Official Nikon Z9 Launch, Info, and Discussion Thread
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O
Well-known member
Granger is capitalizing on hunting and gathering for followers and ranking, you cant blame him for that, its all dog eat dog as the world has a lot of lemmings that's the way it is very sadly..........i don't go out of my way to look him up..........
What i want from the Z9 is simple
IBIS
up to 20 fps at 45mp with crop ability of the D850.......
focus attack speed...( Nikon will have to ramp up the stickiness a little)
Updated focusing system
Unlimited shutter usage......
Good tilt screen
No less dynamic range or colour accuracy that the D850
Above all the option of one, two,three and five are key for me .....................or i dump it quickly even at a loss if need be.
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sid_19911991
Well-known member
Hmm. But the 70-200 f2.8 AF has the fastest AF amongst all telephoto lenses in all 3 brands as far as I know. Anyway, Jared is nitpicking IMO...
O
Well-known member
Wow, congratulations! Finally someone on this forum to get it
I am back in Sydney on Thursday Night, my appointment is 9.30am Friday Morning to collect.........wow wee, ill be sitting at the front door LOL........Christmas Eve........ i will put it under the Christmas tree for the next day unopened LOL, i have to find some cards before i can use it...........been to busy to organize.
O
Well-known member
CF CARDS
Just for stills use only, whats the minimum speed for a CF card on the Z9, any one know
Just for stills use only, whats the minimum speed for a CF card on the Z9, any one know
thelordofthelight
Well-known member
If you are planning to use the Z9 at 20 FPS in compressed raw format, best is to buy at least one of the top rated CFE cards with a minimum sustained write speeds above 1400 MB/s. I think Nikon officially recommends Prograde Digital Cobalt and Delkin Black however i just saw this morning at NR that Angel bird has launched a couple of fast CFEs. If you are ok with High efficiency raw formats, i think most of the relatively slower CFE cards will also get the job done.
The only recommendation is to not buy too many cards right away as there are going to be even faster cards in the near future and the prices for CFE cards are astronomically high right now, almost the cost of a small lens!
Did you watch the video by Matt Granger/ Ricci talks? their videos on CFE buffer tests were pretty good. I had no other option except the prograde cobalt as thats the only one available in India.
The only recommendation is to not buy too many cards right away as there are going to be even faster cards in the near future and the prices for CFE cards are astronomically high right now, almost the cost of a small lens!
Did you watch the video by Matt Granger/ Ricci talks? their videos on CFE buffer tests were pretty good. I had no other option except the prograde cobalt as thats the only one available in India.
thelordofthelight
Well-known member
There is a significant difference in performance between the Cobalt version vs the Gold.
Are the Prograde Gold satisfactory? Not sure if this still valid
ProGrade Coupon Code! HUGE Savings
I saw a post that ProGrade is doing a sale and tried the coupon code and it worked. They have CFE-A for $280.50 shipped! Even cheaper if you buy the 2 pack. I have two of them already along with a Sony card and I see no difference in performance. Coupon Code: HOLIDAY21 They also have some...bcgforums.com
True, but they are slow to focus at any aperture. Must be all that glass that needs to move
fcotterill
Well-known member
Searching for Angelbird prices, hit this report of problems with feedback from Angelbird about compatibility of their older models with Z cameras
Has anyone read/heard if Nikon plans to put the DX crop factor in the Z9 with a future update? This is something I’ve always used frequently in past Nikon bodies as well as my two Z bodies I currently own. It’s nice to have this feature, especially when you’re out and don’t have a teleconverter. I’ve never really been a fan of teleconverters but I did buy the 1.4 Z teleconverter to use with my 70-200. I have to say that this is probably the best teleconverter I’ve ever shot with by far. I’m just not sure why they would take this feature out of the menu.
sid_19911991
Well-known member
Talking about skill, I have videographed wild kingfishers diving & successfully hunting fish about 30 feet away without any bait with my Z6 & 500 PF in 1080 120 FPS by using manual focus. However, ideally I would have loved for the camera to auto focus on its own so that I could shoot more & better.
Also, Jared not being an expert at using the Z system is a good thing no? The whole point of assisted AF is that the camera should be able to cover for one's lack of skill. For someone like me I want to spend my time & effort on composition & strive for more outrageous frames!
Z9 AF will surely get better with firmware updates.
Unlike DSLRs, mirrorless have been around only for 3-4 years when it comes to Nikon & Canon, while Sony introduced it only in 2013.
So, the tech is new.
We should see the AF getting better by 5x in the next 3 years.
DSLR started peaking with IDxm2 & D5, but there is a long way to go for mirrorless.
LOL - no - I don't think Nikon envisioned technology as a substitute for skill. There is still plenty of skill, technique and knowledge involved regarding the camera and the subject. Part of the skill is being able to choose the right settings for a situation, or knowing how large a subject needs to be in the frame for focus to be successful. He mentioned his results were better the second night, and that shows that there was a learning curve and he was improving.
I think the intent of the technology is it assists someone with skill, knowledge and technique to get more in focus shots, or allows them to emphasize framing over just getting the subject in focus. But there is still going to be a "keeper rate" for a given subject and situation.
Even with all this improved AF technology, lighting, position, subject matter, and composition will be important.
If someone lacks skill, they need to find a photographer - not a camera.
thelordofthelight
Well-known member
I don't think Nikon has taken away this feature on the Z9. I just checked Matt Granger's Z9 set-up video and at 2.15, i can see the following 4 modes under the "Choose image area" settings which are FX(36X24), DX (24X16), 1:1 (24X24) and 16:9 (36X20). Isn't this what you are referring to?
thelordofthelight
Well-known member
20 FPS in high efficiency modes should be doable but in compressed Raw there'll be issues with buffer.
Thank you for clarifying that. There was something I read a couple months ago that said the three raw modes were the only options. Perhaps I misunderstood as well.
thelordofthelight
Well-known member
Got it. I think what's gone now is the option to select between 12 bit vs 14 bit. All the new formats are 14 bit formats on the Z9.
thelordofthelight
Well-known member
Ya this is a tricky topic and seems to vary by brand, by file formats and by FPS. What i noticed on the Z9 is when using 14 bit compressed raw, the buffer is as reported about 80 shots (4 seconds of shooting) and i hit it a couple of times but the time taken to clear was very fast so all I got to do is just release the shutter and start another sequence and it goes on for another 80 shots and so on. At 15 FPS, this limitation was gone and the buffer was much deeper. With the HE* the buffer was insane and i dont think i will ever hit it.
Absolutely - but it's a brand new camera from a new brand for him. He's not tuned in on the right way to configure the camera when he runs into issues.
The Sony cameras have a very large onboard memory (more than double Nikon or Canon's typical camera) that usually prevents issues, but SD card speed is much slower so once the buffer fills, it's much slower to clear.
thelordofthelight
Well-known member
Agreed but then with every single camera be it A1 or Z9, there are always some finer nuances when it comes to some features that could help the photographer get better results than the all auto mode. In spite of the best in class tracking features on the A1, some of my friends prefer keeping the subject tracking to off in specific situations.
When i tried the Z9, the 3D tracking was amazing as an all auto mode but what i loved even better was the Wide-Area L mode because this mode behaves very differently depending on whether the subject detection is set to on vs turned off. When the subject detection is on, it is very much like a 3D tracking but the user has control to direct the camera to track within the box and the AF box looks for eyes/ heads etc. The same AF area mode with subject detection turned off works almost like the Group Area AF, which focuses on closest subject - for instance bird's beak in case of an incoming bird.
The finer aspects are not something anyone can master in a day or 2 but it takes a lot of time to learn the camera and test it under different situations. At the end of the day those nuances will certainly help.
When i tried the Z9, the 3D tracking was amazing as an all auto mode but what i loved even better was the Wide-Area L mode because this mode behaves very differently depending on whether the subject detection is set to on vs turned off. When the subject detection is on, it is very much like a 3D tracking but the user has control to direct the camera to track within the box and the AF box looks for eyes/ heads etc. The same AF area mode with subject detection turned off works almost like the Group Area AF, which focuses on closest subject - for instance bird's beak in case of an incoming bird.
The finer aspects are not something anyone can master in a day or 2 but it takes a lot of time to learn the camera and test it under different situations. At the end of the day those nuances will certainly help.
sid_19911991
Well-known member
LOL - no - I don't think Nikon envisioned technology as a substitute for skill. There is still plenty of skill, technique and knowledge involved regarding the camera and the subject. Part of the skill is being able to choose the right settings for a situation, or knowing how large a subject needs to be in the frame for focus to be successful. He mentioned his results were better the second night, and that shows that there was a learning curve and he was improving.
I think the intent of the technology is it assists someone with skill, knowledge and technique to get more in focus shots, or allows them to emphasize framing over just getting the subject in focus. But there is still going to be a "keeper rate" for a given subject and situation.
Even with all this improved AF technology, lighting, position, subject matter, and composition will be important.
If someone lacks skill, they need to find a photographer - not a camera.
Yes I agree, but 25 years ago people wouldn't dare to cross ISO 800 for birds in flight images. Now sometimes we shoot good images at ISO 6400. Not to mention the amount of advanced editing softwares people use now.
That's just gear, no amount of skill can give anyone that ability.
Likewise, mirrorless AF has a long way to go.
People are already happy to jump to Z9 from a Z6 if they can buy one. The gear makes a huge difference even if your skill remains the same.
FB101
Well-known member
‘it is listed on Nikon’s official spec page on their website so I assume it is there from the start.
FB101
Well-known member
Yes indeed. That’s why I upgraded to all CFE a cards despite the absurd prices (4 x 160gb is more than the 90mm macro). It significantly improves buffer clearing, and I toggle between lossless and lossy compression depending on the speed and buffer depth I need. Most of the time lossless is more than enough, 20fps and about 5s of buffer - if I need more I switch to lossy. I think Z9 users will quickly learn to set a custom button to do the same thing between HE* and HE
arbitrage
Well-known member
I would not buy the Gold cards if you are intending 20FPS and Lossless Compressed. The best value in a top performing card will be the Delkin Power cards. They are almost as fast as the Delkin Black and run almost as cool. As fast as Cobalt and cooler than Cobalt. Only Black runs cooler than Power and not by much. IMO Black are a waste of money over Power but to each their own.Are the Prograde Gold satisfactory? Not sure if this still valid
ProGrade Coupon Code! HUGE Savings
I saw a post that ProGrade is doing a sale and tried the coupon code and it worked. They have CFE-A for $280.50 shipped! Even cheaper if you buy the 2 pack. I have two of them already along with a Sony card and I see no difference in performance. Coupon Code: HOLIDAY21 They also have some...
abc123brian
Well-known member
Where did you see this info? I’ve heard the same from others, but didn’t see any test results. I saw a video where Ricci said the Delkin Black performed the best, but did not see much else on card performance. I ended up ordering two Delkin Power and two Delkin Black cards. Just preordered the new 160GB Angelbird which is supposed to be fast too. That should be more than enough cards for me.