The intelligence of the autofocus on the mirrorless full-frame cameras from Nikon has been considered slightly lacking. Does the new firmware update bring some significant changes to the Z 6 and Z 7? This short video aims to find out.
Chris Nichols at DPReview runs you through the updates and does some quick tests to find out how dramatic the changes are since Nikon rolled out this firmware update a few days ago. A couple of changes are significant: firstly, the method for locking onto a subject has been tweaked and 3D tracking improved, and secondly, animal eye autofocus has been added.
There is still some slightly odd behavior, however, as Nichols discovers. It’s definitely not clear if his dog has human eyes or his human has dog eyes, but whatever the source of this confusion, it doesn’t seem to be too much of an issue. I can’t imagine there are too many critical circumstances where you will miss shots as a result of your Z 6 choosing a human eye instead of that of an animal.
In the past, it’s mostly been Fujifilm rolling out major upgrades via firmware, but this now seems to be the pattern for Nikon, too. Nikon will be delighted to learn that users are reporting that this new firmware has dramatically improved their experience of using the Z 6 and the Z 7.
Have you upgraded? Is it a marked change in the camera’s usability? Leave your thoughts below.
When the apocalypse is over I might need to pick up a Z6.
This is a legit review but I would say that compared with the last firmware, besides the usability which is awesome and the animal eye detection which is kind of irrelevant, the improvement is dramatic in two aspects, low light autofocus, which stopped being difficult and now is great even in harsh conditions and accuracy of AF-C.
Ha... only took 1.5 years. Too little way too late.