Re: Z8 extremely unreliable/inconsistent AF in mildly low light
SCoombs wrote: story_teller wrote:
I can’t negate the fact that if this were true for all Z8’s the internet forums would be on fire with photographers wanting to burn the Z8 at the stake. That’s not happening. That indicates more likely causes such as settings, user habits/misunderstanding of the AF or your specific camera is malfunctioning.
You are doing a reset. I would leave the camera at basic settings except for your auto focus settings. Try that and see if there’s a difference.
If you’re using back button focus, go to Custom Settings -> A2 and see if you have “Release” or “Focus” set. With BBF you need to have it set to “Release” otherwise you’ll try to focus a second time as you push the shutter button and the camera won’t have enough time to establish focus a second time.
Finally, if the other two methods don’t provide relief, consider sending your camera into Nikon to have them check it out.
Hope you get it sorted out. The Z8 is a very capable camera and personally, I’ve not encountered a low light focus issues you’re encountering. I occasionally miss shots, but my keeper rate is much higher.
I did a reset and it really didn't make a difference.
As far as setting A2, you're suggesting release whereas others have suggested focus and others focus+release. Regardless, I tried all of them at the event last night when I found I couldn't reliably get focus on anything when the light dropped and found no difference.
I sort of want to send the camera in, but I can't possibly imagine what could be wrong with a mirrorless camera body to cause these sorts of problems. Regardless, I absolutely need to have it for another thing in a month so I can't risk sending it now. I might look into doing it then.
That said, if you do search around there are quite a few people out there complaining about these problems, some of them in this thread and a few others in the parallel thread I posted on DPReview. I think it's also true a lot of people seem to have already accepted this as a limitation of the system and won't have posted about it when they got their Z8's because they had the same experience with the Z9, as there are even more threads out there about problems with the Z9 in low light, especially subject detection. The threads I read through tended to conclude with people agreeing subject detect can't be used in low light and hoping it changes in the future.
My point is that I think there are in fact a fair number people who have reported this issue.
You must set A2 to “Release” and not “Focus”! There is no “Focus+Release” option on A2 in the Z8. If you select “Focus” you are enabling the 1/2 press AF capability on the shutter button after you’ve already established focus with the AF-On button. The camera doesn’t have sufficient time to acquire a second focus before the image is taken. It’s easy to check. Focus on a subject with the AF-On button and release release the AF-On. That will lock focus. Next 1/2 press the shutter release. If you hear the camera trying to re-focus, that’s your problem.
Apr 27, 2024 at 09:48 AM
Previous versions of story_teller's message #16533473 « Z8 extremely unreliable/inconsistent AF in mildly low light »
