My first real test for the Z7II in the wild chasing flitty little birds, just haven't been chasing birds that much lately. Anyway, I went to the local national park which has been rather dull for birds of late, but for some reason there were a few there today. I was amazed at how well the Z7II performed in the very low light conditions. Locked on fast and accurately, certainly very close to how quick the D850 would latch on using single point AF, which is what I would use on the D850 as well in scenario like this. Pointless trying any of the group or auto modes as there are way too many distractions even for the D850. I would not have got any more keepers using the D850. A friend was with me using his Canon R5 and eye focus for birds and he didn't fare any better than I did!
I liked the way the light shone off this Darter's feathers. Cropped about 30%
Z7II + 500 f5.6 PF, 1/320s f/5.6 at 500.0mm iso450
These are heavily cropped
Eastern Yellow Robin
Z7II + 500 f5.6 PF, 1/160s f/5.6 at 500.0mm iso1800
Eastern Yellow Robin
Z7II + 500 f5.6 PF, 1/160s f/5.6 at 500.0mm iso2800
Eastern Yellow Robin
Z7II + 500 f5.6 PF, 1/100s f/5.6 at 500.0mm iso450
Eastern Yellow Robin
Z7II + 500 f5.6 PF, 1/100s f/5.6 at 500.0mm iso800
Hi Lance - great information and amazing images !
They details are stunning - sharpness is perhaps even a bit over the top - but I guess that was just the scenery and contrast was high as well.
The 500mm f5.6 suits the camera extremely well I suppose
Lance B wrote:
My first real test for the Z7II in the wild chasing flitty little birds, just haven't been chasing birds that much lately. Anyway, I went to the local national park which has been rather dull for birds of late, but for some reason there were a few there today. I was amazed at how well the Z7II performed in the very low light conditions. Locked on fast and accurately, certainly very close to how quick the D850 would latch on using single point AF, which is what I would use on the D850 as well in scenario like this. Pointless trying any of the group or auto modes as there are way too many distractions even for the D850. I would not have got any more keepers using the D850. A friend was with me using his Canon R5 and eye focus for birds and he didn't fare any better than I did!
I liked the way the light shone off this Darter's feathers. Cropped about 30%
Z7II + 500 f5.6 PF, 1/320s f/5.6 at 500.0mm iso450
nikonos6 wrote:
Hi Lance - great information and amazing images !
They details are stunning - sharpness is perhaps even a bit over the top - but I guess that was just the scenery and contrast was high as well.
The 500mm f5.6 suits the camera extremely well I suppose
Thank you very much for your kind comments and appraisal, Andreas. Much appreciated!
We are blessed with some amazing sunsets here on the Kapiti coast... here are a couple of three shot, hand held panos captured with the Z6 and 24-70S f4 kit lens....
Lance B wrote:
My first real test for the Z7II in the wild chasing flitty little birds, just haven't been chasing birds that much lately. Anyway, I went to the local national park which has been rather dull for birds of late, but for some reason there were a few there today. I was amazed at how well the Z7II performed in the very low light conditions. Locked on fast and accurately, certainly very close to how quick the D850 would latch on using single point AF, which is what I would use on the D850 as well in scenario like this. Pointless trying any of the group or auto modes as there are way too many distractions even for the D850. I would not have got any more keepers using the D850. A friend was with me using his Canon R5 and eye focus for birds and he didn't fare any better than I did!
I liked the way the light shone off this Darter's feathers. Cropped about 30%
Z7II + 500 f5.6 PF, 1/320s f/5.6 at 500.0mm iso450
Just a short question - you had and maybe still have the original Z7 : So do you think you would have been able to take most of the photos of this set with it in the same way you took them with the new Z7II here ?
I suppose the updated AF performance really helps in a lot of situations, but for me it seems many great pictures could still be taken with the first iteration of this camera .
Would be great to hear your experiences and impression about the real world differences in performance .
