Which area mode (Nikon Z9) seems more useful for larger flock of birds in flight?

[Marion Anstis]

I was thinking perhaps Auto or Dynamic Area Large to maybe avoid the camera selecting just the one or two closer birds (as occurs if Wide area Large is selected with tracking), and then probably changing to others more often than required? But any suggestions are welcome, please.

 

[Venkatesh VT]

Which ever I am in , I just pick one bird to focus & track it & the whole frame looks good since most of the times, the birds in the flock seem to sync their wing movements . I never change focus to any other bird after the initial selection to get the best results

 

[Marion Anstis]

Which ever I am in , I just pick one bird to focus & track it & the whole frame looks good since most of the times, the birds in the flock seem to sync their wing movements . I never change focus to any other bird after the initial selection to get the best results

Thank you, I guess that would be using 3D on that bird then?

 

[Marion Anstis]

Thank you, I guess that would be using 3D on that bird then?

I have used Wide area with tracking, but found it can move to a nearby bird at times, so maybe Wide small or 3D?

 

[Steve]

Check out this video - should have everything you need:

 

[Marion Anstis]

Check out this video - should have everything you need:

Thanks Steve, I must have missed that one!

 

[bleirer]

Don't take offense if I say a too basic thing, but whatever focus mode it is, there is still the whole plane of sharp focus parallel to the sensor at a given focus distance. So the AF whatever mode is going to find an edge or contrast on one bird and focus at that distance, and from there the DOF will give relative sharpness in front of or behind that plane.