Terrible problem with my Nikkor 800 6.3

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I did tests with a target. They indicated minimal adjustment required. (Plus one on one body and minus 1 on the other). I did them outside on a calm day as the 800 was a bit hard to test inside.
 
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I do agree that closer targets would help. It's tough to judge detail on tiny targets. For indoor tests, it doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something where you can test sharpness. My thought is you'll want to to be fairly sure there is an issue before sending it in.
 
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Jeff Lane MD said:
I have 2 Z9 bodies. I've had an 800 f6.3 for a few months. It was working great. About a week ago, most of the shots I took one day (about 700) were out of focus. This was with a 1.4. I then tested it a number of times with and without the 1.4 with the same results. No trauma that I know of to the lens. Today I microadjusted it with a target on both bodies. Minimal adjustment. I tried it again and things still look awful. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have reloaded setting in the Z9. I disabled the lens I have 2 Z9 bodies. I've had an 800 f6.3 for a few months. It was working great. About a week ago, most of the shots I took one day (about 700) were out of focus. This was with a 1.4. I then tested it a number of times with and without the 1.4 with the same results. No trauma that I know of to the lens. Today I microadjusted it with a target on both bodies. Minimal adjustment. I tried it again and things still look awful. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have reloaded setting in the Z9. I disabled the lens adjustment ring that is set to aperture. The manual focus ring still works. View attachment 60424View attachment 60425View attachment 60426View attachment 60427View attachment 60428
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Try a test shot on a tripod with VR and IBIS off.
Last time I saw this kind of problem it was a loose lens element on my Sony ... 🦘
 
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This could be caused by, camera, lens, operator, or environment. Doing a test with a other lens in a controlled environment might help you narrow it down, by eliminating the camera as a source of the issue, I would use a remote release and mirror up to further reduce the number of variables.

You could also get a focus on a static subject in live view and make a photo, then shoot the subject again letting the camera focus and see if there is a significant difference.
 
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I looked again at Thom Hogan's Z9 guide where on page 623 he states:

"Reikan, a company that provides the automated focus tuning tool FoCal, reports that 30% of all Z-mount lenses they’ve collected data for needed no adjustment, and another 50% needed only an adjustment of 1 with AF-fine tuning options. I defy most users to be able to discern between a setting of 0 and 1. I generally don’t set an adjustment for a lens unless it needs ±5. With DSLR lenses on the FTZ adapter, things are a little different. The AF-P lenses are much like the Z-mount S-line lenses: very fast and highly accurate in my experience. AF-I and AF-S lenses seem more variable, though. I’ve noticed several that needed a slight adjustment to completely nail focus on the Z9. Reikan reports that 40% of adapted lenses needed tuning higher than ±1, so there is definitely a difference between Z-mount and F-mount lenses on a Z9."

I am strong advocate and user of FoCal (not the mobile version) to provide me with reassurance that my gear is working correctly and properly calibrated. I test all bodies with all lenses AND with the ZTCs I own as well. When I last did this I concurred with Thom's findings the Z-mount S-line lenses I own need almost no Fine-tune adjustments. AND I was content to leave the AF-tine tune alone when using with TCs as well. This was not the case with most of my F-mount lenses (all sold now) where some adjustments were advised on all my lenses (+/-2 - generally long primes were upto +2 whereas short lenses were up to -2) and larger adjustments were needed for a couple of lenses (the worse was the AF-S 35mm f/1.4 which needed -5.0).
 
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BillNaiman said:
I have a Z9 and the 800PF. I have experienced the issue with atmospheric heat softening images in the exact same situations as you experienced. For those conditions, I do not blame the lens, rather the setting. One thing I have tried and has helped to avoid soft focus or mis-focus of relatively stationary birds is to use custom focus square (C1 or C2) set to 1x1 with animal eye detect. This helps keep the camera from picking a high contrast item in the frame rather than the desired eye which may not have good contrast with the face of the bird. Even so, and not surprising, a black eye in a black animal face is a challenge for my Z9 regardless of lens.
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I concur CA 1*1 is certainly one of the most reliable AF modes. I've been relying on this for over a year in a Hybrid AF setup

Also here

General suggestion for a test target with the aim of eliminating candidate causes. I start with a 150mm or 300mm engineer's rule inclined at a shallow angle, far end elevated. This quickly shows up a back or front focus problem, or if the entire rig is too soft - thus either the camera or the lens.
 
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After reading this thread I purchased Focal.
Ran the test using a Z9 + 500pf.
It came back +6 (ran it twice, same result)
Didn't expect such a large number.
Now need to try in the field.
Interestingly, also appears sharpest at f5.6. I assumed it might need stopping down a bit.

Could prove to be an excellent investment. 👍

Will try the Z 70-200 f2.8 next.
 
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