In left eye OOF; could you tell where image was in focus at, or what camera had focused on as shutter was released?
I've seen people use the acronym CSP a lot recently but I must admit to being ignorant of its meaning. What does it mean?
Closest Subject Priority
Ahh, this makes sense.
I'm not very active on the forum, just lurking, but I'll chime in here.
You don’t have to. I’m using a 300w LED at 10-20% power, about 15ft away and it absolutely helps for the Z6. About 90% of my work is 5.6-8 on the 24-120 f/4. I miss focus maybe 1 out of 50 shots.
None of the focus modes have closest subject priority when subject recognition is active. The wide area modes do have closest subject priority when subject recognition is not active, or if it has not found a subject (box hasn't stepped down).
It is relevant to note that the Z camera's low light AF rating is based on using a very fast lens set to the maximum aperture (f/1.2 for Z9). If you are starting at EV7 and stopping down to f/9 the camera is seeing less than EV2; which is quite dark. EV2 is well within the camera's low light capability, but it becomes MUCH more dependent on the quality of the focus area in terms of contrast (which includes size to some degree).I'm not very active on the forum, just lurking, but I'll chime in here.
Thanks to SCoombs for an interesting post. I've been a photographer since the early '90s, event and studio photography with Elinchrome flashes. I went digital in 2000. However, when using the Z series cameras in the studio, I encountered focusing issues. The Z6 and Z7 wouldn't focus with face detection at settings I usually used with the D810 and f/5.6 aperture. After some frustration, I found out, not without some struggles, that I needed about EV 7 in the ambient light for satisfactory focus. At EV 7, I could get 5 out of 5 shots in focus. EV 6 resulted in approximately 3 out of 5 in focus, EV 5 only 1 out of 5, and EV 4 none in focus. EV 7 provides a lot of light at f/5.6, almost blinding the model, so dropping down to f/4.0 helps. However, this requires using the Elinchrome at its lowest power setting (but then other problems arise, like slow flash duration). Now, I've had the Z8 for over half a year, and I haven't found much improvement compared to the Z6 and Z7 in this regard. The Z8 also needs EV 7 for proper focus. I want to emphasize that my tests are informal, based on how I set up the equipment.
I believe that to have a reasonable discussion about autofocus errors with flash and subject detect , it might be helpful if people mention the EV value when complaining about misfocus. For example, we don't know the EV value that the thread starter SCoombs had; "Low (but not that low) light."
Lastly, I must mention that English is not my native language, so I had to use ChatGPT to make it all understandable
It is relevant to note that the Z camera's low light rating is based on using a very fast lens at it's maximum aperture (f/1.2 for Z 8/9). If you are starting at EV7 and stopped down to f/9 the camera is getting less than EV2... that is quite dark.I'm not very active on the forum, just lurking, but I'll chime in here.
Thanks to SCoombs for an interesting post. I've been a photographer since the early '90s, event and studio photography with Elinchrome flashes. I went digital in 2000. However, when using the Z series cameras in the studio, I encountered focusing issues. The Z6 and Z7 wouldn't focus with face detection at settings I usually used with the D810 and f/5.6 aperture. After some frustration, I found out, not without some struggles, that I needed about EV 7 in the ambient light for satisfactory focus. At EV 7, I could get 5 out of 5 shots in focus. EV 6 resulted in approximately 3 out of 5 in focus, EV 5 only 1 out of 5, and EV 4 none in focus. EV 7 provides a lot of light at f/5.6, almost blinding the model, so dropping down to f/4.0 helps. However, this requires using the Elinchrome at its lowest power setting (but then other problems arise, like slow flash duration). Now, I've had the Z8 for over half a year, and I haven't found much improvement compared to the Z6 and Z7 in this regard. The Z8 also needs EV 7 for proper focus. I want to emphasize that my tests are informal, based on how I set up the equipment.
I believe that to have a reasonable discussion about autofocus errors with flash and subject detect , it might be helpful if people mention the EV value when complaining about misfocus. For example, we don't know the EV value that the thread starter SCoombs had; "Low (but not that low) light."
Lastly, I must mention that English is not my native language, so I had to use ChatGPT to make it all understandable
From looking at your website, you're using A LOT more natural light than most studio work or other photographers do. Having used the Z8 and ZF, there is NO comparison to Sony's eye detection or subject tracking. Even their 2019 AF-C is as good as Nikon flagships.
Backing up a bit further, several commenters have reverted to their D850s or other f-mount body and lens. If I'm not mistaken the Z cameras focus at set aperture until it reduces beyond f/5.6, at which point they focus at f/5.6. This is essentially the same as what happens with an f-mount camera for most focus points in the frame. So I'd say that the Z-body is seeing not EV2 but EV3.3. We have to be careful comparing f-mount to Z because the f-mount body's effective AF aperture is far smaller than the main lens.It is relevant to note that the Z camera's low light AF rating is based on using a very fast lens set to the maximum aperture (f/1.2 for Z9). If you are starting at EV7 and stopping down to f/9 the camera is seeing less than EV2; which is quite dark. EV2 is well within the camera's low light capability, but it becomes MUCH more dependent on the quality of the focus area in terms of contrast (which includes size to some degree).I'm not very active on the forum, just lurking, but I'll chime in here.
Thanks to SCoombs for an interesting post. I've been a photographer since the early '90s, event and studio photography with Elinchrome flashes. I went digital in 2000. However, when using the Z series cameras in the studio, I encountered focusing issues. The Z6 and Z7 wouldn't focus with face detection at settings I usually used with the D810 and f/5.6 aperture. After some frustration, I found out, not without some struggles, that I needed about EV 7 in the ambient light for satisfactory focus. At EV 7, I could get 5 out of 5 shots in focus. EV 6 resulted in approximately 3 out of 5 in focus, EV 5 only 1 out of 5, and EV 4 none in focus. EV 7 provides a lot of light at f/5.6, almost blinding the model, so dropping down to f/4.0 helps. However, this requires using the Elinchrome at its lowest power setting (but then other problems arise, like slow flash duration). Now, I've had the Z8 for over half a year, and I haven't found much improvement compared to the Z6 and Z7 in this regard. The Z8 also needs EV 7 for proper focus. I want to emphasize that my tests are informal, based on how I set up the equipment.
I believe that to have a reasonable discussion about autofocus errors with flash and subject detect , it might be helpful if people mention the EV value when complaining about misfocus. For example, we don't know the EV value that the thread starter SCoombs had; "Low (but not that low) light."
Lastly, I must mention that English is not my native language, so I had to use ChatGPT to make it all understandable
I.e. if you give the focus point a high contrast target of larger vertical black and white lines it will be more accurate in lower light conditions.
I thought F-mount cameras always focused wide open. I know I personally tested this on my f1.8 35mm and my D500, with the camera focusing at f1.8 no matter what aperture I had set.Backing up a bit further, several commenters have reverted to their D850s or other f-mount body and lens. If I'm not mistaken the Z cameras focus at set aperture until it reduces beyond f/5.6, at which point they focus at f/5.6. This is essentially the same as what happens with an f-mount camera for most focus points in the frame. So I'd say that the Z-body is seeing not EV2 but EV3.3. We have to be careful comparing f-mount to Z because the f-mount body's effective AF aperture is far smaller than the main lens.It is relevant to note that the Z camera's low light AF rating is based on using a very fast lens set to the maximum aperture (f/1.2 for Z9). If you are starting at EV7 and stopping down to f/9 the camera is seeing less than EV2; which is quite dark. EV2 is well within the camera's low light capability, but it becomes MUCH more dependent on the quality of the focus area in terms of contrast (which includes size to some degree).I'm not very active on the forum, just lurking, but I'll chime in here.
Thanks to SCoombs for an interesting post. I've been a photographer since the early '90s, event and studio photography with Elinchrome flashes. I went digital in 2000. However, when using the Z series cameras in the studio, I encountered focusing issues. The Z6 and Z7 wouldn't focus with face detection at settings I usually used with the D810 and f/5.6 aperture. After some frustration, I found out, not without some struggles, that I needed about EV 7 in the ambient light for satisfactory focus. At EV 7, I could get 5 out of 5 shots in focus. EV 6 resulted in approximately 3 out of 5 in focus, EV 5 only 1 out of 5, and EV 4 none in focus. EV 7 provides a lot of light at f/5.6, almost blinding the model, so dropping down to f/4.0 helps. However, this requires using the Elinchrome at its lowest power setting (but then other problems arise, like slow flash duration). Now, I've had the Z8 for over half a year, and I haven't found much improvement compared to the Z6 and Z7 in this regard. The Z8 also needs EV 7 for proper focus. I want to emphasize that my tests are informal, based on how I set up the equipment.
I believe that to have a reasonable discussion about autofocus errors with flash and subject detect , it might be helpful if people mention the EV value when complaining about misfocus. For example, we don't know the EV value that the thread starter SCoombs had; "Low (but not that low) light."
Lastly, I must mention that English is not my native language, so I had to use ChatGPT to make it all understandable
I.e. if you give the focus point a high contrast target of larger vertical black and white lines it will be more accurate in lower light conditions.
As far as I know the Sonys focus wide open. So that might be a reason for the bad performance of the Nikon Zs. I am also having troubles in the studio with the Z6, shooting at f8. Outside in good light performance is excellent.
