Nikon Z* mirrorless

I predominantly shoot models and on a recent trip to Mallorca I had issues with the eye autofocus on my Zf nailing focus, lighting conditions were perfect, no confusing patterns, plain coloured clothing, and still the hit rate was 50/50, it was on the latest firmware too, it has driven me to the point of moving it on.

Checking the focus point in Nikons software showed the focus point dancing around the subjects face, so I did a factory reset I then watched several YouTube videos on setting it up and still the hit rate was disappointing, so much so that I ended up using a model friends Fuji XT30 and lenses which did a much better job.

I don't want to change systems again after investing in some nice lenses, so my question is how does the Z8 perform with eye autofocus, is it stickier?
 
Toxic said:
I predominantly shoot models and on a recent trip to Mallorca I had issues with the eye autofocus on my Zf nailing focus, lighting conditions were perfect, no confusing patterns, plain coloured clothing, and still the hit rate was 50/50, it was on the latest firmware too, it has driven me to the point of moving it on.

Checking the focus point in Nikons software showed the focus point dancing around the subjects face, so I did a factory reset I then watched several YouTube videos on setting it up and still the hit rate was disappointing, so much so that I ended up using a model friends Fuji XT30 and lenses which did a much better job.

I don't want to change systems again after investing in some nice lenses, so my question is how does the Z8 perform with eye autofocus, is it stickier?
Click to expand...
What lens were you using? Just one or did you try others? I’ve mainly used Sony glass adapted on my zf and it’s works brilliantly. It should be wiping the floor with the Fuji in terms of accuracy.
 
addicknchips said:
What lens were you using? Just one or did you try others? I’ve mainly used Sony glass adapted on my zf and it’s works brilliantly. It should be wiping the floor with the Fuji in terms of accuracy.
Click to expand...
The latest Tamron 28-75, 70-180, and a Z 85mm f/1.8S, all with similar results.
 
Toxic said:
I predominantly shoot models and on a recent trip to Mallorca I had issues with the eye autofocus on my Zf nailing focus, lighting conditions were perfect, no confusing patterns, plain coloured clothing, and still the hit rate was 50/50, it was on the latest firmware too, it has driven me to the point of moving it on.

Checking the focus point in Nikons software showed the focus point dancing around the subjects face, so I did a factory reset I then watched several YouTube videos on setting it up and still the hit rate was disappointing, so much so that I ended up using a model friends Fuji XT30 and lenses which did a much better job.

I don't want to change systems again after investing in some nice lenses, so my question is how does the Z8 perform with eye autofocus, is it stickier?
Click to expand...
I've been experiencing subject detection focusing difficulties with my Z8.
Last week I done an outdoor portrait shoot and found it difficult to eye track, even it switching to just the face was unreliable. Using 24-70 f/2.8 S, eye/face detect enabled.
Last night in good light I also had difficulty tracking birds. Using 400mm f/4.5, bird detect enabled.
Both were in the warm evening sun, but not backlit.
Today a very clear Grey Heron in good light was causing my Z8 focusing issues, jumping away from the eye/body to the background, regularly. Using 400mm f/4.5, bird detect enabled, af mode "Wide Area-S" and focus limiter set to infinity to 6m, sometimes even switching to DX to limit the frame even more.
I've changed nothing and running the latest firmware and for some reason it doesn't fill me confidence to use reliably lately.
 
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Not sure if you are on the latest firmware? But I was surprised that full frame detect (second from far right) is so much better than it ever was.
 
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