Doug A.
Well-known member
Perhaps this has already been discussed before, but I couldn't find it. I have only had my Z7II for a few months, so I'm still learning its AF system. This morning I photographed my church's Easter Egg hunt event. I have both a D850 and a Z7II. I do not have any Z mount lenses. I used my Z7II + FTZ II + 24-70mm AFS lens. I don't do much in the way of wildlife photography but those kids during the Easter Egg hunt were analogous to BIF. Very quick and erratic with their movements. The Z7II being smaller, quieter, and lighter weight was my choice so that I could be a little more inconspicuous. I used primarily the Wide Area AF - Large for people faces as that mode has worked well for me when photographing people. Unfortunately, I was having lots of trouble consistently getting my shots to be in focus. I shot in short bursts (3-5 shots) using continuous AF and BBF and my "hit rate" was less than 50%. Sometimes the camera just could not acquire focus on their face/eye from the start of the burst. Sometimes the camera would lose focus mid burst even though it continued to track the kids face. Sometimes it would totally focus on something in the background even if there were no other faces in the Wide Area-Large box. Is this more a symptom of using the wrong AF mode for erratically moving subjects or is it more a symptom of using the FTZ adapter with an F mount lens. The AF speed was plenty fast enough for the job, so in that regard I have no issues. I know from previous experience my D850 would have a higher keeper rate as it has done a better job staying on target, but that rig gets heavier every time I pick it up and the mirror slap now sounds like a cannon going off compared to the Z7II. I will say the shots from the Z7II that were in focus were beautifully exposed with wonderful color, saturation, and tone SOOC.