p.94 #2 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
I have been away for awhile, been having some problems with my hands which has keep me away from my camera. My wife and I traveled up to the southwest part of Colorado for several days to enjoy the Fall scenery. I took my Z9, 24-120 and the 100-400 as the combos are light enough for me to handle.
We ran across the largest group of Elk that I have ever witnessed. There was a really nice bull that looked to be in his prime with a harem of at least 30 cows, not counting the offspring. What a sight to behold, although it was short lived after a bunch of old farts like myself starting pulling over to see the spectacle as well.
I was having a heck of a time getting that dang camera to focus where I wanted it to. It would focus on their butts, on their feet and any twig or branch within five feet, but not their eyes. Anyway I fired away hoping to get a few keepers at least. I thought to myself, this could be a once in a lifetime event for me and my camera sucks! Then I remembered I didn't look at how I had it setup before using it, duh! Didn't have time to screw with the menus so I switched into manual focus (noted by MF on the equipment used) to try and get some backup photos before the harem moved away. Fortunately I got some keepers from both methods.
The first one is cropped pretty heavy. The last two were taken around a town named "Ironton", gee I wonder how it got its name!
p.94 #4 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
Kayak outing at mauricie national park. I was trying to get moose pictures but no luck so I use my 400mm 2.8 fl as a landscape lense and took a few pictures lol!
p.94 #6 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
CanadaMark wrote:
You're not crazy, Adobe's raw conversion is just complete garbage (in general, but particularly for Z9 files) and that's what they look like if you let ACR/LR handle the conversion. Use a different RAW converter before bringing the photos into Photoshop to edit and I think you will be much happier. Personally I think DXO does the best job at the moment.
Also keep in mind that at 1:1, all else equal, the Z9 or D850 is going to look noisier than a Z6. For a proper comparison you need to first down sample the Z9/D850 to 24MP before inspecting them.
In the first go-round I missed this post of yours. I am going to try converting in DXO. Maybe I did not understand how it all worked. Imagine that?
btw, people do listen to you. I did buy that color chart (forget the name now). Now I can find the CD but not the plastic "book" with the colors.
ColorChecker Passport... that's it. If I find the plastic book I may go back and try it again. The first time I had much difficulty with it.
p.94 #8 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
Great to see all the awesome shots everyone has been getting the last couple of months.
My "hotspot" has been anything other than hot this summer. Where I used to fill up 128gb of images in a single day, the past 2 months or so I will go 3 weekends of shooting (sat/sun only) and still not have a card full of images to go through.
(still have no clue when I can expect to see the 800PF I ordered April 6th, either)
Anyway...here are a few shots I decided to keep over the past month or two.
Z9 + 500PF
NIKON Z 9AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens500mmf/5.61/2500s640 ISO0.0 EV
NIKON Z 9AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens500mmf/5.61/2000s1000 ISO0.0 EV
NIKON Z 9AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens500mmf/5.61/2500s800 ISO0.0 EV
NIKON Z 9AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens500mmf/5.61/2500s400 ISO0.0 EV
NIKON Z 9AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens500mmf/5.61/2000s400 ISO0.0 EV
NIKON Z 9AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens500mmf/5.61/2500s1000 ISO0.0 EV
NIKON Z 9AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens500mmf/5.61/2500s640 ISO0.0 EV
1) Turn on AF-C with animal eye-af
2) Set to 20 fps RAW
3) Shutter go BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Saved ya $30!
And I feel you Dan. It feels like all of the birds just vanished off the face of the earth this summer, even the ones that would normally be around. Only the vultures stuck around.
p.94 #10 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
rick2906 wrote:
Kayak outing at mauricie national park. I was trying to get moose pictures but no luck so I use my 400mm 2.8 fl as a landscape lense and took a few pictures lol!
Your first image is super. It looks like a special loon spot in my ebook "The Pond of My Boyhood", but your forest there at Mauricie NP is much wilder... unbroken. I deeply love old/mature boreal forests.
Last week I did the same thing you were doing here, for the same reason. I went to Maine’s Baxter State Park, hoping for a big bull. To tell you the truth (and I do not know nearly as much as I wish I did about these bulls.) I think we were several weeks late. I hit a cold front right on the button (gusting north winds!) Just a guess, but I am beginning to believe that late July to early Aug is prime time to catch a big bull in the water. Not one was to be seen on my short trip. ‘And nobody told me they had seen one lately. I guess they were back in the woods looking for mamas.
Do you happen to know when is best?
Anyway, I love that first image Rick. Hope I got you name right.
p.94 #11 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
bs kite wrote:
Your first image is super. It looks like a special loon spot in my ebook "The Pond of My Boyhood", but your forest there at Mauricie NP is much wilder... unbroken. I deeply love old/mature boreal forests.
Last week I did the same thing you were doing here, for the same reason. I went to Maine’s Baxter State Park, hoping for a big bull. To tell you the truth (and I do not know nearly as much as I wish I did about these bulls.) I think we were several weeks late. I hit a cold front right on the button (gusting north winds!) Just a guess, but I am beginning to believe that late July to early Aug is prime time to catch a big bull in the water. Not one was to be seen on my short trip. ‘And nobody told me they had seen one lately. I guess they were back in the woods looking for mamas.
Do you happen to know when is best?
Anyway, I love that first image Rick. Hope I got you name right.
Thank you!!! During the mating period is usually good and end of june is also good. But it was not a good year this year, they were super skittish!! Only one male and female were seen last week for 3 days. I had to work and was not there . My name is Eric
p.94 #13 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
Very nice images !
Just wanted to chime in that I was shooting Elk with the Z9 recently and had the same issue. The camera would often focus on the but, when it should've been finding the eyes. I was using auto-area, wide-area (large) and 3D, all with animal eye detect. All had the issue. It would pick up the eyes sometimes but often it would stray off (typically to the but). I set up a button to choose single point, so that when the problem arose I could use the button to focus on where I wanted it. Of course this re-introduced the need to move the focus point around. If others had a better experience, I'd be interested in what they did. If not, hopefully something Nikon can improve in firmware.
p.94 #14 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
Was the entirety of the elk within your autofocus box?
No matter the brand, I always try to put the eye within the auto focus box, or at least the head.
Depending on how the rut is going, I may see some elk next week and will report back
mah4ever wrote:
Very nice images !
Just wanted to chime in that I was shooting Elk with the Z9 recently and had the same issue. The camera would often focus on the but, when it should've been finding the eyes. I was using auto-area, wide-area (large) and 3D, all with animal eye detect. All had the issue. It would pick up the eyes sometimes but often it would stray off (typically to the but). I set up a button to choose single point, so that when the problem arose I could use the button to focus on where I wanted it. Of course this re-introduced the need to move the focus point around. If others had a better experience, I'd be interested in what they did. If not, hopefully something Nikon can improve in firmware. ...Show more →
p.94 #18 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
mah4ever wrote:
For 3D focus - I would place the small initial box on the eye. Sometimes it would track it, but many times it would wander off - typically to the but.
For wide-area large, I would keep the large box over the eye. This worked a little better, but still wandered sometimes.
For auto-area, I just pointed at the animal It would pick up the eye sometimes, but just as often i would often just go to the but
p.94 #20 · Z9 and Z8 ! : A thread for Z9/Z8 images and *discussion*
Lance B wrote:
Fantastic shots, Eric!
Thank you!
Can't wait to get my copy of this amazing lense! Weather was perfect! Cloudy! Just the way I like it! Beautiful natural softbox
With the think tank raincoat I was in business. I like it way more then the lenscoat raincoat I was using before!
Only one male and female were seen last week for 3 days. I had to work and was not there . My name is Eric 
