BSPhotog wrote:
I am normally an AF-C shooter all the time with my DSLRs. I have played with both on the Z6 and I didn’t seem to find a discernible difference in speed.
It isn’t replacing a DSLR for wedding work, but it may tag along for some parts of the day. Silent shooting mode is eerie.
After having gotten used to the A9 silent shooting, too loud a shutter annoys me ;-)
After a few more days using the Z6 + FTZ, I really think that it is up for the job with about everything except for garbage reception lighting—and I just have tested it in anything truly analogous to that. Handling is great, AF does what I ask it to, and files are lovely so far. I need to do some more reading and playing to explore the different AF settings, but AF-C and single point does what it is supposed to.
Somehow I took tens of thousands of in focus pictures with the D3 and that included receptions outdoors at night and lit by candles on the tables. There is a point where the smart thing to do is add more light or use flash with IR AF assist or learn to focus on the edges of a person's dress or shirt.
I have also learned not to go by the manufacturers' claims with regard to autofocus. It is only with the 1d X and D5/D80/D500 that I get truly fast autofocus in low light with low contrast subjects. The D750 for all the hype was a big disappointment in terms of autofocus performance. I still have a D750 but it is used only for product photography.
The difference is the infrared beam on the slr flashes, which nails the shot even in no light. I have been shooting with the a7III alongside my canon 6d for a year now...wish I could dump the canon...but the a7III will miss focus often in lower constrast low light...the kiind where there are no colored spots to highlight the floor., where the canon with the ir beam will make short work of it. Now the A9 is a different beast...too bad they are so expensive.
The problem is that the autofocus sensors need to detect contrast edges on a subject or scene and with the Z cameras there are no cross type sensors and so only vertical edges work. Take a Z7 and try to focus in dim light on the horizontal edge of a picture frame and it will not even hunt. Turn the camera to portrait mode and it will focus.
Infrared autofocus assist with the SU-800 or one of the upper end Nikon speedlights will work at shorter distances but it uses only a few of the camera's autofocus sensors and this retards performance. Shooting with IR AF takes 2-3 times as long for the camera to lock focus and with event photography that means a lot of missed or partially out of frame images.
Nikon has created a lot of confusion on the part of its customers by producing cameras for the serious amateur that are not differentiated from the pro cameras and pro lenses as with Canon. A D500 is a pro level DX camera but the rest of the DX cameras target the amateur market. The D610 was not a pro camera though it is a full frame camera. With the Z camera as with the DX cameras, Nikon does not produce pro lenses. One gets f/4 lenses with the Z camera or f/3.5 and f/5.6 lenses for the DX cameras.
mikemorales wrote:
I call that deceiving the costumer. I haven't had it out in the daylight, and I don't have a native Z lens (50S on preorder). I think that I heard somewhere that the low-light AF feature involved mixing data from both the on sensor PDAF. For wedding photography it's cool.
Haven't used the Z6 + 50s for wedding work, but for family stuff it has been a pretty rad pair. Very light, silent, responsive. I would say it certainly behaves differently from DSLR PDAF and requires you to shoot a bit differently.
