That just means the camera couldn't electronically read the focal length of the lens. This happens when I use some of my oldest manual focus lenses on modern cameras.
Nikon Z9 + 4.1 Firmware: The New King Of Birding?
- Thread starter Steve
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Yeah, too much. I went upstairs the other day, but it was too bright so I had to sneak back down to the dungeon
Cameron T
Well-known member
Too bright? I wish I had that problemYeah, too much. I went upstairs the other day, but it was too bright so I had to sneak back down to the dungeon
I'll let you know in a couple of months!If anyone is willing to send me to Antartica for a week or so I'm happy to test that out and report back
Dinusaur
Active member
Great video with a thing or two to learn from, particularly setting up control button to toggle between bird and animal mode.
A friend of mine who had both A1 and Z9, was always unhappy with Z9's focus tracking, compared to A1, for Osprey dives in local ponds. He used to send a group of us email after each shooting episode and complained about how bad the tracking was giving examples of missed shots etc. with Z9. Next day he would send another email showing how good A1's tracking was on that day. Since the release of 4.1, he has stopped sending his email complaints about Z9 - it must be a good thing. Then again, the Ospreys have left our shores. and he may not have the same kind of scenario to test it against. From my own experience. all in all 4.1 is certainly way better than all previous firmware versions.
Now the question is: Will Nikon continue improving the firmware on Z9 or release a different body with the next version of improved firmware as a ploy to sell more hardware?
A friend of mine who had both A1 and Z9, was always unhappy with Z9's focus tracking, compared to A1, for Osprey dives in local ponds. He used to send a group of us email after each shooting episode and complained about how bad the tracking was giving examples of missed shots etc. with Z9. Next day he would send another email showing how good A1's tracking was on that day. Since the release of 4.1, he has stopped sending his email complaints about Z9 - it must be a good thing. Then again, the Ospreys have left our shores. and he may not have the same kind of scenario to test it against. From my own experience. all in all 4.1 is certainly way better than all previous firmware versions.
Now the question is: Will Nikon continue improving the firmware on Z9 or release a different body with the next version of improved firmware as a ploy to sell more hardware?
I can't remember where it was posted but I do remember reading that Nikon has stated their commitment to upgrading camera functions via firmware when possible. No doubt in time new hardware will be released but unless they change their path they'll release firmware updates to the high end cameras at least until some new feature comes along that requires new hardware.
I suspect a new flagship camera will show up when advances in hardware or things like additional programmable function buttons or new form factor drive a newer design and they won't just release a similar looking and similar hardware Z9 or Z8 as a way to bundle new firmware features. Where it gets tricky is when some new function requires internal changes like a lot more memory or a faster processor as these don't always require a big outward change in appearance but may be necessary to add a new feature.
fcotterill
Well-known member
CP+ 2023: Nikon interview - 'Everybody can become a content creator'
After the recent CP+ expo in Japan, we traveled to Nikon headquarters in Tokyo to learn more about the design process for its Z9 flagship camera, how its transition to mirrorless is progressing, and why video is vital to Nikon's future.
www.dpreview.com
"Our concept is to ensure that we continuously enhance the product over time with updates. Post-launch, we've already done large-scale firmware updates twice, adding updates with autofocus, pre-capture, 8K60p RAW features, etc. If you compare what we launched in the market and after two firmware updates, it's almost two different things. Our aim is to continue to provide excitement and surprise to those who are fans of our products."
Nikon executives have emphasized their strategy in several recent interviews
Nikon interview: "We’re at a transitional stage"
In a wide-ranging conversation, Keiji Oishi gave us an insight into Nikon's strategy at all levels of its business, and shared some details of the new D6.
www.dpreview.com
"The firmware update was promised a long time ago - why did it take so long to become available?
To be honest, it was just a question of resources. But after I took over product planning, we are planning to schedule firmware updates more frequently. We don’t want that kind of delay [again] between the announcement of firmware and its availability. We want to do regular scheduled firmware updates to keep the products up to date for a long time"
Also
Nikon interview: 'Z9 will exceed expectations for every genre of photography and video'
On the eve of the Z9 launch, we spoke to Naoyuki Murakami, Executive Fellow and Sector Manager of the Development Sector in Nikon's Imaging Business Unit, to learn more about the new camera, and what it means for Nikon's future.
www.dpreview.com
@Steve I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread, but curious - in your video you used Auto Area AF + SD most of the time whereas in the past you've recommended Wide-L + SD or Wide-S + SD. With FW 4.10 are you seeing Auto Area + SD doing as good of job with picking up birds as Wide-L/S or are the Wide modes still better overall? Thinking especially for picking up a bird on the edge and moving all the way to the other edge, will Auto + SD now track most of the way or is it still best to use a Wide mode with 3D handoff?
I still use Wide sometimes (especially if the bird is tough to pick out in a crowd), but I am finding that Auto is really a good way to go with the newer firmware. The thing is, when you use Wide + 3D (with SD), if SD drops the target and the small 3D AF area isn't actually on the target, it can jump to the background. When SD drops the target in Auto, there's a good chance that Auto AF will pick what's already sharp in the viewfinder as the first place it tried to focus - which is usually going to be the bird. Since SD is working better, I'm don't find as much need to sort of do it myself with Wide (or Wide + 3d).
That makes sense - if there are a bunch of eyes to choose from Auto will choose for you based on the programing whereas Wide allows you to limit what the AF system is looking at.
I have observed this as well.
That's pretty significant I would say, definitely something to explore. Thank you for doing so much investigating on these new features.
I have my Fn1 button set to exactly that - Single Point AF. I use that when I need to turn Subject Detection off momentarily. That leaves my Fn2 button free for whatever RSF I want to assign to it. If I need to turn Subject Detection off for longer periods I do it in my iMenu.
steigw
Member
I already am using a recall shooting functions hold button so F1 button switches to 3D mode. Because of that it doesn’t appear I can use a different button for switching between animal / bird mode. I was surprised to see only one use of function hold can be applied per bank. Switch banks and you get a second shot of using functions hold.
At least that seems to be my experience. Anybody else know a way around this?
At least that seems to be my experience. Anybody else know a way around this?
There's no way around having only one Recall Shooting Function per bank.
But a lot of folks use RSF for things that need to be toggled and simple button press actions for things that you might turn on or off for various shots. From that standpoint it's easy to assign a secondary AF Area Mode like 3D to a function button like F1 and assign your RSF to some other button like the DISP button or the joystick center press. Yup when you want to switch from your primary AF Area Mode to your secondary mode you'll have to hold in that F1 button but that's pretty easy to do while shooting. When you want to toggle as in switching from Bird to Animal subject detect or vice versa you just have to tap that other button like the DISP or joystick center press and then forget about it until it's time to toggle again (or if you hit one of the other things like Exposure Compensation or turn the camera off which resets the RSF to the default state).
Lot's of ways to configure things but I don't mind using an extra finger to hold in the F1 button when I want an alternative AF Area Mode as that's an on the fly kind of thing to hand over to an alternative focus area mode. But RSF doesn't really need to be on a quick button that's easy to press while releasing the shutter or holding back button auto focus as you just hit that to toggle states.
I'm going off memory hear but I believe I have avoided using the banks because similar to what Steve shared in the video, if you change any settings it overrides the bank, you have to save your settings to a card and essentially reset all settings to get back to original. Because of this feature I have avoided using the banks cause I change too much and forget to go back. It would be great if there was a button dedicated to not just RSF but for swapping banks and each time you swap it "resets" back to original settings.
That's correct.
One trick if you don't want to use the memory card and only need a couple of banks is to use Bank A and B as you primary banks and copy them - the way you want them - to Banks C & D. Then, if you change stuff in Bank A, you can restore it with Bank C ( and Bank B from D). About as elegant as spilled spaghetti, but no memory card backup required. The truth is, Nikon just needs to put a Lock switch in so (when it's enabled) if you go out of and bank and come back in, it goes to your defaults for that bank.
The banks on the Z9 are stupid..... they really just need to put "users" onto the high end cameras. Any custom config available instantly.
Or have three banks set up. A, B and C. Then copy the bank you want to use for a given outing to D. Use D and any changes will only affect D. Of course, you need to remember to do it.
steigw
Member
@Steve , I'm just not real coordinated, so I've been using my default mode as Wide / Large, then when I acquire the subject, I press & release F1 to go to 3D. It's been working for me, but I would certainly like to rapidly switch between animal and bird. You've admonished me in other posts to not use the "hold" feature and get used to just holding the F1 down. I've tried not much luck. But in an earlier post, for this thread, I thought you indicated you might be moving away from using wide / large and you're just using the 3D mode from the start. Did I read that correctly? Maybe that would work for me and I could make some changes to how I'm acquiring the subject.
That works too. For me, I kind of think of the banks as a fast way to jump from one set of settings to another while on an outing though, not something I would necessarily pre-set forehand. I think that would make for an excess of jumping around in the menu for what I do. And that's really my overall complaint with the banks - by the time I'm done playing all the games with them, I could have just switched the camera around the way I want
Not 3D, but Auto is what I'm using more now. Sometimes I still use Wide, but Auto is my current goto by a nose.
Why not add an option to lock/unlock banks so changes are not saved or saved.
I've been asking for that for a long time
I'd also like to see a way to couple the Shooing banks with the custom menu banks...I always switch them in pairs.I've been asking for that for a long time
They really need to rethink these banks....
They do for sure. Sony has it figured out and it works well.
Fascinating! Based on your earlier recommendations, as well as my field work, I’ve been using the Wide+3D-handoff method, but I often have gotten tripped-up and frustrated with the exact situation you’re mentioning, where SD drops just as I’m switching from wide to 3D, and the 3D target isn’t on the subject so then the focus shoots to whatever is under the 3D target, which is often very different. Sometimes this even seems to happen without apparently losing the SD, but maybe it loses it so briefly I don’t/can’t actually see the drop.
It sounds like Auto AF can mostly solve, or at least ameliorate this issue. I haven’t used Auto AF much because when I first tried it out (first version of Z9 firmware), it wasn’t great. If I want something like AutoAF, I just use my custom Wide that is the largest size you can make.
So I just tried it out on my cats and a few other subjects here in the house. It does seem to work pretty well, though it seems that AutoAF won’t follow across the entire frame. It seems to stop a bit short of the edges. Probably not a huge deal, though sometimes with some subjects the eye/head/etc might be close to the side and with just a little bit of movement might accidentally go into that apparent no-go zone. In my simple tests here, AutoAF picked it back up pretty quickly once it was back toward the center, though I’m not sure how well that works in a more realistic/dynamic situation. Just curious if you’ve found this to be much, if any, issue. I’m also curious how different it is from a max-sized-custom-Wide.
Certainly something I’m interested in trying.