Today's a transfer day. So a short safari in the morning, a short plane trip, unpacking, and then another safari in a new place in the afternoon. The new place? Little Vumbura.
In the morning as I was sitting at a hyena den photographing the young ones trying to get into the Land Rover (or eat portions of it; they managed to chew a significant part of the fender well lining), I started further contemplating the AF-Area modes that Nikon gives us in the Z9.
So, in AF-C we've got Single-point AF, three sizes of Dynamic-Area AF, two sizes of Wide-area AF, 3D-Tracking AF, and Auto-Area AF. The question is this: are those all necessary, and what do you use them for?
When I talk about autofocus to students, I sometimes talk about "reaction" versus "anticipation." If you're reacting to what's happening in the scene, you'll always be behind with your focusing. If you're anticipating, you'll be ahead of the focusing chore and ready to nail focus every time. Amateurs tend to not learn their focus systems, get into a react mode, and miss image after image because of that. Pros tend to learn their focus systems, always set for what they're anticipating, and thus are ready for what happens.
Like a DSLR, the very low latency lag of the Z9's EVF really means that you're seeing virtually the instant in front of the camera. On the Z6/Z7 and other Nikon mirrorless cameras there's just enough of an EVF lag that you have to gird yourself against getting into react mode. So, yes, I'm finding the Z9's EVF excellent, despite the fact that it has fewer pixels to it than the Sony A1 or Canon R3. Indeed, the smooth stream of pixels in the Z9 viewfinder is much better than the slightly jumpy and repeating frames of the Sony A1 viewfinder. Which means I can concentrate on that anticipation versus reaction thing without something getting in my way.
Which makes me wonder about the AF-Area modes. Dynamic area is the odd-man out this time. Given how good the subject recognition is for so many different subjects, exactly what subject are you going to take a photo of that allows you to move a single box to it, but needs the ability to move off that box when the subject suddenly moves?
I can't think of one.
Which makes me wonder whether we need three Dynamic-area AF modes.
There was a time when we need Dynamic area modes: back when we had to anticipate where the action would occur and get our focus cursor there before it happened. Along the way, though, Nikon has come up with better choices, and the Z9 has two of those. What it doesn't have is the third (Group-AF). What D5/D6 users will tell you—particularly the sports photographers—is that Group is a method that allows you to anticipate where you want the focus, and then the camera just manages the heavy lifting. In most sports, you're photographing with players coming towards you, and you are centering on a player, so having a closest subject priority in an area where you expect the action to occur just works most of the time.
We don't have that on the Z9, and one place where I find it to be desired is when I anticipate wildlife coming out from behind veiling bushes or terrain. Group-AF would give me an instant focus, while Auto-area AF tends to need to recognize the full subject first before it does its magic.
But AF-C isn't the only part of the focus system that has a legacy holdover that doesn't work well. If you're in AF-C and set 3D-tracking AF, then flip to AF-S, guess what? You're still in 3D-tracking! Only the camera only focuses once, so there's no tracking!
I understand why Nikon did this (to have the focus point retained during the switch), but I don't know why the camera doesn't just move to Single-point AF.
So here's the bottom line: Nikon is making changes to the focus system, but they haven't fully thought through the implications of all the focus system changes yet. There are modes we don't need, modes we do need, and they're not all optimized yet in the Z9.
Okay, let's get in the air...
And get back on land...
The rare elephant twins (Z50 image).
Sometimes you get strange bedfellows.
And finally, to answer the question of whether the Z9 really detects eyes, even if they're going away from you...
New animals: hyena, monitor lizard, baboons
Hyena: no problems detecting body, face, eye.
Monitor lizard: sometimes recognizes body.
Baboons: generally no trouble if they're facing you.
