The Nikon Z9 combined with the Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S (in this case with the Nikon Z TC-1.4X) is a great combination for action sequences of birds in flight. This was again shown yesterday when I found a lot of Red-billed Gulls resting on the rocks around the base of Mauao/Mount Maunganui waiting for an unlucky cicada to launch into flight from the Pōhutukawa trees where their load chorus was celebrating summer. When a cicada was seen in flight a gull would set off in jinking pursuit to try and hawk the insect in mid air. Photographically this requires quick acquisition of the subject and then tenacious follow-focus. The following sequence shows how well the Nikon Z9 manages this task with all images in sharp focus.

I have found the wide area AF with subject detection set to animal to be the most useful focus mode for this type of work. I have back button focus activation on and if I can place the focus box over the bird focus locks quickly and tracks tenaciously. If head or eye detection lights up green it will then follow the subject out toward the edges of the frame. The final shots in this sequence were right at the frame edge due to the erratic flight and were completely sharp.

I have read of a hybrid focus mode set-up for the Nikon Z9. This advises using auto or wide area to gain initial focus before switching to 3D autofocus. To set this up requires using, for example, a half press of the shutter to invoke wide area and once locked shifting to back button which has been set to 3D AF.

The touted benefit being that the 3D focus follows to the edge but wide area is limited to within the focus box. I have not found this to be the case as the head or eye focus cursor will remain lit and move well beyond the wide area box, even to the edge of the frame. I have briefly tried the hybrid mode but found the complexity detracted from, rather than adding to my success rate. With practice I could get better at it but at present don’t find focus tracking a problem in need of a solution, it just seems to work very well in wide area mode for what I need.

Photos with Nikon Z9, Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S with the Nikon Z TC-1.4X