Nikon Z9 for Underwater Image Makers?

Wetpixel Editor @adamhanlon was fortunate to get "hand-on" with the new Nikon Z9 at a Nikon Pro event recently. He was able to do some perfunctory tests with the new camera along with some of the lenses that are useful for underwater image makers. He tries to discover whether the Z9 is an appropriate upgrade for use underwater.
 

Hello Adam,

two questions:

1-did you try the Z7, (Z7ii)? 

2-in the end of your experience, what do you thing, should change from dslr (d850/d800) to z7/z9?

Hi Adam, great talk about the new Z9. Thanks for your review. I look forward to taking the Z9 underwater someday with the new Nauticam Z9 housing. Given the price, it will have to be a rental! 

First, I want to start off by saying the new Z 105mm Macro is a spectacular lens and sharper than any lens in my kit. However, I have the same issue with the Z 105mm Macro on the Z6 II, where it will rack all the way out then back in and then finally grab focus. It doesn’t do it all the time, but enough to be annoying. I have tried different settings on the camera, but it seems to be best set to AF-C, back button and dynamic area AF. However, when I mount my AF-S 60mm Macro on the FTZ the AF is very fast, or at least as fast as the D850. Therefore, I was surprised at your experience with the AF-S 105mm Macro with the FTZ. I think the focus issue with Z 105mm Macro is due to the firmware in the lens itself and not the AF of the camera. Hopefully, Nikon will release a firmware update for this lens soon. 

Second, the high resolution EVFs like new Nikon and Sony mirrorless cameras are best viewed with an enhanced viewfinder like the new Nauticam Enhanced Full Frame viewfinder 0.8:1. I have recently switched to this viewfinder and the image is stunning, even through my dive mask. With the built-in diopter, I can adjust it for my eyesight and can review the captured image focus very clearly. Take a look at this new Nauticam viewfinder on a full frame mirrorless camera and I believe you will also be impressed.

Thanks again for a great review!

Larry 

Thanks for sharing this Adam!
Hopefully the v2.0 firmware will address the hunting issue with the new Z 105 lens.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

On 4/12/2022 at 10:38 AM, RBernardo said:

1-did you try the Z7, (Z7ii)? 

2-in the end of your experience, what do you thing, should change from dslr (d850/d800) to z7/z9?

Sorry for the delay.

1.Yes I tried Z7 and was actually quite shocked at how bad the AF was in comparison with the D850/D500. I have not tried Z6 or Z7 II.

2.I think if you have a look around on here, my feelings are quite well documented. I can see no advantage (and several disadvantages) in the Z9 over the D850 for underwater photographers. 

Well the Z7 has one of the worst AF Systems. Even the Z7 II can't come close to the one from Sony or Canon. The Z9 is told to be on par with the Flagships of other Vendors so for Nikon we need to wait for the Z9 AF system gets down to the next gen "normal" camera.

Would be interesting to see how the current gen (Canon R6 or Sony A7 IV) compares to old DLSR like the Nikon D850.

12 hours ago, JYk said:

Well the Z7 has one of the worst AF Systems. Even the Z7 II can't come close to the one from Sony or Canon. The Z9 is told to be on par with the Flagships of other Vendors so for Nikon we need to wait for the Z9 AF system gets down to the next gen "normal" camera.

Would be interesting to see how the current gen (Canon R6 or Sony A7 IV) compares to old DLSR like the Nikon D850.

I guess it must be a miracle that I have so many in-focus shots taken with my Z6!! Nikon has updated the AF by quite a bit but many of my shots are from earlier FW (I have been using it now for several years - bought it at the introduction). It has basically the same AF system as the Z7 but using a lower rez sensor, so may be less accurate (??).

It is the absolute best camera for manual focusing in my > 50 years experience using SLR cameras (I had most of the focusing screens for the F, F2 to try out as well).

Thom Hogan has a fairly extensive review on the Z9 here:

https://www.zsystemuser.com/z-mount-cameras/nikon-z-camera-reviews/nikon-z9-camera-review.html

An important AF compliant (re. the Nikon Gear group) has been addressed with the v.2 FW as it now incorporates the customizable focusing area rectangles of the D6. The one that interests me is one I think of as the tipped over obelisk (think 2001 and Aku-Aku). One can limit focusing to a rectangle of AF points that extend across the entire frame. The closest I have been able to do like this was with the D2X and D2H but it was just a belt of 3 AF points back then. One can also combine this with automatic subject detection such as animals.

While automatic point selection has worked somewhat like this (no eyes though!!) because the focusing area was centered in the frame, it did not span to the left-right edges so that my subjects would often nose out of the area resulting in OOF fish snouts. (Omitting the top and bottom avoids unintentional focusing on the stream bed or surface.) This new AF system could possibly help with this issue.

Similarly when doing vertical shots (while scuba diving, not my salmon work) and wanting to focus on the something towards the end of the frame the subject would barely be within the focusing area so that even picking the focusing point farthest from the center it was far from optimally placed on the subject. This issue is a problem for FF not APS cameras but I want to do this with my RS 20-35mm lens so the D500 gets a veto! Now we just need a screw-drive AF FTZ adapter!!!!

Nikon releases the upgraded firmware for its full-frame mirrorless cameras — Version 2.00 for the Nikon Z 9, and Version 1.40 for the Nikon Z 7II and Nikon Z 6II

https://www.nikon.com/news/2022/0414_mirrorless_01.htm

On 4/22/2022 at 8:45 AM, JYk said:

Even the Z7 II can't come close to the one from Sony or Canon.

This statement surprises me greatly. I'm blown away by the AF performance of the Z7II, I think it's superior to my other camera, which is a D5.