Teenage Bull Moose

[NorthernFocus]

Thins guy has been hanging around the last couple of days. Moose really challenge the Nikon subject detection. The Z8 found the eye about 10-15 percent of the time. Interesting that which wide area mode I tried didn't seem to make any difference. Even with a custom wide area of 1x1 placed on the eye/forehead the focus box had a tendency to jump to the high contrast fur on the shoulder. But most of the time there was a large focus box on the animal's forehead.

1) The youngster has quite a tassel growing under his chin.

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2)

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3) I backed off a bit to get a full body shot.

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[ChrisSinSeattle]

Dan some great shots of that teenage Moose, but surprise to hear about the focus issue of the Z8.

Chris S.

 

[K9Kirk]

My R7 does the same thing, it can be so aggravating, especially when you miss a shot over it. I wasn't looking to see exactly where your camera focused and I thought it looked great ... and I still think that. You get an A+ for your work, but slap the camera for me.

 

[NorthernFocus]

Dan some great shots of that teenage Moose, but surprise to hear about the focus issue of the Z8.

Chris S.

Thanks, Chris. Since day one of the Z9 release the AF has behaved pretty much the same with moose. Most of the time when he was facing the camera it at least grabbed on to the head. What's difficult for me is that when it does/doesn't grab the eye seems random. In this situation nothing was changing other than the animal turning its head slightly and the AF jumped around a lot. Here are a couple of screen captures from NX Studio showing the focus box. Why did it grab the eye in one frame but not the other?

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[NorthernFocus]

My R7 does the same thing, it can be so aggravating, especially when you miss a shot over it. I wasn't looking to see exactly where your camera focused and I thought it looked great ... and I still think that. You get an A+ for your work, but slap the camera for me.

Thanks for commenting, Kirk. Posted the images above showing where the focus point was on a couple frames. I deleted all of them where it grabbed the shoulder. But in the two screen grabs above it's vexing trying to figure why the camera recognized the eye in one but not the other.

 

[ssheipel]

Great looking youngster! Love the antlers at that stage. Beautiful shots, Dan.

 

[Louis champan]

Super shots Dan, he's going to be a monster.

 

[NorthernFocus]

Great looking youngster! Love the antlers at that stage. Beautiful shots, Dan.

Thanks, Steven. I enjoy seeing the progression of the antlers as the season progresses. Particularly if/when the same moose wanders through a few weeks apart.

Super shots Dan, he's going to be a monster.

Thanks, Louie. He's a healthy looking young fellow.

 

[Hobbzz]

Nice work Dan!

 

[ChrisSinSeattle]

Hello Dan,
Again I think your photos are exceptional, and I appreciate you sending your screen shots, Steve addresses this issue in his video,
Nikon Z9:
Features That Really
Crank Up The Keeper Rate!
I think we all experienced this one time or another, but you handled it well.

Chris S.

 

[VTRich]

Very nice shots! I've had the same issue with my Z9 on Whitetail Deer. Great big Doe Eyes staring right at me and the focus very rarely grabs the eye, but usually does grab the head. I was just experiencing this today and ended up just turning the subject detection off.

 

[bleirer]

There is a very narrow list of subjects it promises to detect. Moose is not on the list.

 

[Charles Loy]

Nice - none of those in the wild here in Kansas

 

[NorthernFocus]

Nice work Dan!

Thanks.

Hello Dan,
Again I think your photos are exceptional, and I appreciate you sending your screen shots, Steve addresses this issue in his video,
Nikon Z9:
Features That Really
Crank Up The Keeper Rate!
I think we all experienced this one time or another, but you handled it well.

Chris S.

Thanks for the kind words, Chris. I highly value reliability/predictability. If the AF was at least consistent/repeatable it wouldn't bother me. But it seems to be so random. Like the two examples above. Why in the heck does it find the eye in one shot and not the other. It's only right handed?

Very nice shots! I've had the same issue with my Z9 on Whitetail Deer. Great big Doe Eyes staring right at me and the focus very rarely grabs the eye, but usually does grab the head. I was just experiencing this today and ended up just turning the subject detection off.

Yeah I just switch to single point. Honestly eye detection is more marketing hype than anything else. Don't get me wrong it's convenient for easily composing without having to manually move the focus point around. And let's face it for wildlife it makes zero difference if the camera is focused on the eye vs the forehead. But it is maddening when it will grab an arctic tern's black eye on a black head but won't reliably identify big old "doe eyes".

There is a very narrow list of subjects it promises to detect. Moose is not on the list.

Yeah the list is pretty much dogs and cats.

 

[NorthernFocus]

Nice - none of those in the wild here in Kansas

Honestly some of our suburban moose might be better described as "free range" versus wild.