Mark smith Z9 first impression video

[sh1209]

 

[DavidT]

I found myself shooting next to Mark a couple weeks ago at Sebastian Inlet. Nice guy, he hadn’t gotten his Z9 yet but another guy who’s a member here had the Z9 and 500PF. It was interesting to hear some discussions about it between Mark and the Z9 shooter. I’ll say this the Z9 is a good looking camera!

 

[sh1209]

I found myself shooting next to Mark a couple weeks ago at Sebastian Inlet. Nice guy, he hadn’t gotten his Z9 yet but another guy who’s a member here had the Z9 and 500PF. It was interesting to hear some discussions about it between Mark and the Z9 shooter. I’ll say this the Z9 is a good looking camera!

So did you get the impression that he liked the performance of the camera? I would certainly take someone’s impressions like this over someone like Jared Polin any day.

 

[DavidT]

So did you get the impression that he liked the performance of the camera? I would certainly take someone’s impressions like this over someone like Jared Polin any day.

Mark hadn’t used it yet so questions seemed to be around the af system. The member here who I don’t know his name was using it for the first time. He seemed to like it but like anything on your first day there is a lot of new to learn. He had a D850 on his 800mm and when he shot it hearing the shutter slap and how slow 9FPS sounds we joked about how he won’t want to use it now that he has a Z9. I know when I bought my first mirrorless and having it be silent made going back to DSLR seem very weird.

 

[sh1209]

Mark hadn’t used it yet so questions seemed to be around the af system. The member here who I don’t know his name was using it for the first time. He seemed to like it but like anything on your first day there is a lot of new to learn. He had a D850 on his 800mm and when he shot it hearing the shutter slap and how slow 9FPS sounds we joked about how he won’t want to use it now that he has a Z9. I know when I bought my first mirrorless and having it be silent made going back to DSLR seem very weird.

I still have sound enabled on the Z9 lol. I still like having a sound most of the time. I normally shoot in auto shutter on the A1 but have used silent shutter a few times.

 

[arbitrage]

I still have sound enabled on the Z9 lol. I still like having a sound most of the time. I normally shoot in auto shutter on the A1 but have used silent shutter a few times.

The Z9 has the best fake shutter sound because at a setting of 1 you really can't here it even a foot or two away from the camera. I couldn't even hear it myself in some situations like at a crowded duck pond where the ducks were making a ruckus. I've always disabled shutter sound on my Sony cameras as they have better indicator options for displaying when you are firing. Also the one size fits all Sony volume level, is more like the Z9 at level 2 and I find that too loud.

If you haven't looked in to your A1 shot display option it is sort of buried in the Sony menus (hey, what isn't) and is called Shoot Timing Display and I recommend the Type 2 setting. See here for its location in the menu: https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/2040/v1/en/contents/TP1000422520.html
Using this display makes turning off the shutter sound much easier to manage as it is much easier to see when shooting. Although with Tracking modes and Wide AF it still is just an outer frame flashing but the blue color is better than white like on R5 and Z9.

 

[sh1209]

The Z9 has the best fake shutter sound because at a setting of 1 you really can't here it even a foot or two away from the camera. I couldn't even hear it myself in some situations like at a crowded duck pond where the ducks were making a ruckus. I've always disabled shutter sound on my Sony cameras as they have better indicator options for displaying when you are firing. Also the one size fits all Sony volume level, is more like the Z9 at level 2 and I find that too loud.

If you haven't looked in to your A1 shot display option it is sort of buried in the Sony menus (hey, what isn't) and is called Shoot Timing Display and I recommend the Type 2 setting. See here for its location in the menu: https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/2040/v1/en/contents/TP1000422520.html
Using this display makes turning off the shutter sound much easier to manage as it is much easier to see when shooting. Although with Tracking modes and Wide AF it still is just an outer frame flashing but the blue color is better than white like on R5 and Z9.

Thanks, I will check that out.

 

[arbitrage]

It seems that Mark still isn't ready to fully commit to his review of the Z9 yet. He made the same statement he has made previously in that there are a lot of things he likes and a lot of things he doesn't like. He is still trying to come to terms with the things he doesn't like and make certain that they can't be corrected with some change of settings.

That is very fair and we will wait patiently for his actual review of what he likes and doesn't like.

 

[abc123brian]

The Z9 has the best fake shutter sound because at a setting of 1 you really can't here it even a foot or two away from the camera. I couldn't even hear it myself in some situations like at a crowded duck pond where the ducks were making a ruckus. I've always disabled shutter sound on my Sony cameras as they have better indicator options for displaying when you are firing. Also the one size fits all Sony volume level, is more like the Z9 at level 2 and I find that too loud.

If you haven't looked in to your A1 shot display option it is sort of buried in the Sony menus (hey, what isn't) and is called Shoot Timing Display and I recommend the Type 2 setting. See here for its location in the menu: https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/2040/v1/en/contents/TP1000422520.html
Using this display makes turning off the shutter sound much easier to manage as it is much easier to see when shooting. Although with Tracking modes and Wide AF it still is just an outer frame flashing but the blue color is better than white like on R5 and Z9.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the horizon line disappears when shooting on the Z9. If you are unable to see the bars on the side, turning the horizon line on might work for you as an indicator that you’re shooting when the camera sounds are off. I didn’t have an issue with the side bars, but once I noticed this with the horizon line, it is the main indicator I use.

 

[sh1209]

It seems that Mark still isn't ready to fully commit to his review of the Z9 yet. He made the same statement he has made previously in that there are a lot of things he likes and a lot of things he doesn't like. He is still trying to come to terms with the things he doesn't like and make certain that they can't be corrected with some change of settings.

That is very fair and we will wait patiently for his actual review of what he likes and doesn't like.

He seems a little apprehensive about saying too much at this point, which is understandable. There are a few things I don't like with the Z9 and A1 for that matter. One of which is the focus mode switch Nikon brought back from DSLR bodies. It's a physical impossibility to actuate that switch with a longer lens unless on a tripod. For this reason I've put it back on function 1 for easy access. The second and most bothersome thing for me is the weight but it's also built like a tank. I have no doubt the Z9 would fare better in a tough environment or surviving a fall. Also for some reason you can't assign metering to any lens function button like the other z's. Ive always had spot metering assigned to the 500pf lens button. I don't for the life of me understand why they did that.

 

[wes]

Man what a great moment! I have always wondered what it must feel like to have a rather large fish inside your body trashing around Those birds must have some potent stomach acid

 

[John Navitsky]

I still have sound enabled on the Z9 lol. I still like having a sound most of the time. I normally shoot in auto shutter on the A1 but have used silent shutter a few times.

for the type of shooting i do, i'm definitely leaving shutter sound enabled. there are some situations in dog sports where lack of sound is desirable, but in those situations i'm inclined to use an earpiece (which is a great feature imo, just too bad you can't do it via bluetooth)

 

[patelmu1]

The Z9 has the best fake shutter sound because at a setting of 1 you really can't here it even a foot or two away from the camera. I couldn't even hear it myself in some situations like at a crowded duck pond where the ducks were making a ruckus. I've always disabled shutter sound on my Sony cameras as they have better indicator options for displaying when you are firing. Also the one size fits all Sony volume level, is more like the Z9 at level 2 and I find that too loud.

If you haven't looked in to your A1 shot display option it is sort of buried in the Sony menus (hey, what isn't) and is called Shoot Timing Display and I recommend the Type 2 setting. See here for its location in the menu: https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/2040/v1/en/contents/TP1000422520.html
Using this display makes turning off the shutter sound much easier to manage as it is much easier to see when shooting. Although with Tracking modes and Wide AF it still is just an outer frame flashing but the blue color is better than white like on R5 and Z9.

Geoff, thanks for the setting info, I also have activated the "Remain shoot display (still images) , this one is big help when you are shooting with burst of frame, especially for long running action tracking, keep your buffer in check.. here is the setting info, https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/2040/v1/en/contents/TP1000422550.html

 

[arbitrage]

Geoff, thanks for the setting info, I also have activated the "Remain shoot display (still images) , this one is big help when you are shooting with burst of frame, especially for long running action tracking, keep your buffer in check.. here is the setting info, https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/2040/v1/en/contents/TP1000422550.html

Yes, I have that enabled also. Good indicator if I should let off the shutter for a second to gain back some buffer before a BIF gets even closer and save my buffer for the closer shots.

 

[BillW]

He seems a little apprehensive about saying too much at this point, which is understandable. There are a few things I don't like with the Z9 and A1 for that matter. One of which is the focus mode switch Nikon brought back from DSLR bodies. It's a physical impossibility to actuate that switch with a longer lens unless on a tripod. For this reason I've put it back on function 1 for easy access. The second and most bothersome thing for me is the weight but it's also built like a tank. I have no doubt the Z9 would fare better in a tough environment or surviving a fall. Also for some reason you can't assign metering to any lens function button like the other z's. Ive always had spot metering assigned to the 500pf lens button. I don't for the life of me understand why they did that.

Not sure the lens button on a 500 mm PF is customizable through the camera. Its function seems to set by a switch on the lens that has three choices. One of which is AF On. So maybe it would do whatever you have AF On set to do. If so, not an extra button. I wanted to assign mine to recall shooting settings, but that does not seem to work on the 500 mm PF lens button.

 

[Stephen Berger]

The Z9 has the best fake shutter sound because at a setting of 1 you really can't here it even a foot or two away from the camera. I couldn't even hear it myself in some situations like at a crowded duck pond where the ducks were making a ruckus. I've always disabled shutter sound on my Sony cameras as they have better indicator options for displaying when you are firing. Also the one size fits all Sony volume level, is more like the Z9 at level 2 and I find that too loud.

If you haven't looked in to your A1 shot display option it is sort of buried in the Sony menus (hey, what isn't) and is called Shoot Timing Display and I recommend the Type 2 setting. See here for its location in the menu: https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/2040/v1/en/contents/TP1000422520.html
Using this display makes turning off the shutter sound much easier to manage as it is much easier to see when shooting. Although with Tracking modes and Wide AF it still is just an outer frame flashing but the blue color is better than white like on R5 and Z9.

Thank you for this! I tried silent shooting and it was very uncomfortable or non intuitive for me. Will try this setting for sure.

 

[sh1209]

Not sure the lens button on a 500 mm PF is customizable through the camera. Its function seems to set by a switch on the lens that has three choices. One of which is AF On. So maybe it would do whatever you have AF On set to do. If so, not an extra button. I wanted to assign mine to recall shooting settings, but that does not seem to work on the 500 mm PF lens button.

I've had spot metering assigned to the 500pf with both generations of the z6 and 7 but it isn't an option on the Z9 I have af/on assigned to 3d so perhaps I could swap those but I'll have to see if its possible.

 

[arbitrage]

Not sure the lens button on a 500 mm PF is customizable through the camera. Its function seems to set by a switch on the lens that has three choices. One of which is AF On. So maybe it would do whatever you have AF On set to do. If so, not an extra button. I wanted to assign mine to recall shooting settings, but that does not seem to work on the 500 mm PF lens button.

The switch on the lens goes between memory recall, L-Fn and AF-ON. L-Fn can be programmed to a lot of things in the camera including things like AF-ON+Area Mode. I can't recall if the Recall Shooting Settings can be assigned to it or not. You just need to go into the Custom Button settings, scroll down to the L-Fn button and see what is in the list.

 

[thelordofthelight]

Yeah. Recall Shooting Functions can be assigned to Ln Fn.

The switch on the lens goes between memory recall, L-Fn and AF-ON. L-Fn can be programmed to a lot of things in the camera including things like AF-ON+Area Mode. I can't recall if the Recall Shooting Settings can be assigned to it or not. You just need to go into the Custom Button settings, scroll down to the L-Fn button and see what is in the list.

 

[FB101]

He seems a little apprehensive about saying too much at this point, which is understandable. There are a few things I don't like with the Z9 and A1 for that matter. One of which is the focus mode switch Nikon brought back from DSLR bodies. It's a physical impossibility to actuate that switch with a longer lens unless on a tripod. For this reason I've put it back on function 1 for easy access. The second and most bothersome thing for me is the weight but it's also built like a tank. I have no doubt the Z9 would fare better in a tough environment or surviving a fall. Also for some reason you can't assign metering to any lens function button like the other z's. Ive always had spot metering assigned to the 500pf lens button. I don't for the life of me understand why they did that.

‘He once told me that he was harassed and threatened when he published his negative review of the500pf so I think he will be extremely cautious on what he says and how he says it.

 

[sh1209]

‘He once told me that he was harassed and threatened when he published his negative review of the500pf so I think he will be extremely cautious on what he says and how he says it.

That would certainly make you think twice lol.

 

[FB101]

The opening slow motion footage of the heron is stunning, I wish he posted in 4K instead of 1080… Not sure the relative role of camera vs specimen vs light but the result is superb regardless. Z9 and R5 have incredibly smooth and jitter free footage handheld that Sony can’t match currently.

 

[Charles Loy]

Super vid, watch it

 

[DavidT]

‘He once told me that he was harassed and threatened when he published his negative review of the500pf so I think he will be extremely cautious on what he says and how he says it.

Yeah he told me the same when I met him a couple weeks ago. I brought up his video about his journey to Sony and how it hit home for me as I had a similar experience. He said he received a lot of negative feedback and hate for doing that video. People are just crazy!

 

[Venkatesh VT]

The opening slow motion footage of the heron is stunning, I wish he posted in 4K instead of 1080… Not sure the relative role of camera vs specimen vs light but the result is superb regardless. Z9 and R5 have incredibly smooth and jitter free footage handheld that Sony can’t match currently.

Yeah.A1's video really sucks & Sony has to get its act together for video in its flagship camera .