Nikon Z* mirrorless

So I’ve been shooting various things over the last few days on the Z9 and it’s a fantastic piece of kit but I do have some real annoyance with it. When I try and review a photo I’ve just taken, the camera can have a mind of its own and constantly try and focus lock instead of cancel and show me the photo I’ve taken.

Has anyone else noticed this behaviour? My D850 doesn’t do anything like it so I’m a bit confused as to why it does it.
 
So I’ve been shooting various things over the last few days on the Z9 and it’s a fantastic piece of kit but I do have some real annoyance with it. When I try and review a photo I’ve just taken, the camera can have a mind of its own and constantly try and focus lock instead of cancel and show me the photo I’ve taken.

Has anyone else noticed this behaviour? My D850 doesn’t do anything like it so I’m a bit confused as to why it does it.
Not muscle memory? The playback button on your old body was top left I think and now that’s lock button with playback bottom right?
 
Nah sadly not. After a bit of reading I think it’s because I have large hands and often hold it one handed so I could be pressing the second shutter button on the vertical grip. It would make sense for the focus modes I was using earlier but something I’ve not run into with other similar shaped bodies
 
Nah sadly not. After a bit of reading I think it’s because I have large hands and often hold it one handed so I could be pressing the second shutter button on the vertical grip. It would make sense for the focus modes I was using earlier but something I’ve not run into with other similar shaped bodies
That would make sense, make sure you have the lock on with the vertical shooting button when not in use
 
Nah sadly not. After a bit of reading I think it’s because I have large hands and often hold it one handed so I could be pressing the second shutter button on the vertical grip. It would make sense for the focus modes I was using earlier but something I’ve not run into with other similar shaped bodies
I have small hands and still do the same!
 
I have just returned from India. It's the first time that the Z9 was put to the test since I got it late last year. I was surprised that the AF was unable to lock even when the subject was clearly in the centre of the frame, within the wide-area focus box. Interestingly, I had a better hit rate using 3D. Much to learn. I think it will take me a while to fully understand how to operate it properly. One of my guests had a Sony 7RV. I played with it for about 5 minutes and I was stunned at how fast the AF works and accurate it was in locking onto the subject's eye.

tiger01.jpg
 
I have just returned from India. It's the first time that the Z9 was put to the test since I got it late last year. I was surprised that the AF was unable to lock even when the subject was clearly in the centre of the frame, within the wide-area focus box. Interestingly, I had a better hit rate using 3D. Much to learn. I think it will take me a while to fully understand how to operate it properly. One of my guests had a Sony 7RV. I played with it for about 5 minutes and I was stunned at how fast the AF works and accurate it was in locking onto the subject's eye.

tiger01.jpg

And another 15mp to boot.

Still for the overall build and layout I'd take the Z9.


Good deals on them now, price wise these will be £3k this time next year
 
1.4x Teleconverters are back in stock in the Nikon store.

On a separate note, what on earth have they done to their website?!
 
Looking to buy a 100-400 or a 400 4.5 to pair up with my z9 z6 just bought a 1.4 tc I already have a 500pf with converter mostly used for birds in fight and wildlife locking for fast focusing the 500 seems a bit slow
 
I have just returned from India. It's the first time that the Z9 was put to the test since I got it late last year. I was surprised that the AF was unable to lock even when the subject was clearly in the centre of the frame, within the wide-area focus box. Interestingly, I had a better hit rate using 3D. Much to learn. I think it will take me a while to fully understand how to operate it properly. One of my guests had a Sony 7RV. I played with it for about 5 minutes and I was stunned at how fast the AF works and accurate it was in locking onto the subject's eye.
You've hit the nail on the head about learning as the Z9 is not a camera that will just instantly make all your pictures pin sharp, it's about finding the right settings for the task in hand. You fail to mention your actual settings for capturing the images. For motorsport which I mainly do 3D seems the most logical but it is not at all. Okay for single cars or bikes but when there's a few it jumps from one to another. Also it doesn't always focus on the area I need so I've really stopped using it and go for small area with vehicle tracking and it's very very good. For wildlife I do use 3D with eye focus and being honest not had any issues even when birds are behind branches. I've owned my Z9 for over a year now and it's still a learning curve.
 
Hi, my present camera is the Nikon D90, coupled to a Nikon 35 mm 1.8 prime lens which I bought second hand about 12 years ago
I have the kit lens but never use it

As an 80th birthday present for me [March 5th] I am planning to buy new, the Nikon Z5 Mirrorless Digital Camera with Z 24-50mm f/4-6.3 Lens & FTZ Mount Adapter
Will this be a noticeable upgrade ? -- later I will get the Prime 50 mm 1.8 lens

Can anyone suggest a reasonable reliable postal dealer ?
Panamoz at £1,260.00 for above is the best I can find
Any help much appreciated
John
 
John.

If you don't mind buying secondhand then I'd think about the Z24-70f4 as an alternative lens. Very good IQ, weather sealed and a more usable focal range than the lens you mention. Something of a bargain at its secondhand prices.

Good camera the Z5. Very happy with mine.
 
This may be a real daft and newbie question, but although I've had my Z9 for a couple of months now, due to other commitments recently I haven't had much opportunity to use it. I did this lunchtime and do have a quick question please ?

When shooting photos as It's normally wildlife I'm photographing, I'm normally in shutter priority (at 1/1000 or faster). When I flick the button across to Video, I'd like it to default to Manual exposure mode so I can set the shutter speed and aperture and let auto ISO take care of the exposure. However I'm finding that it defaults to what I had photo shooting set to (so Shutter priority), meaning I have to set set it using the Mode button to manual mode. Then when going back to Photos, it then defaults to Manual and II have to change it back to Shutter Priority. Is there a setting I've missed that enables the exposure mode between photos and video to be unlinked ?
 
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Is there a setting I've missed that enables the exposure mode between photos and video to be unlinked ?
IDTS, what I would do is set a function button to "recall settings hold" and set the recalled settings as you want them for video (there's a lot of them). The only issue is you can only have one set of recall settings, and they are also really useful for switching between focus/metering modes for photography.
 
I also put my pre-order in this morning, first in line apparently. 85mm was my favourite prime back in the day, and the 1.8s I liked but it wasn't as good as the 85/1.4D so hoping this one lives up to the old cream machine legacy.
 
Can’t justify it personally due to owning the sigma art 85mm f1.4 which is more than fine for my needs.
 
Ok, this is a slightly awkward query that I’m going to double post hoping that the mods will give me a bit of leeway. My father in law’s funeral is on Monday and my wife’s family have decided that they would like to “stream it” for want of a better word so his sister in Venezuela can be with us virtually at least. I’ve never even tried the video function on either of my cameras but I’m guessing I could use either my Nikon Z7 or Panasonic S5 hooked up via teams to accomplish this. Basically is this viable or sensible and if so how do I go about it. I’m not looking for comments along the lines of paying someone to do it as we can’t afford that on top of the funeral, there’s no pressure in that if it works it does and if it doesn’t I’ve tried but I’d personally like do the best I can for him. Also using my IPhone had crossed my mind but I want it with me because we have younger children being looked after by a family friend for the duration but I’d rather keep my phone to hand in case I’m needed. Thanks in advance
 
Sorry to hear of your loss. I’ve seen a funeral streamed to NZ via a phone. Could someone else use their phone for you?

Couple of things to think about are the quality of the signal/WiFi at the place. Whereabouts is the funeral, maybe someone could help out?
 
Sorry to hear of your loss. I’ve seen a funeral streamed to NZ via a phone. Could someone else use their phone for you?

Couple of things to think about are the quality of the signal/WiFi at the place. Whereabouts is the funeral, maybe someone could help out?
b****r. To be honest I hadn’t even considered whether there was Wi-Fi. Given it’s a rural church in Rutland that’s probably just put paid to that idea
 
New firmware update (1.40) for the Z5 came out yesterday. I've installed it painlessly. Apparently it improves the AF eye-tracking, amongst other things....
Still no love for the z7ii...... <sighs>!
 
would the Z5 cope with aviation Photography , dont really need one just thinking of joining the full frame mirror less lot .
i use a d7500 which i love & a D500 which for some strange reason i dont have a great deal of love for ( perhaps im incapable of getting the best out of it )
 
would the Z5 cope with aviation Photography , dont really need one just thinking of joining the full frame mirror less lot .
i use a d7500 which i love & a D500 which for some strange reason i dont have a great deal of love for ( perhaps im incapable of getting the best out of it )
The Z5 will do all photography but the Z5 wouldn't hold a candle to the D500. I'd use the D500.
 
would the Z5 cope with aviation Photography , dont really need one just thinking of joining the full frame mirror less lot .
i use a d7500 which i love & a D500 which for some strange reason i dont have a great deal of love for ( perhaps im incapable of getting the best out of it )
Stick with the D500. Unless you get a Z9 non of the other Z bodies will have anything like the same AF performance.
 
I'm finding DXO5 (not the latest version) is better for most images than Topaz AI (latest I think).
Sometimes Topaz does give a better result.
Note this is from a small sample.

2nd page of this thread has some more up-to-date information.
 
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What are the Z series people using for noise reduction? Im being told that DXO is much better than the Topaz im going just now- what are your thoughts? May download the free trial if its good.
I'm just using LR 99% of the time... the main thing is to not create excessive noise with over editing to start with (Z9). I will use Topaz, but I almost never like what it does on auto...
 
Looking to potentially buy my first native tele lens for my Z9 system for birding and wildlife. I’ve been holding off for the fabled 200-600 Z that never seems to materialise. I’ll be keeping my 500PF to go long for now but was wondering between the following two lenses and would like peoples thoughts please (as I can’t justify the Z super primes).

1. Nikon Z 70-200 F2.8 with both the 1.4x and 2x converters, that would potentially net me a 200mm F2.8, 280mm F4 or 400mm F5.6 (same as the 100-400), but also gives me the F2.8 aperture and general all round working ability of a 70-200

2. Nikon Z 100-400 F4.5-5.6 with the 1.4x converter. That would give me 400mm F5.6 or a 560mm F8 (with converter).

My thoughts are that the Z 70-200 with 2x converter (As good as that combo seems to be optically), would still be inferior to the naked 100-400 @ 400mm ?

Your thoughts please. I know that both solutions are a little lacking in reach (but then I’d swap to my 500mm PF and 1.4x converter if needed ?)
 
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