Thought I would post an update in regard to my Z8 setup and usage.
I've been using it actively for about a month, and in many ways am still coming to grips with it. I have used the 1.01 firmware and the 2.00 firmware each for about the same amount of time.
For birds, I would say there is a noticeable improvement from the 1.01 animal subject detection to the 2.00 bird subject detection. Firstly, you would hope and expect that to be the case, and secondly, it is the impression I have, rather than from any scientific testing.
With this improvement, I feel I can further refine (and simplify) the settings I shared previously. Some of them are below. Of course these may not be what works best for you.
Limit AF Area Mode Selection
At menu a8 I now have: Single-point, Ws, Wl, Wc1 [1x1], Wc2 [13x3], 3D, Auto-area.
This is actually more than I previously had, but I can't see myself ever changing focus settings this way, but rather by...
At menu f2 I have the video record button setup to toggle between Single-point and 3D.
This enables me to quickly swap between the two. It uses the Cycle AF-area mode feature added in firmware 2.00.
Autofocus Overrides
I still have autofocus removed from the shutter release and the AF-ON button is still performing AF-ON only.
I removed 3D from Fn1
I removed Single-point + AF-ON from Fn2
DISP button is still set to Auto-area + AF-ON
I am now going to try without any handoffs, as it seems 3D and Auto-area are now good enough to acquire and track (for me anyway).
So cutting to the chase, the approach to autofocus I will now try is:
- Camera tuns on and starts with 3D.
- Focus with AF-ON. Put the square on the bird and it acquires the subject and tracks it around the frame to my expectation, even with the bird relatively small in the frame, or with foreground distractions (within reason of course).
- If I think Auto-area is a better option, I press the DISP button which I've set to Auto-area + AF-ON. Works well for me when there is less distraction in the frame, or for tracking birds in flight.
- If for some reason I need single-point, toggle to it with the single button press (see f2 above), focus with AF-ON, then a single button press back to 3D. Doing this, the old focus and recompose still works fine if the bird is not moving.
Of course, focus acquisition works better if you start somewhere in the ball-park, so a quick turn of the manual focus ring can also help.
Feel free share what you are doing.
BirdLife Photography Communications Coordinator