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.

Forgot to mention in my previous post, but one area I am seeing the subject detection struggle a little is for long-necked birds. For example, White-faced Heron, with the entire bird in the frame, it wanted to stay on the body and not go to the head or the eye. Would be interested to hear if others have experienced similar.

After another month or so using the camera, just wanted to add a quick high level update about how I am using it.

Firstly though, many thanks to Glenn Pure and Ian Wilson for their assistance.

Exposure - aperture on front command dial; shutter speed on rear command dial; ISO on lens control ring (Z mount lens)
Autofocus - 3D on AF-ON; Auto area on DISP; toggle between 3D and single-point on video record button

If any member would like to compare notes, feel free to email me. If you are logged in, you can see my email address under the About Us page.

Craig....Last time we spoke (phone), you asked if eye detection continued to detect should the subject move outside the actual boundary of the box itself.  I advised I wasn't sure but would get back to you.

After much fiddling around with various subjects and area modes it has been my experience that yes.....eye detection does continue to detect even when the subject moves outside the box.

Regards'

Warren