p.3 #1 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
woof2025 wrote:
I shoot the D850 at the moment and have done for a long time. It's a fair amount of work focusing and adjusting focus points on it. When I go to video and pick my FX30 up I just point the thing at a person and their eye is perfectly in focus, basically all the time. Having to do tricks like the handoff that I keep hearing about seems like as much work as the D850 which totally negates any reason to change to the Z system. Anyhow, I've got a Sony A7RV on its way, I'll let you know how I get on with this. ...Show more →
A few curious could-be helpers asked some pointed questions which you've since ignored, so there's really only one conclusion to come to here. The only person who advocates for handoff is Hudson Henry who doesn't have a good grasp of the intricacies of the AF system.
p.3 #2 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
1bwana1 wrote:
The Nikon forums have a certain reputation to uphold...
There you go Nikon guys, you have mistakenly maligned, accused, and labled, a sincere new member of FM who was just looking to discuss his experiences in order to make a decision. No one is out to get Nikon, there is no "conspiracy of frighten Sony people", no Russian collusion, and the laptop is real.
Seriously guys, get over the PTSD. The days when Nikon trailed badly in mirrorless technology are behind us. Nikon is fully competitive in this regard these days. Like all camera brands Nikon has it's own personality, performance quirks, and design esthetics. Discussing these this is a good thing, and should not be viewed as an attack on you or your brand.
Amazingly even after all of this I am confident that some (bet we could name them in advance) will continue to question woof2025'ss sincerity, or somehow try to assign him blame. It runs deep here sometimes....Show more →
Thanks, yes it hasn't been the warmest welcome! I was quite amazed when I did my initial post and came back to the comments! It was like, I posted that 20 hours ago, I wonder what helpful advice people have for me! Seems while I was away I got put on some kind of a Nikon Terrorist list!
p.3 #3 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
woof2025 wrote:
I'm a fashion photographer, I shoot lots of frames, lots of subjects moving quite quickly. Currently using a D850 which I quite like but that face detect AF really draws me to the mirrorless options. I ordered a Z8 and after my first testing I'm finding the eye detect to be slightly off, often getting the end of the nose instead of the iris. My FX30 that I use for video always nails focus, all the time, every time. Is this a known issue with the Z8, the reviews haven't mentioned it..
Have you ever tried Auto-Area AF in your D850? That has face detection. I don't know how well it works in the D850, but it's just about all I use in the D5. It's very reliable at finding and sticking with faces. Give it a try if you haven't, and you're otherwise happy with the D850.
p.3 #4 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
RoamingScott wrote:
A few curious could-be helpers asked some pointed questions which you've since ignored, so there's really only one conclusion to come to here. The only person who advocates for handoff is Hudson Henry who doesn't have a good grasp of the intricacies of the AF system.
+1 and now is trying to play victim 🙄
p.3 #5 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
OffTrail wrote:
Have you ever tried Auto-Area AF in your D850? That has face detection. I don't know how well it works in the D850, but it's just about all I use in the D5. It's very reliable at finding and sticking with faces. Give it a try if you haven't, and you're otherwise happy with the D850.
I will try that, for some reason I've never used it on the D850.
p.3 #6 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
Buckeye2604 wrote:
+1 and now is trying to play victim 🙄
Victim? I think you all take it way too seriously. I thought it was quite funny. No feelings hurt here, I find it all really amusing how you pin your identities on what brand of camera you use!
p.3 #7 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
woof2025 wrote:
Victim? I think you all take it way too seriously. I thought it was quite funny. No feelings hurt here, I find it all really amusing how you pin your identities on what brand of camera you use!
With only 7 posts here, and few days of membership, you know already all about us here, to write such qualification, and to say you were put on terrorist list.
Isn't that fascinating?
When I write something to this forum, I measure 3 times before I post it, considering who's in here, and how much knowledge and experience is in this forum.
Farther you go, less I trust you, sorry..
p.3 #9 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
cvrle59 wrote:
With only 7 posts here, and few days of membership, you know already all about us here, to write such qualification, and to say you were put on terrorist list.
Isn't that fascinating?
Farther you go, less I trust you, sorry..
I have no idea what you're saying, the way I've been treated after asking a pretty simple question is similar to being put on a terrorist list is my point. This place is really strange. I don't know what you're trying to defend? And what's in it for me? The reason I've only just joined is I generally don't go on discussion boards to find about my camera. The reason I did is because I asked a bunch of my assistants and a couple of digi techs that I work with and generally no one knew because generally most commercial high end photographers in NY, LA and London don't use the Z series cameras. Which is something that pretend "photographers" don't seem to know.
p.3 #10 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
I've been shooting the Z9 (24-70 2.8 and 100-400) along side the A7RV (35GM, 85GMii, and 100-400GM) for a while now. The A7RV definitely stays stuck on the eye better with difficult positions like head turned slightly or even turned to the side. This is with wide area AF and nothing else done- set it and forget it. The A7RV is more reliable to get iris focus almost all the of the time but does miss occasionally. That said, I prefer the Z9 and Nikon system in every way. For almost everything portrait wise, auto area AF with Nikon works perfect to nail the iris. The AF will jump to the full side head profile box much quicker than Sony when the head is not straight on or in tough positions.
There have been several times though where the Nikon will surprise me finding subjects better with varied conditions (both human and bird/animal), and there have been other times where the Sony will be better. The Nikon is faster focusing to acquire subjects and track movement. Again, I much prefer the files out of the Nikon and the system in general. Both are great, neither is perfect.
p.3 #11 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
GreggNY wrote:
I've been shooting the Z9 (24-70 2.8 and 100-400) along side the A7RV (35GM, 85GMii, and 100-400GM) for a while now. The A7RV definitely stays stuck on the eye better with difficult positions like head turned slightly or even turned to the side. This is with wide area AF and nothing else done- set it and forget it. The A7RV is more reliable to get iris focus almost all the of the time but does miss occasionally. That said, I prefer the Z9 and Nikon system in every way. For almost everything portrait wise, auto area AF with Nikon works perfect to nail the iris. The AF will jump to the full side head profile box much quicker than Sony when the head is not straight on or in tough positions.
There have been several times though where the Nikon will surprise me finding subjects better with varied conditions (both human and bird/animal), and there have been other times where the Sony will be better. The Nikon is faster focusing to acquire subjects and track movement. Again, I much prefer the files out of the Nikon and the system in general. Both are great, neither is perfect. ...Show more →
Get outta here with your first hand, real world experience, heretic! BE GONE!
p.3 #12 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
woof2025 wrote:
I shoot the D850 at the moment and have done for a long time. It's a fair amount of work focusing and adjusting focus points on it. When I go to video and pick my FX30 up I just point the thing at a person and their eye is perfectly in focus, basically all the time. Having to do tricks like the handoff that I keep hearing about seems like as much work as the D850 which totally negates any reason to change to the Z system. Anyhow, I've got a Sony A7RV on its way, I'll let you know how I get on with this. ...Show more →
Sony is an excellent system, but so is Nikon. I used just about all of the Nikon prosumer cameras from the Coolpix, V1, D70, D850 and then a few of their early mirrorless cameras and now have the Z8 which I have no problem with accurate focus. No need for handoff with the new firmware in most cases, so not sure what your issue was. Given a choice I would pick up the Z8 vs the D850 for any critical shot.
I also used Sony A9, A9ii and my last camera was the A1. All were excellent performers but perhaps less configurable AF. Nikon gives you a lot of choices and you need to understand and try the one that works best for your situation. If something doesn’t work the problem is usually the person behind the camera. The only reason I switched back to Nikon was for their 600 and 800pf lenses and have no regrets.
p.3 #13 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
RoamingScott wrote:
Get outta here with your first hand, real world experience, heretic! BE GONE!
I'm offended and will be leaving the internet forever lol. Forget to add though, and as others have said, the Nikon definitely does take some learning and experience. Shooting my kid sleigh riding over the past few days with the Nikon required using 3D AF mode and sometimes a custom small box as opposed to auto area AF. Not sure why auto area was jumping around more than usual, but I did what needed to be done and then 99% of shots were in focus with both side profile and head on. From past experience, wide or zone on the Sony would probably be idiot-proof to get good shots.
Another real world example (gasp!) was in pretty heavy snow flakes falling. The A7RV would lose focus on the subject a ton, while the Z9 was much more reliable. I had both setups out with me. The A7RV would also turn off the rear screen whenever a tiny snowflake would drop onto the sensor under the eyepiece thinking I was looking through it- super annoying. This didn't happen with Nikon at all.
p.3 #14 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
woof2025 wrote:
I have no idea what you're saying, the way I've been treated after asking a pretty simple question is similar to being put on a terrorist list is my point. This place is really strange. I don't know what you're trying to defend? And what's in it for me? The reason I've only just joined is I generally don't go on discussion boards to find about my camera. The reason I did is because I asked a bunch of my assistants and a couple of digi techs that I work with and generally no one knew because generally most commercial high end photographers in NY, LA and London don't use the Z series cameras. Which is something that pretend "photographers" don't seem to know. ...Show more →
Those kinds of posts were predicted. They view it as you made them behave badly, so it is still your fault. Even the bratiest of children can't get away with that kind of statement in most homes.
But, please be aware that is not the majority of people here on FM. It is a small group with bad PTSD. Look at all the sincere post by people trying to help. Welcome to FM.
p.3 #15 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
GreggNY wrote:
I've been shooting the Z9 (24-70 2.8 and 100-400) along side the A7RV (35GM, 85GMii, and 100-400GM) for a while now. The A7RV definitely stays stuck on the eye better with difficult positions like head turned slightly or even turned to the side. This is with wide area AF and nothing else done- set it and forget it. The A7RV is more reliable to get iris focus almost all the of the time but does miss occasionally. That said, I prefer the Z9 and Nikon system in every way. For almost everything portrait wise, auto area AF with Nikon works perfect to nail the iris. The AF will jump to the full side head profile box much quicker than Sony when the head is not straight on or in tough positions.
There have been several times though where the Nikon will surprise me finding subjects better with varied conditions (both human and bird/animal), and there have been other times where the Sony will be better. The Nikon is faster focusing to acquire subjects and track movement. Again, I much prefer the files out of the Nikon and the system in general. Both are great, neither is perfect. ...Show more →
A very balanced and useful kind of post showing knowledge and experience in both systems. I am sure this is the kind of comment the OP was looking for.
Unfortunately some may label you a Heretic for this kind of balance in the Nikon Forum. Just another prediction.
p.3 #16 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
1bwana1 wrote:
Those kinds of posts were predicted. They view it as you made them behave badly, so it is still your fault. Even the bratiest of children can't get away with that kind of statement in most homes.
But, please be aware that is not the majority of people here on FM. It is a small group with bad PTSD. Look at all the sincere post by people trying to help. Welcome to FM.
You are the last person in this world, I need lecture from, I knew what I wanted to say, and why.
If someone's posts are predictable, at least in Nikon forum, you are on #1 place, with no competition!
p.3 #17 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
cvrle59 wrote:
You are the last person in this world, I need lecture from, I knew what I wanted to say, and why.
If someone's posts are predictable, at least in Nikon forum, you are on #1 place, with no competition!
The very last? I am honored. Oh but it wasn't a lecture, I was just pointing out that the prediction was accurate. You confirmed that. You notice that I didn't even include your post in the quote, yet you feel it was about you. It was not about just you, but a series of posts that fulfilled the prediction . But thanks for volunteering. Why get so personal and so upset?
p.3 #18 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
Nobody is talking about eye AF problems Canon/OM/Sony or any other system have. It is clearly that the Nikon has a problem. And chill! Nobody is bashing Nikon, we all want Nikon to be "great again!" I'll call it NGA. Make Nikon (eye AF) Great Again!!!!
p.3 #19 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV
1) As a Nikon Z shooter, I think we could all be more welcoming when someone new to the system/forum needs help with something. Claiming someone is trolling isn't helpful.
2) As a Nikon Z shooter, I think others coming in to bash Nikon repeatedly isn't helpful. Every system has it's upsides and downsides. I have no issues with the Z8's AF, including eye AF in a variety of light levels. It nails the eye consistently, it tracks eyes in very low light, it tracks eyes even when they're very small, and it tracks birds flying through heavy falling snow (another specific criticism I've seen of the Z cameras). Maybe Sony and Canon are easier, but I find both of those system unattractive for a variety of other reasons. So maybe give this whole brand war a rest and move on to more productive discussions.
