Nikon Z9 with Sigma 500mm F/4 DG OS HSM Sports

I did not say this earlier in my post, but thank you Frank for giving me some comfort by confirming that the Sigma 500mm F4 Sports worked fine with the Z9.

I have the same conclusion that the Sigma works perfectly with my Z9 as well. Sometimes when I am out of focus, the Z9 hunts a little, so I needed to recompose my shot to get it to focus. As many have mentioned already, Auto Area AF can be put to use to acquire initial focus or lost focus, and then 3D tracking to lock into it. I will update on this once I put it to use myself.

Regarding the Sigma lens and overall autofocus of the Z9, there is no complain on my behalf. If anything is wrong, it's on me. I am coming from a D500 and there is a lot to learn. I am posting an example sequence (gif, quickly done and bad quality) and one frame from the sequence to show you what Z9 is giving me.

I was trying to photograph the Bluebird in flight, and I failed. Not because the Z9, but I could not hold the combo long enough to get a decent shot. I previously never tried to photograph small birds in flight knowing my D500 cannot cope up, but the Z9 can. I just need more practice or buy a lighter lens.

Anyways, with my D500 I used to take 3-4 images, recompose then take 3-4 more, and so on. I have to change that habit if I want to get a small bird, super sharp and in flight. In this example I took half-a-second worth of images and forgot to kept the shutter pressed to get the full sequence. But all those 10 images are super sharp, ie, not a single one lost the eye in focus. Unimaginable with D500 and a small bird!

In short, the Z9+Sigma 500mm F4 Sports (with tc 1.4x) - the possibilities are endless!




Bluebird wing display sequence - 10 images




Frame 2, Cropped to D500 image size, then resized to 1600px wide

Hope this helps.

Awesome news Frank! - Thank you.

Looks like the pair may work very well after all and as focus modes go, that seems to be the consensus from what i can read around the net.

I will be picking up that sigma shortly after my Z9 lands, perfect timing with your useful feedback!

Hue_Nature said:

I did not say this earlier in my post, but thank you Frank for giving me some comfort by confirming that the Sigma 500mm F4 Sports worked fine with the Z9.

I have the same conclusion that the Sigma works perfectly with my Z9 as well. Sometimes when I am out of focus, the Z9 hunts a little, so I needed to recompose my shot to get it to focus. As many have mentioned already, Auto Area AF can be put to use to acquire initial focus or lost focus, and then 3D tracking to lock into it. I will update on this once I put it to use myself.

Regarding the Sigma lens and overall autofocus of the Z9, there is no complain on my behalf. If anything is wrong, it's on me. I am coming from a D500 and there is a lot to learn. I am posting an example sequence (gif, quickly done and bad quality) and one frame from the sequence to show you what Z9 is giving me.

I was trying to photograph the Bluebird in flight, and I failed. Not because the Z9, but I could not hold the combo long enough to get a decent shot. I previously never tried to photograph small birds in flight knowing my D500 cannot cope up, but the Z9 can. I just need more practice or buy a lighter lens.

Anyways, with my D500 I used to take 3-4 images, recompose then take 3-4 more, and so on. I have to change that habit if I want to get a small bird, super sharp and in flight. In this example I took half-a-second worth of images and forgot to kept the shutter pressed to get the full sequence. But all those 10 images are super sharp, ie, not a single one lost the eye in focus. Unimaginable with D500 and a small bird!

In short, the Z9+Sigma 500mm F4 Sports (with tc 1.4x) - the possibilities are endless!


Bluebird wing display sequence - 10 images


Frame 2, Cropped to D500 image size, then resized to 1600px wide

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Amazing! Looks like its turning out to be the perfect "budget friendly" parring!

Great samples, and nice to hear about some real life situations with the combo.

Thank you so much for the information!

So my Z9 finally landed!

I had planned to go check out the lens, but the seller got COVID in the meantime.

So i had some more chances to search around and found a single video of the combo in operation. Looks pretty good i must say.



Are you guys still happy with the combo? How are you finding the focus consistency/accuracy?


More importantly have any of you been able to do bird in flight shots and does it keep up?


Best regards

Lasse

Lasse p said:

So my Z9 finally landed!

I had planned to go check out the lens, but the seller got COVID in the meantime.
So i had some more chances to search around and found a single video of the combo in operation. Looks pretty good i must say.

Are you guys still happy with the combo? How are you finding the focus consistency/accuracy?

More importantly have any of you been able to do bird in flight shots and does it keep up?

Click to expand...

It sounds a bit like maybe you have niggling worries that there might somehow be some problem or issue with the Z9 / Sigma 500 combo? Don't worry there isn't - it works perfectly! I have seen absolutely no sign of any focus inconsistency and the accuracy is simply perfection.

I find that the accuracy is both very high precision and very consistent. Previously with even the best DSLR AF (eg D500) I would work through a set of shots that could be expected to be more or less identical and often would end up picking a small subset of perfect "keepers". Now with the Z9 every shot under similar circumstances is to the same ultra high level and so maybe 98 to 100% will be indistinguishable from the point of view of AF accuracy - all being, technically, perfect "keepers".

I could get high precision accuracy before with the D500 - but not with the same level of consistency.

I already have several examples of very long (but very boring) sequences of shots showing AF consistent accuracy in flight shots (only of Gulls so far) and eye AF accuracy consistency for mostly static but fidgety birds but I haven't got round to putting together a tiled series of tight crops as yet as I'm busy at the moment - but I'll hope to get round to it, maybe in a week or so. Maybe I'll find something more interesting to photograph in the meantime - I had been hoping to get some Short-eared Owls but unfortunately they haven't recently been showing at all during daylight hours (probably to do with the current weather conditions).

So it's been thin pickings the past few weeks for bird photography, there has not been much activity and very few opportunities around in my locality - typical of Winter in the UK! Hopefully things should start picking up soon.

Frank

FrankG said:

Lasse p said:

So my Z9 finally landed!

I had planned to go check out the lens, but the seller got COVID in the meantime.
So i had some more chances to search around and found a single video of the combo in operation. Looks pretty good i must say.

Are you guys still happy with the combo? How are you finding the focus consistency/accuracy?

More importantly have any of you been able to do bird in flight shots and does it keep up?

Click to expand...

It sounds a bit like maybe you have niggling worries that there might somehow be some problem or issue with the Z9 / Sigma 500 combo? Don't worry there isn't - it works perfectly! I have seen absolutely no sign of any focus inconsistency and the accuracy is simply perfection.

I find that the accuracy is both very high precision and very consistent. Previously with even the best DSLR AF (eg D500) I would work through a set of shots that could be expected to be more or less identical and often would end up picking a small subset of perfect "keepers". Now with the Z9 every shot under similar circumstances is to the same ultra high level and so maybe 98 to 100% will be indistinguishable from the point of view of AF accuracy - all being, technically, perfect "keepers".

I could get high precision accuracy before with the D500 - but not with the same level of consistency.

I already have several examples of very long (but very boring) sequences of shots showing AF consistent accuracy in flight shots (only of Gulls so far) and eye AF accuracy consistency for mostly static but fidgety birds but I haven't got round to putting together a tiled series of tight crops as yet as I'm busy at the moment - but I'll hope to get round to it, maybe in a week or so. Maybe I'll find something more interesting to photograph in the meantime - I had been hoping to get some Short-eared Owls but unfortunately they haven't recently been showing at all during daylight hours (probably to do with the current weather conditions).

So it's been thin pickings the past few weeks for bird photography, there has not been much activity and very few opportunities around in my locality - typical of Winter in the UK! Hopefully things should start picking up soon.

Frank

Click to expand...

You are absolutely right, i do worry a little.

But your update is very confidence inspiring. I want this combination to work out flawlessly, It is simply the very best option price/performance wise.

Thank you for the encouragement Frank. I cannot wait to get my hands on it.

As Frank has already mentioned and I can vouch that the Sigma 500mm F4 and Z9 works marvel.

I have always used f/7.1 when attached to the 1.4x tc with my D500, but I can see that the combo at f/6.3 is perfectly fine. And at f/7.1, the sharpness is too much to handle.

Regarding BIF and how the focus performs, I am yet to check that. Given what little opportunities I had with any sorts of action that I like, I would say it is so much easier with the Z9 to photograph it than the D500. Now I am getting a full sequence of action/dynamic images in the very first try with the added benefit that I can choose the best frame out of it.

My understanding is you are buying a used Sigma 500mm F4 Sports. If that is true, I will just try it out with the Z9 and see how it goes. There should not be any problem whatsoever.

If there is one problem I am facing with the combo then it will be adjusting to the 700mm full frame vs the 1050mm equivalent DX coverage on the D500, i.e., I have to sneak in closer to get a near full frame image.

Just enjoy the combo once you get to put it together.

Guys what I am reading here, is so MUCH more than I was expecting! I CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGEEEEEER! I WANT MY Z9 NOOOOOOOOW!

Hue_Nature said:

As Frank has already mentioned and I can vouch that the Sigma 500mm F4 and Z9 works marvel.

I have always used f/7.1 when attached to the 1.4x tc with my D500, but I can see that the combo at f/6.3 is perfectly fine. And at f/7.1, the sharpness is too much to handle.

Regarding BIF and how the focus performs, I am yet to check that. Given what little opportunities I had with any sorts of action that I like, I would say it is so much easier with the Z9 to photograph it than the D500. Now I am getting a full sequence of action/dynamic images in the very first try with the added benefit that I can choose the best frame out of it.

My understanding is you are buying a used Sigma 500mm F4 Sports. If that is true, I will just try it out with the Z9 and see how it goes. There should not be any problem whatsoever.

If there is one problem I am facing with the combo then it will be adjusting to the 700mm full frame vs the 1050mm equivalent DX coverage on the D500, i.e., I have to sneak in closer to get a near full frame image.

Just enjoy the combo once you get to put it together.

Click to expand...

Excellent shots! How far are you from the subjects?? How % cropped are these??

The rushing shot was a ~6k wide grab from the whole frame. This was a head on movement and the Z9 locked onto the eyes beautifully. Other two are full frame images.

Hue_Nature said:

As Frank has already mentioned and I can vouch that the Sigma 500mm F4 and Z9 works marvel.

I have always used f/7.1 when attached to the 1.4x tc with my D500, but I can see that the combo at f/6.3 is perfectly fine. And at f/7.1, the sharpness is too much to handle.

Regarding BIF and how the focus performs, I am yet to check that. Given what little opportunities I had with any sorts of action that I like, I would say it is so much easier with the Z9 to photograph it than the D500. Now I am getting a full sequence of action/dynamic images in the very first try with the added benefit that I can choose the best frame out of it.

My understanding is you are buying a used Sigma 500mm F4 Sports. If that is true, I will just try it out with the Z9 and see how it goes. There should not be any problem whatsoever.

If there is one problem I am facing with the combo then it will be adjusting to the 700mm full frame vs the 1050mm equivalent DX coverage on the D500, i.e., I have to sneak in closer to get a near full frame image.

Just enjoy the combo once you get to put it together.

Click to expand...

Beautiful shots!

Frank

Keep them coming guys! Can we see how the files hold up with agressive crops (lens bare and with TC)?

Thanks Frank!

Today i got my first Nikon lens, since selling everything off what seems like a very long time ago now. I got the 24-70 2.8 S. It works brilliantly and the focus is very fast.

Tomorrow i am going to test out and hopefully pick up a used Sigma 500 F4.

Wish me luck!

If i find the lens to my satisfaction and buy it, i will post all of my test shots.

Thank you for all the support and information to both FrankG and Hue! Your input has been invaluable and has put me on the path for this lens.

Lasse p said:

Today i got my first Nikon lens, since selling everything off what seems like a very long time ago now. I got the 24-70 2.8 S. It works brilliantly and the focus is very fast.

Click to expand...

That lens is tempting, gets brilliant reviews but I think I might end up getting the Z 24-120.

Lasse p said:

Tomorrow i am going to test out and hopefully pick up a used Sigma 500 F4.
Wish me luck!
If i find the lens to my satisfaction and buy it, i will post all of my test shots.
Thank you for all the support and information to both FrankG and Hue! Your input has been invaluable and has put me on the path for this lens.

Click to expand...

Good Luck! I trust you have a firmware updated FTZ (the old FTZ requires the firmware update before it will work with the Z9) - or an FTZ II will do nicely!

Frank

ManosSKG said:

Keep them coming guys! Can we see how the files hold up with agressive crops (lens bare and with TC)?

Click to expand...

I'm working on something along those lines with a variety of bird shots ... and I have some sequences of SEO flight shots that I got yesterday that fit that agenda (the bird wasn't close!).

Just checking my Z9 settings and I just realised that I have been shooting everything in "release" priority mode which is NOT what I normally do (I usually use either focus+release or focus priority). It explains a few things for me.

I'll post these a little later.

Frank

I am not mainly a landscape or people photographer, but i like to be able to do a little of everything and I usually have a 24-70 with me around when i am out scouting for birds and wildlife, and sometimes as you know when the animals are shy nature serves up other opportunities


I shoot a lot of migrating birds near the coast line, as i live right next to it.

After doing a lot of research into the new Z lenses, the 24-70 2.8 was the one native lens i felt the strongest urge to buy.

I did consider both the 24-70 F4 the 24-120 F4 as well, as they both perform brilliantly. But i decided i would be missing the low aperture for portraits and the like. So far i like it.

I purchased the FTZ II adapter foreseeing that i would be using some F-mount lenses, in particular because of all the long legacy lenses available from both Nikon and Sigma. That was one of the main points for me to stay with Nikon.

Thanks again for sharing all of your experiences with the lens, i am super excited to see it in action tomorrow.

FrankG said:

ManosSKG said:

Keep them coming guys! Can we see how the files hold up with agressive crops (lens bare and with TC)?

Click to expand...

I'm working on something along those lines with a variety of bird shots ... and I have some sequences of SEO flight shots that I got yesterday that fit that agenda (the bird wasn't close!).

Just checking my Z9 settings and I just realised that I have been shooting everything in "release" priority mode which is NOT what I normally do (I usually use either focus+release or focus priority). It explains a few things for me.

I'll post these a little later.

Frank

Click to expand...

Yea, I am a focus priority guy as well. I presume that with this AF system, it's not gonna drop below an actual of 15-18 FPS.

So if you ere shooting on release, maybe we won't do justice to the combo, if we judge the SEO sequel that you are referring to? Was focus on and off in release? priority??

Lasse p said:

Tomorrow i am going to test out and hopefully pick up a used Sigma 500 F4.
Wish me luck!
If i find the lens to my satisfaction and buy it, i will post all of my test shots.
Thank you for all the support and information to both FrankG and Hue! Your input has been invaluable and has put me on the path for this lens.

Click to expand...

You will love it!! And from what I am reading from Frank and the images I see here, when in the right hands, this combo is in par with the Z9+E FL.

Sooo did you test it?? Is it in your home now???

ManosSKG said:

FrankG said:

ManosSKG said:

Keep them coming guys! Can we see how the files hold up with agressive crops (lens bare and with TC)?

Click to expand...

I'm working on something along those lines with a variety of bird shots ... and I have some sequences of SEO flight shots that I got yesterday that fit that agenda (the bird wasn't close!).

Just checking my Z9 settings and I just realised that I have been shooting everything in "release" priority mode which is NOT what I normally do (I usually use either focus+release or focus priority). It explains a few things for me.

I'll post these a little later.

Frank

Click to expand...

Yea, I am a focus priority guy as well. I presume that with this AF system, it's not gonna drop below an actual of 15-18 FPS.

Click to expand...

I expect that the actual FPS rate will depend - probably there might be some circumstances where the FPS rate might drop in focus priority but I haven't tested this at all yet.

One of the things that I was referring to with my comment "explains a few things" was in relation to the debate going on over in the Z forum about whether the AF sometimes seems to show a "slight lag" on initial acquisition (or whatever) - a possible "issue" according to some which I haven't noticed at all - but it could be that is because I have had the Z9 in "release priority" all the time! So I will be checking out "focus + release" and "focus" priority modes when I get a chance.

ManosSKG said:

So if you ere shooting on release, maybe we won't do justice to the combo, if we judge the SEO sequel that you are referring to? Was focus on and off in release? priority??

Click to expand...

No not at all, I see no problem with AF consistency even when using release priority mode - as you will see!

Frank