to investigate further. I updated my firmware to 2.1 on 7/6 and looking through my photos I do have location data on my photos all the way until 7/14 on both cameras. Then after that, no more location data. So it wasn't the firmware update, but I'm also pretty sure I didn't explicitly turn it off, and the likelihood of turning it off on both cameras at the same time seems unlikely. Occasionally I do save settings on one camera and copy that to the other, but I don't recall doing that recently. Or maybe I'm just getting old and forgetful. Anyway, thanks for confirming it didn't happen to you.

EDIT: just a thought ... I do recall running the batteries almost to empty on both cameras around that time - I normally swap out batteries earlier, but there was a lot of whale action and I didn't want to get caught in the middle of a battery change. I wonder if it automatically disables location data at some point to help conserve batteries and then never re-enables it. Or again, maybe it's forgetfulness - maybe I turned it off to save batteries during that shoot and just don't remember .... Sigh .... I might do a battery drain experiment for the fun of it just to see.

 

[Ken Miracle]

Yes, puzzling indeed. I decided to investigate further. I updated my firmware to 2.1 on 7/6 and looking through my photos I do have location data on my photos all the way until 7/14 on both cameras. Then after that, no more location data. So it wasn't the firmware update, but I'm also pretty sure I didn't explicitly turn it off, and the likelihood of turning it off on both cameras at the same time seems unlikely. Occasionally I do save settings on one camera and copy that to the other, but I don't recall doing that recently. Or maybe I'm just getting old and forgetful. Anyway, thanks for confirming it didn't happen to you.

EDIT: just a thought ... I do recall running the batteries almost to empty on both cameras around that time - I normally swap out batteries earlier, but there was a lot of whale action and I didn't want to get caught in the middle of a battery change. I wonder if it automatically disables location data at some point to help conserve batteries and then never re-enables it. Or again, maybe it's forgetfulness - maybe I turned it off to save batteries during that shoot and just don't remember .... Sigh .... I might do a battery drain experiment for the fun of it just to see.

Being ADD and 74 in a few weeks ... I try and keep things simple so I do not ADD it up or forget ... have to stay very organized and write myself notes

 

[agrumpyoldsod]

I'm guessing that the 2.1 firmware update turned it off.

Installing a firmware update resets all settings back to factory settings. The Default setting is Record Location Data OFF (see p488 of the Z9 Reference Guide).
The best approach is to save your settings to a Cf card before installing any update and load them back again after the update. Then you can focus your time on what has the update changed, rather than having to remember and re-set every you had chosen to use before you installed the update .

 

[dupcak]

Installing a firmware update resets all settings back to factory settings. The Default setting is Record Location Data OFF (see p488 of the Z9 Reference Guide).
The best approach is to save your settings to a Cf card before installing any update and load them back again after the update. Then you can focus your time on what has the update changed, rather than having to remember and re-set every you had chosen to use before you installed the update .

Sentence #3 is 100% good advice. However sentence #1 isn't actually true for Nikon cameras. At least I've never had it reset my settings (including 2.1).

 

[ButlerKid]

Installing a firmware update resets all settings back to factory settings. The Default setting is Record Location Data OFF (see p488 of the Z9 Reference Guide).
The best approach is to save your settings to a Cf card before installing any update and load them back again after the update. Then you can focus your time on what has the update changed, rather than having to remember and re-set every you had chosen to use before you installed the update .

Hmmm.....that has not been my experience when updating previous Nikon cameras such as the D5, D800, D810 and D850. While saving settings is a good idea, I have never had a firmware update change my custom settings.

I updated my Z9 last week. I just checked and my custom settings are still there.

 

[lukemeup]

I've updated the firmware on the Z9 multiple times and it has never reset the settings to factory defaults.

 

[nautiboy]

Installing a firmware update resets all settings back to factory settings. The Default setting is Record Location Data OFF (see p488 of the Z9 Reference Guide).
The best approach is to save your settings to a Cf card before installing any update and load them back again after the update. Then you can focus your time on what has the update changed, rather than having to remember and re-set every you had chosen to use before you installed the update .

I always save my settings before a firmware update (and I do it periodically too), and I did this time too. But I’ve never had a Nikon update reset my settings, so I don’t normally just arbitrarily restore them after the update if everything looks OK. In other systems, I’ve experienced issues and/or ended up with somewhat unexpected behavior when updating settings from an older version to a newer version. So I normally try to avoid doing that unless I need to. I’ve never had that issue with Nikon, it’s just a habit of mine.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback everyone, I’m just going to chalk it up to the cats figuring out how to do it, and playing tricks on me. Speaking of which, if I had a nickel for every time the cats walked on the keyboard while I was editing in Lightroom and they ended up enabling some mode, disabling some tool or display or something which I had no idea was even possible and took me a long time to figure out how to undo (or in some cases *do* …) …. I‘m usually a big fan of keyboard shortcuts, but Lightroom seems to have so many hidden (or difficult to find/deduce/reproduce) keyboard shortcuts, it can sometimes drive me really crazy.

 

[Ken Miracle]

@Butlerkid and anyone else interested just used Auto-area AF with animal subject recognition turned on for the first time since Z9 firmware 2.1 installed. Z9 and Z800pf used.

I just got back from a small bird in brush, on branches, ducks on logs and on water session. I was helping my wife find Gray Catbirds etc. to test her new Z 400 f/4.5 on and since she is a birder and a cat person what better than Catbirds

When I first got the Z9 I found Auto-area AF essentially useless for this type of shooting or much of anything else. After this session with the firmware 2.1 it was an amazing improvement and now will become one of my go to modes !!! No BIF opportunities. Need to do another session to try that out.

First two birds as I walked into the riparian are today using Auto-area AF. Images I would not normally keep but opened the raw files in NXStudio and then exported as TIF and imported into Light Room Classic and did no edits in either program. All images of these birds in the burst series were as good or better.

You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

 

[ButlerKid]

@Butlerkid and anyone else interested just used Auto-area AF with animal subject recognition turned on for the first time since Z9 firmware 2.1 installed. Z9 and Z800pf used.

I just got back from a small bird in brush, on branches, ducks on logs and on water session. I was helping my wife find Gray Catbirds etc. to test her new Z 400 f/4.5 on and since she is a birder and a cat person what better than Catbirds

When I first got the Z9 I found Auto-area AF essentially useless for this type of shooting or much of anything else. After this session with the firmware 2.1 it was an amazing improvement and now will become one of my go to modes !!! No BIF opportunities. Need to do another session to try that out.

So in a thickly cluttered covered area, the Auto-area AF with animal detection could discern a bird? Amazing!!!! No need to use Single Point? Wow!

Thanks so much!

 

[Ken Miracle]

So in a thickly cluttered covered area, the Auto-area AF with animal detection could discern a bird? Amazing!!!! No need to use Single Point? Wow!

Thanks so much!

Yes .. I just edited my post with a couple of shots.

 

[fcotterill]

Thanks for sharing. I must get down to process some test images photographing Guineafowls in clutter with fw2.1... As I have pleasantly surprised with Auto AF mode with Subject Recognition.

Previously I didn't bother trying AutoAF in any kind of clutter, only open skies. (Posted above). I've followed the same rule with this mode in D850, D5.

Then we find Firmware 2.1 actually makes AutoAF usable on the Z9. Big surprise indeed nonetheless I still find 3D tracking mode is best overall, with hybrid setup to switch to a tight CA mode or Single Point. Sometimes toggling off Subject Recognition

@Butlerkid and anyone else interested just used Auto-area AF with animal subject recognition turned on for the first time since Z9 firmware 2.1 installed. Z9 and Z800pf used.

I just got back from a small bird in brush, on branches, ducks on logs and on water session. I was helping my wife find Gray Catbirds etc. to test her new Z 400 f/4.5 on and since she is a birder and a cat person what better than Catbirds

When I first got the Z9 I found Auto-area AF essentially useless for this type of shooting or much of anything else. After this session with the firmware 2.1 it was an amazing improvement and now will become one of my go to modes !!! No BIF opportunities. Need to do another session to try that out.

First two birds as I walked into the riparian are today using Auto-area AF. Images I would not normally keep but opened the raw files in NXStudio and then exported as TIF and imported into Light Room Classic and did no edits in either program. All images of these birds in the burst series were as good or better.

View attachment 43666View attachment 43667

 

[ButlerKid]

Yes .. I just edited my post to with a couple of shots.

Thank you so very much! When you get a chance, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts regarding re-acquiring focus when the subject is closer than the camera is focusing.

That 400 f4.5 sounds like a very sweet lens! I need to find a lighter solution to my 600 f4! I can't hand hold the Z 800..... and I've never been that impressed with the 500 PF. But I haven't given the 500 PF a chance on the Z9......