Animal eye AF with Nikon Z cameras?

myotis

myotis

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I've just watched this on setting up the Nikon Zs for action and wildlife
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgAu96Sbsp4


Just after 5 minutes into it he mentions setting eye AF to on, partly because he has found it jumps to the eye with animals, including flying birds (gulls).

I don't have a Z camera to try, but it might be worth giving it a go if you have it switched off on the assumption it isn't going to be of any value with wildlife. Which was my assumption, but maybe that has been wrong.
 
I know its NOT a Nikon- However: I tried eye AF on my Sony a7Riii and it worked very well on a passing dog - not tried it on birds YET :)

Les
 
Lez325 said:
I know its NOT a Nikon- However: I tried eye AF on my Sony a7Riii and it worked very well on a passing dog - not tried it on birds YET :)

Les
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The Sony A7R iii is advertised as having animal eye detect so maybe that's not surprising. Having said that, I assume you are using it in the Human eye mode, rather than the animal eye mode.

I think the point of posting was really because of the bad press the Zs get over their AF (unlike Sony which probably has the best AF overall) and I thought it might be interesting/useful to wildlife photographers with Zs to give this a try, especially if they have it switched off. I've always kept it switched off when my cameras have offered it.
 
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myotis said:
The Sony A7R iii is advertised as having animal eye detect so maybe that's not surprising. Having said that, I assume you are using it in the Human eye mode, rather than the animal eye mode.

I think the point of posting was really because of the bad press the Zs get over their AF (unlike Sony which probably has the best AF overall) and I thought it might be interesting/useful to wildlife photographers with Zs to give this a try, especially if they have it switched off. I've always kept it switched off when my cameras that have offered it.
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No I tried it in Eye AF (for people ) I also find the eye AF on my Sony a7Rii ( my 2nd camera) also works on animals as well as people :)
 
Lez325 said:
No I tried it in Eye AF (for people ) I also find the eye AF on my Sony a7Rii ( my 2nd camera) also works on animals as well as people :)
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Have you tried the animal eye AF mode?
 
Lez325 said:
No in all honesty, I have normal eye AF, which I have now assigned to a custom button :)
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The couple of reviews I read about the dedicated animal eye AF, suggested that while it worked better than human eye AFl, it also slowed everything down, and while great for pet portraits, it wasn't practical for things like BIF.
 
myotis said:
The couple of reviews I read about the dedicated animal eye AF, suggested that while it worked better than human eye AFl, it also slowed everything down, and while great for pet portraits, it wasn't practical for things like BIF.
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when I shoot Birds I always shoot in full manual with the tracking on - never even considered using eye AF of BIF shots
 
Lez325 said:
when I shoot Birds I always shoot in full manual with the tracking on - never even considered using eye AF of BIF shots
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Ah, well that sort of takes me back to what prompted me to my OP. It was the youtube video comments by the poster that he now just leaves eye AF on for wildlife (with his Z6 and Z7) because he found it snapped to the animal's eyes, even with BIF.
 
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