Any focus issues with birds?

[G Pik]

Just out of interest have there been any reports of poor AF with any Nikon mirrorless cameras when using long lenses?

For example a burst of pics of a bird in a tree when the focus changes very slightly during the sequence from in focus to just soft oof?

I am not currently a Nikon user but just wonder if the AF is really good or not.

Thanks

 

[skyrunr]

You need to specify which camera/s you're considering. Only the Z8 has a bird eye focusing mode at the moment, and firmware may be on the way for the Z9. There are videos on this topic on YouTube you'll want to check out. There still is no easy button this this type of photography, just easier.

Especially from BackCountryGallery.com

Good luck!

 

[fgbd70]

Not only the Z8 and Z9 have bird eye detect, the Zf as well and it works incredibly well!

cheers, Frank

 

[skyrunr]

Not only the Z8 and Z9 have bird eye detect, the Zf as well and it works incredibly well!

cheers, Frank

Thank you, I forgot about the ZF even though it is a great camera. That improved stabilization may be helpful handheld. I still think the Z9 is the best way to go for now. If you're not going to have a compact body with an articulating screen (competition,) you might as well go with the extra buttons, battery life, and physical stability of a larger body.

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[shuncheung]

Just out of interest have there been any reports of poor AF with any Nikon mirrorless cameras when using long lenses?

Of course there are. There are reports of poor AF on every latest camera model ever made, including the top-of-the-line Canon, Sony, and of course Nikon models. No AF system is perfect, and a lot of times some people simply do not understand how to use those cameras.

For example a burst of pics of a bird in a tree when the focus changes very slightly during the sequence from in focus to just soft oof?

I am not currently a Nikon user but just wonder if the AF is really good or not.

I have the Z6, Z6ii, Z8 and Z9. In my experience, AF on the Z9 and Z8 is really good. AF on the Z6 is fine for static subjects, but I wouldn't use the Z6 to track most moving subjects, especially birds in flight. Before the Z9 was available, I was sticking with my Nikon DSLRs.

For example, the king vulture flight sequence I posted to a recent image thread is 4 selected images from a sequence of about 70 images. I captured that sequence with a Z9 and a 400mm/f4.5 Nikkor lens at the top 20 fps. It was a rainy day (you can see water droplets around the vulture) and the sky was dark, but the Z9 did a great job. Every image among the 70 is sharp over 3.5 seconds: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/67445257

I have also done 120 fps JPEG in that same setting and the result was great also. However, I have had occasions that the Z9 lock into the background.

 

[Jerry_P_M]

Just out of interest have there been any reports of poor AF with any Nikon mirrorless cameras when using long lenses?

Of course there are. There are reports of poor AF on every latest camera model ever made, including the top-of-the-line Canon, Sony, and of course Nikon models. No AF system is perfect, and a lot of times some people simply do not understand how to use those cameras.

For example a burst of pics of a bird in a tree when the focus changes very slightly during the sequence from in focus to just soft oof?

I am not currently a Nikon user but just wonder if the AF is really good or not.

I have the Z6, Z6ii, Z8 and Z9. In my experience, AF on the Z9 and Z8 is really good. AF on the Z6 is fine for static subjects, but I wouldn't use the Z6 to track most moving subjects, especially birds in flight. Before the Z9 was available, I was sticking with my Nikon DSLRs.

For example, the king vulture flight sequence I posted to a recent image thread is 4 selected images from a sequence of about 70 images. I captured that sequence with a Z9 and a 400mm/f4.5 Nikkor lens at the top 20 fps. It was a rainy day (you can see water droplets around the vulture) and the sky was dark, but the Z9 did a great job. Every image among the 70 is sharp over 3.5 seconds: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/67445257

I have also done 120 fps JPEG in that same setting and the result was great also. However, I have had occasions that the Z9 lock into the background.

I can not comment on focus performance during bursts because I rarely use that, but this was taken two days ago with my Z9 and a Sigma 150-600.

This was the first outing where I tried the bird focus mode. It seems to work quite well.

 

[archerscreek]

In my experience, there really is no “poor” AF performance. It’s just that sometimes focus within a 20-30 shot burst is not on the eye of the bird or animal and instead focus moves to some other part of the bird or animal, perhaps because subject detection lost the eye with the subject moving about or perhaps because it incorrectly anticipated movement of the subject. But for me the camera has never flat out failed to AF with long lenses. I’ll also say that although it’s called auto focus, the better the photographer’s skills the better the AF will work. I have zero regrets getting a Z9. The thing has been great.