p.39 #1 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
kaplah wrote:
Here is the voice of experience: the poor (or cheap, or foolishly brave) mans pays twice.
You will be unhappy if you buy the Zitay.
With the right card - not the one you linked, but the one Zitay recommends (Kioxia(Toshiba) 1TB BG4 ), you will get high-speed bursts and 8K video. But:
- the "release timing indicator" will not take a set (you'll get blackout when pressing the shutter, even when you select another type, at least after a while) and other odd things will happen.
- when the card gets even a slightly, I'm talking less than 10%, full, high speed bursts or high-bit-rate video will lock the camera, requiring a battery pull.
Use a real card, or not, your choice, but don't say you weren't told.
Any of the Nikon- or Hogan-recommended cards will serve you well, have a warrantee, and prevent forehead marks when you eventually palm-slap yourself repeatedly.
I would like Mr. Miranda to grant me a year's B&S privileges for the preceding PSA.
p.39 #2 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
RoamingScott wrote:
If the barrier of entry for free B&S was face-numbingly-obvious advice, we'd all have it.
In my case, it wasn't theoretical advice, it was direct experience. In my defence I picked mine up before the plethora of threads, and the Zitay people were quite convincing in emails
And if it was so obvious, just like common sense, there wouldn't be so much discussion around it. I think the lure of saving money disengages people's normal caution. If it's "too good to be true"... but that's a successful pitch since forever.
p.39 #3 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
kaplah wrote:
Here is the voice of experience: the poor (or cheap, or foolishly brave) mans pays twice.
You will be unhappy if you buy the Zitay.
With the right card - not the one you linked, but the one Zitay recommends (Kioxia(Toshiba) 1TB BG4 ), you will get high-speed bursts and 8K video. But:
- the "release timing indicator" will not take a set (you'll get blackout when pressing the shutter, even when you select another type, at least after a while) and other odd things will happen.
- when the card gets even a slightly, I'm talking less than 10%, full, high speed bursts or high-bit-rate video will lock the camera, requiring a battery pull.
Use a real card, or not, your choice, but don't say you weren't told.
Any of the Nikon- or Hogan-recommended cards will serve you well, have a warrantee, and prevent forehead marks when you eventually palm-slap yourself repeatedly.
I would like Mr. Miranda to grant me a year's B&S privileges for the preceding PSA.
I already own the cobalt card, and a few others , just thought it was interesting to tinker with given the price . Just like all things internet , some will claim it works , some will claim it doesn’t. Only one way to find out.
p.39 #5 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
RickPJ wrote:
A comment about auto focus.
Folks. Some of us shot sports with a Speed Graphic. We are living in the garden of Eden.
Absolutely agree. My father had a big photo company and shot with a Speed Graphic and later a Graflex XL. When he shot medium format, he shot with a TLR Rollei (or a 220 back on the XL). I learned to shoot with a TLR. Focus was never an issue.
I have written numerous times in response to posts that "One would think there were never any great sports photographs before AF".
My father used to pride himself on how FEW exposures he could make to cover an event. Film was money. Today, photographers brag about how many images they make and are essentially (IMO) shooting video and picking out frames when they machine gun the camera and shoot at high frame rates. I don't know why anyone would want to spend so much time having to pick out the best images.
When Canon ran their first TV ads promoting autofocus, I laughed. At first I thought it was a promo for a Saturday Night Live ad satire. It was so easy to focus on a Nikkormat, which I was using at the time (and even easier on an Olympus OM-1 that I switched to later), I couldn't imagine why anyone would need auto-focus (except for people like my mother, who would also cut heads off when she shot with her little Kodak, which IIRC, didn't even have a focus adjustment). I don't think I used an autofocus camera until I bought a Nikon N80 in early 2002 for a trip to Hawaii.
I have no problems at all with focus on my Z6, but I don't shoot BIF and I use Back Button Focus.
p.39 #6 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
zoetmb2 wrote:
Absolutely agree. My father had a big photo company and shot with a Speed Graphic and later a Graflex XL. When he shot medium format, he shot with a TLR Rollei (or a 220 back on the XL). I learned to shoot with a TLR. Focus was never an issue.
I have written numerous times in response to posts that "One would think there were never any great sports photographs before AF".
My father used to pride himself on how FEW exposures he could make to cover an event. Film was money. Today, photographers brag about how many images they make and are essentially (IMO) shooting video and picking out frames when they machine gun the camera and shoot at high frame rates. I don't know why anyone would want to spend so much time having to pick out the best images.
When Canon ran their first TV ads promoting autofocus, I laughed. At first I thought it was a promo for a Saturday Night Live ad satire. It was so easy to focus on a Nikkormat, which I was using at the time (and even easier on an Olympus OM-1 that I switched to later), I couldn't imagine why anyone would need auto-focus (except for people like my mother, who would also cut heads off when she shot with her little Kodak, which IIRC, didn't even have a focus adjustment). I don't think I used an autofocus camera until I bought a Nikon N80 in early 2002 for a trip to Hawaii.
I have no problems at all with focus on my Z6, but I don't shoot BIF and I use Back Button Focus.
It is one thing to not have AF on your camera. You adjust your shooting style to accommodate that. It is a very different thing to have unreliable inaccurate AF on a camera. Unfortunately that is what I and many others found with the early versions of the Z6 and Z7 cameras.
p.39 #8 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
The Z8 indeed eats through a battery pretty fast. During my outing today morning, I had to change the battery with just around 2 hrs in the field and 400 clicks. My Z72 would manage much better. Please note camera was set to - viewfinder only, energy saving mode, and viewfinder in 120 Hz. I would love to hear your recommendations.
p.39 #9 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
Yes, I can confirm the same thing, It does burn battery faster than z7II.
The other thing I noticed after processing first set of files. Z8 files are not as good as z7II.
It's premature, and I don't want to go into details now, but z7II was better on higher ISO, and files were more malleable, especially for deeper crops, and parts in shadows.
p.39 #10 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
On the focusing front, it surely is better than Z72 but I am quite sure my D850 was better for many situations. I consistently was not able to focus a duck or an egret against the background using my 200-500. As it very hot in India these days, I think it's the heat shimmer that's making it happen.
p.39 #11 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
What AF settings did you use?
tabishshaikh wrote:
On the focusing front, it surely is better than Z72 but I am quite sure my D850 was better for many situations. I consistently was not able to focus a duck or an egret against the background using my 200-500. As it very hot in India these days, I think it's the heat shimmer that's making it happen.
p.39 #12 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
I was normally in small wide area with animal subject recognition. Even my old fav small Dynamic point would not work. When it locks its nice. But getting the lock on many occasions was challenging. I also tried other smaller, larger areas. Against the sky its fine, but I was struggling against the foliage.
p.39 #13 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
Dynamic sucks, and everyone would do well to take those modes off their camera completely. There's never a time where those are better than anything else.
p.39 #14 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
tabishshaikh wrote:
On the focusing front, it surely is better than Z72 but I am quite sure my D850 was better for many situations. I consistently was not able to focus a duck or an egret against the background using my 200-500. As it very hot in India these days, I think it's the heat shimmer that's making it happen.
Honestly, my D850/200-500 would have no problem acquiring that bird in this exact scene. It never has had a problem acquiring that size bird in this relatively open scene. And my D850/200-500 would never go back and grab the background, like the "issue" that some have been niggling about in this forum this week. Didn't it stem from Jan's (spelling?) YT video? One simple solution was to pull (manual) focus out from the background and then the AF system would probably recover.
DGMW... I think we all like/enjoy Jan's reviews. I do.
My D850 is set up with the following options (I never change it) and I have no AF issues whatsoever (but I do not shoot super fast, erratic birds such as swallows....
AF-C, Single Point, AF-ON, PV button set to AF-area Mode
When in use: If I must acquire a moving target I press/hold both the AF-ON and PV button. Once it acquires I begin the "burst" (just 9 fps). At the time these settings were recommended, the person recommending them was shooting the D850 too (briefly as I recall). That person is Geoff (Arbitrage). He recommended these settings and they are all I have used since that day.
Before that, I remember cussing my D850's AF. I had just switched from the D500 as my go-to and was considering going back. After I set up my D850 with the above options, I never considered going back because I wanted FF. I like the D850's sensor a lot.
p.39 #15 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
Pretty much every autofocus system requires you to have a backup of a small point af for such occasions. That has been my experience with Sony, Canon, and Fuji. I doubt the D850 in 3d tracking with a wide area would have acquired that bird. I’m sure it would have in a single point tho.
p.39 #16 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
I always have a front function button programmed with single point AF for isolating subjects when needed. It rarely lets me down. For me it’s usually to isolate a player in a crowd but I can see it working in the above example as well. I do this with DSLR and mirrorless.
p.39 #17 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
Spending $4000 on a camera and trying to work your way around is not something that I would like to do. There were occasions when I was in a small area af and panning a bird flying parallel to me against foliage and the AF would not lock. Keep in mind the bird was in the dead center of the AF area. I will use my 500f4 VR in the coming week and update my findings.
p.39 #18 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
There's not really a need to "work your way around" at all. Your subject is simply too small in the frame for the AF of the Z8/9 to lock on with a busy background. There's been much discussion on this and your samples illustrate exactly the "issue" which IMHO is a non issue. I think people tend to make this stuff much harder than it really is. If the subject is that far away you have plenty of time to perform a manual focus touch up and then you can easily lock on to the bird if/when it approaches and is larger in the frame. I will agree, however, that It seems my D500 didn't struggle quite as much in these situations. But that's sort of irrelevant. Unless of course your goal is to shoot useless photos of birds 100 yards away. I'll gladly trade that small characteristic of the D500 AF ability for the uncanny tracking ability of the Z9. I have numerous examples of Peregrines, Herons, Terns, where the bird came out of nowhere and I barely had time to point the camera and fire off a burst. If the subject is filling a large portion of the frame the Z9 has been miraculous in locking on and tracking. Even with a busy background. That's where I appreciate the performance with no help from me. When the subject is as far away as your examples, I'm more than happy and have plenty of time to lend the camera a hand. I'll say it again, these are not point and shoots.
Gary
p.39 #19 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
Like I said before, yes the Z8 is better than Z72 for birds that are filling the frame. I would not have highlighted it, but it happened multiple times and I lost many opportunities to click which I would not have lost on my D850. I have just shared a few frames, most of the time when it did not lock focus I did not even click. Personally, I do not think my subject is too small in the frame and I have never manually focused on a bird in flight so the suggestion is good but not practical in the field.
p.39 #20 · Nikon unveils the highly anticipated Z8 camera!
tabishshaikh wrote:
Like I said before, yes the Z8 is better than Z72 for birds that are filling the frame. I would not have highlighted it, but it happened multiple times and I lost many opportunities to click which I would not have lost on my D850. I have just shared a few frames, most of the time when it did not lock focus I did not even click. Personally, I do not think my subject is too small in the frame and I have never manually focused on a bird in flight so the suggestion is good but not practical in the field. ...Show more →
If you say so. Just because you've never done it doesn't mean it isn't practical. I find it extremely helpful in a lot of situations. Perhaps give it a try to solve your "problem. "
