Z Design Does Aid in Lens Design

spb_stan

Senior Member
I think we are just as the beginning of the refinement of the firmware to optimize AF performance. The hardware is there already, the speed of the processor and data buses suggests the only thing preventing the AF from matching or beating the D5 is further work on the software which apparently at the midpoint or less of the capabilities.
I have been using single point AF-S most of the time because it fits my subjects but last night went to a dim jazz supper club with the Z6 and only two lenses, 24-70 f/4, and f mount 85 1.8G. I wanted to experiment with tracking. The singer was a friend of mine and I brought 3 others for the performance and dinner. I tried Dynamic Area, Wide Area Small, Wide Area Large and last, Auto-Area with face tracking. All of them worked better than expected but Auto Area with face tracking on surprised me most in how good it was. She was not moving all over the stage but was rather active for a f/1.8 aperture shallow DOF. Just bringing the EVF to my eye and pressing AF-On locked onto her face wherever it was in the frame and stays on her. I shot 151 frames and only 2 were missed focus by an inch or more from the desired focal plane. We were on the second row of tables so to get enough reach I switched to Dx mode to get a field of view from the 85 mm as 127mm. She wanted a few photos for her web site/Instagram so I got a number of good shots for that purpose.
I was happy with the AF tracking so could not figure out how the Z cameras got a reputation of having poor AF. The more I use the Z6 the more I feel like selling the D850 and D800(might not get much for that due to age so would probably keep it) and get a Z7 for the studio/portrait or commercial work.
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spb_stan

Senior Member
Some have said that it is a little slow for BIF.
I don't remember any of the early bad reviews that mentioned BIF or any sports in their tests, just people walking to or away from the camera.
Since so many of the bad reviews were well before the Z7 was available I suspect that some of the main anti-Z channels were motivated by the fear of lost sales. If they gave glowing reviews for a camera not available their review might cause viewers to wait until later before buying anything and their income from affiliate links would suffer at the time. These video reviews are done by people who earn their income, not from photography but Youtube channel views and commissions on reviews.

A good friend of mine is a social media marketing expert told me between affiliates links and ad revenue millions of dollars income is generated by the channels with over 1 million subscribers. She estimated that the Northrup's generate $1.7-2 million dollars a year from Youtube ad revenue, , their sponsor direct payments and commissions on people clicking on the links. She did not include the revenue from selling books and workshops. They stood to lose $100,000 or more in lost revenue for freezing the market if they gave a glowing report on the camera.

The fuzzy hair gut makes a lot less, maybe 1/3rd but for a guy who is not really a photographer(for a while he shot concert photos for local NYC grunge and post-punk bands at one time but there is no money in that and there is also no interest in the quality of images.

The angry guy who changed his channel name several times is hardly a photographer and brags how he has no affiliate links but does not mention he gets $300,000-400,000/year for ad revenue directly from Youtube. He is pushing Fuji now so had a strong incentive to bash a camera that would put a serious dent in his Fuji fan base if they wandered off to Nikon. He was the one who cashed the hardest and still claims it is a total failure of a camera and only idiots would buy one.
 

Danno

Senior Member
I don't remember any of the early bad reviews that mentioned BIF or any sports in their tests, just people walking to or away from the camera.
Since so many of the bad reviews were well before the Z7 was available I suspect that some of the main anti-Z channels were motivated by the fear of lost sales. If they gave glowing reviews for a camera not available their review might cause viewers to wait until later before buying anything and their income from affiliate links would suffer at the time. These video reviews are done by people who earn their income, not from photography but Youtube channel views and commissions on reviews.

A good friend of mine is a social media marketing expert told me between affiliates links and ad revenue millions of dollars income is generated by the channels with over 1 million subscribers. She estimated that the Northrup's generate $1.7-2 million dollars a year from Youtube ad revenue, , their sponsor direct payments and commissions on people clicking on the links. She did not include the revenue from selling books and workshops. They stood to lose $100,000 or more in lost revenue for freezing the market if they gave a glowing report on the camera.

The fuzzy hair gut makes a lot less, maybe 1/3rd but for a guy who is not really a photographer(for a while he shot concert photos for local NYC grunge and post-punk bands at one time but there is no money in that and there is also no interest in the quality of images.

The angry guy who changed his channel name several times is hardly a photographer and brags how he has no affiliate links but does not mention he gets $300,000-400,000/year for ad revenue directly from Youtube. He is pushing Fuji now so had a strong incentive to bash a camera that would put a serious dent in his Fuji fan base if they wandered off to Nikon. He was the one who cashed the hardest and still claims it is a total failure of a camera and only idiots would buy one.

I had somehow missed this thread. I guess it was during busy week of doctors with Pat. This is an interesting analysis... one that I share. I have continued to watch these 3 now simply for entertainment and it has been entertaining. Fro seems to have backed up but the others are doubling down.

This is an amazing camera to me. It is really fun to use.
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Not many cameras are the best at everything, you make the most of what its best at and work on what its not so good at, like me trying BIF with a mirrorless.
 
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