Nikon, better subject detection, please!

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ajrmd said:
Like you, I spend a reasonable amount of time (in season) at both Conowingo and Bombay Hook and am surprised we never met. Perhaps, we'll be fortunate to connect up this fall? So, what I am particularly frustrated with is what I think you describe as "AF drift". Initial capture is achieved and then when the eagle strikes, the AF seems to drift off target for a few frames, only to reacquire again after the strike. These are head scratching sequences where one is panning a strike usually less than 50 yards away and the target is large in the frame (nearly occupying 80+% of the vertical field. How or why this occurs with my Z8 is simply perplexing as again, I've not experienced this with Sony/Canon. If they acquire AF, they don't seem to lose in through the strike. With respect to the reflection "latching", I've encountered this on rare occasion with the Z8 though if one "pumps" the AF, i.e. releases and reacquires, this usually resolves.

The thought of shooting a flat picture control is intriguing though it is difficult to see why that would affect AF? Conceivably, I could see how using the custom picture control which produces blinkies could tax the EXPEED 7 chip, though why would NL (what I use) rather than "flat" lead to drift?
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Also keep in mind a couple of other settings that can make a huge difference. Number one with bird subject detection the auto area AF mode is significantly better than 3D or any of the wide AF modes. In the menu item A3 which is going to be where the block shot setting is at make sure you set that to five. 3D can only use level 3 so it will always default to three no matter what but when you use Auto area AF mode it will use level five which is its most sticky. Since bird subject detection I rarely even have the AF jump to the reflected eye rather than the actual eye of the duck so to speak. I also don't shoot in or towards the Sun especially around water since I use a PF lens. As the weakness of the PF element our spectral highlights with backlit scenes on water so not shooting in those situations doesn't cause any confusion with the AF system
 
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