RoamingScott wrote:
The R1 and A1 II don’t “run circles” around the Z9, each has a few strong points and a few where it’s weaker than the others. People who care about brands (lol) will latch onto these extreme edge case differences as ammo that their BRAND is better and all other brands are behind and laughable to even consider shooting.
I know I personally have very rarely been held back by my Z9 and that it has gotten consistently more capable with every major FW update. Sony apologists might have to google what those are.
I don’t think this is really a brand-loyalty thing — at least not from my side. As you know Scott, I’ve owned and shot Canon, Nikon, and Sony extensively, and I’ve also owned pretty much every major super-telephoto prime across those systems. The Nikon 400TC is still one of my favorite lenses ever, so I’m definitely not coming at this as someone who thinks Nikon is behind or laughable.
My point was narrower: the Z9/Z8 are absolutely competitive and excellent cameras, especially after the firmware updates. But for my specific use case, I do think the R1 has an edge in certain AF/tracking situations where both the Z9 and Z8 simply struggles too much. Again, that doesn’t make the Z9/Z8 bad, and it doesn’t make Nikon the wrong choice. It just means different tools fit different shooters and subjects better.
May 09, 2026 at 06:31 PM
Previous versions of robert_in_ca's message #17035257 « Official Nikon Z 120-300mm 2.8 TC - Image Thread »
