Nikon, better subject detection, please!

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Wes Peterson said:
Name you "Nikon guy" I'd like to have a chat with him.
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He's retired and not sending him people to hound him for info.

And I know what the manual says and it supports what I have said. I think you are not comprehending it nor it's use case. I am not trying to change your mind, I am just stating that I didn't get it wrong. You interpret it differently from the manual, I am giving you the use case from a Z9 team member. I am fine to agree to disagree.

I will leave you with this to think about. If you are panning and actively tracking a BIF, you are not keeping the bird "STEADY" in the EVF? If the camera is still and a subject suddenly jumping or taking off, is that not "ERRATIC"? Your RTFM comment, you need to think about what that manual is actually saying to you
 
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EricKlees said:
He's retired and not sending him people to hound him for info.

And I know what the manual says and it supports what I have said. I think you are not comprehending it nor it's use case. I am not trying to change your mind, I am just stating that I didn't get it wrong. You interpret it differently from the manual, I am giving you the use case from a Z9 team member. I am fine to agree to disagree
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Im interpreting it LITERALLY from the manual. The manual contradicts what you said. You said "steady" was for when the subject is "steady in the frame" The manual says its for when the subject is approaching the camera at a steady pace...

You really think we should listen to you and your mystery source over the manual?
 
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There are zero adjustments that slow down or speed up the tracking across the frame. The only adjustments are blocked shot response and how quickly the camera stops changing focus when the subject is lost. They are both in the same menu location for a reason. Because they both tell the camera how to act when the subject is lost.
 
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also, tbh, i am re-evaluating and thinking i will try switching back to steady from erratic based on this discussion and how that maps to what i'm seeing in my sequences and how i currently understand the situation.

i'll also point out that, iirc, it was recommended to me to use "erratic" by a nikon ambassador who understands my subject matter.

i know there's some contention here, but this discussion has been useful to me.
 
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John Navitsky said:
also, tbh, i am re-evaluating and thinking i will try switching back to steady from erratic based on this discussion and how that maps to what i'm seeing in my sequences and how i currently understand the situation.

i'll also point out that, iirc, it was recommended to me to use "erratic" by a nikon ambassador who understands my subject matter.

i know there's some contention here, but this discussion has been useful to me.
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I haven't felt any contention. It's just a topic of conversation. I have stated that I don't shoot dog sports so this could be different for you and what/how you shoot. I mean, there are a couple places I shoot that in almost the exact environment as I shoot in Auto Area AF mode, only 3D is reliable, being in Bird SD. So while it makes no sense, those 2 locations, I have to shoot in a different mode with no rhyme or reason to it.

So you may find Erratic to work better for your dog sports but Steady is better for BIF. It wouldn't surprise me as things like this just happen to be the case.
 
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John Navitsky said:
well, and there’s the other problem when your subject is mostly approaching at a steady velocity but sometimes changes velocity/direction suddenly.
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I've had plenty of eagles coming at me and picking up fish and when they strike or the moment they grab the fish they have a sudden slow down and the body and head swing forward, in steady i have no loss of focus on the eye in these scenarios.

So i don't think that shooting at 20fps and the AF system doing 120 af calculations a second is going to cause AF issues with a bird flying towards you
 
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EricKlees said:
I haven't felt any contention. It's just a topic of conversation. I have stated that I don't shoot dog sports so this could be different for you and what/how you shoot. I mean, there are a couple places I shoot that in almost the exact environment as I shoot in Auto Area AF mode, only 3D is reliable, being in Bird SD. So while it makes no sense, those 2 locations, I have to shoot in a different mode with no rhyme or reason to it.

So you may find Erratic to work better for your dog sports but Steady is better for BIF. It wouldn't surprise me as things like this just happen to be the case.
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That's why I was soliciting comments from people who may have actually played with these cases in specific situations to determine what works best for particular scenarios. I would concur that for many "BIF", steady works just fine. At least it appears to do so when shooting Spoonbills, GBH's, Egrets, Eagles, Osprey, Hawks, Owls, Kites, Terns, Boobies, Blue Jays, Flickers, etc. ... in other words nearly every bird I've filmed when flying against sky/trees/reeds, etc. Interestingly, for the Kite handoffs and Eagle skirmishes which are in some ways "erratic" movement, employing "steady" appears to work just fine. However, for the case I presented, namely eagles/osprey strikes against the water, where I am experiencing unusual, repeatable, loss of AF, I am positing whether "erratic" might provide for more accurate AF algorithms. It's something I'll have to try because AF mode, stickiness settings, and everything else that I've tried hasn't worked.
 
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