Exploring Bird Subject Detection Autofocus on the Nikon Zf with firmware 2.0

As a long time shooter of the Z8 and Z9 with a lot of familiarity of what Bird Subject Detection brought to the game, I’ve been super curious to see how it functions on a slower, non-stacked sensor camera like the Nikon Zf. The findings here also apply to the Z5ii, as they share the exact same internals and sensor specs.

In this walkthrough, I talk about:

• Autofocus precision in light and dark situations for perched birds

• Autofocus precision for slower moving birds in flight

• Autofocus precision for fast moving birds in flight

• The lower resolution of the Zf and what caveats it presents

• The effect that teleconverters seem to have on the Zf vs the Z8 and Z9

Testing was conducted with a Zf, Z9, Z 100-400, and Z 1.4x Teleconverter with identical settings where applicable between bodies.

An update that felt like an immediate win turns out to have much more grey area than I originally assumed. I hope this video proves educational if you’re curious to see how the Zf and Z5ii can utilize this new feature, and in which situations it makes sense to use. Leave a comment on your experiences with 2.0 and Bird AF, and if you found this helpful, please consider buying me a coffee so I can fuel up and continue to bring you more content like this. Thanks and take care!