My Z9 Setup Guide Is Here!!

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Steve said:
It's finally here! Check it out:


Also, please spread the word :) I know a lot of people are looking for this one :)

Thanks!
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And while the title includes "Wildlife", there is information included within the guide/book that is applicable to photography of other subjects, as well.

I spent a recent weekend photographing a water ski tournament, and tried to primarily use the Z9 over the D850. I didn't do so well, as far as capturing "keepers" goes, on the trip. A lot of it has to do with my not shooting a lot recently, but that could have been somewhat remedied if I had brushed up on camera (Z9) operation and modes in Steve's guides. I was flat-out using the wrong AF techniques for most of my shoot, and that made the task so much harder.
 
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Thanks Steve! Because you books are such bargains, I like to make a donation whenever I make a purchase. I would recommend that your checkout process include a box for donations so that I can be just a little bit more lazy and not have to go through the home page again. If you've got people who are willing to give you money, making it easy and obvious helps.
 
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It is with regrets that I must report that I won't be visiting this forum for a while...


I'LL BE BUSY READING/STUDYING THE NEW Z9 USER GUIDE FROM BACK COUNTRY/STEVE!

THANKS!!!:cool:(y)
 
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Steve . While I have both your Z9 & A1 e books ( and found them very useful) I was forced to look some where else for shooting video & it’s been a big disappointment inspite of paying 100s of $.
I know it is a tall order . How ever both these cameras do very good videos too & I am hoping that you will bring out a book on video shooting wild life & birds with A1 & Z9 ( a kind of all in one guide from set up to post processing )
 
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Venkatesh VT said:
Steve . While I have both your Z9 & A1 e books ( and found them very useful) I was forced to look some where else for shooting video & it’s been a big disappointment inspite of paying 100s of $.
I know it is a tall order . How ever both these cameras do very good videos too & I am hoping that you will bring out a book on video shooting wild life & birds with A1 & Z9 ( a kind of all in one guide from set up to post processing )
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The truth is, I just don't do much video and I don't know a lot about it. My wife does the video work but she's just a basic shooter. When I write books, I try to do them on things I'm fairly knowledgable about to avoid a situation like you had with the $100 book - I don't want someone buying something from me that isn't useful, insightful, and accurate. My skill set with video isn't even close on any of those three, at least not to a point where I'd publish a book about it.

In addition - and I know this is a little ironic - my field time is somewhat limited. I spent most of my time working on books or videos. When I am in the field, I enjoy shooting stills and trying to improve my images. I'd be sick if I missed a great still opportunity because I was shooting video. At least that's how I feel at the moment. In time, I may eventually start to enjoy video (I do play with it from time to time), but for now I'm a stills guy I guess :)
 
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I just purchased and downloaded this and I am going thru it and faithfully setting my Z9 up as you recommend. You continue to be my go-to Nikon wildlife photography advisor. You have never steered me wrong. Much obliged!
 
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I finished the Guide.

Unlike the guides I purchased for the OM Systems OM-1, Steve's guide not only tells WHAT something does but WHY he does or does not use the feature or why he sets it the way he recommends. Amusingly, I found Steve's Z-9 guide more useful for setting up my OM-1 than OM-1 dedicated guides.

I would recommend that any primarily wildlife photographer who has a mirrorless camera with subject identification purchase this guide.
1-First, it is written by an experienced wildlife photographer, not a generalist. I don't care how well my camera picks up eyes in a motorcycle race, but I do care why M+auto iso works best for wildlife.
2-The explanations of how the Z-9 works typically applies to other cameras. For example, if I set my maximum ISO too low in M+auto iso, the camera will underexpose when that limit is hit no matter what I do. Even exposure compensation won't get the camera to go beyond that limit.

No, it won't cover everything. Steve can't tell me his experiences with ProCapture. I could loan him my spare rig, but I would be worried I'd never get it back and if Steve loaned it to his wife, I know I'd never get it back.

But it will make you a better wildlife photographer at least for stills.

Tom
 
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Tom Reynolds said:
I finished the Guide.

Unlike the guides I purchased for the OM Systems OM-1, Steve's guide not only tells WHAT something does but WHY he does or does not use the feature or why he sets it the way he recommends. Amusingly, I found Steve's Z-9 guide more useful for setting up my OM-1 than OM-1 dedicated guides.

I would recommend that any primarily wildlife photographer who has a mirrorless camera with subject identification purchase this guide.
1-First, it is written by an experienced wildlife photographer, not a generalist. I don't care how well my camera picks up eyes in a motorcycle race, but I do care why M+auto iso works best for wildlife.
2-The explanations of how the Z-9 works typically applies to other cameras. For example, if I set my maximum ISO too low in M+auto iso, the camera will underexpose when that limit is hit no matter what I do. Even exposure compensation won't get the camera to go beyond that limit.

No, it won't cover everything. Steve can't tell me his experiences with ProCapture. I could loan him my spare rig, but I would be worried I'd never get it back and if Steve loaned it to his wife, I know I'd never get it back.

But it will make you a better wildlife photographer at least for stills.

Tom
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Thank you so much! It's great to hear that it helped. Whenever you launch a new project, the worst part is waiting to see if people enjoyed it and found it useful.
 
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Steve said:
The truth is, I just don't do much video and I don't know a lot about it. My wife does the video work but she's just a basic shooter. When I write books, I try to do them on things I'm fairly knowledgable about to avoid a situation like you had with the $100 book - I don't want someone buying something from me that isn't useful, insightful, and accurate. My skill set with video isn't even close on any of those three, at least not to a point where I'd publish a book about it.

In addition - and I know this is a little ironic - my field time is somewhat limited. I spent most of my time working on books or videos. When I am in the field, I enjoy shooting stills and trying to improve my images. I'd be sick if I missed a great still opportunity because I was shooting video. At least that's how I feel at the moment. In time, I may eventually start to enjoy video (I do play with it from time to time), but for now I'm a stills guy I guess :)
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If I have a choice I'd take a book\pdf over a video as I can scan the relevant parts or quickly look up information needed if there's a index or search the pdf. So far good with version 1.0 and thank you.
 
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Maljo said:
This guide has convinced me to try HE compressed files. Photographing a marathon this weekend, will see how it goes.
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I gotta say, I've been impressed with them (although, as noted in the book, I'm still too paranoid to use them as my main format LOL)
 
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Hi Steve. I find that my Viewfinder Brightness and the Viewfinder color balance greyed out in my menu. The brightness is set to auto and I am unable to change it to manual as suggested by you. Do you know why it is so ?
 
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Kumar A said:
Hi Steve. I find that my Viewfinder Brightness and the Viewfinder color balance greyed out in my menu. The brightness is set to auto and I am unable to change it to manual as suggested by you. Do you know why it is so ?
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It's likely because you have the camera set to Monitor Only with the little button on the side of the viewfinder. (I actually recommend turning those options off as you'll see in a few pages :) )
 
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Kumar A said:
Hi Steve. I find that my Viewfinder Brightness and the Viewfinder color balance greyed out in my menu. The brightness is set to auto and I am unable to change it to manual as suggested by you. Do you know why it is so ?
Click to expand...
They will be greyed out unless you have your eye to the viewfinder. So just let your eye approach and activate the viewfinder and then press the MENU button and you will now see these options available and can set them while looking through the viewfinder.
 
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Serious question - I'm assuming you optimize these ...do you know of a way to get these on into a kindle app at the native download size? Send To Kindle only sends 50MB or less...and I'm usually glued to my ipad when reading.
 
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Ivan Rothman said:
They will be greyed out unless you have your eye to the viewfinder. So just let your eye approach and activate the viewfinder and then press the MENU button and you will now see these options available and can set them while looking through the viewfinder.
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Absolutely right. Thank you
 
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