Official Nikon Z9 Launch, Info, and Discussion Thread

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Time to see how weather sealed this thing really is...
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arbitrage said:
Maybe he never figured out the magic AF mode on the D500/D850 for BIF...hint it is Auto AF. Auto AF is best avoided on the Z cameras, even on the Z9 but on the DSLRs it was magical what it could do for challenging BIF when you weren't able to keep the Group AF on the subject due to its speed, size or erratic motion.
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I did try it after you told us about it on my D6 and D850 but between single point and group I actually did as well or better on the small birds, especially the sudden fly by type, but I think I am the exception ... I told a friend who could stand side by side with me same camera, lens and settings and not duplicate what I was doing. I told him about your recommendation and it was night and day better especially on take of and landing approach birds !! He just had heart surgery so not shooting now but he had a lot of "wow" shots before that thanks to your recommendation !! I think the difference with me is hundreds of thousands of rounds fired from a shot gun with sporting clays and bird hunting so for me tracking a fast and frequently erratic subject is natural and group AF or single point worked like a charm.
 
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zule11 said:
Nikon Z9 Autofocus AF Tracking Birds In Flight In Dense Branches

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I have done that for years with DSLR's ... D4S, D500, D850 and D6. single point af, afc etc. and f/2.8 to f/6.3 depending on the lens. But I have thousands of shots of practice and many more with a target rifle and shotgun. I expect my Z9 to make it even easier once I actually get one :) This was Nikon D850 and Tamron 150-600 G2
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O said:
I find i just get happily the results i need or want with my DSLRS for everything BIF sports action portraiture, commercial what ever as i feel i am more in control.
Its a great comfort zone that lets me enjoy what i do, photography........

However i need to give mirror less a chance, embrace what the Z9 has to offer, the Z9 is a beautiful camera and works really well for me so far in nearly all instances using the new tracking etc, BUT, i do get some occasional issue, i assume may be caused by myself, or situations that are frustrating ..................Example: the tracking is on the bird that's stationary, then for what ever reason when the bird moves half an inch or so the focus can let go and the focusing starts to hunt and it wont regain focus, i have had this experience a couple of times, i need to under stand what i am doing wrong first if anything, so far i wonder if may be using in this case a FX 70-200 fl and if it could even have a connection ?

The other situation was i am focused dead on this stationary bird, brown with a little green colour, sitting at a water fountain with a white marble back ground 30 feet away, dead easy shot, good light, the small focus point is dead on the birds head, the bird is out of focus the background is in focus, now i shoot all my other cameras the same way with the same 70-200 fl lens, the square was red and never went green maybe its not supposed to, yet it focused on the marble back drop not the bird, Bizarre, Must be me.

This has also happened on occasions in my surfing shots even using 9 points. So yes be prepared to do a little work with a lot of patience.

My old D3X (old dependable friend) i can use single point focus and nail a spider web single thread that is hardly visible.
I have never experienced this with the D850 or D6.

Also I have had the moment where the protection cover that comes down when changing lenses stay shut, its happened twice, i turned the camera on and off 3 or 4 times and it was OK then.

I have had a dose of massive hot pixels being an issue on some surfing shots as well as other subjects, all in the background and the iso was only at 720iso, full day light perfect conditions, activating the sensor clean 3 times consecutively seemed to eliminate the issue, this was done on a technicians advice as a first step solution.

I have also had occasional unusual shift in settings not activated by myself and then not respond to correction immediately, i have reformatted the camera twice, i will see where it goes from here.

At least if i do have an issue Nikon is 5 star in getting all over it if need be.

My first ever D850 was replaced with logic a board issue and the new camera has been perfect ever since.

Again Nikon has been stellar dealing with any issues i have ever had.
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My D850 had a pitted sensor ... Nikon blamed it on me to begin with, said it looked like I had sand blasted it ... I had carefully used a filtered rocket blower with mirror up for cleaning. My local, 5hrs away by car, camera store owner was in Alaska with no cell service when this first went down. When he got back to the dock and saw the issue on an e mail he called Nikon and minutes later I got a call from Nikon rep in NY saying she was like my Nikon attorney and would get this fixed ... I had a new D850 2 days later.
 
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wes said:
Heck yes! let us know how it does :)
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I don't think it's an issue with the Z9, but more of a mirrorless issue (it's my only mirrorless). Snow and ice built up in the viewfinder and sensor above the viewfinder. When it happened the camera thought I was looking through the viewfinder and I couldn't activate the rear screen. A completely minor and resolvable thing, but it's a problem that doesn't exist in the DSLR world. I was in heavy snow and strong wind. The camera was covered in snow and ice at one point. It would melt when I gripped it for an extended period and water would seep into every gap it could find. It caused no problems - just like my D6. It wasn't terribly cold so it may not be a fair assement, but I saw absolutely no loss of perfemance because of the cold. Again, it wasn't very cold. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the performance. Next I'll bring a rocket blower though. I've attached one of the images I made with it while I was out.

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I was side tracking a heron in motion at about 100 yards, using a 600g + 1.4e in less than perfect light, and it hit eye focus pretty consistently (Wide-S, then 3D when he started to take off).....every time I go out and shoot with it I get a little more proficient (BiF is a new'ish thing for me) and as I tweak settings/controls it gets better and better... :D
 
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I have changed muy D850 to a Z9. I use them with an old and heavy AF-S 500mmf4 D. It focus with the Z9 at least as fast as on the D850, so it works well with it.
I've been doing BIF for around 10 years now, and i've enjoyed a lot with the D850. But in the first try, i have taken shoots that was very dificult to have in focus with the D850, because of the speed of the birds, even with group focus or others, as i tried all of then. At least, my experiencie.
Here is one example, a pic that is almost full size with very little cut.

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