Steve Perry’s “Game-changing” AF Settings

Game-changing indeed!

That's one man's opinion like most everything you read on the net. It's up to you to decide if you agree or not.

For the lazy, I think he's just talking about recall shooting functions.

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IG: @ninpou_bunshinnojutsu
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He literally says that in the video.

I think he’s one of the best YouTubers around, and he provides a ton of great advice if you’re into wildlife photography. His own photos are outstanding too.

Thanks for posting. I have learned a lot from Steve Perry over the years. He is one of the best U-tubers for photography / Nikon on the net.

Thanks for posting this. Steve's a great resource for bird & wildlife photographers.

Nikon restricts RSF to its flagship ILCs. The D5 got RSF in May 2018, but Nikon never updated the D500 nor D850

https://backcountrygallery.com/nikons-new-recall-shooting-feature/

Applications of RSF in sports photography:

https://nps.nikonimaging.com/techni...tions/d5_tips/useful/saved_exposure_settings/


Brad Hill has described in detail how he uses RSF - this is for the D6 but it's similar in the Z9 and Z8

http://www.naturalart.ca/voice/blog_2021_all.html#anchor_D6_MultipleRecalls

http://www.naturalart.ca/voice/blog_2022_all.html#Z9_Tidbits2

Apparently, Nikon developed the Recall Shooting Functions feature to answer requests from Pro sports Photographers to be able to switch to panning shots eg cyclists.

I've used RSF since owning a D5. The D6 improved the feature, the Hold option especially. It's worthwhile setting up a suitable RSF configuration in each Custom shooting bank; one never can predict when it's going to be a scene saver.

More feedback :

https://bcgforums.com/threads/never-miss-another-action-shot.43348/post-482366

<ditto> and my view too. ... and like you provides the "proof of the pudding".

I purchased Steve’s focus guide. It’s the ultimate reference to how the Nikon focus system works and makes its decisions and based on that how Steve decides in each scenario what to pick. Very helpful and goes way beyond the Nikon reference guide.

TheSoaringSprite said:

Game-changing indeed!

Click to expand...

I like his videos, you can tell he is an experienced photographer and shares great info.

Sorry I didn't offer more details in the original post. I was in a hurry, on my tablet, when I watched it and had the AHA! moment.

I've never heard of this setting before, because I never owned any of the flagship models in the past, so none of my Nikon DSLRs had this option.

I've been wishing for this possibility for as long as I've been shooting wildlife, so to discover that I DO have the option, is pretty neat. Now I just need to decide what settings I want to recall,... the slow or the fast ones???

I think for me personally it would be better to save the slow settings to the "display" button, because I shoot with fast shutter speeds most of the time. It's when the bird slows down that I wish I could quickly switch for a few shots and get back to my action settings right after.

I don't follow all of Steve's videos, I do subscribe to his channel, but I don't keep track. I just happened to see this one pop up and figured "Alright Steve,... tell me something I DON'T know." Turns out it was a good call and I know there's people here who probably have never heard of this setting either, so you're welcome!!!

He is always a good source of information.

ofc not the same ... let's say with a z7ii: one could set up a User Mode ('Ux') with a 1600/sec, f/8, auto iso, exp comp, (and many other things) and just by choosing that User Mode on the dial you are ready (more or less) to shoot a different situation than the one you were shooting before.
SP videos and forum are pretty good.

Few days back, I had a situation where this setup would have been extremely useful. I was photographing a bobcat right around sunset and to get a low(er) ISO, I reduced my shutter speed to 1/250. I took couple of shots and waited. In a split second, the cat bolted towards the bushes. There were few more hikers walking from the other side and I should I have anticipated that the bobcat might sprint. I didn't and, though I was able to get the focus nailed and capture 4-5 photos of the cat sprinting, they were all blurry.

This setting would have helped me quickly recall higher shutter speed. But, I think that one will still need to develop muscle memory by using this recall consistently.

Anyone able to recall these settings successfully in the field when all you have is couple of seconds. Looking at my timestamps, I took 5 photos in a span of less than seconds.

TheSoaringSprite said:

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I've been wishing for this possibility for as long as I've been shooting wildlife, so to discover that I DO have the option, is pretty neat. Now I just need to decide what settings I want to recall,... the slow or the fast ones???

I think for me personally it would be better to save the slow settings to the "display" button, because I shoot with fast shutter speeds most of the time. It's when the bird slows down that I wish I could quickly switch for a few shots and get back to my action settings right after.

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http://www.dreamsourcestudio.com
@TheSoaringSprite

Click to expand...

I’ve been using RSF for some time on my Z8. I set up Fn1 for the slow settings because in addition BIF (where I use it for static birds), I also plane spot. The slow settings (usually 1/200 sec) let me capture the pleasing propeller blur on the occasional turboprop or helicopter that catches my fancy while I’m otherwise shooting jets at airports or air shows.

Unlike Steve, I use the RSF (hold) version so I can press and let go, because in my shooting style, when I switch I might stay in the slow settings for a while.



But this spring I’m going to experiment with Steve’s settings (RSF set to fast, as an emergency setting), because I’ve noticed that most of my BIF misses are when I initially switch to a fast bird. It would also be useful when I have just a split second for jets (like when they’re briefly visible between trees while landing/taking off at a couple of my favorite spotting locations). I usually have time (several seconds) to adjust my settings for propeller aircraft