Jan Wegener reviews the Z9

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Back from yellowstone after shooting a total of 1 hours of 4k 120p footage and about 6000 images. I am very happy with the Af-F with tracking ( animal) mode for video. Focus acquisition and eye tracking is smooth for video.

For images, as long as you can tell the camera where the bird or animal is between twigs and branches by point focus (af area +Af on) assigned to FN1) and then engage 3 D (af-on) or wide area AF (shutter release) with block shot ( set to erratic 4-5), the tracking has near 100% accuracy. in a burst of 20-40 images, you may find 1-3 images slightly soft.. but all in all I am super happy. I have not tried A1 or R5, but no need as Z9 is more than capable of giving me what i need. I was using delkin black 128GB cards shooting HIE* and buffer was never an issue in the real world experience.

Also accidentally mis- stepped and fell into a snow pile with camera which got buried in snow- dusted the snow off with a brush, wiped extra moisture away with a cloth and continued to fire away shots. Temp was between -20F to 3F most days, after a full say of shooting say 30 mins of video on average and about 3000 images per day, the battery was at 70% after 12 hours.
 
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MikeS said:
If you're asking how to actually program 3D to the AF-ON button, go to the Custom Settings menu to Controls> Custom Controls Shooting (F2)>then find AF-ON >Navigate to Area Mode+AF-ON setting > Select and navigate to 3D.

Here's what I'm doing at the moment (haha) for wildlife shooting. I chuckle because the changes are ongoing. I have the shutter button set for Wide AF Area L and the AF-ON button set for 3D. Others have mentioned picking up the subject in Wide Area AF then activating the BBAF for 3D to kick in. As a BBAF shooter for many years this is important to me rather than only the shutter button option because I won't be pressing the AF-ON button instinctively and have it not actually focus. So either way I will have focus. And for cold days (most days) when I'm wearing gloves, I'll use the shutter button as much as possible so I don't accidentally touch the joystick, always a problem for me when using only BBAF. It's early days but this has been good so far. If Nikon could find a way for me to disable that joystick (sub-controller) I would be happy since the multi-controller accomplishes the same tasks and it less likely to be bumped.

But there's an additional advantage of the subject tracking modes like 3D. One of the things I liked about BBAF is the ability to take my thumb off the AF-ON button, recompose and shoot for when you have a subject in the frame and you don't want them plunk in the middle. However with 3D, it stays on the subject's eye allowing you to change the composition. I suppose Wide Area AF would accomplish the same thing.

The Wide-AF Area L and Subject Detect set to Animals would be a good starting point for horses I would guess. But you could try 3D with Subject Detect on Animals as well. Given that horses have larger eyes than birds and the subject detection mode works on birds then it should work on horses. If the horses are too far away you could program one of the function buttons to Single Point to initially gain focus.
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Very helpful. Thank you. Spent the day with horses and it just does not work ( I still think it's due to the eyes on the site of face and not prominent nose. Camera gets confused). I noticed the same issue with giraffes, which have eye on the side of face instead of in front. Still not 100% sure of that but it's my observation so far. Love the idea of having the 3D working as a single point - tried and works wonders. Will most likely stick with that. Thanks for the tip! Also program the F1 for single point to acquire focus. Will mess with that for a little. I appreciate your help!
 
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abc123brian said:
Thanks for sharing. Haven’t seen that one. Interesting to hear it didn’t recognize giraffes, zebras, elephants.
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And I second him on that. I'm primarily a wild horse photographer. I can't track a horse with the Z9 with Auto AF animal or even 3D. Doesn't fine....doesn't stick....Went to the zoo yesterday and tried on animals with similar faces (flat, eyes on the side such as giraffes and zebras.) Same issue. Other than that, love the camera but will have to keep using my old way of doing things for those animals.
 
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mmarriott said:
And I second him on that. I'm primarily a wild horse photographer. I can't track a horse with the Z9 with Auto AF animal or even 3D. Doesn't fine....doesn't stick....Went to the zoo yesterday and tried on animals with similar faces (flat, eyes on the side such as giraffes and zebras.) Same issue. Other than that, love the camera but will have to keep using my old way of doing things for those animals.
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Hopefully they address that in upcoming firmware updates. A horse is a fairly common animal and you would think it would be similar with deer, elk, zebra, wildebeest, moose, which I haven’t seen any reports on either, but getting that down seems like a big deal.
 
zule11 said:
Nikon Puts Canon to SHAME | Z9 Autofocus In The Field | What's up with Sony? | R3 & R5c NEWS

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While a dramatic attention getting title that made me watch, there is no image quality comparison in this video, so it has yet to be seen if Canon really should feel shame over their $12000 lens.
 
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Interesting to get everyone's experiences with the Z9. I have four wildlife photographer buddies (2 pros, 2 who might as well be), three of whom are historic nikon shooters. All four tried the z9 and tested it extensively. All four put it down and had the same issue...they just could not get the consistency of af tracking for BIF that they could get with canon or sony products. Not sure if others are seeing anything differently. Personally I haven't tried the z9 yet. I've been shooting with canon now for about 18 months and have been very happy with my r5 and r6 for wildlife. I'm even happier now since the latest firmware update seems to have improved on eye af which was already pretty good. I shoot a z72 for things other than wildlife and have kept my pf lenses. I'm really hoping that nikon gets the af right in the z9 and successor bodies. I like the smaller form factor of the r5, and hope that nikon comes out with a competitor at some point. If there are some af tracking issues with the z9 it seems they could be improved via firmware as canon has done..
 
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cohenfive said:
Interesting to get everyone's experiences with the Z9. I have four wildlife photographer buddies (2 pros, 2 who might as well be), three of whom are historic nikon shooters. All four tried the z9 and tested it extensively. All four put it down and had the same issue...they just could not get the consistency of af tracking for BIF that they could get with canon or sony products. Not sure if others are seeing anything differently. Personally I haven't tried the z9 yet. I've been shooting with canon now for about 18 months and have been very happy with my r5 and r6 for wildlife. I'm even happier now since the latest firmware update seems to have improved on eye af which was already pretty good. I shoot a z72 for things other than wildlife and have kept my pf lenses. I'm really hoping that nikon gets the af right in the z9 and successor bodies. I like the smaller form factor of the r5, and hope that nikon comes out with a competitor at some point. If there are some af tracking issues with the z9 it seems they could be improved via firmware as canon has done..
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I owned the R5 for 6 months (but not with the latest 1.5.2 FW) and the Z9 for 2.5weeks. I'd say that the AF is fairly similar between them. Canon has a bit better AI library of birds and can detect birds much further out and in more oddball positions.

What I think the R5/6/3 do better than the Z9 is having better buttons and better customization of those buttons. I also think the AF modes available are better developed than the Z9's modes.
The Z9 has the benefit of the stacked sensor so easier to follow a BIF at high FPS and no risk of wing distortion or leaning background objects.
 
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Steve said:
Bummer to hear about FL - I'm kinda planning to go down there for a few weeks for some testing. Most want to know how it is with BIF, so that's were I'm going to put a lot of emphasis in my tests.
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Steve, I just returned from Florida....Really fantastic birding plus the other normal characters (manatee, monkeys, gators)...If you go there it should be a productive trip.
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sid_19911991 said:
I liked the review. I bought the Z9 predominantly for video. I agree with him when he says that the Z9 struggles a bit to acquire initial lock/focus in certain situations.
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It does…but I’m guessing that Sony and Canon bodies have the same problem in some situations. Sony generally gets rated as best…whatever that means…but Steve and others pretty much agree that the differences are minor at best and sometimes the winner varies per situation…and that all 3 are so close enough that AF performance should not be the reason you choose a system…it’s the other stuff and Steve again has said that he prefers the Nikon glass because of the TC lenses…and I think he would agree that it would be a tough choice if he had to pick and stay with a single system, that it depends on the user, that me might change his mind in 6 months due to firmware or whatever, and that changing systems is ridiculously cost ineffective. I shoot Nikon because (mostly I’m familiar with the way they and the menus work and the terminology…but if I had been using Sony or Canon that would also be true. I find the hand feel of Nikons better than Sony but again that’s an individual thing. I’m sure I could do just fine if I switched to Sony…but I would lose thousands of dollars to do so…so unless there was a compelling reason…and for a retired amateur shooting for himself that reason just doesn’t exist…I’m staying with Nikon because that’s what I’ve got.
 
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Andy Miller Photo UK said:
AND I went to the Maasai Mara in Kenya with 2 Z9 a Z400/2,8TC and a Z600/4.0TC and had absolutely NO ISSUES with focussing on and taking very sharp shots of giraffes, common plane zebra or elephants, let alone the 10,000+ images I shot of big cats.
The few misses were where the subject was behind tall grass and I was using the wrong AF-mode.

So please -- if you are going to make these types or comment it helps to declare what lenses you were using, how far you were from the subject, what AF-mode you used and the exposure settings for the misses. Otherwise well is sounds like sour grapes or someone who really needs to study and learn how to set-up and use these great tools effectively.
We have all had to adapt to a new way of shooting with a Z9 and it is incredibly hard for folk who come from a different system to adapt immediately. Most of us keep trying to learn and evolve.
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The comment is from February 2022 so yes, at that time the AF had serious issues. We all experienced it. And to Nikon‘s credit, they worked at it until they got it right.
 
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arbitrage said:
This review is almost word for word what I think about the camera. Video stuff not withstanding as I don’t do that. If I got into wildlife video which I’ve thought about but haven’t committed to just yet, I’d for sure have either anR5/100-500 or Z9/100-400 just for handheld videos. This is where the Sony system is behind. For stills though, in my hands, the choice is clear with Sony. My Z9/500PF went to a happy new owner yesterday.
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Yep its ike deja vu for me too. The way he went through the 'features' of the Z9 AF system is like a replay of owning the Z9 and going through the same experience and steps to acheive the same solutions. So I really missed the extra back button too as I didnt like abandoning BBAF in order to get Wide Area working in conjunction with the shutter half press with a rapid hand over to 3D.
 
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zule11 said:
Nikon Puts Canon to SHAME | Z9 Autofocus In The Field | What's up with Sony? | R3 & R5c NEWS

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Click bait titles are an immediate red flag for me. In prior videos he has stated that Nikon has sent him all the gear, free of charge, for him to make these YouTube “review” videos, I’m very skeptical of his objectivity in anything he posts and do not regularly follow him. I would put his, and a lot of other YouTubers, in the “you get what you pay for“ category.
 
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The endless cycle continues only by the continuation of unnecessary vitriol fermented by YT looking for hits. Jans comment about the flippy screen irritated me -- but then I like the screen on the Z9 and I do not need or want to film myself - ever....

I have a theory or is it a question and it goes to the fact that Nikon choose to use 493 AF points on the Z8/Z9 -- whereas Sony use 795 in the A1 and Canon squeezed 1,053 in the R3, 5,940 in the R5 and 651 in the APS-C R7 and "even" the OM-1 has 1,053. DOES the fact that the systems that use far far smaller and many many more AF point mean tha that these systems will "always" offer better AF capture of very very small subjects and a "better" ability to look through obstructions like branches and trees?

It "feels" to me like this may be true. I certainly do not believe that the Expeed 7 is under powered NOR that the sensors in these other camera have radically difference phase detection. Of course i I have no information as to how many of the pixels the Z8/Z9 sensor has with Phase detection "shields" and how this compares with comparable resolution bodies (A1 and ...)

One hopes that at some later date Nikon could wave its seemingly magic Firmware Upgrade wand and magic say a doubling of the selectable AF points - to take a further step forward...... not that the Z9's af is a remote concern for me.

I was taken by the words in the Z8 launch "the Z8 has improved AF detection of small subjects at a distance when using telephotos" -- but these are similar words to those used in one of the recent firmware updates for the Z9 and of course the Z8 has the same 493 Af points as the Z9..... so what might Nikon mean by this -- can we Z9 owners expect another firmware update soon to give us even better AF of tiny birds at vast distances -- not that I take such shots.

But I did struggle with Lions behind tall grass in the Maara recently on a few occasions ........
 
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it was fantastic! the only times a night owl and a sun worshipper like me gets into such situations- in search of glorious sunrise pics or wildlife.. otherwise aint getting out of those warm sheets 😂
 
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