such level of honesty and informativiy can never be achieved with those brand ambassadors

You're the best, Steve! Every time I see you have a new video I'm happy.

Best reviews around, I’m a huge fan of your work!

Thanks for this Steve. Your videos are some of the very best on YT whether for beginners or professionals. Keep up the good work mate!

Man, your videos are so good. I miss the podcast but these videos and your books keep me feeling informed. Keep it up!

I used the eye/face af on some White-tailed deer couple days ago. It definitely works on them. I had to be fairly close to them though. I have had much better bif luck with this new firmware in “normal” af modes. Still always have my d850 with me but I must admit that the z6 is a fun camera to use and has gotten much better with this new firmware. Great video! Thanks.

Thanks for a wildlife shooter's perspective! Most reviews are for sports or portrait shooters so nice to hear your take.

Very instructive review. Appreciate you taking the time for real-world testing instead of just reporting from the desk like 99% of "reviews".

I tried it this week and I agree with you, also it seems that when the subject is relatively small in the frame, no way you can get a lock. It is a massive improvement for video, really working well (again, not for birds in flight as you mentioned). Also worth mentioning that the result is very lens dependant. With the 5.6 pf it works much better than my old 300 f4 AF-S

Very Nice Presentation, thank you for sharing your experiences and opinion regarding the Nikon Z-series... VERY helpful!

Great review! You provide the best resource I know of when it comes to Nikon gear. I love many things about the Nikon Z7 and bought one early on. But after a week, I reluctantly returned it because of its limitations for wildlife and bird photography. I hope Nikon keeps improving the Z7.

Excellent informative video again Steve. On the basis of your experience with the latest firmware I think it is now time for me to invest in the Z system as a backup to my D850. Please keep up the great work.

Nicely done video. Always good to get gear reports from real world situations.

Thanks for this review. I am still keeping my D850 and D500 but I look forward to better performance from my Z7.

great job and as always detailed reviews !

Great video. I spent a long time today shooting with my 500MM F/5.6E lens and v3.00 firmware; your video confirms my impressions from the day. I never tried using Wide-area AF (S) or (L) before but those modes worked great when there was an uncluttered background behind the bird, i.e. open sky. My impression is you're right: Nikon isn't quite there yet with subject tracking in telephoto lenses. But v3.00 leaves me hopeful.

Thanks, this is the review I was watching for.

was hoping you would do this....Thanks. much appreciated

Top practical review.Respect.

You are the best Nikon reviewer on KZfaq

So close to pulling the trigger on a Z6 purchase. Mostly do wildlife and some landscape. Have a 10 yo aps-c and want to upgrade. Love this channel!

First off, thank you for sharing your expertise and experiences. I've been a professional photographer for 40 years and still love learning new things that help me get the most from my gear. :) The 3.0 firmware is a game changer for what I shoot on a regular basis. Every week I photograph the cats available for adoption at the local shelter and the Animal AF exceeds my expectations. Yes, black cats and tortoise don't focus as well (I just switch to Wide Area-Small) also, if the car rolls over on their back, the camera struggles to find the face (I assume it's looking for the ears or eyes and nose and the head upside down confuses the camera). I still shoot some higher education jobs in retirement and last week I headed into a painting class with my D850 to photograph the instructor working with a dozen advanced painting students in their cubicles. 15-minutes into the shoot I found myself missing the ability to track faces effectively and preview the exposure in backlit situations so I ran back to my vehicle and swapped out the D850 for the Z6. Nailing the exposure while shooting with the Z6 saved me a lot of time in post and kept the 4000-6400-ISO noise to a minimum. I was a lot less stressed knowing my exposures were good as the instructor moved from wildly differing lighting conditions and the client was thrilled with the fast turnaround and results. Can't wait to for 4.0 firmware. ;)

I was reminded of your video on focusing a black bear. I don't remember the exact camera but it did have difficulty with totally black featureless subjects. The black cat sounds similar. Glad to hear its improving though. Thanks, always enjoy your videos and your E books.

Thanks for posting this. Just what I was looking for.

Great video Steve ..Very informative

Right to the points, and concise. No fluff (minus black cat), Thnx!

Honest and straightforward review!!

Thanks Steve. I was going to trade in my D500 for a Z6. But as my main subjects are BIF, I'll heed your advice. I'm somewhat confident that Nikon will again improve their mirrorless AF. The Sony A9ii still seems to have the major edge on its competitors.

Great review

Great info and Thanks for sharing!

Good review, thank you!

Looking forward to your D-6 review once it is in hand as well as your set up for wildlife.

Great information, keep educating us

I thought I've seen the best review the best review but this is a good one

Spot on assessment.

love it just from the theme music!

100% agree - I'm not there yet with my Z7 - it will not replace my D5/D850 combo for action. I am interested to explore video on the Z's with n-log and raw out into a Ninja V .

really informative, thank you

Great video. Thanks.

Thanks Steve , a great insight into the mirrorless world for wildlife shooters. I was really interested in trying out this new tech but then it turns out that the cons far outweigh the pros. Looks like my dinosaurs ain’t going anywhere anytime soon. Still some time needed for mirrorless to reach wildlife shooting approval. No wonder Nikon and Canon still fully support the mirrored bodies and continue to develop new glass for them. Again thanks for your efforts God bless

Agreed. Works ok with 500pf but it seems to work noticably better with a native Z lens, and seems to be sticker on the subject. I think the next iteration of this camera along with a native Z telephoto lens will be much closer to competing with the likes of D850/D500.

Everyone needs to remember this is Nikon’s first proper Mirrorless Camera effort. In a few years these Z bodies will be awesome.

5:45 I have being saying that since 2018 and people call me a “Nikon hater”. But anyways I am glad that Nikon listened and fixed the implementation.

10:10 thank god im not alone with that. Cranes are my sworn enemies due to this focus switching into infinity or into the background. Heads are too small for the autofocus field and boom, the camera hunts for the woods

100% my impressions. The Z7 is the best Nikon ever for what I do (40 years with Nikon) but the new tracking while improved tracks only slow stuff with deterministic background. Other AF methods do better. Still work to do Nikon

I use the Z6 with sigma 150-600 c and I find with this third party lens, the eye af didn't work with the two family dogs. One is black and white. The other is light brown and white. However, I find the tracking locks on very good. But, don't stick for very long. I lock on shoot, then relock on and shoot again. Good for birds taking off. But not so much in flight.

I wonder if this eye/facial recognition concept will ever work well with wildlife. Wild animals have evolved color and contrast camouflage to prevent this very thing by their predator/prey counterparts. I can see it working on animals that don't depend on camouflage but, those that do not so much. It seems a pretty daunting task to write software that could figure it out. It's out-foxing evolution.

Hello! Would U have a complete setup guide for the z7 for wildlife, that will be very helpful!

SIR, on full frame body if we use 200 f2.8 & 400 f5.6 the effect of background blur remains the same or 200 f2.8 gives more background blur.

Great work Steve! Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm resisting the urge to migrate to the Z system until I become confident of hit performs in wildlife shooting. I'm impressed with Nikon's rapid improvements.

Great video, Steve. Thank you. From an engineering perspective, what allows Nikon DSLR autofocus systems to outperform their mirrorless counterparts?

Hi Steve. Can you make a short video, if the actual update for Z6/Z7 solved some of the issues you pointed in this video? It would be very nice. Thanks for great content! (Sorry for my english)

Great video. I am jumping from a micro 4/3 Lumix 60X zoom to a APS-C or full frame camera. I mainly shoot birds in a tree or on the ground but want to do some birds in flight. I don't have any glass so want to get a Tamron 150-600 and a budget friendly body. I am looking at a D500 or the Z6. This is hobby shooting and mainly birds. Since I am starting from scratch am I better using the Z6 due to a full frame sensor or the D500 which will give better tracking shots. I love the idea of no shutter noise and understand I will have some misses on the tracking. I mainly want something that is sharp and pickup some in flight shots when I get the chance. Your thoughts.

Hi Steve, is there also a possibility to pay it thrue ... I-deal. In the netherlands and europe that is the preferred way of paying. thanks, i love your tutorials

eye AF and tracking works fine if subject is big in frame. either you need to be close or use longer lens. otherwise it is not good

My findings are pretty similar to yours. I shoot pets and taking action shots with the Z6 just doesn't get the results I am looking for. The results are much better with a D5 or D500 and the tougher the environment the bigger the difference in favor of the DSLRs. Still gotta give Nikon credit, it's much better. When Nikon finally introduces a pro body I am now convinced it will equal or surpass my DSLRs, much like the Sony A9/A9II. I am looking forward to that day, because moving to Sony would be mighty expensive. I would need at least two Sony A9 II's and a native 70-200 (need best possible AF for that lens as it is used most for action), plus eventually adding glass for other focal lengths (may not have to be native, would have to test). The cost would be minimum 11k-14k if purchased new. Even used, its more than I want to spend right now, so hoping to Nikon delivers a pro camera and I can slowly move over using much of my Nikon F-mount glass. I am positive Nikon will deliver before I need to replace my current DSLR's.

Hi Steve, great video as usual! Do you by any chance have a review of the z50? Wonder how it compares to 7500.

Hi Steve, I wanted to ask you, I have already the D850 and 810, but want to get another body, I want to ask you what would you go for if you had the choice between the Z6 and Z7 also bear in mind that there will be a Z8 coming out as well soon I think, my photography is mostly people photography but have really taken an interest in wildlife, thanks in advance Alan

All fair points. I'm looking for a recommendation I have a D850 currently and it's great, however, I am photographing wildlife in quiet places and the mirror slap is disturbing them - second camera suggestions please

Hey Steve great video, which foot are you using for the 500PF?

subbed!! In your opinion, if you had to choose one over the others, which regular AF mode do you prefer for BIF? I was having some good luck with dynamic area AF but in the video i saw you use the wide area small in the video to track a BIF. Thanks!

Hi Steve! Great videos and youtube channel. I come to ask about your experience or your perception. I am between the nikon z50 or the d7500. my current bird kit is a d5300 + afs 300mm non vr + 1.4x teleconverter. Greetings from Chile!!

Thinking of switching to mirrorless, and I do quite a bit of wildlife photography. What's a good model for that? Which Sonys do you have?

Thanks for this review Steve....you mention the sony mirrorless system....If you were buying into a system now, would you still go Nikon D850 etc, or would you invest instead in the Sony Mirrorless system?

Maybe Nikon could hire Sony's A9 engineers. :) Great review, Steve. Thanks.

I just bought the Nikon z6 and I love it but honestly my D500 is killer at wildlife and sports

A bit disappointed myself Steve. I’m actually doing a soccer game this afternoon and hope to try it out in a sports environment. I will however have my D500 & D5 with me just in case. Oh btw, good excuse for a field trip. LOL

Hi Steve. Ok! You convinced me in one of your videos to try back button focusing. I am trying to figure out how this works with eye detection in both AF-S and AF-C. Eye detect just finds the eye but doesn't focus on it, right? We still have to press the AF on button, right? Just a lite confused. Appreciate your clarity.

Hi Steve, Thanks for sharing your findings about the new firmware capabilities, in fact, it's the first review that I see somebody going to field test with wildlife (or sports). Based on your experience, I would be grateful if you could advise on the best AF setting/mode on the Z cameras, for wildlife/sports, apart from the "new" tracking one. Thank you!

I’ve been using a Nikon D750 for a while now and was thinking of switching to the the Z6 to eventually upgrade some of my lenses to Z glass, Do you know how the AF compares to the 750 after this firmware upgrade?

Read your BBAF mirrorless article. Great points in there. Do you think version 3.0 with the tracking mode changes anything about that. Seems like everything you said would still stand.

I used the U1, U2, and U3 so I can switch between modes easily.

what camera you use in this video bro? its very nice

BIF. Steve, you recommend not using track modus for the pelican when trees in background. The Nikon DSLRs with group focus would have kept focus on the pelican. With AF on Z7 in normal mode, you only showed a gull in flight with even background. So what precise AF-setup would you recommend with the Z-models for keeping focus of a BIF when you have uneven background?

What about if you get super close to the animal? I recently took a picture of a Swainson's Hawk perched on a fence post. The bird was only about 40 feet away. It was pretty insane how close the hawk let me get. In such a scenario, the bird's eye is so prominent, I wonder if it wouldn't pick up on it. I was thinking how handy eye detect would be, because I could just focus on my framing and not even worry about the focus point.

Steve, it seems like Nikon left the old way of doing tracking in the camera as opposed to totally replacing it with the new (better) method? I thought that was odd unless my Z7 is acting screwy.

@13:00 the text says your Sonys have been exceptional for wildlife. Do you have any reviews/videos of them? Also have you tried any of their APS-C offerings?

The Face and Eye AF has the same issue with darker skin people as well. This seems to be a recurring issue with any type of facial recognition. I also find that auto area AF doesn't pick up what I'm trying to get often, and usually sticks to something along the edges. They should add an option to prioritize the center AF stacks in a later firmware. Maybe this is why DSLRs are often perceived to have better AF when their AF points are often clumped together in the center (for Nikon at least).

My z6 and 200 500 nikon lens dont lock on fest birds i try too do but i need good seeting

So in general for standard AF (no tracking mode) --- is 3.0 noticeably better than 2.x ? or is AF just better than using tracking in general ?

Steve, do you know if the AF improvements in firmware 3.4 improved the situation any? Im considering replacing my D800 with the Z6.

Please excuse this being off subject but I value your opinion. I'm just getting into bird/wildlife photography and am torn over whether to invest in a tripod gimbal as opposed to going handheld. I am using a Sony a7III with the Sony 200-600mm. Have you done a video on this subject? Thanks. Hope to hear your thoughts.

Many thanks Steve Unfortunately Nikon focus system is very poor and all of them is low and bad copy of Sony Auto focus system. I hope you one day review Sony auto focus system and explain it. I learned all of my knowledge from your videos.

My cameras have a hard time focusing on my black cat as well!

I'm a little late to this video but do you think there will be more firmware updates that would address these issues. I am trying to decide which camera to get the Z7 or the D850 - landscape and animal photography?

Thanks for the informative analysis of the firmware update. I was wondering what lens you were showing in your video.

Excellent review of the performance of the Z6/7 for wildlife. I also find object tracking to be highly ineffective and especially so in comparison to dynamic and/or area modes for moving subjects. Some shots, like many warblers, may present them selves once a year or even once a decade and having to rely on this tracking mode is not an option. Shame on Nikon! Again, thankfully, I find the reliance on the dynamic/small area combination to be a reasonably effective alternative as is using my A9 instead.

Hello Steve, You definitely carry a lot of weight for Nikon. From the ownership of several cameras and the in depth reviews that you offer in your channel, does Nikon pay attention of all your inputs? I hope they do, because by improving all the information you gather as a professional wildlife photographer, Nikon can improve on the software and gain market share once everything works well for many photographers. I have a question for you if you don't mind? How do you grade between the D-850 and the Z7? Do you see yourself eventually migrating to the Z system completely? Today 9/22/2020 I had a chance to visit the local photo store in Portland Oregon and I was told that the Z7 and the adapter come together in the package and there is a $300.00 dollars instant rebate which brings the price to $2500.00 dollars. I am tempted to purchase it which also will incur some expense for the XQD card and reader which isn't cheap but I handled the card and definitely feels very rugged. Like I said in my previous response in your channel I have been inclined towards the D-850 and after feeling the Z7 and handling it it is a well built machine that needs adjustments as you mentioned. Currently the D-850 is still selling like the day it was introduced, even the used one's they are asking for the same price of a new Z7 and the adapter as I mentioned here. Your thoughts? Thanks Steve, cheers.

9:51 about close subject priority: I thought the wide-area modes have close-subject-priority? At least they kinda behave like that

Been using the Z6 for birds and wildlife the only setting that I had great success with is dynamic AF don’t use any other feature for birds

💯

Has anybody updated their D850? I think there was an update not too long ago.

What camera and tele lens combination would you recommend for under $3500? From the perspective of a wildlife photographer I mean. I like Nikon but I'm open to Sony as well.

Maybe your observations are correct for birds (as opposed to "wildlife" in general). A good, and difficult test, would be bear, buffalo, zebra, moose/elk, lions (and other big cats), etc. Typically they are slow moving

Could you try the autofocus with native Z glass? I've heard that it's communication bus is 10x faster!

Did you use a lens built for mirrorless or an older F mount lens? Does it make a difference?

Hmm...I still keep some of my lenses from my Nikon times in hope of seeing something really good in mirrorless from Nikon. Primarily for Wildlife. So far the Nikon Z6 and Z7 are...really so so. Especially when it comes to small birds and BIF's. For me it is not really useable, especially when you face difficult low light situations. It is that simple: where my Sony gets the shot the Nikon Z6 will miss it. So lets wait and see what Nikon eventually brings out this year as the Z8 (if this camera is really coming).

Beautifull cats :-)

Wonder if you found Z6 being superior in focusing capability to Z7. Is D850 still doing them all, jack of all trades for Nikon shooter?

Sony a9 with sigma 500mm f4 ore Nikon z6 ii with a 600mm f4e fl ed