nikon z9 post firmware 3.0 and best lens set up

Hello everyone, I want to change my kit i am stuck between the z9 and the A1. I am previously a nikon d500 shooter and have almost all the lenses for uw and topside, have been doing mainly photography but really getting into video for the last year. I have been really playing with the idea of the z9 but have seen the review that mentioned that below 50 feet the wb didnt not function has anyone tried after the firmware 2.0 and 3.0? what lens set up would you go with? I have seen some people talking of using the sony/wwl1 setup on a z9 , what would you use as a lens combo or with a wwl1. The alternative is clearly for me to move on to sony but it sucks to have to repurchase all my f-mount lenses. 

Thank you 

1 hour ago, nomadadv said:

Hello everyone, I want to change my kit i am stuck between the z9 and the A1. I am previously a nikon d500 shooter and have almost all the lenses for uw and topside, have been doing mainly photography but really getting into video for the last year. I have been really playing with the idea of the z9 but have seen the review that mentioned that below 50 feet the wb didnt not function has anyone tried after the firmware 2.0 and 3.0? what lens set up would you go with? I have seen some people talking of using the sony/wwl1 setup on a z9 , what would you use as a lens combo or with a wwl1. The alternative is clearly for me to move on to sony but it sucks to have to repurchase all my f-mount lenses. 

Thank you 

 

 

 

The issue with the Z mount is that you need to buy WACP-1 for video which costs more than the housing of the Sony A1

Consider carefully all parts and the fact that the Sony ecosystem works fine in video with the WWL-1 which is significantly less expensive and has less bulk than the WACP

There's also the part where D9 is a dual-grip body with a humongous housing, DX lenses needing crop mode on an FX body, and limited compatibility of FTZ adapter with older F-mount glass - you didn't list what lenses you have, but before upgrading to a Z9, you need to check each one for compatibility.

1 hour ago, Interceptor121 said:

The issue with the Z mount is that you need to buy WACP-1 for video which costs more than the housing of the Sony A1

Consider carefully all parts and the fact that the Sony ecosystem works fine in video with the WWL-1 which is significantly less expensive and has less bulk than the WACP

I did think of you while writing this post, problem is that giving up on all my topside glass is probably just as expensive as the wacp=1 i also not a fan of evf and the af of the z9.... i do remember you commenting that the 8-15mm canon was as sharp as the wacp. My hopes is to find a lens compromise. i know the 28 -70 mm works amazing with wacp wondering if anyone tied this with a wwl too....

43 minutes ago, Barmaglot said:

There's also the part where D9 is a dual-grip body with a humongous housing, DX lenses needing crop mode on an FX body, and limited compatibility of FTZ adapter with older F-mount glass - you didn't list what lenses you have, but before upgrading to a Z9, you need to check each one for compatibility.

Hi barmaglot, I currently shoot on d500 and gh4 and before that i was on a d4 and d300. I still have my 16-35 from my d4 i actually had a bit of fun on the d500 you can almost get macros shots if you crop lol !! anyways also got tokina 10-17, nikon 10-24, macros 60 and 105 and then topside i have a 150-600 contemporary as well other glass. 

1 hour ago, nomadadv said:

I did think of you while writing this post, problem is that giving up on all my topside glass is probably just as expensive as the wacp=1 i also not a fan of evf and the af of the z9.... i do remember you commenting that the 8-15mm canon was as sharp as the wacp. My hopes is to find a lens compromise. i know the 28 -70 mm works amazing with wacp wondering if anyone tied this with a wwl too....

None of the Nikon Z full frame work on WWL-1 due to the way the lens is built and lack of appropriate flat ports hence the WACP

1 hour ago, nomadadv said:

Hi barmaglot, I currently shoot on d500 and gh4 and before that i was on a d4 and d300. I still have my 16-35 from my d4 i actually had a bit of fun on the d500 you can almost get macros shots if you crop lol !! anyways also got tokina 10-17, nikon 10-24, macros 60 and 105 and then topside i have a 150-600 contemporary as well other glass.  

16-35mm should be good on the FTZ adapter. Tokina 10-17mm will not autofocus and will apply DX crop. Nikon 10-24mm should autofocus, but will apply a DX crop. For the macro lenses, both 60mm and 105mm come in different versions - if you have AF-S lenses, they should work with the FTZ adapter, but AF or AF-D will not autofocus. Sigma 150-600mm should be fine.

Note that you can adapt Nikon F-mount lenses to Sony cameras. It is not as popular as adapting Canon glass, but adapters do exist - https://briansmith.com/nikon-lens-adapters-sony-e-mount-cameras/

23 minutes ago, Barmaglot said:

 

16-35mm should be good on the FTZ adapter. Tokina 10-17mm will not autofocus and will apply DX crop. Nikon 10-24mm should autofocus, but will apply a DX crop. For the macro lenses, both 60mm and 105mm come in different versions - if you have AF-S lenses, they should work with the FTZ adapter, but AF or AF-D will not autofocus. Sigma 150-600mm should be fine.

Note that you can adapt Nikon F-mount lenses to Sony cameras. It is not as popular as adapting Canon glass, but adapters do exist - https://briansmith.com/nikon-lens-adapters-sony-e-mount-cameras/

thank you barmaglot yes i know for the sony adapter buy you do loose on af speed ands the assignment i need this lens for in march i can't afford to have  slow af. Back to uw from i ve been reading the 16-35 on z mount is not as sharp as on dslr uw and for filming not great either seems crazy to me that the only decent option is held by wacp, what about the tokina with a kenko adapter ? 

One thing that does really concern me though is the fact that the white balance didnt work past 50 feet before the firmware 2.0 has nobody tried the z9 after the last firmware was this fixed???

7 hours ago, nomadadv said:

thank you barmaglot yes i know for the sony adapter buy you do loose on af speed ands the assignment i need this lens for in march i can't afford to have  slow af. Back to uw from i ve been reading the 16-35 on z mount is not as sharp as on dslr uw and for filming not great either seems crazy to me that the only decent option is held by wacp, what about the tokina with a kenko adapter ? 

 

 

The problem is the screw drive AF, the mirrorless Nikons do not support any of the old screw drive AF lenses.  The 16-35 needs a 230mm dome on full frame and is not as good optically as the WACP options.

8 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:

The problem is the screw drive AF, the mirrorless Nikons do not support any of the old screw drive AF lenses.  The 16-35 needs a 230mm dome on full frame and is not as good optically as the WACP options.

I have a 230 mm glass dome but to be honest after reviewing things further, the wb balance, the low sync curtain and mainly the video af after being a shooter of nikon for 22 years i m moving to sony or canon....

This last night really was the cherry on the cake! 

I m tired of waiting for nikon to wake up...

4 minutes ago, nomadadv said:

I have a 230 mm glass dome but to be honest after reviewing things further, the wb balance, the low sync curtain and mainly the video af after being a shooter of nikon for 22 years i m moving to sony or canon....

This last night really was the cherry on the cake! 

I m tired of waiting for nikon to wake up...

beware of click-bait videos always pays to confirm what they say with more reputable sites!

7 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:

beware of click-bait videos always pays to confirm what they say with more reputable sites!

it's the feeling of many people tbh mine included i was speaking to another person is totally unacceptable for a flagship cam to have 1/200 flash sync

I shoot a Z9 underwater, after D850 and D810.  I'm only using two lenses - the 14-30 and the 105mc.    I only shoot the 14-30 with the Sea and Sea Internal Corrections Lens mounted, which made a huge difference when I shot the 16-35.   I have to say I've never shot the 14-30 without the S&S ICL, but I'm of the strong opinion it's needed to have decent corners.  I shoot the 14-30 behind a 230mm dome port on a 50mm extension.  I shot the 16-35 with a 90mm extension.    For macro I just use the 105z, and I find it to be similar to the f-mount, but a bit better.   The 14-30 is clearly better than the 16-35.

I don't do much video, yet.  I did spend a week trying underwater video on the D850, and I learned the AF is hopeless in Live View mode for any kind of moving subject.    However, I also found that once you focused at 16mm and F8, you pretty much didn't need to change focus for the vast majority of the dive.   Still, it would be nice to have working autofocus, and with the Z9 it works as well in video as it does in stills mode.

As for the WB issue, yes right around 50 feet you get the 'can't set WB' error, though you can eke out a few more feet in stills mode WB preset than in video mode.  (But you can use the stills preset in video).

Let's talk about how much difference it makes to not be able to do white balance at 60 feet, 70 feet, etc.   When I shot video, I'd set wb about every 10 feet or so, and when going deep I'd be sure to set one preset at 50 feet.   And then I just used that preset for all depths greater than 50 feet.   Frankly I don't see much need for a different WB between 50 and 60 feet, or even 100 feet.   What am I missing?  There aren't really any colors present anyway.

Flash synch speed.  I can see that making a difference above water, particularly trying to get shallow depth of field in sunlight, but underwater I set my shutter speed to 1/125-1/160th for basically everything.   I don't see a sync speed of 1/200th as affecting me at all.

Now - as for re-using f-mount lenses on the Z9 for underwater, I'm thinking that mainly applies to the 105mc.   What wide angle were you shooting on the D500? It's likely to have to change, and in any case you'll see a huge difference in wide angle and depth of field going from DX to FX.   You'll also start worrying about corners a lot more.

8 hours ago, phxazcraig said:

I shoot a Z9 underwater, after D850 and D810.  I'm only using two lenses - the 14-30 and the 105mc.    I only shoot the 14-30 with the Sea and Sea Internal Corrections Lens mounted, which made a huge difference when I shot the 16-35.   I have to say I've never shot the 14-30 without the S&S ICL, but I'm of the strong opinion it's needed to have decent corners.  I shoot the 14-30 behind a 230mm dome port on a 50mm extension.  I shot the 16-35 with a 90mm extension.    For macro I just use the 105z, and I find it to be similar to the f-mount, but a bit better.   The 14-30 is clearly better than the 16-35.

I don't do much video, yet.  I did spend a week trying underwater video on the D850, and I learned the AF is hopeless in Live View mode for any kind of moving subject.    However, I also found that once you focused at 16mm and F8, you pretty much didn't need to change focus for the vast majority of the dive.   Still, it would be nice to have working autofocus, and with the Z9 it works as well in video as it does in stills mode.

As for the WB issue, yes right around 50 feet you get the 'can't set WB' error, though you can eke out a few more feet in stills mode WB preset than in video mode.  (But you can use the stills preset in video).

Let's talk about how much difference it makes to not be able to do white balance at 60 feet, 70 feet, etc.   When I shot video, I'd set wb about every 10 feet or so, and when going deep I'd be sure to set one preset at 50 feet.   And then I just used that preset for all depths greater than 50 feet.   Frankly I don't see much need for a different WB between 50 and 60 feet, or even 100 feet.   What am I missing?  There aren't really any colors present anyway.

Flash synch speed.  I can see that making a difference above water, particularly trying to get shallow depth of field in sunlight, but underwater I set my shutter speed to 1/125-1/160th for basically everything.   I don't see a sync speed of 1/200th as affecting me at all.

Now - as for re-using f-mount lenses on the Z9 for underwater, I'm thinking that mainly applies to the 105mc.   What wide angle were you shooting on the D500? It's likely to have to change, and in any case you'll see a huge difference in wide angle and depth of field going from DX to FX.   You'll also start worrying about corners a lot more.

It seems the Z8 “The Baby Z9” will be announced tomorrow and I am very interested in this camera, although it will be several months before we see a $6K Nauticam housing for it. From the specs that have seen posted so far it will have the same sensor and AF as the Z9. I currently shoot with the Z6 ii and am very satisfied with the camera EXCEPT the AF performance using the Z 105mm Macro underwater. The Z 105 will sometimes rack in and out until it finally grabs focus, especially with the SMC-1. Does the Z 105 grab focus faster on your Z9? Haves you used AF of Z 105 with the SMC-1? If you are getting fast AF performance with the Z 105 on the Z9 underwater then I may place a pre-order for the Z8 when it is announced tomorrow. Thank you for the advice! Larry

My experience with the 105 macro on the Z9 is that it is about the same as the 105vr on the D850 when used with 3D Tracking.   The speed of the AF is close to the D850, which was noticeably quicker than the D810.   I once tried the 1.4TC-II with my 105vr, and I thought the AF speed dropped to the point where it felt like I was shooting the bare lens on a D810.   Anyway, Z9 is fast, and overall I have not had issues with its focus underwater.   That said, it is never a good thing to start trying to autofocus with the lens way out of focus too far away or too close.

The Nauticam housing for the Z9 was $7500.   Quite a jump from the $3500 for the D850.   Hopefully a Z8 housing will be more like the D810 housing.

I have a web page up of my Roatan dives with the Z9 from last September.  First dive trip.   Partly because I needed to work more on wide angle, I shot more with the 14-30 than usual, but the macro shots are all 105mc.   See here:

https://www.cjcphoto.net/roatan2022/index.html

I also spent 9 days diving in Truk lagoon with the Z9, but every dive was wide angle there, with the 14-30.   Those shots are here:

https://www.cjcphoto.net/truk2023/

6 hours ago, LarryHallas said:

It seems the Z8 “The Baby Z9” will be announced tomorrow and I am very interested in this camera, although it will be several months before we see a $6K Nauticam housing for it. 

I don’t think you will have to wait long for a housing. I heard a rumour that Nauticam had access to a Z8 several months ago. I don’t know about the price - the things we want have a habit of being annoyingly more expensive than we’d like. 

Alex

17 hours ago, Alex_Mustard said:

I don’t think you will have to wait long for a housing. I heard a rumour that Nauticam had access to a Z8 several months ago. I don’t know about the price - the things we want have a habit of being annoyingly more expensive than we’d like. 

Alex

Not long at all…

https://www.nauticam.com/collections/mirrorless-il-camera-housings/products/na-z8-underwater-housing-for-the-nikon-z8-camera

On 5/10/2023 at 3:00 PM, Alex_Mustard said:

I don’t think you will have to wait long for a housing. I heard a rumour that Nauticam had access to a Z8 several months ago. I don’t know about the price - the things we want have a habit of being annoyingly more expensive than we’d like. 

Alex

It's awesome that nauticam is already ready with a z8 housing but it's a shame that it was expedited so fast. I do believe that for the z8 a housing similar to the r5c with a spare battery compartment would have been a nice touch..... I'm quite curious to see what marelux comes up with they did mention that they are coming up with something on that housing... 

When i read the tests of interceptor on the 8-15 canon mm vs wwl-1 it makes me wonder if the 8-15 mm nikon with a diopter is not the best way to go for the z8/9. 

From what i can see i am jumping on a z8 asap, for me it makes sense yes the cam is not as perfect for uw photography as the d850 if it might not offer more for uw photography it opens to me many perspectives for uw videography capacities but  it is also the best wildlife camera i ve had my hands on. For the first time in my life not only was shooting with a z800m and panning but i was doing it handheld and keeping focus on  small birds, amazing!!!

I have questioned every direction should i move to sony or canon ...  The problem with the sony system is that even if using a  monster ring, sony is blocking the a1 to 10fps  you can 't use a teleconverter either  and that's it if you don't use sony lenses your stuck. Again if you limit yourself to uw, its ok but if you wish to use your cam for multiple activities your done for... At a price of the a1 seems crazy to spend this much money and be stuck at 10fps...

thx you 

5 hours ago, nomadadv said:

 it makes me wonder if the 8-15 mm nikon with a diopter is not the best way to go for the z8/9. 
 

 

thx you 

The 8-15mm is a fisheye lens so a diopter cannot be fitted nor is one needed as the lens focuses rather close.