Nikon Z6iii - The Story Behind The Photos (and lots of field techniques)

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@Steve Thank you for generously sharing this video. Very inspiring and helpful. For several of the photos you mention the Z6iii found and locked onto the bird's eye and then you fired away at 20 FPS to find the head or wing position that looks the best. Do you keep the BBAF engaged, or once the eye is found do you let off the BBAF? When I use the AF with bird detection, my Z8 will find the eye and show a green square when BBAF is pressed, but then the rectangle bounces all around as I engage the shutter and fire off 20 FPS all with the BBAF engaged (all hand-held as I endeavor to keep the bird's head in the AF area which is usually set as S or L). Invariably though, there are only 1 or 2 images with sharp eyes and they are often not the ones with the best head or wing positions. The best positions are often with blurry eyes, despite using 1/3200 or 1/4000 sec and f7.1 or f8. I'm wondering what I'm missing to keep the eye locked on as the shots are fired off. I have experimented with letting up on the BBAF just before firing the shutter, but I notice that often at that moment of releasing the button the last green square was not on the eye or it was a larger green square that I guess is focused on the head or body. What tips do you have for keeping the focus locked on the eye as those 20 FPS are fired off?
 
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mrpicasso said:
@Steve Thank you for generously sharing this video. Very inspiring and helpful. For several of the photos you mention the Z6iii found and locked onto the bird's eye and then you fired away at 20 FPS to find the head or wing position that looks the best. Do you keep the BBAF engaged, or once the eye is found do you let off the BBAF? When I use the AF with bird detection, my Z8 will find the eye and show a green square when BBAF is pressed, but then the rectangle bounces all around as I engage the shutter and fire off 20 FPS all with the BBAF engaged (all hand-held as I endeavor to keep the bird's head in the AF area which is usually set as S or L). Invariably though, there are only 1 or 2 images with sharp eyes and they are often not the ones with the best head or wing positions. The best positions are often with blurry eyes, despite using 1/3200 or 1/4000 sec and f7.1 or f8. I'm wondering what I'm missing to keep the eye locked on as the shots are fired off. I have experimented with letting up on the BBAF just before firing the shutter, but I notice that often at that moment of releasing the button the last green square was not on the eye or it was a larger green square that I guess is focused on the head or body. What tips do you have for keeping the focus locked on the eye as those 20 FPS are fired off?
Click to expand...
I have similar experiences even when I keep the subject in the center of the frame for the duration.

To be more specific, anytime a subject goes from stationary to moving the AF seems to lose the AF and need to reacquire - so for instance a still bird that takes flight sees the AF lose the bird and I have to get it back mid flight, while a bird that is in flight with the AF locked on really just has the lock hang onto the body but rarely the head. I don't think in thousands of BIF shots with my Z8 I've ever seen it hang onto the head while in flight. All of this certainly happens when the I do a poor job if keeping the bird in the same place in the frame, but it also happens when I do a good job of it.

Most of my BiF shots are a bit blurred and for a long while I used to keep upping the shutter speed thinking it wasn't fast enough but really I don't think that's actually the issue.
 
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Steve said:
Yes :)
We got a better-than-used price on a 2023 International 23 FBT in December last year. I've been looking for this exact model and a dealer in Wisconsin had one on sale. We've wanted one forever and couldn't resist. We're towing with a 1500 series GMC AT4 with a 3.0 Diesel - it's been really good. We're getting about 14/15 MPG on the highway while towing and we push 25-30 without the camper attached.
Click to expand...
It was always my dream to purchase one when retired but I never pulled the trigger. Something I seriously regreted. 🥲. But now at age 70, Its something I‘m not willing to deal with since I have zero experience with RVs.
 
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mrpicasso said:
@Steve Thank you for generously sharing this video. Very inspiring and helpful. For several of the photos you mention the Z6iii found and locked onto the bird's eye and then you fired away at 20 FPS to find the head or wing position that looks the best. Do you keep the BBAF engaged, or once the eye is found do you let off the BBAF? When I use the AF with bird detection, my Z8 will find the eye and show a green square when BBAF is pressed, but then the rectangle bounces all around as I engage the shutter and fire off 20 FPS all with the BBAF engaged (all hand-held as I endeavor to keep the bird's head in the AF area which is usually set as S or L). Invariably though, there are only 1 or 2 images with sharp eyes and they are often not the ones with the best head or wing positions. The best positions are often with blurry eyes, despite using 1/3200 or 1/4000 sec and f7.1 or f8. I'm wondering what I'm missing to keep the eye locked on as the shots are fired off. I have experimented with letting up on the BBAF just before firing the shutter, but I notice that often at that moment of releasing the button the last green square was not on the eye or it was a larger green square that I guess is focused on the head or body. What tips do you have for keeping the focus locked on the eye as those 20 FPS are fired off?
Click to expand...
Keep BBAF engaged.

And it's not 100% perfect. :)

Often, the Subject Detection area moves around a bit on the bird - especially the longer-necked ones. It's also dependent on how steady you are and how well you can keep the bird in position in the frame,. The better I am at keeping the bird in position, the better Subject Detection works. Your settings are fine; more panning practice will likely get you there :)
 
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