First images with the Z8

[Clovishound]

Made a quick trip over to Cypress to try out the new gear. Made a few initial setting changes and headed over to the park to check out the AF capabilities. I was not disappointed. While not instantaneous or flawless, it did a very good job of finding and locking on to the bird's eye and tracking it. Fps are very impressive. I'm going to have to figure out how I want to balance not taking too many shots of static subjects, and yet be ready to get that great series when a critter is in motion, or doing something interesting.

Unfortunately, the ospreys were doing more sitting on the nest rather than flying. I only got one series of one in flight, and that wasn't a flying into or out of the nest. Still, it proved the system's ability to follow the action.

While I was waiting in vain for one of the ospreys to fly, this little warbler flew up close by. The AF went unerringly to the eye.

 

[BF Hammer]

Set the clock next.

 

[Clovishound]

Yeah, I should have done a more thorough go over before setting out with it, but it showed up at the door about 2:30, and I really wanted to try it out on some birds, so I needed to skedaddle over to Cypress before they closed the gates.

Clock set now.

 

[Blue439]

Congrats on the new camera !

As I often say, the only difference between kids and grown-ups is the price of the toys...

 

[Clovishound]

The Pup dragged me out to cypress again this morning and I grabbed a few wood duck in flight shots. We are going out again tomorrow morning to the Boneyard Beach. We will have to leave the house a little after 4:30 AM for the 1 1/2 hour drive to get there 1/2 hour before sunrise. In the end, it is normally worth it, though. I think I may leave the Z8 in the bag, as I'm not sure I'm ready to expose the new camera to salt spray and fine sand at the beach, not to mention possibly dropping it in the wet sand, or even shallow salt water. AF performance is not an issue over the Z7ii, and sensor quality is basically the same.

Here is the entire series. Even at 20 fps, there is considerably different poses between the shots.

V1!

Rotate!

Positive rate, gear up!