Nikon Z9 Fimware 4.0 and the Amazing Auto Capture Feature

[@uaebifvideo5472]

Impressive firmware update from Nikon (4), maybe the best ever !!

[@kurtkemnitzer]

Great intro to auto capture Scott. What a great new feature to give my Z9 even more value.

[@Interbeing_CDN]

In addition, the Auto Capture will work in conjunction with Pre Capture, exciting indeed!

[@myketripp3838]

I can't wait! My Z9 arrives in two days and I have all kinds of birds at my feeders.

[@WildlifeInspired]

Nice!

[@AstairVentof]

I think this is pretty amazing. Nikon seems committed to improving their cameras with updates. The only limitations right now seems to the the Nikon auto focus but that has been steadily improving.

[@thomastuorto9929]

I couldn't commit to spending that amount of money for a AF that seems to randomly jump off subjects when there are others that hold on to the subject much more accurately. Bummer, I'm invested in Nikon glass & don't want invest in another system. I feel Nikon agreed to go with a random jump off algorithm for the AF when purchasing tech from Sony. It tracks well & then just jumps off at random times. Just doesn't make sense.

[@jackstutts6439]

That would be really fun to use in my blind at my backyard setup. And I do have a electrical outlet for external power so I could set up while still dark and go back to bed 😴😆

[@pennhillman]

Your quite right to be excited the possibilitys are endless, nearly ...

[@richandgem]

Just came to this video. Recently purchased a Z8 and as you know with firmware 2.0 we have auto capture on the Z8. So excited to try this in the field. Thank you for the very well explained description of this amazing feature.

[@WildlifeInspired]

Have fun!

[@NeilJernigan]

the possibilities this opens up is pretty awesome! Game changer

[@WildlifeInspired]

i dont use that often but hard to not say it

[@robguyatt9602]

This is cool. I haven't done it for a while but I set my D850 & 70-200 lens with the lens hood hard against my window inside. The birdbath is about 3 - 4 metres away. Sitting on the lounge chair I would just reach over and shoot (live view) when birds visited. I was pleasantly surprised that my double-glazed window just had no ill effect. Cleaned spotless inside and out of course. Now I have the Z9. Recall the old saying? "Look Mum, no hands" LOL. Can't wait.

[@WildlifeInspired]

Its kinda fun lol I dont do it much, but I certainly played with it a bit

[@robguyatt9602]

@@WildlifeInspired My kit would make a great trail cam. Oh wait. AU$20000 bolted to a tree in the forrest? Umm no. LOL.

[@craigwallace166]

Very exciting, looks very versatile. Can’t wait to try. I have an Anker 535 power bank which I charge the battery with or just leave it hooked up and shoot.

[@JayBlue2U]

Very interesting video! I’m going to try it this weekend to see if I can get good photos of butterflies, moths, bees, and dragonflies. These insects can be challenging because they’re small and fast moving.

[@kipcotter5374]

I tried it at the hummingbird feeder - worked well. It just came to my mind that maybe I haven’t been thinking about this fully enough. I could see this working pretty well for crouching shots where we try to get at eye level of waterfowl, etc. also could use this on a pole/monopod hanging the camera down at levels or up at levels while viewing the tilt screen and just concentrating on getting the animal in the screen. This would handle the focus and triggering for us which can be a pain when in awkward positions.

[@gaucphotography]

Using this feature we also have the chance to capture some unusual behavior. During the last week, since AC was introduced, I have been using this on the Northern Flicker nest in backyard.

[@WildlifeInspired]

very cool

[@indrajitadvani3742]

Pretty awesome and feel your excitement. Here in Hertfordshire, England we have tons of red kites. It would be cool to capture one of those guys

[@WildlifeInspired]

Very cool

[@uaebifvideo5472]

Thank you for the information, Scott!!

[@CWL51]

Change the setting to higher ISO and faster shutter speedand even set to f4, there will have very gregarious photos came out, the function is awesome

[@Zap09060]

Probably shutter speed was less in auto capture mode 😊 But pretty amazing feature … thanks for sharing 🙏🏻

[@19Photographer76]

(Support Scott✌) My Nikon N90 with the MF-26 data back and MB-10 had trap capability which I played with for butterflies. This feature is a lot more evolved. You mentioned that testing is half the fun well, I think the hunt and capture is the other half.

[@WildlifeInspired]

agree

[@19Photographer76]

@@WildlifeInspired Hi Scott, now that some time has past and we've had 2 additional firmware updates, do you use a specific camera/lens cover for protection?

[@ForrestWest]

Looks like a great feature and I hope they bring it to Canon and Sony with firmware updates. I wonder why it didn't remain focused on the perch even after and before the shots. It seemed to default to a different distance to focus, possibly all the way up close?

[@victorlim5077]

I think you can also set the distance range. Maybe this will limit the focus racking.

[@WildlifeInspired]

not sure but I did employ a double top secret strategy. BTW you could use some form of focus limitation to help and the distance setting is available though I did not use for this one

[@uaebifvideo5472]

They've almost given you a free trail cam !! .

[@WildlifeInspired]

Feels like it

[@kumarkrishnan8309]

Thanks for the info. Do you know if this can be used to capture lightning, so that I can avoid using a device like the Pluto trigger.

[@LouisaLee63]

Cool video!

[@WildlifeInspired]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@stevethompson8154]

Could be great for hummingbirds

[@RonSkinnerPhotographer]

I’ve been using this for taking photos of my dog playing frisbee and also backyard birds and it works great, I always use Auto Area AF though, only problem is with the settings I was using it takes way to many photos I ended up with over 7,409 photos of backyard birds LOL

[@WildlifeInspired]

Lol. Omg ! Time to slow the frame rate down

[@thomastuorto9929]

Any in flight? For the back yard, birds come & go from/to a perch while visiting a feeder. Pointing near the perch or near the bird feeder a foot or two from could possibly land some great in-flight shots. Seen a vid from Moose Peterson in southern Arizona getting hummingbirds in flight (using flash) going to/from a perch to the feeders they return visit every year. AC kind of takes the fun sport of the whole thing for this type of shooting. I could see using it for species that wouldn't come near a nest or site knowing someone was there. I'm sure Nikon had other subjects in mind other than wildlife when they decided to add this.

[@WildlifeInspired]

Again, this was a test of concept and practicality. Does it work? yes. The possibility and use cases are up to the user. If you follow me at all you know I love my work in the field, I don't use traps as it removes the experience for me. That said, occasionally playing with remotes could be a fun change and allow shots you just cant get with another setup.

[@tobynokla]

Dont know if anyone mentioned this but how about trying to capture Lightning with this? there are some 3rd part ones that do work well with lightning but having this built in could really be cool.

[@danwray5626]

Nice video. What do the speed and size numbers mean?

[@PantheraPhotoSafaris]

Wish canon woke up with the pre capture on the R3 This is very cool, but for long deployments it will be pretty hopeless.

[@Skye_the_toller]

I tried it for capture some hummingbirds… they seem too fast to be captured 🤯

[@myketripp3838]

My hummingbirds sit on my feeder often for minutes at a time. Can slo-mo be used?

[@karlgunterwunsch1950]

If only you could have the subject/eye detect take over focusing after the initial trigger...

[@withvinayak]

I think Sony is sleeping!! Been waiting for major Sony a1 firmware update for sometime now!!

[@danbrown8979]

A question regarding auto capture. I tried to use it today and it was complete failure! I set up with auto area af and then No matter what settings I tried, every time I started the process, the scene would go completely out of focus and if I tried to re-focus manually, the focus mode would switch to Manual focus, which would not track the subject. Should I have just left the scene out of focus? EDIT, FYI, I just tried again and it worked fine, didn't switch to manual focus? Glitchy! Humm?

[@WildlifeInspired]

I set do a small area focus I am finding the bigger areas or full area dont work as well.

[@ambrosechiu2338]

great test. do all images captured in jpeg format or raw?

[@WildlifeInspired]

RAW! you can set to either

[@ambrosechiu2338]

@@WildlifeInspired that is awesome. thank you 🙏

[@ele4853]

I updated my firmware to 4.0 went to motion settings and when I press start my display goes dark. Nothing happens. After many different tentatives still the same black screen I decided to reset my menu settings to default. Now I can get into the "start" and change the settings. I put on the same settings you did yours and when I press the record button to start motion detection then start shooting nothing happens. The camera senses nothing. What a pain in the rear. What about the default menu settings that is not making the camera start shooting when a subject moves into the frame I have no idea. Beautiful on theory. 😅😅😅😅 real world, zero results. Very frustrating

[@WildlifeInspired]

I have used it several times and even for video could you have the focus area messed up?

[@StevenDavisPhoto]

the size and speed is confusing. like how do u know what is what?

[@karenMorton-c5h]

Great video! So I got the Z9 a few days ago as am into wildlife photography. So I set up on a tripod to capture some birds. After a short while the LCD went black and autocapture didn’t work. This video says he was set up for 2 hours. Can anyone help? What am I doing wrong?

[@WildlifeInspired]

play around with the setting and sensitivity. Try turning distance OFF. Then try Just motion, then try just just subject (animal selected) I have used several times and its works for almost all birds. Experimenting with macro now, we shall see.

[@ansonchew_sg]

Is there a dust on the sensor?

[@WildlifeInspired]

I am sure! I clean it myslef about 4 times a year, but changing lenses a lot doesnt help.

[@thomastuorto9929]

At least f4 to 5.6 for this. Way to tight & how about setting it up for some in-flight captures.

[@WildlifeInspired]

Agree on aperture keep in mind this was LITERALLY the first time trying this and was more curious about activation. Keeping a SUPER narrow DoF also allows me a better idea of focus. Meaning if the eye is sharp, I know its actually using subject focus as intended.

[@Kruemelkraft]

Where would this be on your 1 to 10 wildlife scale? 😏

[@WildlifeInspired]

Hmmmmm. Staged. Wild. 5?

[@TheRapTrue]

On my z9 auto capture is gray and I can't activate it. Anybody knows what's going on?

[@AlienGrade]

Sony users punching air right now, other Channels on KZbin show how to tweek this feature.

[@WildlifeInspired]

yes, theres a lot of tweaking that I have played with as well. It's a neat feature and this was pretty much a first day trial!

[@hans6304]

I'm a sony user and thinking of getting the Z8. Hope nikon will have this on the 8.

[@TheWildlifeGallery388]

EXCITING - but I have an R5 - 😠

[@schtggl6265]

If you go for animals: trigger for animals (not cars or people) - the Z9 will better hit the eyes. Your depth was too shallow, better use an appropriate aperture and speed. Nice first try.

[@WildlifeInspired]

Keep in mind, also trying to see the very level of focus (super shallow) really was interested in the first impression (does it work.... yep!)