AF hands off vs AF overrides

The main difference between AF handoffs and AF overrides is the AF point the camera uses when the override button is pressed:

AF handoffs: The camera uses the exact AF point it was previously using.

AF overrides: The camera can use a variety of AF points, including the last position used for the specific AF area, the center of the current AF area, or the juiciest target.

All handoffs include an AF area override, but not all AF area overrides include AF hand offs.

Master Nikon AF Handoffs on Z8, Z9, and Z6iii for Jaw-Dropping Action Shots!

battery matters

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Mirrorless cameras consume huge amount of charge while running. Even when we are not taking photos, following are running Camera CPU, EVF/LCD, Internal electronics, Lens operations, Sensor scans etc.

Per Steve Perry, Instead of thinking of battery life as number of shots, it's better to think of active running time ( auto focus/viewfinder running just not shots). Per tests done by Steve only for photos ( no videos), he got active running time for Z9 as 4 hrs 23 mins and Z8 as 1 hr 58 mins. Mirrorless Shooters: Critical Advice About Battery Life (plus 8 tips for longer battery life)

Shalini

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Has anybody tried such alternate battery options for Z8

The BEST 3rd party battery for Nikon? (works with Nikon Z8)

Sid

—-

Anupama

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https://photorumors.com/2024/08/27/manfrotto-released-new-lithium-ion-batteries-for-nikon-sony-canon-fuji-and-om-system-with-higher-capacity-2400mah/

Naveen

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Many third party batteries don’t work in Z8.

Z8 May be.. as en-el15c is rated 2280 mah and 7v. These might work but double check. When camera was released last year, many users reported that third party batteries didn’t work as they give error “doesn’t report data” a DRM feature . But not checked in recent times.

Z9 uses en-el 18 d battery rated at 3300 mah and 10.8 V. So shape and specs of manfrotto batteries doesn’t match.

Z8 needs the battery with this spec or closer.

EN-EL15C: 7,0 V, 2280 mAh, 16 Wh

Small rig and patona platinum batteries are reportedly working well with Z8. Not sure about availability in India.

Buy one extra Nikon en-El15c and use power bank with PD cable to charge. It’s lot cheaper and safer.

Sunil Kinger

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Just out of curiosity why would you want to try the batteries of a 3rd party. Don't you think it can interfere with the working of the camera and also may impact the warranty

Shalini

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Just wanted to check the option. I have used digitek batteries in the past for dslrs when I needed some for a whole week's trek n all without charging options avl. This was like 10 years ago though. So was just checking if that option was avl for these latest cameras now. Like Naveen suggested, planning to get one extra nikon battery only. But liked the idea of that small rig batteries for ease of charging.

Naveen

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Now Nikon Z8/9 have usb-C port to charge through power bank. Just taking 2 batteries with me for last 3 years and a power bank.

With only one battery and no power bank, only once I ran out of battery in Feb 2022 while shooting bar headed goose at hadinaru Kere. My camera was not optimised for battery use at that time.

Switch off camera, if you’re not going to shoot for more than 4 to 6 mins or walking around and waiting for subject to show up. Mirrorless cameras start instantaneously. This helps it to conserve battery and cool the camera.

Check settings for stand by mode/ screen time etc.

Sridhar

Does switching off make that much of a difference?

I have always kept my d800 powered on but on standby

TBH, the z8 battery life surprises me. And not in a good way

Naveen

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Switching off makes a huge difference with mirrorless.

With Z9, many a times, after full day shoot, on single battery with 2 to 3k photos and few video clips still retains 30% charge.

For my morning walks, charging battery once after 3 to 4 days.

If you keep pumping auto focus without taking photos also drains battery a lot. So use optimally.

How to get best out of battery life. No body explains better than master Steve..

Mirrorless Shooters: Critical Advice About Battery Life (plus 8 tips for longer battery life)

Radha sir

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I take 20K MI power bank with two ENEL15c for Z8 and two ENEL18 for Z9. Charge my MI 20K Power bank with my MacBook Pro charger to backfill. My MBP charger is the only type C charger I use across to charge laptop, iPhone, watch and the power bank. The same type C cable is PD and excellent data transfer as well to the SSDs for backup.

Like any lithium based battery, the Z8 and Z9 also has its limitations. Here are a few tips I follow:

1.⁠ ⁠Use the 20:80 rule for longer shelf life of the batteries. Charge when the battery hits 20% and unplug from charging when it hits 80-85%. It’s a myth that 100% battery life is the best. It is actually not. Contrary to the popular belief, the discharge rate of the battery is also at its peak from 100% - 80-85%. So practically you don’t loose much by retaining at 80-85% .

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Start charging while in field work only when your battery nears 20-25%.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠when you have to charge at 20-25% while in the field work, make sure you charge it atleast for 20 minutes before you unplug from your power bank. This is required to maintain optimum Volt and thermal levels of the cells in the Li-On batteries.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠The biggest culprit in excessive battery consumption is when you start reviewing the images in the rear LCD all the time due to anxiety. That drains the battery fast.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠Powering Off/On between shoots. Do this only when the time gap is substantial. There is no significant gain by switching off as the stand by power consumption is extremely low in the Nikons and doesn’t drain the battery much. Most of the times I find the temptation to review the images on the LCD a major culprit than the camera going in to standby mode!

6.⁠ ⁠⁠As a corollary to #5, your Nikons are the best in the Industry when it comes to start up time. Switching off completely and switching on brings the camera to life and ready for shooting in no time. Nikons are industry leading in startup times. So don’t hesitate to switch off(again use your judgement 😊)!

7.⁠ ⁠⁠The average discharge rate of your batteries in room temperatures while the batteries are in shelves at home is about 2-3% per month. So keep a watch and charge it when it reaches 20-25% and unplug it when it reaches 80-85%!

Hope this helps!

But come to think of it as a techie, I think it is inevitable… with every firmware update the hardware gets squeezed to extract max out of it… battery ages, so are the NAND memory systems getting worn out. Avg power consumption when the battery / NAND is fresh vs average power consumption to be retained the same even after they are worn out makes all the difference. Performance degradation is a natural thing with the LiON batteries and the NANDs. The NAND SSDs are even worst. If you continuously use them they go bad, if you dont power them up for a year or so also the chances of them going bad is high. That’s why we recommend your portable SSDs be atleast connected to your laptops and randomly accessed a bit just to keep the cells in the SSDs activated and retain their capacity.

Even if you are given an option of a replaceable battery, replacing a NAND is impractical and it is often the Battery/NAND combination that’s a drainer

Check focus point accuracy in Photo Shooting Mode ( not playback mode)

Naveen

One cool feature. While we are in photo shooting mode, many times we’re not certain if focus was correctly acquired or where focus has landed, was focus tack sharp or not even with subject detection. We tend to check focus accuracy in playback mode by zooming to 100%. How to check focus point accuracy while in photo shooting mode?

In f2- for Ln fn1- assign it to zoom on/off and choose 100%. Whenever you want to check if focus is tack sharp or not press the function button. Camera zooms area under focus box to 100%. Press Ln- fn1 again, goes back to full view. It acts as a toggle button.

This is a sure shot way to check focus in the field. Useful when the subject is cooperating or landscapes or product photos or for photographing subjects that are not one of 9 types that Nikon z8/z9 camera detect.

Dr Chiranjeeb

This one i use, mainly if u use long heavy lenses, its difficult to juggle between ur hands. Its on the playback control, i dont exactly remember the menu number. I have doing this since 2019, with my 810 and 500 f4. If u remember, 810 had the playback button on the top left hand corner.

Naveen

Thank you. Interesting.

Got a doubt. If you configure zoom on playback button in shooting mode, how are coming to playback mode from shooting mode to review pictures?

typically left hand ( assuming you’re a right hand shooter) is on lens barrel. Either to balance/ stabilise it or move focus or zoom ring. So function buttons are handy. Requires bit of practice to make it second nature.

Jeyaram

I have assigned OK button for this. I have been using it since D750 days.

Naveen

Ok is typically configured for moving focus point to center.

Jeyaram

That’s when we are in photo shooting mode.

OK in playback mode takes me to 100% zoom

Naveen

Above customisation discussion was for shooting mode. Ln Fn1 button set to zoom 1 to 100%. Zooms area under focus point while in shooting mode to check focus point accuracy.

What do you mean by hand off to 3d?

Sridhar P

Dumb question: what do you folks mean when you say "hand off to 3d"?

Jeyaram

It is essential in mirrorless cameras to have multiple buttons programmed for different auto focus modes. It helps pick the appropriate one for the given scenario quickly.

In my Sony cameras, I have programmed AF-ON for auto focus with subject tracking and another button (AEL) button without subject tracking. Most of the time I use auto focus with subject tracking and if subject tracking is erratic I use the AEL button to traditional auto focus without subject tracking.

In Z9, most of the auto focus areas Wide S, L, C1 and C2 when subject tracking is enabled can detect and track only in the vicinity of the AF area and they cannot track the subject in the entire frame. However, 3D and Auto can track the subject in the entire frame. We typically use Wide (S, L, C1 or C2) to acquire the initial focus and handover the focus to 3D or Auto so that subject can be tracked in the entire frame. This is very essential for bird in flight, focus/recompose or when shooting in non-stable platforms (rocking/moving boat)

This has been discussed several times in this forum. Please check the Google drive for past discussions

Radha sir

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it is an acknowledged fact that both Sony and canon are ahead and superior to Nikon as it stands now even with the Z9/8/6 mark 3 bodies.

To put it in perspective, the AF in Nikon mirrorless when said its superior now, its relative to where it all started with Z6/7 mark 1, 2s. Nikon has come miles ahead of where it was with these initial days mirrorless camera. The Z9 changed it all and in relative terms is far far superior to the original Z6/7 mark 1 and 2 cameras.

But the advancements in Z9/8/6 mark 3 and the Zf is still in Gen 1 AI/ML when it comes to subject detection, tracking and stickiness. Sony and Canon are in Gen 2 of their AI/ML implementations and Nikon is catching up.

The gap until Z9 firmware 2.0 released was Nikon 30, Sony and Canon 90. Now Nikons are near 75% and Sony and Canon are already at near 95%.

Nikon started training their ML models pretty late and this is partly due to them not significantly updating / upgrading their hardware.

Also, truth be told, Nikon’s financial status in 4 years back left them very vulnerable and they had to prioritise their investments and they chose to prioritise on the new Z mount itself and the Z mount lenses rather than the AF sophistication.

Even today, with the flange distance of 16mm Nikon is easily the best implementation of the newer 35mm mount suited for mirrorless. An apt demonstration of it this is the Noct 0.95 lens and now RED adapting to the Z mount within a year of acquisition is a testimony.

All this doesn’t take away the “laggard” status of the Nikon AF. At some point in time all three will be near equal.

At that time, with the sophistication of a 16mm flange Z mount, the lens collection including the Plana, PZ, the Noct Series, the widest telephoto lens collection, a terrific hybrid video system including Nikon RAW, ProRes RAW, Later Red RAW, I am sure Nikons will be no slouch.

Again, to put it in perspective - YES, the Nikons are behind Sony and Canon in AF. Gen 1 vs Gen 2 shows up!

Arun

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Well said

I do not use Cycle AF but have trained my thumb to use BBF (3D); Disp (Single Point without any Bird or animal Assist) and Joystick (Custom Large for BIF). All three being in the thumb area gives me great ability to get focus.

While Sony and Canon are better - unfortunately for most of us Nikon is the only camera we have so we have to get the skills better and use the numerous buttons on our bodies for programing various AF modes and also use in the field for muscle memory. Keep practising the use of buttons or AF cycle mode if that is what you are comfortable with.

I personally do not believe given the hardware in the current generation Z8/9 lenses we will get any major firmware updates for AF assist. If it was possible Nikon would have already released it and bridged the gap with Sony/ Canon.

Jeyaram

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Agreed sir. Key question is how far Nikon is from Gen 2. I am more concerned when I read that Z9 II is likely incremental to Z9. For stills, we definitely need Gen 2 auto focus and pre capture RAW.

Personally waiting for the release of A1 II in India as it could be my second body with 200-600 for action. There are also rumours that Sony is also likely to release new line of lenses for wildlife

Arun

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For me Nikon ML lenses and it's technology is a game changer. Being closer to the sensor, wider opening compared to Sony/ Canon in it's equivalent class is the reason why I choose Nikon.

Tarang

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Getting into technical depths -

•⁠ ⁠what do you mean by ML lenses?

•⁠ ⁠⁠what do we mean by wider opening and closer to the sensor?

If there are online resources, please point me to them and I’m happy to get lost in the technicalities.

Arun

Radha sir

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100% with you sir… it’s the hardware refresh that is the need of the hour. i am reasonably sure of one thing: nikon won't add a ton of new features in Z9 mark 2. They definitely are aware the Z9 is already feature rich. the focus i am optimistic will just need to be in 3 areas:

1.⁠ ⁠Gen 2 AF with the next expeed processor iteration

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Dual/Parallel/Redundant writing of videos and stills to card slots(RAW)

3.⁠ ⁠⁠RAW pre-capture up to 120fps…

the rest of thr features including video, they are already on top of their game

Jeyaram

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I am not sure how relevant it is when it comes to image quality. I have tons of images shot with Sony and absolutely happy with the quality of images and their existing lenses are top notch as well.

Only reason I came back to Nikon is for the 600 TC lens and it is a game changer for my use cases. I can live minor auto focus flaws in Z9 and hope Z9 II addresses it

Radha sir

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16mm flange is the distance to the sensor from the lens mount. Nikon at 16mm is the closest to the sensor. In simple layman terms, this distance allows for light to cover 99% of the sensor without fall off. This gives you near centre to edge and near edge to edge sharpness. In the traditional 35 mm mounts including the Nikon F mount, you can clearly see as you go towards to the corners of the image the image tends to be softer than in the middle.

The 16mm flange is the closer to the sensor covering nearly 90% of the frame which means it’s not just the centre, even the corners will be sharp.

Technically, on the older mounts, you have to stop down your lens (increase depth of field) to make the entire image sharper. Shallower depth of the fields will almost always result corner softness…

That’s why the Noct 0.95 is special

That’s why the Noct 0.95 is special

That’s the shallowest lens and even that yields edge to edge sharpness and thanks to the 16mm flange

Arun

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxT17A40d50&t=87s

Check out the video, explains the flange distance, sensor distance and how image is captured and the benefits of small flange distance and wider inner opening

Radha sir

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Sir, extremely relevant!

The 0.95, 1.2, 1.4, 1.8 Z lenses are extremely sharp edge to edge on the Z mounts thanks to the 16mm flange

To the best of my knowledge, no other brand has this type of mount flange

Radha sir

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Definitely sir, these comparisons are vastly tech and unless one pixel peeps and do an indepth analysis is hard to justify, explain…

A friend of mine in the US once said, if I need to print a wall sized image at a shallow depth of field I will go to my Z8 and Z9 with 35mm 1.4 every single time…

Radha sir

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The advertisement industry and there are other industries that do not that level of AF sophistication

A landscape photographer wouldn’t even care about subject tracking

For them at 1.2 can I get an edge to edge sharp image for a wall size print - that matters

And these guys sir honestly don’t rely on autofocus

AF is a huge subject of interest for Sports, action and wildlifers

Jeyaram

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They would probably using manual focus with focus peaking

Radha sir

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99% of us for 99% of the time need not care about the flange distance honestly

Our work demands better AF, period.

For us wildlifers, it’s the millisecond of AF that’s makes the image or breaks the image and that’s why we don’t shy away either from criticising Nikon for their slowness or demanding the very best at a minimum on par with other brands

Definitely sir, these comparisons are vastly tech and unless one pixel peeps and do an indepth analysis is hard to justify, explain…

A friend of mine in the US once said, if I need to print a wall sized image at a shallow depth of field I will go to my Z8 and Z9 with 35mm 1.4 every single time…

Jeyaram

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I have Sony 85mm 1.4 lens and it is absolutely wonderful

Don’t you feel that at wider aperture like 1.2, the auto focus accuracy is far more important as the DoF is very shallow (subject distance also matters)

Radha sir

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At 1.2 most other genres keep either the subject very close or the scene is broad based with many subject, they have all the time to get the objects that still in the frame and compose. 99% of the time again they shoot static objects.

They are not time sensitive, any sort of focus adjustment doesn’t cost them the shot

In practice, most with 1.2 lens will stop down to f2 or smaller in any case for DOF or sharpness

I am deliberately not covering folks who do events like dance etc… that’s a different ball game… they are extremely low light sensitive and where artificial light is not an option they rely solely on these fast lenses

Jeyaram

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I can understand shooting static subjects wide open with such wide aperture for astro photography but other than that for landscape photography generally I have seen people using smaller aperture like f/8 or f11

Radha sir

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It kind of falls under sports/action where wider lenses come very handy

That’s what I meant sir, it doesn’t matter what aperture they shoot, they have all the time in the world to focus, compose and recompose

It doesn’t cost them if takes a second more… for us the animal or a bird is lost in that 1 sec

That’s when the superiority of the AF matters

99% of the time I shoot birds & wildlife and remaining 1% of the time I shoot portraits and product photography using studio lights where AF doesn’t have significance as I generally shoot with smaller aperture

Naveen

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Sir, pls check this article. Jim uses the Fuji medium format.

https://blog.kasson.com/nikon-z6-7/nikon-58mm-f-0-95-noct-summary/

One more

There’s a view that Nikon got stuck with f mount for long for 60 years and didn’t move with times.

https://photographylife.com/nikon-z-vs-nikon-f

Large flock of birds shooting

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Here are some general tips for flocks and for choosing images of flocks:

Use a medium to wide AF area mode that incorporates nearest subject priority. Subject detection does not matter, but your closest birds need to be in focus. Cameras already look for a focus target - and you would like to prioritize nearer targets. Pre-focusing slightly closer to the camera can be useful. Large out of focus birds are distracting.

Use a more DOF than normal - f/8 to f/13 or higher instead of shooting wide open. You want more birds in focus.

Consider longer exposures for intentional blur around sunrise or sunset - 1/30-1/60 sec.

Look for birds flying toward the camera - not away.

Look for clean backgrounds behind the birds. Consider interesting backgrounds - mountain ridges, lakes, etc.

Shoot bursts into the concentrated areas of a flock.

For smaller number of birds, try to avoid overlaps. The preferred image has no overlaps - just small spaces between birds.

The same is true for birds on the ground - avoid overlaps. This may mean you elevate your shooting position instead of getting low toward the ground.

Put the wind at your back - birds take off and land into the wind.

Put the sun at your back or in your face - 30 degrees off axis or less so the head of the bird is well lit. Shoot fully lit or silhouettes.

Know your bird behavior. Some flocks (snow geese) blast off - you have one to two chances for a morning. Shorebirds may be frequently launched by waves or rising tide - they generally circle and land to take off again. Shorebirds emphasize the direction of the wind described above.

Given the importance of wind and sun angle, not every day is suitable for photographing flocks.

Work with the conditions - don't fight the light.

Precapture and Autocapture

Naveen

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Precapture is a crucial setting to get flight shots but we get only jpgs limiting autocapture usage..seriously believe there’s a few milliseconds delay in triggering shutter release even after conditions are met in autocapture. After wasting about 10k photos on autocapture, with better reflexes and anticipation we can easily get photos that we get from autocapture.

Autocapture might work with mammals or humans or with Z lenses but birds in flight on a moving perch like Baya weaver is extremely hard.

No you can’t assign precapture to a function button. However, you can add them to my menu and I menu

Dr Saurabh

I will urge everyone to try Precapture in 60 or 120fps when you want to click a fast moving bird takeoff. You will be amazed. Though it is JPG the image is still usable

Naveen

One reason why you see only bayas exiting tubes..

Big issue is speed setting 5 in auto capture needs 1 sec of motion in the focus area and subject to be detected. Baya weavers enter the tube in a split second. So while entering auto capture never triggered.

While exiting out, as Baya are little slow to exit at times staying in the tube for more than few seconds. Even with a lot of false positives as the nest keeps swinging in air, Motion and subject detection happens once in a while but not documented delay doesn’t allow trigger shutter release or by the time shutter triggered bayas are off the frame. So I switched to precapture + auto capture but had to return as I had a working day today. Looks promising I would say but jpgs won’t allow editing.

My effort was to get a Baya weaver entering or exiting the tube of its nest.. wanted either tip of tail while exiting or tip of beak while entering to just touch tube.. it was damn tough as tube swings a lot, with bird entry and July month is windiest month in Bangalore. auto capture auto focus doesn’t stick and didn’t have a Z lens last July to use distance as a setting. It was lot of fun trying out and sharing with our forum

https://youtu.be/4xyha9dIRn8?feature=shared. Tried for several weeks in July2023 on Baya weavers and shared my experiences in a forum. You need to get a lot of things right to make it work. Medium sized bird, not fast moving, at a sufficient distance and in decent light. Don’t set too many conditions. The UI for this setting is not intuitive, so it requires a bit of getting used to it.

Comment on a video

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He used the subject as detection mode as the scene has leaves that may move with wind. Camera can’t distinguish between leaves movement or subject entering in. So subject detection was used.

Pls note auto capture doesn’t work with bird subject detection mode, works with animals. Animal subject mode is not best one for detecting birds.

Dr Saurabh

I will urge everyone to try Precapture in 60 or 120fps when you want to click a fast moving bird takeoff. You will be amazed. Though it is JPG the image is still usable

Naveen

Agree. Especially C30, C60 gives decent sized jpgs. Settings, backgrounds, exposure simulation and zebra display all would be helpful to get Jpg perfect in field.

C30- jpg fine , C-60 jpg large, C-120 Jpg small if my memory serves well.

Dr Saurabh

C120 image size will be appx 3 MB.. but it's decent if not cropped too much

Arun Ramakrishnan

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Balcony birding trial of pre-capture. This is the first time I am using pre capture.

Rose Ringed Parakeet taking off

Z8+800mm with Pre-capture

1/2000; f6.3; ISO 2800; EV -1.33

Pros: It serves the purpose of getting the frame.

Cons: Since it is a jpeg, I will not use images for print. However it is great for sharing on social media.

Can the same frame be acquired without pre-capture? Most probably yes with knowledge of bird behavior and starting clicks before the bird takes off.

Slow shutter panning

Dr Kalyan

Naveen

Very good attempt. Try with 1/60 speed. 1/30 appears little slow.

For slow shutter panning, Head/ eye needs to be sharper. They will be sharp if panning speed is almost same as bird Flight speed. Simply try to keep the bird in the same place in the viewfinder as you pan, focus will be locked properly and head/ eye will be sharp.

Use manual + auto ISO to fix shutter speed. Or full manual or shutter priority mode. Idea is to fix shutter speed.

Does Haze affects focus

Dr Kalyan

Does heat haze affect focus?

Okay, lost few pics, even shutter was fairly high, and focus appropriate, yes subject moving

Naveen

It affects focus as it’s difficult for camera to lock focus due to loss of contrast because of light scattering/ heat waves from ground

Radha sir

Big time, even more when the subject is moving to improve focus, often stopping down to 5.6 or even slower helps beat the haze a bit albeit loss of light and forcing us to go high ISO or slower shutter speed or both. The second option is to use a circular polariser (CPL) turned half way.. works most of the time..

I have found LR’s Dehaze to be effective but can introduce negative artefacts to undesirable levels if pushed all the way.

Here are some examples where I used a Nikon CPL to cut down a fair bit of distance haze…

Above all with CPL

the Yosemite, Niagara, Miami skyline were shot on the old D200 the rest are in D600

Here is an example of how LR Dehaze can create a worst possible image

no CPL, D810 + 20mm, shot at 12 noon huge distance haze, pushed LR Dehaze all the way. Looks totally unnatural

D500 + 500mm f4 stopped to f8.. moderate use of Dehaze. shot from a moving boat

CPL May not be an option with our huge lenses

only option is Dehaze + Layers and corrections in PP

Naveen

https://loadedlandscapes.com/how-do-you-reduce-haze-in-landscape-photography/amp/

From Master Steve Perry

Heat refraction, Heat wave, Heat Haze

https://youtu.be/dUOPqUjYxzM?si=1kyTeU9osgmZx8Bd

Naveen

—-------

Wanted to reflect on @⁨Raghu Iyer Birder Indore Z9 Group⁩ recommendation of stopping down on hazy day.

On a hazy day, if light is not too bad in terms of visibility, we have diffused light to get fine feather details without harsh / deep shadows. We can shoot the whole day in such conditions.

Slow shutter speeds and perched birds are best to shoot. Iso can blow up high, so keep a close watch. Creative shots are a great option. As getting focus could be a problem for flight shots. Use manual over ride to focus.

If light is hazy, using matrix metering when the subject is small, underexposes the subject. Needs + ve EC.

Try spot metering and make creative adjustments to EC as needed.

Depth of field doesn’t depend on light. It’s always based on aperture, focal length and subject distance. So it’s not necessary to step down always in a hazy light. How much of the subject we want to keep in focus determines depth of field settings.

The real question for me was, why f/13 was used to get details on such a large bird ?

For Raghu, it was needed because of relatively closer subject distance, large birds needing more depth of field to details on tip of wings and focal length of 800 mm. It’s combination of many thing

Dual Gain and ISO Invariance on Z8/Z9 cameras

Jyotsana

I read somewhere that Nikon mirrorless has a step-up at ISO 500. So practically after that it doesn’t matter what ISO you shoot at, you can remove noise in post processing. It’s called dual ISO something. Sorry can’t remember the technical term! Tech savvy folks on this group can read up more on this and explain to us tech challenged people please

Naveen

it’s called dual gain sensor. ISO 500 is dual gain point on Nikon z9/z8.

ISO invariance is increasing iso in camera gives out similar ( not same) level of image quality as adding exposure in post processing. We get almost iso invariant cameras not absolute.

Read chapter 6 at

https://photographylife.com/reviews/nikon-z9/6

EC not working in Manual priority mode with Manual ISO

Susavan Aditya

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I have a query regarding my Z8.

When I use Aperture Priority mode, everything seems normal. However, when I switch to Manual mode, the exposure compensation doesn’t seem to work. When I increase or decrease the exposure compensation, there is no visible change in the viewfinder or on the screen. Can anyone provide guidance on this? I am in Manual ISO not Auto ISO.

Jeyaram

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If manual ISO, exposure compensation doesn’t work. It works only in one of the auto modes

Sriram

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Hi Aditya, your issue with exposure compensation (EC) in Manual mode on the Nikon Z8 is expected due to how this mode functions:

Key Points:

1. Exposure Compensation Behavior in Manual Mode:

• In Manual mode, you control the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO directly. Since you are manually setting these parameters, the camera does not adjust them automatically to achieve the desired exposure, and thus, exposure compensation doesn’t visibly alter the exposure.

• The EC adjustment in Manual mode only works when Auto ISO is enabled. In this case, EC influences the ISO value, allowing the camera to adjust it to achieve the compensated exposure.

2. Why the Viewfinder or Screen Doesn’t Show Changes:

• If Auto ISO is disabled, EC has no effect because the camera isn’t allowed to change exposure settings that you’ve locked manually.

• In your case, the lack of visible change suggests that Auto ISO might be turned off.

How to Resolve This:

• Enable Auto ISO:

• Go to the camera menu → ISO sensitivity settings → Enable Auto ISO sensitivity control.

• Now, exposure compensation will influence the ISO, and you’ll see changes in brightness through the viewfinder or on the screen.

• Consider the Intent of Manual Mode:

• If you prefer full control over all parameters without Auto ISO, EC is not relevant in Manual mode, as it’s designed for completely manual operation.

Alternative Suggestions:

If you want control over aperture and shutter speed but still want the camera to adjust ISO and allow EC, consider using Shutter Priority or Aperture Priority modes with Auto ISO enabled.

I typically shoot in manual mode with Auto ISO and adjust EC as needed.

Exposure compensation usage with Manual+ Auto ISO hitting limits and middle gray

Venkat 30 Oct 2024

—---------------------

Naveen

—---------

If the wolf was standing still, you could’ve reduced shutter speed.

Were you in manual + auto iso or fully manual ISO? As ISO is 12800 just checking as you’ve used + EC.

Venkat

—--------------

Light was indeed poor, and hence +EV used. Didn't want to risk going beyond 12800. Manual +Auto ISO. Missed adjusting the shutter speed in excitement of seeing the subject at close quarters.

Jeyaram

—----------

Curious to know why you had to use +EV because the light was poor?

Exposure compensation has to be used based on the overall tonality of the scene (assuming you are using matrix metering). If the overall tonality of the scene is bright (like sky background) you have to use +EV and if the tonality is dark -EV has to be used. Generally the tonality of a scene doesn’t change based on the amount of light on the scene. However direction of light can change the tonality

When I look at this image, IMO, it’s neutral tonality and may touch brighter. I would’ve picked either 0 or 0.3. However 0.7 isn’t bad either

A major culprit in this example is the shutter speed. 1/2000 is too high for the subject and the light available.

We should always be aware of the light available and subject movement while deciding exposure setting particularly shutter speed

Naveen

—---------

In manual + auto iso, we will set aperture and shutter speed. Only thing the camera changes is iso. With EC adjustment the camera can change only iso.

Did you hit iso limits with EC or without EC? If you hit ISO limits of 12800( per our reco) and used +EC, the camera can’t increase iso any more and can’t change Shutter Speed and aperture so it takes underexposed shots. EC won’t have any effect.

If you’ve hit the iso limit with EC, say with EC 0 you were at iso 8000 and dialed in EC+0.7 takes iso to 12800, you would’ve got the exposure you wanted.

Jeyaram

—-------------------

Yes, as Naveen mentioned your camera has hit the maximum ISO that’s set and hence exposure compensation may not have any effect

Tarang

—-----------

I didn’t quite understand this. So if a subject is against harsh light, you’d use positive EC to capture details of the subject right? (This is a screenshot of my laptop so please be wary of that).

Dr Kalyan

—------------

You use positive exp compensation to light up the background, and subject sometimes otherwise the Camera will underexpose, spot metering in this situation can help, but can be tricky esp in nature, center weighted may be helpful

Naveen

—--------

We’ve to step back to understand exposure a bit. Cameras don’t expose for white but rather for 18% gray. Why 18% gray, how it came about we can get it into at some other time. For now just remember camera exposes for 18% gray color.

Imagine taking white paint and trying to get gray paint? How ? By pouring black color paint to white paint box till you get 18% gray. Or reverse if you’ve black paint box and have to get 18% gray paint.

So if you have predominantly white light in a scene how do you get gray? By darkening it. Or If scene tonality is white, camera blackens to get 18% gray.

If you’ve predominantly black light, how do you get gray? By adding light it. Or If scene tonality is black, the camera adds light to it to get 18% gray.

In matrix metering, the camera meters light from the entire scene.

If scene tonality is white then the camera reduces light to get 18% exposure. What happens if small portions of the scene already have gray or black like black shouldered kite, they become even darker. Or shadows become even darker. But we want details in the shadows like patterns on the wings of a kite. If we burn the blacks as the camera has underexposed, we can recover these details in post. How? by adding light to shadows.

So, we want exposure of white to be white not gray, we add positive exposure compensation. Thereby shadows are not darkened and we get details in them.

Opposite is what we do when scene tonality is dark.

When tonality is neutral we don’t add any EC.

A camera’s auto-exposure system knows one thing: 18% grey. No matter what the camera meters on (and I am speaking of a generic SLR or DSLR to make things simple), it will make all adjustments possible to try and make that portion of the image as close to 18% grey as it can. Everything in the scene that’s brighter than the metered area will be rendered brighter in the resulting image, and everything that’s darker will be rendered darker in the image.

Camera always exposes reference metered light ( reference metered light changes based on matrix or spot or center weighted or high light metering etc) to 18% gray, so as photographers we know our scene has some shadows/need details in shadows etc, so we add/reduce exposure using exposure compensation.

You can use EC for creative exposure purposes once you understand the above.

Gray spelling may be grey.

Exposure simulation not working in Shutter Priority Mode

—-------------------------------------------------------

Jyotsna - Jan 25

—---------------

Friends, starting the year with a question. In Shutter Priority, we don’t see the exposure “as is”? In the viewfinder I could see the exposure as correct. However, all the images are underexposed. What basic mistake am I making? In Shutter Priority with Manual ISO.

Was shooting wire-tailed Swallows. 1/3200 f5.6 ISO 125 Z9 with 500PF lense. I thought if the image is not correctly exposed, I would be able to see it simulated in the viewfinder and I could adjust the ISO or speed accordingly.

The metering was Spot. The images are three stops underexposed.

I was testing it at home. I set the EC to 0. Measured the exposure and arrived at f/4, 1/13 and ISO 500. I switched to Shutter Priority and dialed in shutter priority and manually set 1/13 and ISO 500. Camera set the aperture to f/4 and when I reduced the shutter speed further, aperture was adjusted as expected and exposure simulation worked fine

Naveen

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Did you check exposure meter? Was it pointing to negative side?

Jyotsna

—-------

I don’t remember honestly. I thought exposure was right and my full focus was on locking the focus! I’m really puzzled by this.

Anish

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I also got similar underexposed shot but when I normalized EC then LCD shows proper one. Then output was proper as well. Try 1/60 f3.2 iso 1000 EC zero once under tubelight as light source.

Jeyaram

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I was testing it at home. I set the EC to 0. Measured the exposure and arrived at f/4, 1/13 and ISO 500. I switched to Shutter Priority and dialed in shutter priority and manually set 1/13 and ISO 500. Camera set the aperture to f/4 and when I reduced the shutter speed further, aperture was adjusted as expected and exposure simulation worked fine

Anish

—----

When u increase shutter speed focal length area starts blinking

If blinking it always underexposes u can try it

Now to stop blinking u need to reduce shutter and see image exposes properly

Naveen

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You’re right Anish. When fstop is blinking, exposure meter is pointing to negative side, we need to adjust shutter speed else it’s underexposing.

Nikon Z9 in shutter priority mode is showing a blinking f-stop on the display, indicating the exposure simulation isn't working, it likely means the camera is struggling to find an appropriate aperture to achieve the desired exposure based on your chosen shutter speed, and you might need to adjust other settings like ISO or exposure compensation to help the camera find a suitable balance

Jeyaram

—-----

But in this case exposure simulation doesn’t seem to be working. The Live view is brighter than the preview (actual image)

Jyotsna

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Ok I think I’ve figured out what’s happening in Shutter Priority. Live simulation doesn’t work. We have to follow the bars.

1.⁠ ⁠Without Auto ISO - Base ISO of 64. if the shutter speed is high fstop starts blinking. To correct the exposure, camera starts to change the fstop as we lower shutter speed. We can increase the ISO to get right exposure.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠With Auto ISO - when ISO limit is reached, if shutter speed is increased, f stop starts blinking and the image is underexposed.

Importantly in both above scenarios, live view simulation doesn’t work. We could be fooled into thinking the image is correctly exposed. Need to keep an eye on the bars when in SP.

but the whole point of mirrorless is to be able to see the live simulation in the viewfinder.

Jeyaram

—---

This is my observation as well. It seems like a bug. Is there a way to take this up with Nikon?

Naveen

—----

Whatever we achieve by shutter priority of fixing shutter speed, we do it in manual + auto iso.

Jeyaram

—------

I too felt that until recently when I was in Kanha. Shutter priority may come handy when going for low shutter speed action under daylight. It was interesting

How to avoid banding and posterization in sunset photos

Raghu

—--

"Silhouette Symphony at Sunset"

With the sun setting in a blaze of orange and twilight merging into the horizon, the Greater Cormorant stands poised, its silhouette in perfect harmony with the glowing orb. This majestic moment—a delicate interplay of light, shadow, and serene beauty of nature—creates an unforgettable masterpiece.

What emotions does this evoke for you? I’d love your feedback!

Greater Cormorant Silhouette | January 2025 | India

©️ Raghu Iyer

-

Sure, i have used surface blur- let me share the link of the video and how to us

3 EASY Steps to Remove Banding in Photoshop!

Though I felt he only wanted us to half learn since while posting in insta and whatsapp the banding also gets created because of pixel size reduction; will find a way for that too shortly

How to shoot in high ISOs

Fill the frame with the subject as much as we can. crop only little in post.

Get correct exposure in the field. Don’t underexpose. Else adding exposure in post adds up noise. Try to get a photo as close to what you would like to present.

Denoise in this post extracts very good details.

While we can shoot at high ISOs, its always preferred to open the aperture or lower shutter speed to get the lowest ISO that you can get from the field. High ISOs should be used only when we exhaust other setting possibilities. High ISOs does not resolve details, so its always preferred to shoot at as low ISO as possible closer to native base ISO of camera

Shooting High Dynamic Range photos

Anish

This one i recall with @⁨Jeyaram Sankar Photographer Friend⁩ @⁨Naveen Kumar S⁩ discussions.

It's tricky to get exposure right if black and white subject together in the same focal plane as camera cannot decide underexposure or overexposure. ? What settings do we typically use here ?

Naveen

Dynamic range refers to color tones from black to white or white to black in a scene. When we say dynamic range is high means we’re at extremes of black - RGB (0,0,0) to white- RGB(255, 255, 255).

It’s tough to get right exposures.

We know, It’s easier to recover shadows than whites. So try to get details in whites or expose for white, push to max ETTR.

Try to take photos without blowing whites and take few photos without burning blacks. Merge them in post.

Try to use bracketing at different exposures.

Try to get max details from the field and manage rest in post.

Jeyaram

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Anish,

It is quite common to face high contrast birds that has dark black and bright white (White-bellied Treepie, White-capped redstart). And becomes further complicated when we have a dark or bright background.

If we try to preserve highlights by underexposing it we lose details on the blacks. Similarly if we try to overexpose we lose details on the whites.

My technique is to expose the white in such a way that I get blinkies at 1/3 of a stop and recover both highlights and shadows in the post.

Recently I also experimented with exposure bracketing where took 3 shots (EV -1, 0, +1) but not successfully as not all images in the sequence was sharp

@⁨Naveen Kumar S⁩, recovering shadows is equally challenging not only we can’t get details it also introduces noise

Using custom picture control for zebra helps visualise clipping of both highlights and shadows. I have mostly enabled it

ND filters won’t help. The problem is due to higher dynamic range

GND could help if the brighter tonality (sky) and darker tonality are split properl

Naveen

—---

Just to be sure . it’s not like the camera can’t decide how to expose.

It’s important to separate what the camera does and what we ( photographers) do/ does.

Camera always exposes to middle grey based on the tonality of the area metered. This algorithm is fixed. We discussed this few days back. Except tweaks and adaptations to digital from film, exposure basics haven’t changed much in decades.

As photographers we know what we value. It’s cormorant or egret or polar bear or elephant which subject we want to retain details. It’s up to us.

The camera doesn’t have intelligence or input of what we value. So that’s where we dial in settings like ETTR or 1/3rd stop over exposure as Jeyaram mentioned or bracketing etc.

Sharing above as otherwise we tend to blame cameras that it’s not properly exposing

Jeyaram, why only 1/3rd blinkies on viewfinder.

In the z9 viewfinder we see less than 1 mp Jpg file and its luminance value as distribution in its histogram.

In Lightroom we see embedded jpg from raw of 45 mp for FX. So I am guessing we can go easily 1 stop over in the viewfinder and still recover details in post. I have to experiment to verify it.

Jeyaram

—------

Though we could bring highlights down, I have noticed loss of texture and details beyond that.

However, I haven’t formally conducted any tests to confirm this

This is an example. I was able to preserve and recover the details on the black. However little bit of details is lost in whites

Devadath sir

—-------

I also tried bracketing and was not successful.

If someone who is good at it can conduct a class it would be beneficial.

Bracketing has an advantage on exposure.

@⁨Naveen Kumar S⁩ please explore on this subject and person 🙏

Shooting in Low light..

When shooting birds/animals in low light.

Low light means less signal, so we end up with more ISO and more noise shows up. So the basic aim should be to keep ISO to reasonable limits.

Remember light is controlled by two things - Aperture opening ( how big opening) and Shutter speed( how much time). ISO is the resultant parameter of exposure triangle, not a fundamental light controlling parameter.

Aim to capture as much maximum light that is present in scene as possible

Try to open the aperture ( lower fstop), open as low f stop as possible.

Use fast lenses like f/4 or f/2.8

Shoot as low speed as possible.

We can't reduce shutter speed too low, as it leads to motion blur.

We need a cooperative subject, almost still.

Camera & lens require a stable support, monopod/tripod

Autofocus struggles in low light as contrast is not there to discern the head/eye etc

So use single point on head of subject and shoot

Don’t use Auto-Area AF or other larger areas for detecting subjects. They invariably fail.

Remember if we cant see, the camera can't see it as well.

Try to fill the frame as much as possible. Get closer to the subject.

This avoids cropping and reduces noise/grains in Post processing.

Take a lot of photos as the chances of getting blurred photos is more.

Take longer bursts

Don't underexpose your photos

As you will end up adding exposure in post processing. It adds noise then.

In low light camera tries to expose to middle grey by increasing ISO

If camera exceeds limits of ISO for Auto ISO settings, it underexposes

So try to shoot in full manual and take rambharose shots.

Sometimes you just can't do much

Try to take low key shots and use low light creatively to create minimalistic frames or find some light opening to position the subject for interesting frames.

Just enjoy the scene if you can see something.

Using fill flash is one more technique. But if the subject is far away, you can't do that as well.

Check Unlocking The SECRETS of HIGH ISO & LOW LIGHT Photography

400 f2.8 TC Z TC S lens and 600 F4 TC S

—-------------

Anish

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Request owners of 400 f2.8 TC Z TC S lens and 600 F4 TC S lens to share their hands on field observations :

1.⁠ ⁠How is it handling for both safari and birding ?

2.⁠ ⁠How is performance wrt TC ON OFF

3.⁠ ⁠Any other inputs will be helpful

Jeyaram

—--------

I own Z 600 f4 TC lens and been using it extensively for birding. Almost all the time I use TC to get closer to the bird and to fill the frame. I am very happy with the result of this lens (you can check my images on Instagram) both with and without TC

Since I predominantly go for birding I switched from Sony to Nikon for this lens.

However if you are someone who’s doing mammals mostly and occasionally doing birds, 400 f/2.8 is the way to go. I have used it in my recent trip to Kanha and really enjoyed shooting tigers with it

Amit

—-----

I have 400mm,f 2.8 with TC. It's an amazing lens, no second thoughts. With or without TC, the performance is the same. However, I use mostly for mammals and haven't used TC except for a couple of times.

Sandeep Dutta

—----------------

Hi, joining the discussion late.. I have both the lenses and use them for different things.. I use the 600/4 with TC on for all my birding trips.. 400/2.8 is excellent for Tiger safaris and other mammals.. I love them both and the performance is excellent.. If you have any specific questions, will be more than happy to answer!!

400 f/2.8 to solve issues of focal length?

Sid

—-----

One question ....to all ...will buying a 400 f2.8 will solve all issues of focal length ? Or buying one 400 f4.5 and 600 f6.3pf?

Radha sir

—----

If you must go for 400 as one lens to do all, then go for 400 2.8 with built in TC, at 600 it is f4 which is excellent

Several factors to consider:

1.⁠ ⁠Would you change lenses frequently with one camera ?

2.⁠ ⁠⁠would you rather carry 2 cameras with two lenses pre-mounted ?

3.⁠ ⁠⁠would you just carry one lens and one camera at a given time for a particular genre ?

For example, I carry a z8 mated to 100-400 S and a z8 mated to 600 6.3 all the time

99% of the time I use z8 + 100-400S for mammals and if I switch to video this is my go to combo

400 2.8 also heavy on any system for long time hand holding

Naveen

—--------

Agree with @⁨Radhakrishnan Rajagopalan Z9 Group ⁩ sir. Will address different facets of this question.

1.⁠ ⁠Are you into birding or mammals or mix? I primarily shoot birds so 600 mm focal length made sense.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠@⁨Jeyaram Sankar Photographer Friend ⁩ did a brilliant analysis of focal length of his past 5 years photos. Remember stock market disclosures on returns, past won’t necessarily reflect future. Check your archives. buy a lens that’s closer to the focal length you most often use.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠what do you value most. Pixel peeping with top of line details, sharpness, low light performance, and blazing fast AF. This is territory of 400 f /2.8 or 600 f/4.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠are you going to print photos that need details or sharpness? What are you doing with your photos? If it’s social media or contest’s then most lenses would be fine just not top of line.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠Are you going to use lenses regularly for 6 to 8 trips a year that justify the investment? Or a few trips with the best photos is what gives satisfaction. In my case, given my personal situation I can't undertake more than a few trips ( max 3 to 4) trips a year, this situation won't change for next few years, so it didn’t make sense to buy top guns. So I bought a Z600 PF f/6.3 lens. Though I won’t travel a lot but use it more than most people. Used it for 152 days this year. So a lightweight lens gives a lot more flexibility.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠finally, best lens and camera is the one that we’ve in hand at the moment. So getting the best out of our equipment is what I focus on personally. Personally like new untested technologies. So usually buy equipment when they have just reached the market.

6.⁠ ⁠⁠All of us value different things in life, some may like living a life of king size, want best things in life. Nothing wrong, everything is fair, par for course, as we value different things, it’s a personal choice. Only you can decide.

Auto Focus performance and high light metering discussion

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Threads on two topics got intertwined, so just dumped it into this document.

Jeyaram

—----------

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker

Chakki Modh, Himachal Pradesh, 13-Dec-24

Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 600mm f/4 TC VR Lens at 840mm

1/500 sec at f/7.1, ISO 1800, EV 0 (Highlight metering

In my current trip to Himachal Pradesh, I am faced with tricky lighting situation. We had few perches with spot lights and dark background, few with bright perches bright background and few perches in shadows and background also in shadows. The exposure settings needdd for each of the scenes are different. The bird could come anywhere and even move quickly across each of these perches. After struggling a bit, I switched to Highlights metering and worked like a charm in all of these cases

However, highlights metering won’t work when the subject is in the shadow and brighter background as highlights metering exposes for the brightest part of the scene

I also tried full manual. Though I was comfortable changing the settings (I fixed the aperture and shutter speed and kept changing the ISO according to the scene). I wasn’t quick enough to change the ISO when the bird jumps around

YVS prasad

—-----

any reason for not using auto ISO?

Jeyaram

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Same reason as I have explained above, the tonality of the scene changes from perch to perch. With auto exposure mode (using auto ISO) I had to change the exposure compensation every time the bird jumps to different perch which was inefficient

Using highlights metering helped me in this case with auto ISO

Naveen

—----

How close was the bird? Looks lot closer to me.

Tail at f/7.1 doesn’t appear to be sharp. Usually you shoot wide open at f:4. Or f/5.6 as you engaged TC in this photo

Jeyaram

—---------

I was too close (maybe about 15 to 20 ft) and the bird gave enough time and the light was also decent and hence I was using f/7.1.

At this distance and focal length, f/7.1 isn’t sufficient to get the entire bird sharp

Arun

—----

While Matrix works in most scenes, with scenes of light and shadow or contrast in subject and background one has to look for spot or highlight metering depending on the light.

Using matrix metering in such scenario results in over exposed or under exposed scene requiring highlight blowouts or too much shadows.

This is something I too have been experimenting of late.

Lakshmi

—-----

In single perch as this, with 600mm and TC, the subject detection struggles. Especially, when I was focusing far, another bird comes a little closer and I want to shift my focus to the one closer to me.

I shift to single point trying to focus the stem, or something in the ground and then move upwards to focus the bird. The focus acquisition is quick this way. Any other tricks or hacks worth trying ?

Arun

—--

Usually camera finds it easier to zoom out (subject further than current focal plane) to acquire focus rather than zoom in

So it is better to use lens ring to zoom in quicker

Jeyaram

—-----------

I thought so too but it’s not true at least with the Z 600 f4 TC lens

Naveen

—----

One more technique to use in tricky situations.

Use manual focus over ride on lens. This is a sure shot way to get focus in tricky situations.

Subject detection auto focus is not infallible, we’ve to keep a close watch where focus point is getting locked. Subject detection works in lot of situations but not always 100%. This is true for all brands just not Nikon, some variation exists between brands.

YVS prasad sir

—----------

I use the same method

Jeyaram

—----------

I will share my frustrations and workarounds later. Acquiring initial focus quickly has been one of the biggest challenges/frustrations

Lakshmi

—-

😁😁😁 good to know I’m not alone.

I missed to mention that I prefer to handhold my lens many times. Using manual ring is not a choice. If I’m on monopod, yes, I try focusing manually

Naveen

—------

Use thumb to move manual focus ring even while handholding. If you’ve lens coat on lens you can’t get grip on focus ring serrations. Getting initial focus on subject is most crucial thing.

Jeyaram

—------

I will add, getting initial focus fast is most crucial because lot of birds don’t give us much time.

What finger to use depends on what lens (position of manual focus ring) and how we hold the lens

Arun

—----

Z lenses especially the tele ones have both the focus ring and the function ring.

My view is that because of the function ring the focus ring is slightly off for ease of use when I compare it with the f mount lenses whether hand held or monopod/ tripod.

Also I find the function ring to be very sensitive and it is used inadvertantly while handling the lens.

I have currently disabled the function ring because of the above reason.

Just a survey - how many use the function ring.

YVS Prasad

—-----

Disabled

Jeyaram

—------

I have disabled it as well.

I also agree that the placement of manual focus ring is not convenient. Though I am mostly on monopod, I get frustrated with the placement of manual focus ring as I loose balance and even have to take my eye off the viewfinder to use manual focus

Jay

—-

It’s a big problem when you rest it on a bean bag. So yes disabling is the best option

Naveen

—-------

Just to be sure, are you finding focusing is faster from moving from far to closer compared to close to far or is it no difference in focusing speed in both situations?

Jeyaram

—----------

No Naveen. Both are bad.

I will share about the challenges and techniques that I have used to overcome them once I am back home

Dr Saurabh

—--

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/McN28Ccip19Jqhdu/

Prashanth Mathur

—--------------------

Very disturbing and unbelievable 😜

Naveen

—------

Difficult to conclude anything from these kind of posts.

50 meters is quite a bit of distance, size of bird, Color of bird, lighting, clutter around, auto focus area setting etc all play a role.

In same conditions if some uses other brand for comparison it would be good else tough to conclude anything.

Radha sir

—---------

Don’t get me wrong. While I am a Nikon loyalist, but equally critical of their products when they don’t live up to the expectations. The Nikon AF definitely still has a lot of scope to improve and perhaps still inferior to Canon and Sony. I don’t think I will even debate on that. But this guy Moti, has a habit of creating an unwanted fizz around Nikon all the time. I have seen him post WhatsApp status such as “ha ha, Nikon has announced firmware 3.0 for Z9” now you will see Nikon guys go gaga types. He is a good used camera salesman and perhaps a good photographer too. But this constant attack on brands doesn’t hold him in the right light and I have discontinued following him. Every product has its defects, weaknesses and deficiency. Our love for the brand doesn’t make it better and our hate for a brand doesn’t make it bad either. My 2c.

AF is a very touchy subject. Every camera brand has a sweet spot and a rough spot exposing its plus and minus. The more we learn to work around it the better we get at using them productively. I have literally seen a sony A9 struggle to focus repeatedly in broad day light. I know that was a one off and perhaps a unique condition that the AF module was getting repeatedly fooled by the scene. And yes, perhaps Sony has less chances of this than a Nikon at this juncture. But the Nikons aren’t that behind.

The worst ever Nikon camera I have ever owned is the D600 that I bought as soon as it was launched in 2012 from B&H. Shutter leaked oil, the sensor was a magnet for dust spots..Nikon replaced the shutter once, had to send back again for a glitch and then they replaced the body. Even then it wasn’t a good feeling. My CCD based 10MP D200 I bought in 2006 was outclassing the D600 in every department.

The same goes with my version 1 80-400 VR lens. While it auto focused flawlessly it was damn slow, and noise will scare even a tiger.

Dr Santosh

—----------------

While non-Nikon users may remain loyal to their systems, many still admire Nikon's telephoto lenses, particularly the 400mm f/4.5, 600mm f/6.3, and 800mm f/6.3. These lenses stand out for their exceptional sharpness, lightweight design, and competitive pricing—features unmatched by other brands.

Naveen

—-------

@⁨Radhakrishnan Rajagopalan Z9 Group ⁩Agree with you fully. It’s tough to make judgment calls with one off comparisons or AF behaviour in specific situations.

Nikon definitely has lot of room for improvement in AF, no doubt about it. Am still critical on its performance.

Imo, Nikon is still at Gen1 of subject detection whereas Sony and Canon moved to Gen2 of subject detection discipline. It’s a cat and mouse game, each brand jumping over other brand in different years.

I was about to throw Z9 to dustbin after few days of usage on pied kingfisher in Dec 2021. It took 3.5 years for me to figure out why pied kingfisher fooled camera in initial days. Didn’t had opportunity to test camera again on pied kingfisher in better field conditions in between. Even our eyes get fooled with it.

Stuck with Z9 through firmwares to see Nikon’s commitment to improvement. Still needs to be lot faster AF in many situations. Just that we got better to get best out of camera through more usage.

Nikon lenses are fabulous but camera raw AF and subject detection needs lot to be desired.

Definitely eager to test other brands. Sometimes I feel this group is becoming an echo chamber of Nikons praise.

Pied kingfisher autofocus issues. How to overcome.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XONlnzPhN2lUlUhXJrR9hHa3eHU9H3JCEza7erEeQbE/edit

Honestly, I missed more photos in last few years with Z9 due to my tardiness, lack of anticipation, not pre focussing, dialling in wrong settings etc than because of camera AF being slow. So focused on getting better at handling camera. Been sharing whatever little that I know with others. This craft and gears keep us humble.

Got lot more quality shots with Z9 than with DSLR.

Having said that few moments stand out where Z9 didn’t work well.

1.⁠ ⁠Pied kingfisher scenarios that I shared earlier.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Sarus crane in Jhazzar ( near Sultanpur) in mid 2022, z9 with firmware 2.0. Was primed to take flight shots with appropriate settings. Sarus took off and flew straight towards me. Camera failed to latch the focus and missed shots. Many folks reported z9 issues with long necked birds and separate bird as subject was introduced.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠last year, at muthanallur lake in Bangalore, friend was with his canon gear, both of us anticipated that yellow bittern will take off from bushes and dialed in right settings to take shot. Canon gear latched focus and I missed shots, didn’t get a single in focus shots.

4.⁠ ⁠last year shared one month experiments with precapture and auto capture on Baya weavers. Camera is just not suited for such scenarios.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠this year May, shooting scaly breasted munias in corn fields, with AF-F repeatedly stuck to corn flowers. Shots were in very good light and in absolutely clear background. Ideal conditions I would say. As I was observing closely immediately changed AF area and got good shots. Shared these examples with @⁨Arun PJ Nikon tech Team Jogi Francis’s Team Member⁩.

6.⁠ ⁠in burst of flight shots on numerous occasions, focus doesn’t stick to eyes. For few shots in burst focus wanders to body or away, though we get enough sharp shots.

7.⁠ ⁠many a times when small birds take off, focus lock just gets dropped or still stuck to perch.

8.⁠ ⁠focussing through clutter at times doesn’t focus on bird even when using single point focus.

9.⁠ ⁠when bird head doesn’t have enough contrast auto focus struggles to detect subject. Examples like river terns.

10.⁠ ⁠Once camera acquires focus lock, if bird moves a bit lock gets dropped or focus moves to perch. You expect camera to have much more stickier Af lock

Dr Santosh

—------------

The Nikon Z8/Z9 focusing system can be tricky at first, but with practice, it delivers excellent results. It’s important not to make loose comments about its performance, as all mirrorless cameras face challenges in the focusing department. This is precisely why there are numerous learning resources and videos available to help users master focusing techniques.

I do agree, Nikon Z8/Z9 system needs further improvements though

Sudhir Paul

—------------

Thanks for this, helps to know that I’m not the only one who struggles 😅

With AF-C as the focus mode, my current default AF-Area mode is Wide-L on the shooting trigger. That’s proved to be the fastest subject acquisition mode out of all the options.

Once locked on the subject general area or subject itself, I use the BBF AF-ON button set to 3D to catch bird’s eye and then shoot.

I also support this with the Display set to C-1 1x1 with bird detection as my Single Point AF Area mode in clutter or harsher light.

This hybrid set-up has worked well in the last year in most regions, specially the northeast where photography is a nightmare; but yes had to retrain my muscle memory which took time.

Very small subjects, far away subjects and the heat-haze (specially over water) have been my only obstacles so far.

Do not wish to sound like a Nikon fan boy, but 2 weeks ago in challenging conditions in Namdapha, the Z9+600 f4 or the Z8+400 f4.5 beat the pants of Canon and Sony pro setups repeatedly in both reach, speed and accuracy.

So I am sure Mothi’s rant is personal and one that’s coming from an occasional Nikon shooter as he owns and uses Canon equipment for the last 3 years

Jyotsna

—------

Interesting takes. In our group who has used Canon and Sony to be in a position to compare? I think @⁨Jeyaram Sankar Photographer Friend ⁩? Any others?

Naveen

—--------

Let social media have its fun and endless debates. Am not active on Facebook and don’t have app installed for many years. Every week Monday to Friday I uninstall Instagram as well. So don’t follow what happens in that world.

Am not blind to obvious flaws and continue to be critical and demand Nikon to get better at AF. No second thoughts on it.

At the same time, we can focus on getting best out of our gear that we own, as this is one of founding purposes of this group. Let’s understand situations where our members need help/ tips/guidance.

Radha sir

—-------

Totally agree… no equipment is perfect… trick is to learn its limitations and use all and any useful insights, best practices, techniques that this group and the internet provides to make better pictures creatively!

As far as the sambar is concerned, all sambars are good as long as you eat with the idlis, dosas, vadas that are made for it! 😜

Unfortunately, there is no adapter to fit a TN dosa, idli, vada to a KA sambar!

Challenges of using wide angle lenses

Wide angle lenses have perspective or barrel distortion.. that needs correction.

Wide angle lens: A beginner's Guide | Adobe

How Lens Compression and Perspective Distortion Work | Fstoppers

Should clear filter 95mm be used on 400mm 4.5 Z mount lens for protection - Rajiv 19 Jun 2024

Aditya Rao

I don't use the filter anymore for just protecting the lens; pls use the hood - which should be good enough even in the toughest conditions ... you will likely lose quality with additional layer of glass

Sadanand

+1 even i dont carry any filter

Radhakrishnan

+1 dont waste money on filters just to protect glass

Naveen

Filters reduce quality of photos. Dont provide protection as well

Kalyan

The filters which are useful are ND fiters, graduated filters, in landscape photography, others are a waste

Counter Weights in Fluid heads

Sriram

A question for those using fluid heads:

How important is counterbalance in fluid heads?

I have a gimbal, but am considering getting a fluid head.

Between Leofoto BV 15 vs 20, the lower weight of the 15 is a big attraction. But the BV 20 has counterbalance.

Also plan to do macro, nature, landscape photography with my new Z 24-120mm lens, so prefer to have a lighter, multipurpose head. I use a Z8 with Z 180-600mm for my bird photography. Thanks!

I see that BV 15 is significantly lighter at 1.3kgs. Maximum load is 10kg. So is it safe to use or is it better to go with BV 20 that can take 15kg load

Naveen

It helps to balance camera + lens even when they’re tilted. Usually we balance lens + camera in horizontal plane.. When the camera+lens is tilted upwards or downwards ( almost like pitch of ships) center of gravity changes wrt to pivot point of fluid head. With counter balance engaged camera+ lens stays balanced without us supporting it by placing hand. There are fixed counterbalance heads and continuous counterbalance heads.

Leofoto Bv-20 has continuous counter balance through its specified tilt angle.

Without counterbalance, camera + lens when tilted tries to come back to equilibrium like a see -saw. With counter balance engaged, the camera stays tilted wherever we want so we can focus on shooting video without worrying about supporting it by hand or locking it at a tilted position.

Jeyaram

For my Z8 + Z 180-600mm lens would the BV 15 be fine? Yes its fine.

For my Z8 + Z 180-600mm lens would the BV 15 be fine?

Levelling base is not needed to start with as it adds additional weight. But if you are serious into video and looking for panning and tracking subjects, levelling base is a must to get the horizon even during panning

DX mode and TC on a lens

Dr SJ Haridarshan

—--------

I have a question

I was seeing videos where they have mentioned that if you use TC it’s better to take pics in DX mode

Can someone please explain to me about this??

Is it necessary to change to DX mode and what is the advantage??

Radha sir

—-----------

The whole purpose of using TC is to avoid going DX. It’s either TC or DX 99% of the time. Use of TC + DX is a rare use case where the subject is very far or you want to completely fill the frame. TCs reduce a stop or two of light and increase depth of field and DX does not.

Use TC if you will fill it with FX and crop it in post. Modern TCs, especially 1.4 is exceptionally well made and don’t reduce contrast. Only side effect is loss of 1 stop of light and slight increase in depth of field.

Use DX if you don’t want to comprise on loosing a stop of light and maintain depth of field and have it cropped by the camera. The side effect is you have an already cropped image and reduced size of the image to play around in post.

Naveen

—--------

At a simple explanation.

DX mode simply crops photo in camera. If subject is little away helps with better subject detection in Nikon cameras. We can crop in post as well, absolutely no difference. In Nikon cameras we get 1.5X, so we get ~20 MP picture.

In the case of TC , it increases focal length. So if use 1.4X TC , 600 mm at f/6.4 focal length becomes 840 mm focal length at f/9. We get full 46 MP picture.

When light is good, with good background separation, TC helps to get more closer picture and details. F/8 or f/9 with TC doesn’t affect bokeh that much with good background separation.

TCs are recommended for big prime lenses. Not all zooms are same, so need to be careful to use TCs.

Dr Haridarshan

—---------

Know that the mechanism, but the photographers used DX mode with Tc to get closer to images

So I was not clear about it

Naveen

—----------

Let’s take an example with following

1.⁠ ⁠600 mm f/4 lens with in built 1.4 X TC on z8/z9 cameras.

2.⁠ ⁠subject is at a distance with decent background separation

3.⁠ ⁠⁠shooting in uncompressed raw

4.⁠ ⁠⁠we want to get same exposure.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠shutter speed is constant

Scenario 1. Base scenario

1.⁠ ⁠shooting at FX mode

2.⁠ ⁠at f/4 and 600 mm focal length and iso 800

3.⁠ ⁠we get 46 mb uncompressed raw picture

Scenario 2. Engage DX mode and no TC engaged.

1.⁠ ⁠Focal length becomes 900 mm rather picture cropped in camera to equivalent of 900 mm.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠fstop stays same f/4

3.⁠ ⁠⁠we get 20 mb uncompressed raw as cameras crops the picture.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠in view finder, subject appears bigger than scenario 1. It’s like we hitting zoom in button.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠no difference in picture quality or contrast or sharpness or bokeh.

But we want 46 mb file

Scenario 3. Engage inbuilt TC 1.4 X and FX mode

1.⁠ ⁠Focal length becomes = 600* 1.4 = 840 mm

2.⁠ ⁠⁠fstop becomes f 5.6

3.⁠ ⁠⁠iso to get same exposure as base scenario is iso 1600 as fstop changed.

4.⁠ ⁠in view finder, subject appears bigger than scenario 1 but slightly smaller than scenario 2.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠uncompressed raw 46 mb file

5.⁠ ⁠⁠slight compromise on bokeh. As inbuilt TC fine tuned for lens, no apparent difference in sharpness or contrast or quality

Now we want even bigger picture in view finder

Scenario 4. Engage Inbuilt TC (1.4 x) and DX (1.5x) mode

1.⁠ ⁠Focal length is = 600* 1.4*1 5= 1260 mm

2.⁠ ⁠⁠f stop is f/5.6

3.⁠ ⁠⁠iso for same exposure as in base scenario is iso 1600

4.⁠ ⁠⁠uncompressed raw 20 mb

5.⁠ ⁠⁠slightly better subject detection for better / sharper focus.

Scenario 3 also we can take and crop it in post by 1.5 X and get same result as in scenario 4. This must be what video mentions that you were referring.

Jeyaram and Naveen 27 Mar 2024

—------------------------------------------

Jeyaram

In my recent trip to Peru, I had used 180-600 lens more than I expected.

This hummingbird was so small and always used to perch on this specific branch. It’s not shy and didn’t my our presence.

I couldn’t fill the frame with my 600 F4 even with 1.4x TC because of its minimum focus distance of > 4 meters

Minimum focus distance of 180-600 at 600mm is about 2.4 meters allowed me to get closer and able to fill the frame

Has anyone tried extension tubes on super telephoto primes?

Naveen

—----------

Looks like you are looking for a caculator that helps to decide magnification and minimum focus distance reduction..

Check this .. need to get data from lens specs to feed into calculators

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/macro-extension-tubes-closeup.htm

Jeyaram

—----------

@Naveen Kumar S, thanks for sharing the details. I am familiar with using extension tubes for macro and product photography. I am specifically looking for the big glass like 600 F4 TC

Our guide in Peru was using Fotodiox Pro 35mm on 600 PF and get as close as 3 meters. He is very happy with its results.

I am wondering how it would work on 600 TC

Naveen, I went through the article. I am not looking at increasing the magnification. I am looking at reducing the minimum focus distance. It’s not clear to me as how they calculate the revised minimum focus distance

Naveen

—-------

taking extension tube calculator from this article ..

Article was written some years back. Looks formula worked fine for lenses of that time for DSLR. Now for mirrorless lens flange distance is smaller. So formula need update is my guess.

So did a bit of reverse engineering, I could be totally off and wrong.

For nikkor Z 600 f/4 from specs

Focal length 600 mm

Magnification ( max reproduction ratio) is 0.14 x without TC.

Minimum focus distance 4300 mm.

So feeding numbers into formula - extension tube calculator

1. With extension amount is 0.

Output is new closest focusing distance 5569.7 mm however due to modern lens optics it’s only 4300 mm.

So did a trial and error to obtain Lens focal length 463 mm to match minimum focusing distance 4300 mm.

Now we know our lens “fits into” formula.

2. Enter extension amount 35 mm ( fotodioxpro extender 35 mm section)

We get new closest focusing distance to 3173.4mm. Due to lens flange distance change in mirrorless cameras some more optimisations possible.

Few tips to shoot through glass windows.

If you’re shooting through glass, make your room dark to avoid glare. Use black clothes or a small black curtain behind you, so light doesn’t reflect on glass from inside the room furniture. Simple is you shouldn’t see your or camera’s reflection in glass.

Next is to keep the lens closer to the glass, sometimes hood touching the glass also works.

Clean the glass and make sure it doesn’t have scratches.

Keep the lens parallel to glass, don’t shoot at an angle to glass.

If glass is thick it leads to refraction, so you can’t expect sharpness. Just enjoy the view

Filters

Radha sir

—---------

There are two types of NDs

Normal NDs and GNDs

Graduated Neutral Density filters will have the upper half dark and gradually reduce and transition to neutral the second half

GNDs are like your progressive lenses. When the sun is in the sky and you want the water in the ocean to be lit well and sun darkened, a GND will help. Because of this nature the GND filters are square filters

NDs are light reducers in whole spectrum

I used a Nikon CPL to cut down a fair bit of distance haze…

K&F concept, Polar Pro, Heliopan are known ND brands.

Singh-Ray, Lee are popular GND filters

Sun set and sun rise to a large extent are ok without filters especially pretty early on rise and late on setting.

All other times, would strongly suggest using filters

I use a Singh-Ray HS GND filter for my sunrise or sunset…

the Yosemite, Niagara, Miami skyline were shot on the old D200 the rest are in D600no CPL, D810 + 20mm, shot at 12 noon in a huge distance haze, pushed LR Dehaze all the way. Looks totally unnatural

My Singh-ray is a square filter and not a threaded one

All shot using Singh-ray GNDs even with the sun in horizon.. the brightness would have killed the shadows and made it unrecoverable…. The GND’s bottom half gradually goes to neutral and upper part reduces the brightness

Some of the square filters can cover your lens

So GND is better so that I will have flexibility

You use it with a filter holder

The filter holder will have a threaded one

mam, the square filters are a two piece set.

1.⁠ ⁠A screw on filter holder. The rear end of the holder is screw that screws on to the front end of the lens and hence the size like 77 or 82

2.⁠ ⁠The front side of the filter holder is a squarish holder where you slide the filters

The filter holders are even stackable

Meaning, you can slide two or three filters

These are all options

That’s why I asked for the application

You can see the front portion in the diagram… this is where you slide the square filters

The rear side has a thread that screws on to your lens front element

When you order the holder you will specify the size of the thread

Anupama

I see. So which means we have to buy one holder per lens if we have different mm sizes of lenses

Anupama

I thought that we could use it with any lens .... never thought that the size of each lens would vary

Radha sir

This is where it gets slightly more complicated

I will be killed now

You also get thread adapters

That enables a 100mm filter holder to be mounted on your 77mm lens

As a best practice we buy a 100mm holder

And 1 adapter ring per lens

The adapter rings are not expensive

Check out what I found on B&H Photo Video

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1683587-REG

Radha

—--------

My apologies if it was all confusing

Anupama

—------

Not at all .... I will be more prepared next time before enquiring ..... I just thought it was simple

Jyotsna

—------

You can try a GND from Amazon. I had bought one a couple of years back for the kit lens. It’s not great but serves for simple landscape photography. Otherwise take two images, expose one for the sky and one for land, you can bracket them and then merge.

Dr Santosh

—-----

To add to the ND filter discussion

I bought a nisi 100mm square filter system with ND 6, ND10, GND and CPL 4 years back. To be used with my D850 and 20mm 1.8 lens for landscape and waterfall photography

To be honest, I am more inclined towards birds and wildlife rather than landscape. I have hardly used it 4-5 times in the last 4 years... Once on a Ladakh trip and few other time locally

In my opinion, go for a magnetic CPL and ND filter system as they are easy to use and carry (if at all you want to have an ND filter)

Naveen

—--------

Thank you Sir for sharing details.

Got Kenko uv and ND filters. Used them a few times but they developed scratches. The UV filter used it on top of 500 mm PF for quite some time but found it was reducing sharpness and not used it in the last 4 years. The UV filter bought in on the insistence of a professional photographer as he said it acts as a sacrificial element then found some articles on net, not much use practically.

Never use filters on zoom lenses.. unless you buy top of line, it affects quality of photos and remember seeing a video that they don’t provide protection to the main glass as well. These are typically used by landscape photographers to avoid mid day light and haze.

https://youtu.be/EjEKoF8eDsQ?feature=shared

https://petapixel.com/camera-lens-filters-guide/

https://photographylife.com/lens-filters-explained/amp

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cpGo8J-dIgI

Samarjeet

—------------

Need some inputs for good quality non-circular ND filters (4x3 or 4x4) types. Any feedback is appreciated?

Radha sir

—---------

Just to be sure, looking for ND or GND in square filters ?

Dr Santosh

—-------------

I use a nisi square filter system. It has CPL, ND6, ND 10 and a GND filter. It's good and give professional looking results.

But usage may be cumbersome. These days magnetic circular ND filters kit are available and these are easy to use and you can stack ND filters too.

Nisi has recently launched their jetmag pro kit... You can have a look in to that

https://en.nisioptics.com/jetmag-pro

NiSi 100mm V7 Starter Kit | V7 Filter Holder and CPL with 1 ND Filter and 1 GND Filter | Long-Exposure and Landscape Photography

https://amzn.in/d/dMDDpZY

I have the V6 version of this

I have shared the images taken with these kit in my recent Meghalaya Trip. You can have a look

Samarjeet

—-----

Need some inputs for good quality non-circular ND filters (4x3 or 4x4) types. Any feedback is appreciated

Radha sir

—-------

Just to be sure, looking for ND or GND in square filters ?

Samarjeet

—----

ND mainly so that video can be done in bright sunlight

Radha sir

—------

If it’s not GND, then a circular ND is equally good. Any particular reason for a square ND filter ?

I use the following:

Singh-Ray Graduated Neutral Density filters (0.9, 0.6, 0.3)

PolarPro QuartzLine circular ND64 6 stops ND filter

PolarPro QuartzLine circular ND1000 10 stops ND filter

Haida VND 3-7 stops ND + Polariser circular filter (82mm + step up rings 67 to 82mm and 77 to 82mm)

All VND filters will have a slight colour cast(Haida is biased towards to magenta) which is easily correctable in PP during colour correction.

The 67 to 82 mm is on my Nikkor Z 35 1.8 and Z 50 1.8

The 77 to 82mm step up ring is on my 100-400

Anupama

—-----

If you intend to do landscape photography.... you may require ND filters.

Probably someone in the group who are good in this genre and ND filters can respond to this.

Devadath kumar

—--------

IMO for using filters for landscape photography, prior practice is necessary to understand and adjust the triangle settings.

Radha sir

—--

Agree.. needs some practice. GND is typically used in situations where the dynamic range between shadows and highlights are too much to handle for the film or sensor. A classic example is very bright red sun in the horizon and the sea or ocean beneath. They are hardened darkeners on one side and will gradually reduce it towards the other end. ND filters on the other hand reduce light over the entire frame. Though they are used in photography, it finds in use a lot in videography as we shoot with a shutter speed as double the frame rate exposing way too much. Here is one such shot I took in Malpe beach near Udupi using Singh-Ray .9 hard square filter.

In the above scene, if I had exposed for the sun, the ocean would have been lost, if I had gone the opposite way, the horizon would have been ruined

Singh-Ray square filter HS 0.6 stops

Naveen

—------

Near 40% for 600 mm. Such a meticulous statistics.

Arun

—-----

Great data. I guess if we all did similar analysis, the percentages will fall around the same vicinity.

Guess the decision on focal length is highly dependent on

1) Subject (mammal or bird) and;

2) Location (walk about birding or Safari)

If one falls in mammal and safari category then a smaller focal length can be the primary lens.

If one has a longer lens, just have a word with the safari driver and co-passengers so that one can stop at appropriate place to get the desired frame. I have usually found the drivers and co-passengers are very accomodating.

On safari weight can be managed as when not taking pics the kit can rest.

If one is into birds and walkabout photography longer reach and lighter kit is the way to go.

I currently have 300 f4 PF and 500 f4. I am a walk about birder so weight has always been a big part of consideration. I have used 300 + 1.4 TC as my primary walk about lens and used 500 +1.4 TC only when I am after a particular type of image or subject.

Advantage of longer focal length is while attempting to get close one does not disturb birds and that gives one longer opportunity for taking the desired image.

However the weight of 500+1.4 TC + camera (before z9 I had D800 which was equally heavy) + monopod or tripod was always a deterrent for the walkabout.

I have ordered the 800 f6.3 that is to be delivered on Sunday.

Jeyaram

—-----

For birds, I mostly prefer 600mm to 840mm and hence the choice of 600 TC lens

There are places where 400mm - 600mm is required particularly in hides/feeders. My choice would be a zoom lens in the range of 20-600

Barun Chatterjee

—-------------------

I was going through the data points given. Considering the focal length as the key criteria & dividing into 4 slabs for Bird photography.

1.⁠ ⁠Slab 1 ( <401 mm) : 7.45%

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Slab 2 (401 - 600 mm) : 26.83%

3.⁠ ⁠⁠Slab 3 (601-800 mm) : 42.53%

4.⁠ ⁠⁠Slab 4 (801mm>) : 29.32%

Another interesting datapoint is 500 -600 mm is the most used focal length which is 55.42%.

Jeyaram

—------

TC works really well with the big primes. Loss of sharpness is negligible and can be adjusted in post.

Also, it is important to use TC to fill the frame of subjects near by.

If we use TC to shoot subjects that are far away, images tend to bit soft due to environmental factors like heat, humidity etc

FTZ adapter broke - Dont take big lens hinged to camera

Aditya Rao

F2Z to the rescue again 😵‍💫

this is 101 in photography, but I for some godforsaken reason kept my Z9+F2ZV2+500mm pf all connected in my Airporter bag and took it to US, I go there and realize that I don't have caps (one more blunder) ... fortunately after 10 day business trip and using the combo, I open my bag and found this.

It must have been some jolt that broke the F2Z in half and saved both my lens and Z9.

#1 lesson: pls pls dont take big lens hinged to the cameras ever 🙏

(Note: F2Z saved the same pair 2 yrs ago, but that was a home accident)

Also auto shut off cover on Sensor is also a big savior too

Lakshmi

🙏 I almost got an attack after seeing the photo ! Glad the main gears are safe

I’ve got additional Nikon caps. It’s a good idea to keep a spare in our camera bag.

Naveen

Glad your main lens is safe. faced an issue a step before this..

If we keep ftz2 attached permanently even to 500 PF lens, it leads to issue. Lens plate on 500 PF became loose and was leading to focus issues. Used a Swiss knife on a trip to tighten the lens plate.

Aditya Rao

Yes, but did you buy them somewhere? I am thinking of buying or 3d printing them myself

Naveen

https://www.videolinks.com/photo/accessories/lenscap

Nirmal

I generally keep the ftz adapter attached to the camera, should I remove and keep it ?

Naveen

That should be fine. If you attach the lens on to the ftz2 adapter, load comes on to joints of the ftz2 adapter leading to issues.

Vinay

Most of the time I keep the camera and lens decoupled while traveling. But sometimes, with smaller bags, I do have them attached and used to think what could happen.. now we know. Thanks for sharing and at the same time, I'm sorry that this happened for you.

Radha sir

Oh my! I remember you sharing a similar thing happening a year and half back. Great save with the FTZ. I always separate the lens and the camera even though all my lenses are now Z mount lenses. I have a feeling it’s probably a weak FTZ design and may not happen with the actual Z mount on the camera. Just a hunch.

Aditya Rao

I agree with you. I strongly suspect it's a weaker setup with FTZ, I saw 4 small screws within the lens that had popped out. I think it could be F2Z2 (maybe F2Z v1 is stronger due to being bulkier)

Gurutej

Oh my. What are the chances of it breaking like this on the field ? Can it handle the weight of the lens ?

Radha sir

So far, I have heard it happen with the FTZ, especially with V2. One such with a friend of mine in Ranthambore with FTZ2 and 600 F mount. No major incident reported directly mounting heavy lenses on the Z mount as far as I can tell.

Vinay

it all depends on how we handle the camera and lens when they are attached via F2Z...using monopod or tripod is safer..but with handheld, we need to be careful, specifically with heavier lens like 600mm F4 ..

Aditya Rao

Interestingly I dug up and found it was FTZ v1 that broke 2 yrs ago and now it's FTZ2 .. so both vulnerable, look at where exactly it has cracked. Right in the middle.. maybe a good thing as it saves the connectors on Z camera and F lens sides

How to enable manual focus on Z 24-120 lens

Need to spend time with the lens.

On the Nikkor z 24-120 f/4, how do I do manual focus? The rear ring controls aperture

The front ring does not seem to do much

Custom Shooting controls (f2) on z8 as in pics

I have not set any of the Custome controls to my knowledge

There are two rings on many Nikkor prime lenses (varies if it's an S lens or not). One is a function ring and the other is a control ring. Both of their clockwise and anti-clockwise rotations can be customized through f2 controls. They are usually set to adjust aperture and others are set to none.

Pls check if you’re seeing lens control function settings in f2 options. You’ve to scroll down on the screen a bit, they are usually placed at the end of the list.

There's a third dedicated manual focus ring that you can use for manual focus override. In auto focus, turn it a bit, you will see the focus display changing, as it’s a z lens you’ll see distance also get displayed in units that you set.

If its zoom lens, zoom ring and focus ring may be one and same.

Some of the options for button customisations vary if you've a dedicated manual/ auto focus button on the lens or it has a dedicated control ring or not.

You can customize further with f8 -f11 settings.

Video mode customisation for these buttons is separate to make our cup of confusion full

Image shifting slightly on 180-600 lens

Lakshmi

Here is the comment from my friend on his experience using 180-600. Let me know if any of you face this challenge —-

I am facing a new problem while shooting with my 180-600 lens. Esp After recent Firmware updates done on this lens.

I find the image is shifting slightly( few mm) to right or left or above or below, every time after clicking and before you are ready for the next shot. It is as if you are shifting the entire camera body and lens. But the focal point remains stationary. As the frame itself shifts before the next shot, along with it the focal point is also shifted.

In burst mode, this shift happens to the first frame only, rest of the frames remain stationary.

But on every single shot, the image on the frame shifts.

This is the same in all modes like AF-S, AF-C, single point focus, Wide-S etc.

I first used Z8 and then with Z7ii.

Same is the case when I use this lens 180-600 on both Z8 and Z7ii bodies.

But I don’t find any image shifting when using other lenses, 24-120 and 50mm.

I feel this is something to do with 180-600 lens esp after recent firmware update.

How to overcome this issue?

YVS prasad

Change the VR to sport

Jyotsna

Interesting. I had a similar experience with my 500mm PF when I bought it. I was using it with D850. It was very frustrating as I felt the sharpness would go as the focal point would shift slightly on clicking. There’s a fancy term for it which I can’t remember right now - shift focus or something. Tried all tests as recommended by YouTube experts, showed it at the service centre - but no solution. This would happen only with single point focus, couldn’t notice it with others. My solution finally was burst mode and keep changing the mode from Active/sport. Now with the Z9, I do the same so am able to get some share images. Still happens. Doesn’t happen with lesser focal lengths as observed by your friend.

Naveen

The Z180-600 lens doesn’t have VR buttons on the lens. They have to be set from the camera. Requesting our members who have this lens to confirm it.

Shiva IT

Yes, we don’t have lens based VR controls on the 180-600mm z, VR is managed all through camera z series cameras in-axis stabilization.

Lakshmi

This worked well, thank you - changing VR to sport worked

Lens hood compatibility chart

https://havecamerawilltravel.com/nikon-lens-hood-compatibility-chart/

https://havecamerawilltravel.com/nikon-lens-codes/

https://cdn-10.nikon-cdn.com/Images/Learn-Explore/Photography-Techniques/2011/Which-Nikkor-is-Right-for-You/Media/NIKKOR-lens-compatibility-chart.pdf

DX = Nikon’s designation for their cropped APS-C sensor cameras and lenses.

FX = Nikon’s designation for their full-frame digital cameras and lenses.

D = A D-type lens, which conveys the distance from the focal plane to the subject back to the camera to support various kinds of 3D exposure metering and i-TTL fill flash. Many, but not all, D-type lenses have a manual aperture ring.

E = An E-type lens, which uses an electromagnetic diaphragm mechanism for aperture blade control. This is designed to improve the accuracy of exposures with continuous shooting, especially at high frame rates. This is a distinction from their more common G and D-type lenses, where the diaphragm blades are operated mechanically. Limited compatibility–older DSLRs and SLRs aren’t compatible with it.

G = A G-type lens. This is an update to the D-type lenses and incorporates the same kind of distance information. But a defining feature is that they don’t have an aperture ring, with the aperture controlled through the camera’s dials and menu.

FL = Some lens elements are made of fluorite rather than the more typical glass. This reduces weight while maintaining optical quality.

ED = Extra-Low Dispersion Glass, a specialized type of lens glass designed to reduce chromatic aberration.

AF-S = One of several Nikon codes referring to the type of Auto Focus. AF-S signals compatibility with Nikon’s Silent Wave Motor (SWM) autofocusing system.

AF-D = Lens CPU relays distance information to the camera.

AF-I = Lens with internal autofocus motor.

AF-P = Lenses where particular settings are controlled from the camera’s menu and controls rather than switches on the lens itself (eg. AF/MF or vibration reduction). Limited compatibility–mainly for newer cameras (or, in some cases, updated firmware).

VR = Vibration Reduction. This refers to in-lens vibration reduction. You might also come across VR II, which is an updated and improved version.

Micro = Nikon’s terminology for macro.

Lens selection criteria

—-----------------

Sid

—---

One question ....to all ...will buying a 400 f2.8 will solve all issues of focal length ? Or buying one 400 f4.5 and 600 f6.3pf?

Radha sir

—--

If you must go for 400 as one lens to do all, then go for 400 2.8 with built in TC, at 600 it is f4 which is excellent

Radha sir

—----

Several factors to consider:

1.⁠ ⁠Would you change lenses frequently with one camera ?

2.⁠ ⁠⁠would you rather carry 2 cameras with two lenses pre-mounted ?

3.⁠ ⁠⁠would you just carry one lens and one camera at a given time for a particular genre ?

Naveen

—------

Agree with @⁨Radhakrishnan Rajagopalan Z9 Group⁩ sir. Will address different facets of this question.

1.⁠ ⁠Are you into birding or mammals or mix? I primarily shoot birds so 600 mm focal length made sense.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠@⁨Jeyaram Photographer Friend⁩ did a brilliant analysis of focal length of his past 5 years photos. Remember stock market disclosures on returns, past won’t necessarily reflect future. Check your archives. buy a lens that’s closer to focal length you most often use.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠what do you value most. Pixel peeping with top of line details, sharpness, low light performance, and blazing fast AF. This is territory of 400 f /2.8 or 600 f/4.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠are you going to print photos that need details or sharpness? What are doing with your photos? If it’s social media or contest’s then most lenses would be fine just not top of line.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠Are you going to use lens regularly 6 to 8 trips a year that justify the investment? Or few trips with best photos is what gives satisfaction. In my case given personal situation can’t undertake more than few trips ( max 3 to 4) trips a year, this situation won’t expect to change for next few years, so it didn’t make sense to buy top guns. So bought Z600 PF f/6.3 lens. Though I won’t travel a lot but use it more than most people. Used it 152 days this year. So lightweight lens gives lot more flexibility.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠finally, best lens and camera is the one that we’ve in hand at the moment. So getting best out of our equipment is what I focus on personally. Personally like new untested technologies. So usually buy equipment when they are just reached market.

6.⁠ ⁠⁠All of us value different things in life, some may like living a life of king size, want best things in life. Nothing wrong, everything is fair, par for course, as we value different things, it’s a personal choice. Only you can decide.

Sriram

—-----

Agree with Naveen. After such consideration as well as performance-price ratio I chose to go with Z 180-600m paired with Z8. Have also added Z 24-120 with similar analysis.

Between these two lenses I can cover the range of 24-600mm which is all that I want currently.

The Nikon Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR lens has garnered praise and some critiques from wildlife photographers like Steve Perry and Jan Wegener.

Pros:

1. Versatile Focal Range: Covering 180-600mm, the lens is ideal for wildlife, offering a versatile zoom for close-ups and distant subjects alike.

2. Internal Zoom Design: This feature keeps the lens length consistent while zooming, which is beneficial for stability, particularly when mounted on a tripod or gimbal head .

3. Impressive Sharpness and Autofocus: While not quite on par with the pricier S-line lenses, it provides very good sharpness and reliable autofocus for most conditions. Wegener noted it delivers great image quality, particularly for a lens in this price range (~1.5 lacs), making it an excellent choice for those who want reach without a premium price tag .

4. Handholdability: At 4.7 pounds (2.14 kg), it’s heavy but still manageable for handheld shooting, especially compared to many 600mm alternatives. This weight is beneficial for extended sessions in the field.

Cons:

1. Lower Light Performance: With a maximum aperture of f/5.6-6.3, it struggles in low-light conditions, often requiring higher ISOs to compensate. This can impact image quality, especially in dawn or dusk scenarios common in wildlife photography  .

2. Weight: Although relatively light for its range, the lens still demands a good bit of stamina for handheld shooting over long periods. Using it with a monopod or gimbal can reduce fatigue .

3. Focus in Challenging Conditions: The autofocus, while generally strong, can struggle slightly in very low light or with fast-moving subjects at maximum zoom. This is a limitation for some photographers compared to faster, more expensive lenses.

Overall, the Z 180-600mm is highly recommended for wildlife photographers who want this performance-price ratio, offering a solid balance of performance and affordability.

I typically shoot handheld but also carry a monopod in my Decathlon Backpack Seat Treemetic that enables me to hold the Z 180-600mm for extended periods without strain.

29 Jul 2025

—------------

Barun

—-------

Last couple of days trying to have the best answer on purchasing a lense. Putting my findings if it helps you.

I’ve gone through several reviews. Dr Anand guided me to check 70-180mm & Naveenji shared few reviews 🙏.

Summarising my findings but decision yet to be taken by my finance head 😜.

As I’m having lenses covering 24-120 mm, 400/4.5 & 600/6.3 range then 70-180/200 mm range would be really helpful for Safari was my initial thought.

Based on the reviews I’ve checked, Nikon Z

70-200/f 2.8 having some advantages & disadvantages which are listed in layman’s language as I’m not technically sound enough 😊.

Z 70-200mm/2.8 Benifits -

*'S' series lens

*With VR

*INTERNAL ZOOM

*SHARP IMAGES

*WIDE OPENING

BENIFIT Of Z 70-180mm/2.8

•⁠ ⁠COST EFFECTIVE (Aprox Rs 65K lesser)

•⁠ ⁠⁠LIGHT WEIGHT (aprox 565 gm lighter)

Thx

Dr Anand

—----------

If weight and money is not an issue, then surely 70 to 200 is the one I would prefer, in fact I sold 70 to 200 f to buy 70 to 180, since i do stage photography 70 to 180 was easy to carry

Naveen

—------

Thank you for sharing your decision process. Few more things to consider,

•⁠ ⁠what are you going to do with your photos?

•⁠ ⁠are you on an assignment?

•⁠ ⁠⁠are you processing photos on large monitors?

•⁠ ⁠are you printing photos regularly ?

•⁠ ⁠⁠are you travelling to difficult field conditions like snow, rain, desert where build quality matters.

•⁠ ⁠⁠what do you value most? Mind numbing sharpness or convenience of lighter gear?

If you are posting photos to social media, edge to edge sharpness won’t matter that much as it’s being seen mostly on mobile phones.

if it’s not your primary lens but using it to get occasional frames, then 70-180 might fit your needs well.

Dr Venkatesh

—----------------

Which one is better 24-200 f/4-6.3 vs 28-400 f/4-8?

Naveen

—--------

28-400 is a good travel and walk around lens. Its range is excellent. Lot of lenses exist that are sharp including F lenses but none come close to versatility of this lens on Z mount.

Two reliable reviews that will help you to make a choice.. https://photographylife.com/reviews/nikon-z-28-400mm-f-4-8-vr

https://www.zsystemuser.com/z-mount-lenses/nikkor-lenses/nikon-z-mount-lens-reviews/nikon-28-400mm-f4-8-vr-lens.html

Dr Anand

—---------

It is a great lens, Nikon, but heavy I think

Naveen

—----------

Z6iii has a good IBIS, even if lens doesn’t have VR in them, we get good sharp photos.

Z28-400 is about 725 gms.. Z 24-200 is about 570 gm but we get 200 mm more reach.. 24-120/200 is a good safari lens along with Z180-600.. we get massive reach. Z 28-400 Z 24-120/Z24-200 are all Z mount lenses.

Macro photography and Manual focus

YVS prasad sir

—------

When you are in Manual focussing align with focus peaking want to know when you got focus.

+ button will magnify the image, a little white dot on the bottom left of the screen

Anupama

—------

How to enable that?

YVS Prasad sir

—-----------

when you switch the lens to manual

Anupama

—----

The flickering dot ?

YVS prasad sir

—-------

Yes, When it stabilizes it's in focus, yes, difficult to get below 1/10 without tripod

Memory recall on lens

—-------------------------

It’s simple. Not all lenses have a Memory set feature, so check if your lens has it. It’s definitely there in 500 PF and 600 PF lenses and I use it regularly. Z180-600 doesn’t have it, so you’ve to use some other button to configure it.

You configure the recall focus position to a button on a lens like LnFn2. This is done in F2 custom controls shooting.

Steps are..

1.⁠ ⁠Set focus as you normally do

2.⁠ ⁠press Memory button on lens to save focus position -you get save focus flashing on screen.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠do shooting at distance as you normally do

4.⁠ ⁠⁠press LnFn2. Camera shifts focus plane immediately to saved position in step 2.

My lens has VR in it and Z8 also have in body vr then do I need to turn off lens vr during shoot?

Susavan Adiyta 27 Jun 2024

Radhakrishnan

Use both together for effective stabilization. In general, IBIS or In Body Image stabilization is very effective due to the sensor adjustments and works best with short focal lengths to medium focal lengths(14-200 is perhaps their best output). For longer focal lengths that is more than 200mm, the lens optics married wirh VR provides the best stabilization. If you are using long focal length (which we do for birding + wildlife) + your mirrorless Z body IBIS, use both together for the best stabilization.

VR stabilizes through glass/motor movement and IBIS by moving sensors. That is the difference and they are independent but the Z camera recognises VR and works in tandem to provide the best stabilization. Hope it helps

The new S-Line primes don’t have a manual switch to turn VR on or off. It is done via the body itself

If you use the F mount glass, turn the VR on and I found for my 500 f4, sport mode VR to be the best over all

Serial number on lenses

Naveen

—-----

Where is the damn serial number on the latest mirror less lenses?

It was nicely engraved on 500 Pf but the serial number made a disappearing act on my 600 PF. Had to remove the lenscoat and use a magnifying glass to find it.

Serial number was engraved on the barrel near the lens mount. It’s easy to miss unless we specially look for it.

Shooting in harsh or bright light

Santosh Jan 25

—---------

Common Merganser Male, Shot during Ladakh Trip in June 2024. Midday

Aditya Rao

—---------

​​Excellent Pic Santosh ji ... this leads to an important question for all ... What is/are your technique/options or pro-tips for shooting in extremely bright/harsh conditions? For me the #1 culprit is extreme sunlight, glare & haze due to lensing effect. I see these happen in high-altitude deserts, snow areas ... I have managed somewhat to change angle, hope things come to shade, etc -- but not always can afford that luxury. Of course, super low ISO, extra hooding, etc -- but anything else that has worked is appreciated too

Dr Santosh

—----

Difficult situation indeed...

I tend to under expose and shoot at higher shutter speed

For heat haze, proximity is the key.. if you can approach the bird , you may get a sharper image.

Naveen

—--------

Enable zebra display for stills, to help you in such situations.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YwANmQo3_3X9SXdB7l_JpdDa6yr1EK1D

Radha sir

—---

VND + Inregrated polariser

VND to reduce light + polariser to cutdown glare and reflections

The only issue is the filter size for larger lenses… this works from 62 - 82 filter sizes normally with step up/ down adapters. The most common are the 62, 77, 92. The options are limited to non existent for your 2.8 long telelenses as they would expect a drop in filter at the rear

Aditya Rao

—-----

That's exactly the problem. I guess for landscape your recommendations are perfect

Radha sir

—-----

Also works with 70-200(filter size 77) and 100-400 (filter size 82)…

Spot Metering

—----------------

Jeyaram

—-------

Gray-sided Bush Warbler

Chakki Modh, Himachal Pradesh, 15-Dec-24

Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 600mm f/4 TC VR Lens at 840mm

1/250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 2800, EV 0 (Spot metering)

Experimented with spot metering yesterday. It seemed to be working better.

Sudhir Paul

—-----

Wow, the bird gave you the time to experiment!! Bush warblers are quite the skulkers normally

Jeyaram

—--------

I was on spot metering for the entire day. I observed its behaviour on various subjects under different conditions.

This was a skulker and didn’t give much time

Naveen

—-------

Which spot did you metered? Eye of bird?

Jeyaram

—-------

My understanding is that spot metering meters are where the focus point is. Since the focus latched on the eye, it metered around the eye

Swapnil

—-------

Nikon cameras give best results for spot metering. I use it most of the time

Canon works better on evaluative metering

Dr Saurabh

—-------------

Steve Perry says that spot metering is not metering for focus point but the centre of the image. So, he recommends Matrix metering most of the time

Naveen

—-------

Sir, that’s center weighted metering. Spot metering issue is focus point may wander as birds move and we may meter behind bird or head than eye. With subject detection lock on eye that danger is avoided as focus point moves automatically to meter properly. Issue is if subject detection doesn’t happen properly, spot metering may not meter area that we intend.

With expsoure simulation in mirrorless and what you see what you get, we can adjust settings in any metering before taking a shot. Just that some meeting are easier for specific scenarios.

Tarang

—-------

But atleast a few frames will lock on and be exposed correctly right?

Dr Saurabh

—-----------

In a EVF in Z9, whenever I get a dark subject in a bright background, I tend to Prop up exposure compensation to +1.0 or more. I use Matrix metering always. Is this good technique or I should use spot metering. I used Manual with autoISO

Lakshmi

—-----------------

Whatever you do now is the best. Spot metering is tricky and it may average a few areas and decide the exposure

Naveen

—--------

Assuming you set C1 ( AE-L on half press shutter release) to off, If you’re spot metering eye, In a burst if bird closes eye, you may meter eyelid. If you’re metering bird bodies and wings are fluttering, in some shots you may meter the area under wings and in some shots you may meter wings. In semi automatic mode manual + iso, iso might vary with each shot in burst. If you’re over bounds of iso then you may get overexposed or underexposed shots. So it’s tricky with moving birds, stationery birds we can be a little more sure of the metered area.

Arun

—------

Works best in most settings

However in scenes where subject and background are in contrast, ie black subject and bright background or white subject and shadow background matrix will not give the best results

Here is where one needs to consider spot, highlight metering

Radha sir

—---------

This is why I like shooting with my iPhone! Just keep clicking and leave the rest to god

If you shoot iPhone you can blame it on apple! If you shoot a Nikon/Sony/Canon then there is a belief and an expectation that you are a pro- photographer!

Just kidding!

Jeyaram

—-------

My intent behind using spot metering was mainly to measure the light falling on the bird to overcome the problems I have mentioned earlier.

I stayed away from spot metering these years because of the concerns that are mentioned above and used matrix metering with exposure compensation

With spot metering the exposure is set close for the light falling on the subject. The exposure varies a bit depending on the head turn tonality of the bird around the eye and even meters the background if the head of the bird is small.

I will be happy to use spot metering when dealing with tougher lighting conditions and when the bird is moving around a lot

Arun

—---

Using spot metering as black subject and bright background

I did minimal processing as the bird was spot on. Reduced highlights to recover BG details (not that there are many details).

With matrix metering the robin would have been black and i would have needed to lift shadows and that would have led to noise. If i had dialed EC then BG would have been wiped out. Here spot worked best

Left is as taken, right is with adding whites and highlights to the Heron

Spot metering and adding whites and highlights to just the heron. Very minimal processing.

In this case there was not much separation of background and white bird with Spot metering helped in reducing BG noise by under exposing the background.

Dr Saurabh

—---------------

Exposure compensation will not wipe out the background as on EVF you can see the final image and you can be conservative with it

Arun

—-----

Agree, but with spot metering in such cases gets better results than matrix metering

And as you rightly said we see the image exposure on the viewfinder so can always adjust

Sudhir

—------

So what would you go with: Spot or Highlight metering, all things being equal?

Or which of the 2 measurements simplified your shooting experience?

Jeyaram

—-----------

My go to metering would still be matrix metering most of the cases.

For skittish birds moving around different lighting conditions, I would consider spot metering

In cases where there’s spot light on bird or brighter background when I am going for silhouette, I will go for highlights metering

In the field, I have setup my camera in such a way that I can switch the metering mode quickly without taking my eyes off the view finder

Generally I set my exposure by looking at the scene and ambient light prior to shooting.

However the challenge that I faced was lighting was drastically different and birds don’t give time to adjust

Naveen

—--------

Red squirrel Kalmthout, Belgium

Z9+z600 PF

1/1600, f/6.3, iso 25600 EC -0.67

Auto area AF, animal subject detection.

Spot metering. Subject distance 6.31mts. Zero crop. Denoised in dxo pureraw.

Used spot meeting as the squirrel was in shadows and bright light in the forest behind it. Spot was on eyes

Z 180-600 mm lens

Sriram

Agree with Naveen. After such consideration as well as performance-price ratio I chose to go with Z 180-600m paired with Z8. Have also added Z 24-120 with similar analysis.

Between these two lenses I can cover the range of 24-600mm which is all that I want currently.

The Nikon Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR lens has garnered praise and some critiques from wildlife photographers like Steve Perry and Jan Wegener.

Pros:

1. Versatile Focal Range: Covering 180-600mm, the lens is ideal for wildlife, offering a versatile zoom for close-ups and distant subjects alike.

2. Internal Zoom Design: This feature keeps the lens length consistent while zooming, which is beneficial for stability, particularly when mounted on a tripod or gimbal head .

3. Impressive Sharpness and Autofocus: While not quite on par with the pricier S-line lenses, it provides very good sharpness and reliable autofocus for most conditions. Wegener noted it delivers great image quality, particularly for a lens in this price range (~1.5 lacs), making it an excellent choice for those who want reach without a premium price tag .

4. Handholdability: At 4.7 pounds (2.14 kg), it’s heavy but still manageable for handheld shooting, especially compared to many 600mm alternatives. This weight is beneficial for extended sessions in the field.

Cons:

1. Lower Light Performance: With a maximum aperture of f/5.6-6.3, it struggles in low-light conditions, often requiring higher ISOs to compensate. This can impact image quality, especially in dawn or dusk scenarios common in wildlife photography  .

2. Weight: Although relatively light for its range, the lens still demands a good bit of stamina for handheld shooting over long periods. Using it with a monopod or gimbal can reduce fatigue .

3. Focus in Challenging Conditions: The autofocus, while generally strong, can struggle slightly in very low light or with fast-moving subjects at maximum zoom. This is a limitation for some photographers compared to faster, more expensive lenses.

Overall, the Z 180-600mm is highly recommended for wildlife photographers who want this performance-price ratio, offering a solid balance of performance and affordability.

I typically shoot handheld but also carry a monopod in my Decathlon Backpack Seat Treemetic that enables me to hold the Z 180-600mm for extended periods without strain.

Devdath sir

—-----------

I am very very happy with my lens. At times I use in DX mode as well, to get more focal length,when the bird is very far.

I have used it for both birds, animals/mammals.

Gurutej

—-------

it's comparable with 200-500 . With an extra reach of 100mm.

Most of us have upgraded from 200-500 to 180-600.

500 5.6pf lens is more faster.

Dr Kalyan

—--------

I have used it extensively, good lens, weight is an issue for me, for those who do birding and mammals this is fine, no major issues, I have the 100 to 400, light weight, longer reach of 180 to 600 is a big advantage

Sunil ( SCK)

—----------

I use it with my Z8...the focus acquisition is tad slow compared to the 500PF lens i hv

Syam Sundar

—-----------

I recently got that lens along with Z9. It is pretty good. Since I mostly use it for bird photography(a lot of cropping), I do not really worry about any (not that I noticed but only read in reviews) aberrations around the edges.

Z100-400 Lens

Dr Venkatesh

—--------

I used one at Masai Mara. It's very good. And apt for Mara

Shuvajit Basu

—---

I have been using it abeit for a short while

This works great especially to get those env shots at 100-250mm range

Radha sir 06 Nov 25

—--------------

This lens lives on my Z8 95% of the time, while my Z9 is usually with either 600 or 800 6.3.

Pros:

1.⁠ ⁠Tack sharp

2.⁠ ⁠⁠very flexible and nimble

3.⁠ ⁠⁠good working range

4.⁠ ⁠⁠light weight and at 100mm fits any bag

5.⁠ ⁠⁠uniform sharpness across the zoom range

6.⁠ ⁠⁠This is an S series lens and built well

7.⁠ ⁠⁠Excellent for Video while shooting birds and mammals

8.⁠ ⁠⁠Nice colour and optical rendition

9.⁠ ⁠⁠zoom rotation is very smooth

10.⁠ ⁠⁠the filter size is the standard 77mm and widely available.

Cons:

1.⁠ ⁠No internal zoom

2.⁠ ⁠⁠plays decent with 1.4TC if the light is really good, if not it’s touch and go

3.⁠ ⁠⁠don’t even try anything beyond 1.4TC even if the light is good

Girish Thakur

—----------

Z8 lens ZS 100-400 mm both fotos handheld from vehicle Bhigwan grassland

Z9 lens ZS 100-400 mm

Z400 f/4.5 lens

Naveen

My observations of Z400 f/4.5 S lens after using it for 3 days

1..its super fast focussing, appeared faster than F 500mm Pf lens

2. It's very sharp from edge to edge. You can crop pictures a lot..good resolution of details.

3. Bokeh is very good because of 4.5 aperture obviously better than f/5.6

4. Found it difficult to set the focus recall. Usual process didn't work..

5..The control ring was placed much closer to the camera than f/5.6, so every time I wanted to hand hold, it was changing aperture or other parameters. So I was afraid to use manual focussing. I Need time to get used to the lens.

7..at OMH felt focal length was short, needed a TC as there were many small birds

8. Yet to conclude but focus shifting issues needs more investigation.

9.. Overall it is a superb lightweight lens in my view ...use 400 mm for mammals and with TC 1.4X at 560 mm f/6.3 use it for birds

https://youtu.be/WSBc7h3atg8?feature=shared

This is a very good video. Ricci touches upon many lenses and makes interesting comments.

400 f/4.5 lens discussion was insightful. It’s a versatile lens combined with Z1.4xTC esp if you’re a primarily a Mammals shooter and occasionally need larger focal length.

One of the interesting points he made was on shooting wide open with Z zoom lenses if we’re at a sufficient distance from subject ( not his exact words). Ricci says we don’t have to stop down to get sharpness with Z lenses unlike F lenses. He says Z zoom lenses are sharp wide open.

Photographers with zoom lenses tend to shoot at f/8 as their default f stop. Heard a senior photographer once saying “Xyz is a f/8 shooter”.

Request our members to check sharpness of their Z180-600 or Z 100-400 lenses wide open, as this helps to shoot at lower isos, in low light situations.

Dr Arijit Da

—---

Spent a day with the 400/4.5 Z lens. Lovely piece of work. A longish MGD, but in the field that did not seem too relvant.

I shall need to check the images on a large screen once back but initial indications suggest first rate micro contrast and sharpness, and fine rendition of back grounds.

Barun

—---

I’m having 400/4.5 & using for last 6 months with Z8- please find below positive & negative pointers based on my usage & obviously limited knowledge 😊.

1.⁠ ⁠Purely handheld lense

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Sharp & Fast at 4.5

3.⁠ ⁠⁠Adding 1.4TC will give you 560mm/6.3

4.⁠ ⁠⁠Best for bird in flight /action photography

Cons:

1.⁠ ⁠The range for Bird Photography it’s bit sort

2.⁠ ⁠⁠With TC 2 the sharpness & speed dropped if we compare with 1.4TC

3.⁠ ⁠⁠Lens foot is a bit flimsy

Thanks

Harshit

—--------

Sure i had a question about how is the lens focus acquisition(especially compared to 500f4), colour production, background separation and its application while shooting mammals.. as per both Sadanad and Jay the focus acquisition is quite an improvement compared to 500f4, colours are really nice.. background separation is good though not as compared to f2.8, but that also depends on the subject to background distances among many other factors. My main question was around focus acquisition and looks like this lens is great in those regards!!

Naveen

—--------

Used Z400 f/4.5 on a few trips, its focus is fantastic and super fast. It’s super sharp. Very good for flight shots, it’s super lightweight and hand holdable.

It's a S lens and not a PF lens so bokeh is very good. Though Z PF lenses like 600 f/6.3 specular highlights are a lot more contained and give beautiful bokeh.

Just 1/3rd stop more than f/4. Low light performance is also good.

TC Z1.4 x works well. With slight degradation of focus speed and sharpness.

Barun

—-------

If I may add few pointers as using this lens for last couple of Safaris.

1.⁠ ⁠Light weight if we compare any other super telephoto of 400mm (1.16Kg).

2.⁠ ⁠⁠super fast focusing

3.⁠ ⁠⁠Max reach without TC in Dx mode is 600mm (24x16 mode)

4.⁠ ⁠⁠with 1.4 TC reach will be 560mm but f6.3 - used extensively & found good results

5.⁠ ⁠⁠min focus length 8.20 Ft

6.⁠ ⁠⁠Good bokeh

For birding 400mm is short & sometimes frustrating but you can add on 1.4 TC to reach 560mm. I even pushed once to reach 840mm ( 400+1.4 tc+ DX mode). A bit dropped in image quality & 19MP file we will get in Z8.

Overall excellent lens to carry for any Safari who are looking for a combo in a decent price

Harshit

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Hey Tarang, i used 400mmf4.5 recently in tadoba (rented from book my lens) over my Z8 and in addition to Barun sir’s I would like to add, the colours produced by the lens is exceptional, the focus is snappy and beautifully sharp lens.. sample image from the lens. Haven’t improved a lot of sharpness in the post!!

Binit

—--

Using the same combo.

I’ve tried both 1.4 & 2x. I’ll not recommend 2x as sharpness will drop as well as autofocus in low light conditions I faced challenges. 1.4TC result was good. The advantage is the light weight of the lense - who prefer handhold photography.

Riju Bhattacharya

—---------

Using the same combo.

I’ve tried both 1.4 & 2x. I’ll not recommend 2x as sharpness will drop as well as autofocus in low light conditions I faced challenges. 1.4TC result was good. The advantage is the light weight of the lense - who prefer handhold photography.

I have used it for a good amount of time and haven’t faced too many issues with it

Shamim

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400 f4.5S is a gem of a lens

I repeat in this price range and the value it offers no comparison to that

Naveen

—-------

Agree. Versatility is just fabulous at that price range. Lightweight, resolution of details, focus speed, sharpness. Literally it definitely punches above its weight.

Barun

—-----

Using the same combo.

I’ve tried both 1.4 & 2x. I’ll not recommend 2x as sharpness will drop as well as autofocus in low light conditions I faced challenges. 1.4TC result was good. The advantage is the light weight of the lense - who prefer handhold photography.

Arun

—----

+1

I recently traded my 500 f4 FL lens and 300 f4 PF + 1.4TC for the z400 f4.5 lens

Amazingly small and light weight regular S lens. Super sharp.

At f4.5 just a third stop less light and 20% lower focal length compared to 500 mm and 2/3 stop more light than 300+1.4 TC and just 20 mm shorter.

Great output and at a perfect sweet spot for mammals, BIF and habitat bird photos.

Comparison of 500 PF and Z600 PF By Naveen Kumar 18 Apr 2024

1. From a weight perspective the difference( 70 gms) is negligible. Feels almost the same to me.

2. Both of them are feather weight and hand holdable the whole day. Nice and easy for trekking/ walking around with a sling.

3. ⁠ 600 mm is solid but slightly bulkier to hold it in hand at neck, as flange diameter is bigger in Mirrorless. When using a sling, we have to swing the lens and camera from our side to take photos. So I have to get used to holding lens feet. 500 mm is a lot more convenient to choke its neck.

4. The Z lens has more controls and distance parameters and works in auto capture mode. But I disabled most of the lens controls except a few so not a big deal.

5. ⁠focussing is slightly faster in 600 mm PF esp when moving from far to closer. Very minor difference.

6. Most importantly 600 mm focus is a lot more accurate. After a long time using 500 mm PF again, it appears it focuses to the front a bit, especially when the bird is in clutter. Issue could be ftz adapter or my 500 PF lens. I need to be conscious in the field and get accurate focus. So missing a few shots at times.

7. Many times I get the issue of freezing with 500 mm PF. Requires restarting camera. Could be my lens issue. This is annoying. With 600 mm lens in 6 months not even once I got freezing issues.

8. not much difference in bokeh quality.

9. focal length doesn’t feel short with 500 mm PF compared to 600 mm PF. Have to move a few steps ahead with 500 mm PF to take a photo.

10. ⁠as I use manual + auto iso f/5.6 or f/6.3 impact on iso is just 1/3 rd stop, difference is not perceptible in my view.

11. ⁠600 mm PF handles strong back light a bit better.

12. ⁠not tested 600 PF in rain or extreme weather to check it’s weather sealing. My 500 mm PF needs a bit more babysitting. Could be my lens issue.

For me 5,6 and 7 are important points in favor of 600 mm PF compared to 500 mm PF. Some of these could be my ftz adapter or lens issues. Don't forget the cost of Z 600 PF is about Rs 1.5 lakhs more than 500 PF, if cost is a primary consideration, better to go for a pre worshiped 500 PF lens.

In my case I bought 600 mm PF as my 500 mm PF was heavily used and has issues of fogging, backplate needs a fix and needs service. Once my 500 mm lens backplate almost came off, I used a Swiss knife to fix it in the field.

600 mm feedback

​​600 PF is just brilliant. Super fast, super sharp and lightweight to use. Except low light and slight bokeh compared to 600 f/4, it’s brilliant overall. Outstanding value imo.

Radha sir 8 Apr 2025

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Perhaps the lens I have enjoyed the most so far. So compact, lite and a joy to use… I was initially worried about the 6.3 but have to admit that I don’t even think about it. It’s one true great lens. Such a joy to use.. it’s always matted to my Z9 and never comes off of it. All the lenses I change these days are only on my Z8

Tarang

—-----

No issues with the 6.3?

Radha sir

—------

No issues atleast for me. I don’t hesitate to push the ISO by a stop to get the exposure as the Z9/Z8 noise levels are very acceptable and usable. And for the distance I work with the subjects I find the 600PF isolates subject very well even at 6.3.

Sid

—--

600 pf is one cracker of a lens

Ranked third among the best telephoto lenses ok nikon

00 f4 ..1st

400 f2.8 .. 2nd

600 pf ..3rd ...

400 f4.5 – 4th

it's ranked by photography life magazine ...had shared an article on it before in this forum

Radha sir

—-------

This series of the Pied KF taking off till it dived on to the water, out of 60+ shots, 57 of them are in focus till the bird left my frame which was my tracking error. The Z9 + 600 PF kept the focus tracking well on all through despite a very contrary, busy, rocky background

Naveen

—-------

Agree sir. 600 PF lens is indeed a joy to use.

Been using it ever since it was released in Oct / Nov 23.

1.⁠ ⁠It’s pretty sharp, resolves details well.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠bokeh is decent but can’t realistically compare with Z600 f/4 TX or Z400 f/2.8 those are two big daddy’s. Physics just doesn't work. 150/143 mm lens opening diameter of big daddy’s to 95 mm of 600 PF is huge to overcome.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠minimum focus distance is longer than 500 Pf or 400 f/4.5. At times could be an issue when subjects are closer.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠it’s 1.3 stops slower than 600 f/4 lens, so in low light isos gets pushed higher. For example Iso 10000 on f/4 vs iso 25600 f/6.3 ( approx). Few really low light situations it can be an issue.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠iso of 10000 or above also get cleaned up pretty well in dxo pure raw. Use High isos only when needed.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠focussing speed is very fast.

6.⁠ ⁠⁠has very good manual override for precise focusing in tricky situations. It’s super useful in the field.

7.⁠ ⁠⁠has good controls on lens that can be customised.

Recently @⁨Vinay Chakravarthy Birder⁩ bought it, don’t think he has a real opportunity to use it yet.

Radha sir

—------

On #2, we get what we pay for! 😜. Even my 500 f4 f mount was a standout with its separation.

Sunil

—----

In terms of image quality what is ur experience Naveen, when u compare this to 600mm PF 6.3? Weight is almost the same

Naveen

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Both are almost same in terms of image quality. With 1.4x TC 400 f/4:5 is not as sharp or fast as 600 PF. 400 f/4.5 is lot more versatile. 400 can be used for mammals or hides, with 1.4 X TC can be used for birding.

Naveen

—-------

I have 600 PF. It’s very good.

Having said it’s a fair weather lens, works well in good lighting and field conditions, occasionally I stretch it.

In tough conditions, exotics f/4 and f/2.8 excel with their light gathering, bokeh, etc.

If you want lower weight for birds in flight, try 600 PF or 400 f4.5 and 1.4X TC ( helps with mammals and birds).

Jyotsna

—----

n I asked the Q regarding your experience with 600 PF I had Jeyaram’s data in mind. For birding I think 600 seems to be a desirable option, for walking about too. With DX one could get a longer reach.

I had been debating in my mind if the extra 100mm from 500 was worth it or not. The adapter plus lens is many moving parts.

Naveen

—---

Do you have any issues with 500 mm PF lens? I had fogging, camera freeze, fungus and back plate issues in few trips. So it needed service. My lens was used extensively for more than 4.5 years before I bought 600 PF.

600 PF is just brilliant. Super fast, super sharp and lightweight to use. Except low light and slight bokeh compared to 600 f/4, it’s brilliant overall. Outstanding value imo.

Z6iii and Z70-180 mm f.2.8 lens Dec 2024

—--------------------

Thanks to @⁨Jay Varadarajan Palm Meadows Birder⁩, got an opportunity to use z6Iii paired with Z70-180 f/2.8 and sometimes with. z600 PF f/6.3 lens. Used it over the last couple of weeks, to share below observations.

1.⁠ ⁠Set the camera going through 4 part video series by Steve Perry.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠didn’t set U1 and U2 settings found it tough to use. More comfortable to dial in settings quickly than I wanted.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠fn1 and fn2 in front of camera are very close to flange of lens plate. So it takes bit of getting used to operating them. We’ve to use them as this camera doesn’t have cycle area mode.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠configured af area to video record button and used command dial to change area.

5.⁠ ⁠one thing that strikes is how small and lightweight it is. Honestly found it difficult to use and didn’t like the camera initially. As controls and settings are different.

6.⁠ ⁠uses same expeed7 sensor used in z8/Z9 but only 24 mp. So we get the same iso performance. High iso files clean very well in Dxo pure raw.

7.⁠ ⁠No birds as subject detection option, animal works for both animal and birds.

8.⁠ ⁠we can charge it though usb-c cable. We need to enable charging through setting usb power delivery in set up menu.

9.⁠ ⁠in burst mode, evf blacks out so it’s bit jarring to use in bursts.

10.⁠ ⁠mechanical shutter makes good old grating noise.

11.⁠ ⁠Flip screen is a good addition. But screen angle movements in place are not practical to use in small places of safari vehicles.

12.⁠ ⁠Set release mode to high extended to use mechanical shutter at 14fps and electronic shutter at 20 fps.

13.⁠ ⁠when Z6Iii paired with Z600 PF, weight balance shift towards front requires bit more care in hand holding than z9. Z9 and z600 PF weight balance is a lot better but I may be biased as I got used to that combo over last year or so.

14.⁠ ⁠lens 70-180 is small, super lightweight and doesn’t have any controls and no VR. We’re totally dependent on camera ibis. Z6Iii ibis works very well.

15.⁠ ⁠70-180 f2.8 lens has very good low light , bokeh and resolves details very well. It definitely punches a lot higher than its weight. Pleasantly surprised me.

16.⁠ ⁠⁠z6iii photos jump a bit when they are loaded in Nikon NX studio even when pixel shift was switched off. Yet to find a resolution.

Recorded a few videos yet to process them.

Overall, the z6iii makes for a great second camera on trips and z70-180 f2.8 delightful lens on trips.

Here are few photos..

1/640 ISO 8000 f/8 Ec -1.0 115 mm

Focal length

ISO 3200 f4 1/640 s 180 mm focal length

ISO 5000 f/2.8 1/1600 165 mm focal length

ISO 3600 f/2.8 1/1600 165 mm focal length. Karadi male tiger Bandipur

800 F/6.3 lens feedback from Arun Ramakrishnan on 19 May 2024

primarily do walk about birding and an occassional Safari. Smaller birds form a big part of my subjects. So reach and ability to lift the kit were two of my primary objectives for getting 800 PF.

Prior to 800 I had two lenses, the 300 f4 PF and the 500 f4 FL. Both I used predominantly with 1.4TC. Both these lenses achieved only one of the two objectives of mine.

The 300 PF was short on reach but at about a kg with the TC was great to carry. Due to the reach limitations I needed to get close to the subject. Finding trees and shrubs to hide behind so as not to disturb the bird many a times used to be a struggle. So the option was to just invest time at a place for the bird to come near, but that is a lottery. So some photo opportunity would be missed.

The 500 f4 FL with TC had the reach by at 3.0+ kgs was a pain to carry around.

At 2.2 kgs 800 PF met both my objectives. I have used it now on 4-5 occassions of 3+ hrs of session covering about 5 odd km of walking. I have not felt a need for even a monopod to carry it around.

Pros other than it being a light lens

a) The lens is sharp

b) AF is quick

c) because it is light, small and has quick AF am able to get BIF easily. I have hardly missed a BIF opportunity. Even when the action has been sudden I have got my pic.

Cons

a) In lower light will need 1/3 higher ISO than when I was using 500 f4 FL + 1.4 TC (aperture of f5.6). When paired with Z9 or Z8, higher ISO is not a concern as the same can be managed well in Post using DNoise and the bodies have better dynamic range at higher ISO.

b) many reviewers say min focus distance of 5 meters is a lot, so if subject is closer then may miss (in my experience I have not come across such a situation)

c) 800 mm is too long in safari settings for mammals

When I was purchasing the 800 I was also contemplating 600 option. Both are f6.3. Although 600 is lighter by 30%, I chose the 800 primarily for the additionl 200 mm and the additional blur due to a narrow field of view due to the additional 200mm.

I still have my 300 PF and 500 FL. Both I have retained for Safari trips and mammals.

Hope this helps your decision

Arca-swiss lens foots for Nikon lenses

Nikon lenses by default do not come with Arca-SWISS plates. To mount lenses to a tripod or monopod we need Arca-swiss plates. Integrated arca swiss lens foot is better than screwing an arca swiss plate on top of nikon supplied lens foot. It's more robust and has less number of joints.

In India, we find replacement lens feet from LeoFoto. Please check the compatibility chart below from Leofoto. Similarly RRS or Hejinar or Wemberley or KEF or other vendors supply similar Lensfoot.

Check Videolinks site for some of these accessories from Wemberely

Below is a slightly older lensfoot compatibility chart received from Leofoto India. Few changes are listed below the chart.

Leofoto India website is difficult to search - please check the global site. https://www.leofoto.com/products.php?cateid=160

For Nikon Z 180-600 Lens - NFC-01- it doesn't have eyelets for securing PeakDesign Slide Strap. Sriram R sold it after having bought it. This can only carry a Blackrapid strap that attaches to the lens foot.

NF-05L - FOR NIKON Z 70-200 F/2.8 ，Z 100-400MM F/4.5-5.6 VR S，Z 400MM F/4.5 VR S，Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S

NF-01N - Leofoto Lens foot for Nikon 70~200mm/2.8、500mm/5.6

Enlarge the below picture by downloading it to your computer or check link ( https://www.leofoto.com/products.php?cateid=160 ) .

Videolinks - Nikon lens foot - https://www.videolinks.com/brand/wimberley?compatibility=297

.

Astro Photography - Tips and Techniques

Sriram

Good evening. Would appreciate tips and techniques for astro-photography. Thanks!

Naveen

We’ve many members with Astro photography experience @⁨Dr Shrikanth Hegde Shimoga z9⁩ @⁨Dr Santosh Mahalik Bubaneshwar Z9 Forum⁩ @⁨Jyostna Narula Z9 Owner Toehold Lounge⁩ @⁨~Rajesh⁩ @⁨~Jayesh⁩ @⁨Nirmal Badale Toehold Lounge⁩ @⁨Jayesh Kini Z9 Group Friend Of Prashant Mathur⁩ @⁨‪+91 97201 61991‬⁩ @⁨🌞shiva It Consultant Z8 Hyderabad⁩ @⁨Radhakrishnan Rajagopalan Z9 Group ⁩and few more that I might have missed out ..

requesting them to share their experience.

Jyostna

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The first thing is to decide what you want to capture - Milky Way or Star Trails. I’ve only tried the former as yet.

Use a wide angle lens, tripod, remote shutter or timer (first one better). Manual mode. F stop can be widest to 4. Play with ISO and shutter speed - 15 to 30s. Honestly, the hardest thing I found was manual focus. I still need to understand it properly.

You also need an app to know exactly where the Milky Way is!

Rajesh

—------

photopills is best app for Astrophotography

https://calc.loef.photos/ - 500 rule for astrophotographyphy exposure calculator - use 500 rule calculator it will give what shutter speed need to set

Wide angle lens with open aperture f1.8 is best option or 2.8. With f4 lenses - Chances to get more grains and Use manucal focus

Dr Santosh

—-------------------

A simple chat GPT command yielded this result, which is absolutely correct and useful

----------------------------------

Photographing the Milky Way can yield stunning results, but capturing it requires specific techniques and planning. Here’s a guide to help you get started:

1. Plan the Timing and Location

Find a Dark Sky Location: Light pollution hinders Milky Way visibility. Use light pollution maps to find a dark sky area.

Check the Moon Phase: Aim for a new moon or a few days around it, as moonlight can wash out stars and the Milky Way.

Choose the Right Season: April to September best time in India. From early June you can visualise galaxy core in early evening in dark areas.

2. Equipment Needed

Camera: A DSLR or mirrorless camera with manual settings is ideal.

Lens: Use a wide-angle lens (14–24mm) with a fast aperture (f/2.8 or wider). Wide angles capture more of the sky, and wider apertures let in more light.

Tripod: Essential for stabilizing long exposures.

Remote Shutter Release: Helps minimize camera shake during long exposures.

3. Camera Settings

Set Your Aperture: Use the widest aperture your lens allows (e.g., f/2.8) to capture as much light as possible.

Shutter Speed: Use the “500 Rule” to avoid star trails: . For example, with a 20mm lens, try a 25-second exposure.

ISO: Start with ISO 3200 to 6400, but adjust based on your camera’s noise performance. Higher ISO captures more light but increases noise.

Focus: Set your lens to manual focus, and focus on a bright star or far-off object. Use live view and zoom in to get sharp focus.

Focus on brightest star, zoom in and manual focus till the star look pin pointed. That will be the sharpest focus.

4. Composing the Shot

Foreground Interest: Add depth by including elements like mountains, trees, or rocks in the foreground. (The most important factor for framing a shot, a great foreground will make your image greater)

Rule of Thirds: Position the Milky Way along one-third of the frame for a balanced composition.

Vertical or Horizontal Orientation: Experiment with both to capture different parts of the sky and frame foreground features.

5. Post-Processing Tips

Adjust Exposure and Contrast: Brighten the image and increase contrast to bring out the Milky Way.

Reduce Noise: Use noise reduction software or tools, especially if shooting with a high ISO. You can stack multiple images too for a better result.

Enhance Colors: Adjust white balance for a natural sky tone, and consider subtle color adjustments to make the Milky Way stand out.

6. Useful Apps and Tools

Stellarium or SkySafari: Sky map apps to help locate the Milky Way.

PhotoPills or The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE): For planning locations, timing, and Milky Way positioning.

Tips Summary

Patience: Sometimes waiting for the perfect timing or conditions is necessary.

Practice: Experiment with different settings and locations to refine your technique.

Stay Safe: Dark locations can be remote and isolated. Bring essentials like a flashlight, extra batteries, and let someone know your location.

Starting with these techniques will help you capture the Milky Way in all its glory!

Arun

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A Pic I took in Udupi in 2018 with DSLR kit

D800 with 16-80 f2.8-f4.0 DX lens (that time I did not have a full frame wide lens)

This is 30 pic composite. Took it on tripod with intervalometer with 2 min gap between pics.

My focus point was North star to get the wheel

I pre focused at the farthest light source I got and set the AF to manual to ensure I do not lose the focus point

Naveen

—--------

Farthest light In the photo, is it some light in town? Hyper focal distance is about 3.15 meters for the focal length, aperture..

Arun

—------

Correct. Since nearby was dark, I had to choose light in town

​​If you set shutter longer than 500 rule, instead of dot that stars will create, you will get lines where the stars trail, especially in less wider aperture lens where you choose lower ISO and need to slow the shutter

Jyotsna

—-----

Above was my first and only attempt at Milky Way. So here’s what I did.

1.⁠ ⁠Tried to gather info before hand as it was going to be my first attempt - YouTube, friends in this group and outside, Insta accounts of experts.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Placed the tripod on a flat area.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠Z9 in vertical position pointed towards the Milky Way.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠Remote shutter and basic settings were already set in the room before mounting the camera outside.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠Kept a torch in pocket to check any settings.

6.⁠ ⁠You can see the exit details of the image. I kept changing the ISO and SS and kept checking the image.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠Like I said before, the hardest part is manual focus as you see literally nothing in the viewfinder. So I zeroed in on a few bright stars and kept the focus point on it.

6.⁠ ⁠⁠This is a single exposure image. Some people take a couple and merge them for deeper colours and foreground exposure.

Naveen

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Few settings from Nikon for low light photography

Few settings like starlight view, warm display Colors, LCD display on Z9/Z8 help in low light photography situations.

https://youtu.be/F2zY_j8Y61s

https://www.nikonusa.com/learn-and-explore/c/tips-and-techniques/five-z-9-features-that-aid-in-night-photography

We discussed sometime back, to check focus accuracy in shooting mode, using zoom preview option. Typically configured on lens function button. It should be helpful with manual focus as well. Used it semi auto mode but should be available on full manual mode as well.

Jyotsna

—--------

Actually had most of the settings on, that are mentioned in the two links shared above. Didn’t need Frame View though. Still it’s hard to judge if stars are in sharp focus. Hard to explain till you see it. I’m sure if I do astro in the presence of an expert, I’ll pick up the right technique.

I would still recommend keeping a small torch or head torch to see the camera when operating or moving about in the dark. The torch is not needed or on when actually shooting.

Jyotsna

—-------

Can someone please guide me on the settings for Interval Timer Shooting for star trails. I am not clear on how to set “Intervalsxshots/interval”. Currently the settings are showing Start time to End time as 3 minutes.

I basically want to take 200 odd shots at an interval of 5seconds with an exposure time of 15seconds.

Arun

—----

Set interval at 1 min as 15 sec exposure will take some time to write on the card as well.

Typically 40-50 photos is good to get a trail. If you want to capture 4-5 hours of night, you can set the interval to 5 to 10 min gap.

Also use rule of 500, so 500/ focal length for your shutter

Battery grips for Z8

—----------------

Susavan Aditya

—------

Whether Nikon Z8 extra battery grip is worth buying? I am looking for a third party in budget. Previously used a third party grip for my D850 and it is still working flawlessly since I bought in 2021.

Radha sir

—-----------

If you need a spare battery and vertical button controls, then yes. It doesn’t add anything else.

Koushik Chattopadhyay

—---------------------------

And it helps for a grip for portrait photography…

Sunill Kothiwal

—--------------

Anybody using extra battery grip for Z8 in the group ?

Sure I will, I am still searching for it.

I am using newwell for my d850 , they have for z8 also but this time it's costly

Naveen

—----------------

Check fotga grip for Z8. Not seen much reviews. Vello also has a grip for Z8.

Neewer is well known in this space.

Sriram

—----------

From the reviews I have seen and read, it is recommended to get a Z9 rather than add a Nikon battery grip to Z8. No personal experience though :-)

Dr Kalyan

—------------

Buying a z9 is better alternative, than beefing up z8

Naveen

—-------

@⁨Vinay Chakravarthy Birder⁩ last year bought Z9, as he found Z8+ vertical grip was costing almost same as Z9.

Bird Baths

Anupama

It took 3 yrs for them to visit. We had set up during covid lockdown ...

During 2024, May /June rain water got collected on one of the bird baths, and we were surprised to see birds using them.

Thereafter, we set up a few more. Gradually, sunbird, tit and white eye also started visiting.

Please ensure that the bird bath is set up in a place where the birds feel secure

This is the set up. We fed banana for 2 days in between. Now we have stopped. We just have water in the container

Sriram

—--

For those of you who might be interested in adding a bird bath in your garden, here's a video of a female Asian Koel (shy birds that are usually in tree canopies and not visible like our Bulbuls) at our bird bath. We have had amazing visitors - from countries thousands of miles away, from other parts of India, and also from our area. Very grateful to experience these simple but profound joys of our natural world.

Here are some practical guidelines for setting up a bird bath in a garden:

1.⁠ ⁠Size and Depth

• Diameter: Ideally, the bird bath should be 18–24 inches wide. This provides enough space for multiple birds to use it simultaneously.

• Depth: The water should be shallow, with a depth of 1-2 inches at the edges and gradually deepening to a maximum of 3 inches in the center. Birds prefer shallow water for bathing and drinking.

• If the bath is too deep, add small stones or pebbles to adjust the depth and provide perches.

2.⁠ ⁠Material

• Stone, Ceramic, or Concrete: Durable materials like stone or ceramic work well in Indian climates as they withstand heat and rain.

• Avoid slippery materials; birds need grip. You can also add textured surfaces or roughen smooth ones.

• Terracotta: Popular for traditional Indian gardens but should be glazed to retain water and prevent algae.

3.⁠ ⁠Height

• For small birds like sparrows and robins: Place the bird bath at a height of 3-4 feet to keep them safe from predators like cats.

• Ground-level baths can attract larger birds like pigeons, doves, and waterfowl but must be monitored for safety.

4.⁠ ⁠Placement

• Shade: Position the bird bath in partial shade to keep the water cool, especially in hot Indian summers.

• Visibility: Birds prefer open surroundings for visibility, so predators can’t hide. Place the bath where they can quickly fly to nearby shrubs or trees for safety.

• Accessibility: Ensure it is easy to clean and refill.

5.⁠ ⁠Maintenance

• Cleaning: Clean the bird bath regularly (every 2–3 days) to prevent algae, mosquito breeding, and diseases.

• Fresh Water: Refill with clean, fresh water daily, especially in summer when evaporation rates are high.

6.⁠ ⁠Enhancements

• Drippers or Fountains: Moving water attracts more birds. Small solar fountains are ideal for Indian gardens and reduce stagnant water.

• Perches: Add stones, twigs, or a small ledge for birds to rest.

7.⁠ ⁠Seasonal Adjustments

• Summer: Keep the bath in a cooler area and ensure it doesn’t dry out.

• Monsoon: Ensure water doesn’t overflow and create muddy surroundings that could attract pests.

• Winter: Place the bath in a sunny spot to prevent water from becoming too cold.

8.⁠ ⁠Bird-Friendly Plants

Surround the bath with native flowering plants, shrubs, and trees to create a safe and natural environment for birds.

Had shared the above in our residential complex as we have been advocating residents to add bird baths in the garden.

Naveen

I remember you reached out Shubha Bhat in iisc who has a bird bath while you were setting up yours few years back.

Check her name on net, you will find many articles.. pakshi jala is a book printer by Iisc press on her work.

https://connect.iisc.ac.in/2017/04/shubha-bhat-enjoys-hanging-outith-her-flock/

Chennai man feeding birds

https://thebetterindia.com/205287/chennai-unique-tourist-spot-parrots-parakeets-rescue-help-birdman-joseph-sekar-india/amp/

YVS Prasad 30 March 2024

—-----------

From youtube link

Summary of it.. for uncompressed RAW with delkin black ( prograde cobalt should be similar) it’s about 4 seconds ( 80 frames).

Cabin Baggage for carrying Gear

Multiple discussions over time. So dumping all the conversations here.. Not all the conversations are attributed to individuals who posted them to forum..

Make sure you pack Allen keys used for tripod/monopods in checked in bags.. Not in cabin bags.

Jay

It’s becoming a big issue with airlines these days as they are no longer allowing 2 pieces of handbags and forcing you to check in one of them at the departure gate. Earlier a stroller and a laptop bag was allowed but not they are saying only one. I literally had to fight to take my camera bag with my stroller as I had packed some lenses into my stroller and waa not willing to check in. So be cautious when you are travelling

Vinay

I recently started taking priority checkin/boarding and that has helped stay away from these issues.. hopefully they dont change things there too..

Naveen

If we reach the airport 2 hrs before flight departure and have two bags, sometimes we’re asked to buy extra luggage online. Online portal closes 2 hrs before flight. So reaching early is not good.

Airindia( if anyone was travelling on it) recently reduced checkin luggage limit from 25 kg to 15 kgs.

Earlier dslr cameras bag weight was overlooked but no longer. Laptop + stroller no longer allowed depends on discretion of staff at checkin counter and gates.

In India it's a duopoly in domestic airlines so I don't see the situation getting better anytime soon.

Radha

I got stranded in Ahmedabad in 2015 when indigo didn’t allow me to take my lowepro with D500 + 500mm F4 , D810 and a 70-200. Ugly fight. Rebooked earliest flight.

Naveen

Sometimes you run into difficult flight staff, who throw the rule book at us.

Now with duopoly ( indigo& air india) we might face trouble a bit more often. Usually when you are in groups, it works well. When we are alone or when a flight is full or when we reach the airport too early for checkin, we risk running into issues.

Having a proper sized bag is more important. If the bag appears bulky or oversized we will be asked to weigh it. At gates, if you show that you are carrying a camera or lens in a bag, say you can’t check in and the airline would be responsible for its safety, they let you in with some murmur.

Aditya

I had an AW350 lowepro, I even took out the 70-200 and put it in my friends bag so they don’t crib

Prasad

aren't the bags generally over the 7 kg limit ?

Naveen

If our bags are below 10 kgs it’s a great feat by itself😂

Aditya

Think, can be managed… some of these bags like Lowepro or Gura Gear themselves are slightly heavy because of the padding, and their straps.. they themselves weigh 1.5 - 2 kgs if it’s slightly bigger to accommodate long lens

Radha

I use my Lowepro Pro Runner BP 450 AW II to carry on my 400mm f/2.8 + Z9 (without attaching to lense) + laptop and all chargers + benro monopod and never been stopped .. I have even traveled in the ATR and the bag just fits in perfectly.

It definitely weighs > 12 kg imo

but looks not super big -- so nobody has stopped me .. never know

also never had an issue fitting it in to the overhead compartment.. just that ran out of luck perhaps that trip on my way back from Gir.. infact the same indigo no one stopped me while going from bangalore.. call it my bad luck

yes, likely we are running on some luck I put it on my back and ppl don't mind i suppose - as I said, it is a breeze to put my bag in the overhead. Also Lowepro is highly customizable with various separators and I can quickly switch out stuff. I have even carried Z7ii body in addition this -- the big space for large lenses is the hood - if you can check it in (I haven't); you can take an additional small lens.

That trip scared the hell out of me so much I actually invested in a ThinkTank Photography Stroller with a TSA lock just in case we are forced to check in

I use the Airport Accelerator, carry Z6ll , Z9 , 400mm, 70-200, 24-70,TC, batteries , chargers and laptop.

Naveen

Vanguard Camera Backpack |VEO Select 49 BF I 1-2 Pro DSLRs with Lens Upto 70-200mm, 3-4 Lenses, Flash and Accessories I Upto 17 inch(44cm) Laptop I Tablet I Rain Cover Included, Green https://amzn.eu/d/6OfFyPa

For 600 mm f/4 lens + camera. Along with this taking a small laptop bag with laptop, chargers, a camera +70-200 mm lens

Sunil

Dear Friends

Very Good Morning !

Please suggest or send links for ur recommendations for good quality backpacks for carrying

2 Z9s

1 400 2.8 mm

1 70-200 mm

1 18-55 mm

1 50mm

- Space for Batteries Card Boxes Powerbanks and other Accessories ,Macbook+I Pad(optional can be carried also)

- Safety / Cusioning/Waterproofing etc Top Priority

Thanks

SJ

alias - tiggypapa 😋

Deal of the day: Think Tank Airport Advantage Carry-On Roller Bag (Black) https://amzn.eu/d/1K3i7f1

https://amzn.eu/d/eriJ4S9

Deal of the day: Think Tank Airport Advantage Carry-On Roller Bag (Black) https://amzn.eu/d/1K3i7f1

Basically a compact yet spacious and safe carrier in b/w Home to Car or airport or other city and for places like bharatpur where u r on foot or rickshaw

Airport cabin bags are the problem. Rest can be managed

How do ppl here deal with it ?

People carry 600 f/4 or 400 f/2.8 in a bag like this

https://www.toehold.in/store/product/lens-sling-bag/

Put a partition in it and add one more small camera/lens/ accessories if space allows.

And have another back pack for one more camera, lens, accessories and laptop.

Many folks have frequent flier status with airlines for extra luggage or travel business or pay extra for luggage. unfortunately travel depends on mood of airline staff

Though you carry all this, make sure the bag profile looks small so airline staff won’t object.

the 400 comes with a similar bag , no more suitcases

Two pieces of luggage not allowed nowadays , except for laptops

Exactly. Airline travel in India is duopoly on most routes. Indigo and AirIndia / or its subsidiaries. So a lot more restrictions than earlier times.

CF Express Cards - Recommended memory cards for Z9 and Z8

There were many discussions over the last 18 months or so. Summarizing them as its difficult to capture each individual discussion.

—--------------

Notes on 22 Nov 2025

—-------------

If you are buying CF express cards type B cards at the end of year 2025, its better to buy Gen 4.0 version cards. No point in buying earlier generation cards that we may get at cheaper prices but not future proof. Check below notes on how to identify them.

As for the Z8 and SD cards, recommended UHS II cards with at least 270 MB/s or faster write

speed.

—-----------

Nikon Z8 and Z9 use CF Express Type B Cards. Note down type B. Sony uses type A. so be careful of the type of cards that you purchase, they are not interchangeable.

There are multiple generations of CF Express cards in the market that evolved over a period of time. They keep getting faster, better and carry more storage capacity with each new generation. And rates per TB are coming down dramatically with each new release. So buy the capacity that you need in the short term or for the next 6 months. In future, you may get high performant and more capacity card at a much better price point

Current generation is Gen 4.0 cards. If you’re buying new cards now, buy Gen4.0 cards as it will future proof you for a few years. They are backward compatible with Gen 2.0 card readers..

Delkin Black or Prograde Cobalt are recommended CF express type B cards for Z8/Z9. Even within the same card make and sub brand type, size of card matters a lot. Some sizes have better performance of read/write speeds.

Important Point: While buying a card, Please check for Sustained Write Speed ( this is the first thing to check)- not the highest write or read speed as displayed on product or internet ecommerce portals. If a vendor is not sharing sustained write speed in specs ( on product web page) then it's better to avoid it. Usually sustained speed is found in product specs listed on website not on ecommerce portals.

Please check for sustained write speed (Min of 850 MB/Sec is a must and prefer >1400 MB/sec) before buying cards.

When your card spec says 800MB/s write speed, check if it’s sustained write speed of 800. When not explicitly mentioned sustained write speed, the easiest explanation is - when the card gets hotter, speed will be throttled to near half of the rated speed. When the card runs cooler the card will run at the peak stated speed of 800. When the spec mentions 800 sustained write speed, it doesn't matter hot/warm/cold the card guarantees a write speed of minimum 800. For video recording - we need better sustained write speeds.

Please avoid buying Prograde Gold Gen 2 cards though it displays 1700 MB/sec read speed on top of them. These are prone to buffering and heat problems.

Delkin Black and Progade Cobalt are Gen 3 cards, have better thermal properties esp video shooting on Z8 to reduce/avoid hot card warnings. Prograde Cobalt Gen 3 cards are 165 GB, 325 GB and 650 GB cards.

Angel bird card are slightly thicker leading to them getting stuck in Z9 camera slot a few years back. However in recent times they are reportedly fine. So please double check.

Where to Buy: Buy cards directly from a local dealer who gives warranties. Don't buy them from e-commerce portals as there are a lot of fakes in the market.

Size of cards : sweet spot is around 512 GB to 650 GB cards. Bigger cards are tempting but you would lose more data if they get corrupted. If you are recording 4K or 8K videos often, you need higher cards than 512 GB or 650 GB.

Nikon recommended cards

Z 8 Supported Memory Cards

Z 9 Supported Memory Cards

The Fastest Memory Cards for Nikon: 36 Tested - Has the most comprehensive list of cards that are tested independently.

Dated information

Best Memory Cards Nikon Z9 - Real Buffer Tests | Alik Griffin - Recommended cards below are based on best price per performance of cards ( very loosely defined metric not industry standard) These are not absolute best in terms of speed.

Deeper understanding of CF express cards - it's worth going through the article. CFexpress Cards Explained.

Prograde Gold Gen4 512 GB card is performing well for many members. However Z9/Z8 cameras cant take advantage of it due to hardware ( bus size and buffer ) limitations. Pls note z8/9 supports Cf express 2.0 cards implementing pci express 3.0 *2 ( type b) controller. It's not a card fault. Gen 4 cards can be used in the Z8/9 slots but the controllers in them are not v4 and hence you won’t get those v4 speeds and will only get v2 speeds.So performance of Gen 4 cards will be limited to Gen2.0 max capacity in Nikon Z9/Z8.

Gen 4 cards From ProGraGrade WEB

"NOTE: Current CFexpress cameras will not be able to take advantage of the maximum speed of this card. Until CFexpress 4.0 cameras are introduced, the benefit of this card is tripling the speed of your workflow when downloading content with the ProGrade Digital PG05.6 USB 4.0 Reader

Marking confusion on Prograde CF Express 4.0 cards - check company clarification PROGRADE CFExpress 4.0 Write Speed Message Changes

CF Express cards failures

Unlike popular belief, CF express could fail, if it fails it's even more difficult to retrieve data. Controller chips in CF express cards fail and they slow down with time, so require refresh at times.

Prograde cards can be refreshed with free software from prograde from time to time. Similar software from other vendors may be available, that you could check out.

https://shop.progradedigital.com/products/refresh-pro-software

Prograde recovery software

Memory Card Data Recovery Software | ProGrade Digital

AngelBird cards

Following members have Angelbird cards ( Aug 24) and found them to be extremely performant and very good. No heating in Z8 or even if files are deleted in the field, they observed no issues with cards.

Prof Jitendra, Radha sir, Mathan, Harshit, Arjit Sir, Amit, Devadath, Dr Kalyan sir.

In the case of angel bird cards , 1TB has better specs than 512 Gb. So it is being added to the recommended card list based on our members first hand experience.

Usually wary of using higher capacity cards, if something goes wrong you lose a lot more data.

1TB specs are very attractive. Model is AV Pro SE CF express B 2.0. AV Pro SX are bit more faster but they are of lower capacities and costlier.

“The 512 GB card captures a wide variety of photo and video projects in up to 8K RAW with a sustained write speed of 800 MB/s maintained throughout the entire recording session.

The 1 TB card model ( AV Pro SE CF express B 2.0) sustains a blazing-fast sustained write speed of 1300 MB/s, capable of capturing high-definition video and images in up to 12K+ RAW.”

Videolinks had an offer for Rs 14K for 1 TB card in early 2024. In Aug 2024, it was costing Rs 15750

Angelbird 1TB CFexpress Type B 2.0 Memory Card / AV Pro SE / 1785 MB/s

CF express card readers

—--------------------

Gen2 readers support usb3.2 up to 10 gb/ sec and newer ones support usb4.0 with speeds upto 40 Gb/sec.

We’re more concerned about speed in camera for bursts or 4/8 K videos as we copy files at the end of the day. Just in case, if we directly connect to Nikon z9 to copy files then it’s usb -c is usb3.2.

if you want really fast reads go for latest readers supporting usb-c 4.0 else latest gen 4.0 cards are backwards compatible with gen 2 readers. Please note your computer/Laptop has to support USB 4.0 or have thunderbolt 3/ 4 connection to get rated download speeds.

Please buy good quality readers, don't buy cheap readers. Buy good quality branded Gen 4.0 readers from Prograde, Sandisk, Lexar etc.

Cables

—------

As Z8 and Z9 are rated above 5 V, we need to use higher capacity usb-c to usb-c cables to transfer data/videos from cards to harddrives.

Try a 10Gb transfer cable

Or 100 W power delivery cable

ETZIN USB-C to USB 3.1 Adapter 10Gbps，USB C Female to USB A Male Adapter Cable, USB C to USB A Adapter Charger Soft Flat Short Cable Compatible with Samsang Galaxy, MacBook(EPL-1033TC, 10GBPS) : Amazon.in

Ambrane 100W Type-C to Type-C Fast Charging Cable Compatible with iPhone 15, Samsung, OnePlus, Google Pixel, Laptop, Macbook & Type C Devices, 480mbps Data Sync, Braided Cable, 1.5m Length (ABCC-100)

https://amzn.in/d/2He8nJb

Sept 24

HOMAN Cards

Dr Chiranjib Dutta

https://www.digitek.net.in/collections/homan-memory-card/products/homan-cf-express-card-type-b-512gb-fit-for-any-environmental-temperature-from-10-degree-to-70-degree-celsius-with-10-year-warranty-recovery?_pos=5&_sid=d7d4f3989&_ss=r&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=120208683343810609&utm_term=120208683343920609&utm_content=1202086833439

How are they ?

Naveen

Seeing it for the first time. I have not seen any benchmark studies.

Specs of claimed sustained write speed of 1800 mb/sec is excellent. Website of the company doesn’t give confidence. Not many independent reviews on the web.

Suggest to go with Angelbird cards that are well known and many of our members have first hand experience. Order it online on Video Links.

Dr Chiranjib Dutta

Silicon Power 1TB CFexpress Type-B Memory Card, Up to 1800 MB/s Read, Raw 4K/8K Video Recording. Just found this in Amazon

https://amzn.in/d/8l6nemY

Naveen

SP power’s 1TB card has min sustained speed of 1200 mb/ sec from the product website.

Cost is Rs 23000.

Angle bird card specs at 1300 mb/ sec min sustained speed and cost Rs15750 for 1TB cards is more attractive.

XQD Cards

—------------

Rajeev sir

Can we use XQD cards

Naveen & Radha sir

—-------

Use XQD cards if you have them from DSLR days. However they are not recommended. They are earlier generation technology of cards. They don't scale well for 4K and long recording sessions. So recommended to use CF Express type B cards for optimal performance. Use XQD cards for storing settings or for emergency purposes in the field. .

How many cards do we need on trips

—-----------------------------------------------------

Depends on the number of days of shoot and number of photos we take.

We can approximate one photo's (FX) size to be 50 MB. so per GB we get 20 photos.

We can take 325 GB which will give us about 6500 FX photos. 1 TB CF express stores 20000 FX photos. Video file sizes vary a lot based on file type, so it is difficult to give guidance.

As we have hybrid cameras, account for storage of video files as well.

If you are carrying a laptop and SSD storage to copy files at the end of the day, max of 3 cards in a trip ( for Z9 two cards are always in camera) should be sufficient accounting for backup/failure etc. 3 cards of above 325 GB gives about 1 TB ( 975 GB to be precise). In case, not carrying a laptop or SSD storage to copy at the end of the day, carry 2 or 3 TB capacity cards. Angel bird cards of 1 TB are really worthwhile for longer trips ( however backing up on SSD at the end of each day is highly recommended) with the caveat that they carry risk of losing more data in case of failures.

Best practices to use cards

—------------------------

Always format cards in camera, never format cards in laptop/mac.

For new cards always do a full format in the camera. Don't use new cards without full format.

Do a full format within camera before a long trip or very rarely. Please note that full format reduces the life of cards, so do it infrequently.

Don't use cards in your camera in case they were used in other cameras without formatting .

For day to day usage in your hometown, just fill the card to 90%. No need to do even a quick format.

However if you want, do a quick format for day to day usage on trips just to start fresh or with full capacity ( 90%). Quick format is always preferred.

It’s recommended not to delete files within the field.

Do a full format of cards in case you upgraded firmware in camera or when cards have slowed down due to prolonged usage. Maybe once in a few quarters.

Full format vs quick format by Thomas hogan..

Full Format or Quick Format? | Thom Hogan

Nikon’s guidance - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-CCRPm-Ykzq8P-4crJNRZ8LGbjSTzZhS6MZnjuf4B4o/edit?tab=t.0

A quick format overwrites only the file system information, leaving the actual file data intact. In contrast, performing a full format on a CFexpress memory card deletes all data. We recommend fully-formatting CFexpress memory cards prior to transfer of ownership or disposal.

Quick format is faster but less thorough. It essentially deletes the file system's information, making files inaccessible. However, the actual data remains on the drive and can potentially be recovered using data recovery software.

Full format is slower but more secure. It not only deletes the file system but also checks the entire drive for bad sectors and overwrites the data multiple times, making recovery much more difficult.

When To Do A Full Format or Quick Format of the Memory Card in Your Camera

Some valid guidance though its bit old.. Jeff Cable worked at Lexar so knows a thing or two on cards.

The Do's and Don'ts of Memory Cards: Tips for Photographers | PetaPixel

Radha sir & Naveen

—-------------------------

Good morning @⁨Radhakrishnan Rajagopalan Z9 Group ⁩ sir you were mentioning running into issues with Z9 camera freeze when photos were deleted in camera and operating it. You were able to reproduce the error with Prograde cards but not with Angelbird cards.

Was checking out do’s and don’ts of memory card usage. Checked various articles on Delkin, prograde etc. Few pointers that came out, still not 100% sure

1.⁠ ⁠Most probably issues lies with card reader. Best is to use a reader and card from the same manufacturer for whatever it is worth.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠format card in memory before usage. Instead of delete, or quick format, once the card fills up do a full format and use. Been doing full format very rarely only when firmware changed.

3.⁠ ⁠Checked multiple articles that were published in last 10 years. Almost all of them recommended not deleting files one by one in the field. Issues are related to FAT messing up, life reduction etc. It's almost 2024 these file formats and file controller softwares have been there for a while. So you expect a lot more robustness.

That’s what Nasim says in his article as well. He says it’s a myth why we can’t delete files in camera. Just scroll down to section 8. How to properly use and care for memory cards.

https://photographylife.com/understanding-memory-cards#how-to-properly-use-and-care-for-memory-cards

Given Z9 is the first flagship camera to use CF express B format from Nikon stable ( though it’s 2+ years old now ) with multiple firmwares patching software, I am wondering about bugs creeping in. So does it make sense to be cautious for a while and not delete files in the field on camera, till we see evidence to the contrary? We may be propagating a myth that Nasim calls out.

Will keep checking out.

Guru Tej

—-----------

Few days back in LRK early morning cold weather first session in the field, the memory card faulted. (Angel bird) . This was my first experience of error and unfortunately I had only one card with me.

Had to remove the card and rub it a few times and tried 8-10 times in and out of the card slot. Then it worked luckily.

Anyone had a similar experience with an angel bird ?

Naveen

—----

This is scary. I have not come across such a scenario.

Recently many members traveled to Chopta, Tungnath etc that are much colder. Not heard any issues upon their return but not sure if any one carried angel bird cards.

Tagging few members who had been to colder climes recently.. @⁨Jeyaram Sankar Photographer Friend ⁩ @⁨Vinay Chakravarthy Birder⁩ @⁨Jyostna Narula Z9 Owner Toehold Lounge⁩ @⁨Partha Whitefield Birder⁩

Jeyaram

—-------

No such experience. Been at sub zero temperature in Himachal recently and never had the cards fail

Devadath sir

—-------------

use Angel Bird 1 TB. Had been to Mishmi in Feb 24. Though the temperature was around 2 degrees in the early morning, I didn't face such an issue.

Naveen

—-----

Was checking temperature rating specs of angelbird cards. Looks fine. Here’s info ..

“The operating temperature range for Angelbird CFexpress Type B memory cards is 14–158°F (-10–70°C). The storage temperature range is -4–185°F (-20–85°C)”

Jyotsna

—--------

Perhaps a one off issue? I was in Simla/Narkanda at -3. Didn’t face an issue but was using Prograde.

Radhakrishna

—--------

I also use 2 1TB angel bird cards… one on the second card slot of Z9 for video recordings and as a back up if the 325GB prograde fills up.. on the Z8 it’s always the 1TB angel bird 99% video… haven’t faced problems in either Panna or Bandavgarh. These were but that cold though when I visited

Gurutej

—-----

Ya I never had this issue in Bangalore. This was first occurance and imagine I had trusted the 1tb card and was about to click my first lifer and getting the fault card error :)

Radha sir

—-----

Do you always soft(quick) format the card ? That could be the issue… try hard formatting once in 9-10 times

Gurutej

—--------

Yes I did a quick format. May be another round of format in camera body will help ?

The only jugaad workaround I did is I rubbed the card few times to make it work. So was thinking if it's related to cold conditions

Naveen

—-----

Do a full format once before major trip. Always format cards in camera.

Jyotsna

—-----

As suggested, do a full format. Also keep a few lesser storage cards as back up. Actually I prefer to use less storage cards. I feel it’s less risky.

Yvs prasad sir

—--------------

its a big risk.. you should have a spare card and battery

Gurutej

—-----

Yes. This was the first instance I went on to the session with a single card. And learnt lesson in a hard way (sort of mini heartattack)

Sandeep

—-----

I too follow the same principle.. always have two cards (I use 325gb) in the slots and one spare in the bag.

Naveen

—------

Pls don’t format your cards on your laptop. Always do a full format in camera once in a while. Don’t use cards without full format when moving cards between cameras z9 or z8. Within Z9, firmware could be different. Always full format when you are sharing cards with your friends.

Tarang

—---

A full format will also delete protected images right?

Sandeep

—-------

yes, even a quick format will..

Jyotsna

—---------

I think there was a discussion earlier about formatting the cards. As I understood, it doesn’t matter to the card life if you do a full format every time one is done with downloading the images.

Radha sir

—--------

Yes definitely. Always hard format before any major trips.

1.⁠ ⁠It does clean up a whole lot

2.⁠ ⁠⁠if there are any errors in the card you will get to know 90% during the hard forma

Naveen

—------

Deleting files in field is not recommended.

Radha sir

—-----

Also keep in mind, there’s an age old problem with the CFExpress FTA. Don’t review delete while you are shooting. It’s a known problem. Leave the images as is… the CFExpress cards don’t like file allocation on the fly when you delete and often corrupts

Yes sir. I had this problem even with the ProGrade 325GB initially when I bought the Z9 and figured out this. I always hard format before a big field trip once every 9-10 soft formats. The MTBF for these cards are actually pretty solid. But it’s all electronics and even the best can fail once a b

Yvs prasad sir

—-----------

Sir what is refresh pro ?

Radha sir

—------

Refresh pro is basically to update your memory card’s firmware like we do firmware updates to our Z9/Z8, cleans up the card, makes it compatible with newer formats when available… it essentially does a hard format when it cleans up

Few more things .. Does low level formatting, check life of NAND flash.

Jeyaram

—---------

If I am not mistaken Full Format erases every NAND block. A block erase is a destructive operation and reduces the life of flash. I almost never perform full format unless the flash is fully corrupted. I always delete all images after I have transferred images to my laptop. I perform quick format occasionally to flush out the file system metadata.

Naveen

—----------

You’re right. How much life reduces is not exactly known. However, Cf express card getting old and not useable over time is much more probable scenario before we run out of flash life.

Full format is not recommended every time, once in a while say 9 to 10 quick formats is needed to reset entire blocks, helps to find any issues with card.

In 2024, did full format on my cards may be 4/5 times for trips/ firmware upgrades/ camera repair and the quick format may be about 12 times. Not doing a quick format till I fill the card full during my morning walks. It’s usually a few months before the card fills up as I shoot only a few photos on most days.

Jeyaram

—----------

Life cycle of NAND flash (maximum number of erases) has significantly reduced over generations as manufacturers try to pack more bits per cell. While the specs vary it is a few thousand erases per block. I will always stay away from full format unless the card has issues. Even in that case I would resort to manufacturer’s tools to recover them outside of the camera

Radha sir

—--------

Again, full formatting is not recommended for every shoot. But to keep the card intact it’s recommended to do it once a while. The overall degradation of 10–20% of the card in its lifetime will probably outweigh a complete loss of the card especially while we are in the midst of a shooting. To what frequency we do a full or hard format is a choice we can make depending on our needs. Though not a fair comparison, it is like high ISO with noise but a sharp image vs. A low ISO clean bit blurry image as a choice!

That last statement is courtesy of the video Naveen sir shared in the morning!

On a technical note, all NANDs are not treated equally! TLC, QLC, SLC are the predominant fillers in use and they each have their TB/lifespan and usage dependencies!

Anupama

—-----

How to check health of cards

Naveen

—-----

There are tools like refresh pro by prograde cards. media scan utility by Sony, drive DX, h2testw etc. these help us to check health.

One Indicator of health is slowness of writing to cards. When you observe the card is buffering and slowing down than usual speed is a good indication .

Samarjeet - Jan 25

—---------

Nagesh - Jan 25

—------

I just got Nextorage 512 GB card. Still need to put it to test. Heard some good things about it

Raghu

—----

I have been using a 512GB ProGrade card for two years, and it malfunctioned last year during my trip to Nalsarovar and Velavadar. However, the warranty service was excellent, and I received a replacement that is functioning correctly. The quality of after-sales service significantly impacts our purchasing decision, as does the price-to-performance ratio of the technology. Therefore, let's determine the optimal memory card for the Z9 and Z8 cameras, and I will negotiate the best group pricing with vendors. Team members can contribute to the selection process, and I will lead negotiations; others can provide regional support as needed.

Radha sir

—---

I suggest we have a minimum sustained benchmark irrespective of the size of the card. That way we will have guaranteed performance

Raghu

—----

Agreed sir, my intend is let's finalize the benchmark and brand and then depending upon the size and requirement we can proceed further. IMHO Prograde type B card with sustained r of 2.4k is best that can work with Z9; experts can comment and finalise the 2 best for z9 & 2 best for z8

27 Jul 2025

Naveen Arur

—--------

https://www.jjmehta.com/product/angelbird-1tb-av-pro-cfexpress-type-b/ I am trying to buy this Angelbird 1 TB and the best price I am getting in Bengaluru is 17800. Anybody has luck buying it for cheaper recently?

Dr Anand

—---

Try video links Kannur

Ashok

—---

I got it from Videolinks for 15800 but that was 6 months back

Naveen Arur

—--------

Yesh the price 17800 is from videolinks

Prashant

—------

Check with Kamal imaging once

Vinay

—----

all these pricing shared from Videoli

Angelbird 1TB CFexpress Type B 2.0 Memory Card / AV Pro SE / 1785 MB/s-17,800/-

ProGrade Digital 512GB CFexpress Type B 4.0 Memory Card / Gold / 3400 MB/s-15,900/-

Nextorage 512GB NX-B2SE Series CFExpress Type B Memory Card / 1950 MB/s-10,500/-

Nagesh

—------

Call Ramcharan ( 99402 50016), apparently they are the main distributors of Angelpro and authorised in dealing with Warranty

Sen

—--

I am still using XQD in my Z8. CF express I had heard some conflicting news earlier. So haven’t moved to it. Any reliability issues ?

Umendra

—-------

Using cf express pro grade 4.0 version

No issues so far

Barun

—-------

For Z8 at times the CF card might gv hot warning alerts, if fired continuously, otherwise seamless.

Hrishikesh Rao

—----------------

It's important to know the price of Anglebird CFexpress card based on version. The 1785 MB/s (shown in your screenshot) is the older version with PCIe v3.

The newer version gets you 3700 MB/s and hence more expensive. Although they claim better thermal management, I guess at such high write speeds, it could get warmer faster. Both versions work with Z8/Z9.

CFexpress Type B 4.0 is the newer version, offering faster speeds and enhanced features compared to CFexpress Type B 2.0. While 2.0 uses PCIe 3.0, 4.0 utilizes PCIe 4.0, doubling the theoretical throughput from 2 GB/s to 4 GB/s.

Hope this helps

Naveen Arur

—------------

Is the 1785 mbps version ok for video recording?

Hrishikesh Rao

—-----------------

Yes. I have it.

Sid

—---

More than enuf i feel

Naveen Arur

—------------

Ended up buying from jjmehta

Hrishikesh Rao 28 Jul 2025

—---------------------

It's important to know the price of Anglebird CFexpress card based on version. The 1785 MB/s (shown in your screenshot) is the older version with PCIe v3.

The newer version gets you 3700 MB/s and hence more expensive. Although they claim better thermal management, I guess at such high write speeds, it could get warmer faster. Both versions work with Z8/Z9.

CFexpress Type B 4.0 is the newer version, offering faster speeds and enhanced features compared to CFexpress Type B 2.0. While 2.0 uses PCIe 3.0, 4.0 utilizes PCIe 4.0, doubling the theoretical throughput from 2 GB/s to 4 GB/s.

Hope this helps.

Naveen

—------

Selection criteria for cards

SSD vendors have different types of cf express type b cards.

1.⁠ ⁠Diamond / gold/ silver, Black/Gold/Iridium/ - some may have different sub brands like black or blue etc. some designate tough or with letters. Find the scheme of sub branding for the vendor.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Based on sub branding, following parameters change wildly.

life of card and build to withstand shocks/ dust/ load /

heat dissipation capacity/

frame drops for 8 K videos.

Sustained write speed go for 1500 MB/sec or more - Most crucial parameter

Cost - varies significantly typically Silver<Gold<Diamond. Like 1:2:3

Support CF Express 4.0

Support for VGA 400 - determines whether there will be frame drops or not for 4/8K videos

3.⁠ ⁠as Nikon Z9/Z8 doesn’t support cf express 4.0 we won’t see benefits of faster speeds in camera immediately.

4.⁠ ⁠Assuming you buy cf express 4 card. To get speed benefits we need the entire write chain supporting cf express 4.0 a) card reader b) cable connecting to computer c) PCI’e within computer d) hard drive. In simple words, without getting to details, you need a card reader, cable and computer/ laptop/ Mac supporting the cf express speeds.

5. Try to buy card capacity less than 1 TB. even if lose, we will lose less data.

Distance from subject calculations

Raghu Iyer

—-------

The Vigil of the Hunter

Perched upon its wooden throne, the Bonelli’s Eagle commands the wilderness with unwavering grace.

Eyes like fire, yet calm as dawn, Wings stretched-where fate is drawn, In stillness it rules, till the hunt is gone..!

Outskirts of Gurgaon, India | Nikon Z9 + Nikkor Z 800mm

We were lucky, actually it was a hazy day and I was telling my fellow photographer that it will come and sit in front of us and don't take hazy shots. To my wish god said "Tathastu" and to my surprise it came and sat in front of us.

A pro-tip based on earlier and experiment on this day, if it's a hazy day it better to increase the f stop, I have taken shots at f13 and it came out very well with details and decent bokeh since usually the DOF was shallow.

Shutter 1600 or 2000 i will confirm, because I increased it after few shots. ISO was 1k for sure

30 feet, within 800mm range

Naveen

—-------

Probably you were at about 45 to 48 ft from the bird.

Adult bonnelli’s eagle wing span is 180 cm( 1.8 m). The length of the bird is about 65 cm. Take 2/3rd of it on top of the stump (43 cm) and form a 60 degrees angle at the edge of the stump. With this we can draw a right angle triangle, base length = hypotenuse * cos (60) =21.5 cm.

Because of the orientation of the bird, we need about 25 to 28 cm depth field to get the full bird in focus. Taking the eye as the focal point, we need 10 cm in front and 15 cm in the back of the eye to get the entire bird in focus.

At 30 ft subject distance. For a 35 mm sensor, 800 mm focal length, f/13 using depth calculator - gives depth of field is 0.12 m( 12 cm).

At 45 ft subject distance DOF of 0.27m (27 cm) - 0.13 cm in front and 0.12 cm in back as DOF.

At 48 ft - DOF 0.31 m- 0.15 m ( 15 cm ) in front and 0.16 m (16 cm ) back

Prof Jitendra

—---

May be at 20 ft or more distance 400 mm focal length

Naveen

—-

Now we can do a bit of reverse engineering. We got exif to work with.

Estimate ( not accurate) subject distances from exif and photo.

1.⁠ ⁠Typical fully grown tiger is 6 to 10 ft length . Take 8 ft. Tiger here is fully in focus from head to toe. To make it easy, assume the depth of the field center falls on the center of tiger. So take 8 ft as depth of field. Feed it into the calculator to get subject distance. You would get about 100 ft to 120 ft as subject distance.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠measure size of tiger image relative to overall image size. Work out trigonometry with field of view and exif parameters. This is homework😊

Anish

—---------

This is the Exif we have :

F2.8, 400mm, 8256 x 5504

Full frame sensor size 36 x 24

Then field of view using below formula :

For horizontal,

AoV (horizontal) = 2 * arctan(36 mm / (2 * 400 mm)) is 5.15 degrees

AoV (vertical) = 2 * arctan(24 mm / (2 * 400 mm)) is 3.43 degrees

Next is to find Subject Distance = 115 ft

Subject size

assuming 1200 pixels (width) and 600 pixels (height)

-

tiger_width_ratio = 1200 pixels / 8256 pixels = 0.145

tiger_height_ratio = 600 pixels / 5504 pixels = 0.109

So we have now AoV and subject distance so :

subject_width = (2 * subject_distance * tan(AoV/2)) * tiger_width_ratio = 8.44 ft

subject_height = (2 * subject_distance * tan(AoV/2)) * tiger_height_ratio = 4.55 ft

So subject size could be 8.44 ft wide and 4.55 ft tall.

Does this match ur answer ? I googled and found some data as well how to arrive .. hopefully correct?

Naveen

—----

It’s pretty simple, we use similar triangles concept.

object height on sensor (mm) = (sensor height ( mm)*object height (pixel’s) )/sensor height ( pixels)

In the above formula we can reasonably confidently feed values if the picture is not cropped, just exported from camera. We know the pixel dimensions of the sensor. Do reasonable measurements with a ruler to find pixels of the object in the picture.

Distance to object = (real object height * focal length (mm))/object height on sensor (mm)

We feed in the assumed value of real object height based on orientation of the object. In the above formula keep units the same.

Dry Cabinets or Dehumidifiers

Understanding dry cabinets

https://drybox.com.sg/blogs/news/understanding-the-basics-how-a-camera-dry-cabinet-works

If you’ve large lenses you need 125 litres or more.

From Raghu Iyer

Since you picked up this topic- a short story on this 😊

Earlier, we used to create a DIY dry cabinet either by using a bulb or by using the heating pad which you shown above with a thermacol box: though for small lenses it was useful to some extent. One of my friend used a 0 watt bulb mounted under a wooden box where he used to keep all lenses; a day after a trip since it was monsoon season he kept the lens upright just to ensure no water droplets even at micro level should left behind in the front element- after a days time, he found that the front element cracked just because of the heat and moisture inside the lens couldn’t resist. Hence 2 lessons we learnt- at some extent DIY stuff works, 2nd -don’t mess with physics of the such premium product rather do some hard work.😉

Naveen Arur

If you own large lenses go for 125 L

We did some price comparison and got it from Sharpi.in which cost 20k at that time

https://sharpi.in/product/andbon-ds-125s-electronic-automatic-digital-control-dry-cabinet-storage-125l-andbon-india/

Anupama

I have Hinso Dry cabinet 80 Lts. paid 19 k 3.5 yrs ago

https://www.amazon.in/HINISO-80L-Cabinet-Electronic-Display/dp/B07HWSSDYZ?ref_=ast_sto_dp

If you are interested to buy Indian made dry cabinets.

Search in google for “ industrial dry cabinets India” and look for dealer in your city.

Dr Chiranjib

—--------

Please go for Andbon, using for 6 years, or Digicabi from Kalabhai( as u are based in Mumbai) . I am from kolkata with high humidity

Sid

—----

I have hiniso 80 literes, Probably need a larger one now, Using it for last 3 yrs

Dr Chiranjib

—--------

I would suggest to you buy 2 boxes, dont depend on one

Sandeep

—-------

I have a 600/4 and 400/2.8.. So I guess, will need a larger one..Ohh.. 2 boxes also sounds like a good idea..

Radha sir

—---------

I use two. A larger Sirui and a smaller digi-cabi from kalabai.. My kalabai is 13 years old and requires a AAA battery for the electronic digital display. Sirui doesn’t depend on external batteries and it’s 6 years old and both work good so far.

Naveen Arur

—---------

My 2 cents. I have a 125L Andbon. It consumes very little power. Please keep the dry box away from dust. Andbon is a chinese brand and some people did not express much confidence when I was purchasing it but my own analysis said it was good. It can hold a 600f4 easily. I wouldn't recommend 2 dry boxes unless you have loads of equipment to store. Dry boxes are really needed only if you stay in a very humid environment. Otherwise a good box of silica gel with a recurring calendar entry to promptly replace the silica gel should also be enough.

Dr Chiranjib

—-------

@⁨Naveen Arur Z8 Group⁩ i dont know where u stay, but silica gel does not solve the problem. Please maintain ur humidity between 45 to 50%, uncontrolled reduction in humidity will cause drying up ur lubricant in ur lens. Moreover, in kolkata where we get crazy with humidity as high as 95%, we definitely need a dry box. All dry box consume about 5W, so no issues about electrical consumption

Naveen Arur

—----

Yes. Having a hygrometer helps. Kolkata definitely needs a drybox!

Naveen

—----

Andbon 125 litres rated at 10 W power. At 24 hours usage consumes 7.2 units of power costing (@Rs 5.8 per unit bescom) Rs 41.76 per month. About Rs 501 per Annum assuming you stay in same slab per your Discom. Calculation per month =10*24*30*5.8/1000 = Rs 41.76

Jay Varadarajan

—-----------------

Same here. I have

Andbon AD-80S (80 Liters) and have been very happy with it. I maintain the humidity around 38-40 for Bangalore which is what was recommended. Right now i am able to keep the following in it

D7200 body and kit lens

Z6 III and 70-180 lens

Z9 and 400 lens

180-400 lens

14-24 lens

24-70 lens

50 mm lens

All my batteries

Sriram

—-----

I too have been using the ANDBON DS-125S Electronic Automatic Digital Control Dry Cabinet Storage (125L) for about two years and happy with it. You can reorganize the shelves to accommodate the gear you have. If you have several longer primes you are likely to need a larger capacity one such as 195L.

Dr Santosh

—---------

I have Sirui, 70 lits..using since last 6 years.. working well

I store all my lenses, 2 camera bodies and Binocular in it..still have some place. I use 500mm f5.6pf lens, small form factor

https://sirui.in/product/sirui-70l-hc-70-dry-cabinet-online-buy-india/

Vinay

—---

I am using Hiniso Dry cabinet 50 L capacity. It can accommodate 2 camera bodies and one 500pf or 600pf lens and one small lens .. not ideal for 600f4 or 400f2.8 lens. I maintain the settings around 40-50%. Its a decent one for Bangalore weather.. coastal area, I have no idea

https://amzn.in/d/epAgL06

Naveen

—-

quick read on internals of Dry cabinets.

Dry cabinets have thermoelectric modules that use peltier effect, discovered 200 years ago. Named after Peltier, a contemporary French physicist for Daguerre and Fresnel.

Peltier modules are heat pumps. Due to electric current passing through this SSD device of two dissimilar semiconductor materials, one side gets hot and the other side gets colder. This difference is used to condense moisture from the air of the cabinet.

Moisture is wicked out and heat dissipates via heat sinks.

These are renewable, and don't require replacement unlike dessicant system. Thermally these are not efficient and low capacity systems compared to home refrigerators that are based on compressors so used in places where not much cooling is needed or in small spaces.

Exposure Delay mode and self timer on Z8/Z9

Exposure delay mode To avoid camera micro shake/blur due to shutter press esp in long exposure shots.

Self timer is slightly different though you may achieve the same effect of delaying exposure.

Self timer: is typically used to take family / group/selfie photos where the photographer sets the timer and runs it into frame.

Exposure delay mode in Z9 was introduced in firmware 4.0 and Z8 firmware 2.0.

Steps to use are simple,

1.⁠ ⁠Go to D6 setting in Z9 and D5 on Z8.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠choose delay in seconds off, 0.2 to 3sec.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠you will see DLY on screen above shutter speed in monitor, in view finder above f stop.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠when release shutter delay gets applied.

Display of DLY on monitor

Self timer

Step 1 to set self timer. C2 on Z9.

Step 2 choose settings for self timer

Step 3- control dial to timer . Press shutter release. It applies self timer settings.

Before firmware 4.0 on Z9 only the self timer option was there as it was felt exposure delay was not needed in mirrorless. But Z9 had only 2/ 5/10/20 sec, granularity was not suitable for many landscape / astro photographers.

Exposure delay is slightly different in dslr and mirrorless.

DSLR- shutter was literally opened after exposure delay after mirror was lifted. Shutter release button press, Mirror lifting and shutter opening were a mechanical operation, used to lead to micro shake causing blur on photos. By adding some exposure delay, camera stabilises and micro shake was avoided.

Mirrorless z8/z9- it’s only an electronic shutter and no mirror. Ideally no need for exposure delay as there are no mechanical components that cause micro shake like a DSLR. However there was always fear that the shutter release button press itself causes some micro shake on the camera which might ruin long exposure shots. or tripod set up wobbly etc. This option was provided upon insistence of landscape photographers who wanted fine grained control than self timer gives. In this case, delay gets applied so camera stabilises and electronic shutter operation starts.

Radha sir.

Delayed exposure made more sense in DSLR days to make sure the mirror slap doesn’t sync with the shutter release and make it worse. You press the shutter release and induce a delay so the camera shake settles down and then the mirror slaps gently. Not saying it is not useful with mirrorless, it definitely has its purpose if you think you are inducing a shake or the tripod setup is wobbly when you release the shutter. Holding your breath, anchoring the camera on your chin and triggering the shutter release is as effective as well.

Jeyaram

—-----------

I have used exposure delay mode while taking the below image.

Light was really low and I went all the way down to 1/15s to get decent ISO. Though the subject was static and I was concerned by camera shake due to pressing shutter release button.

I experimented between self timer and EDM (Exposure Delay Mode) and decided to go with EDM as it gives smaller delays (starting from 0.2s) whereas self-timer starts at 2s

Better option for situations like this is to use a remote trigger with shutter release focus

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9oGS4Lqe3q/?igsh=MWpuMTd0YnBkdjhieg==

Eye Cup for Z9/Z8

Multiple discussions over time. So summary is given below.

My Z9 rubber ring fell off somewhere. Any link to get a new one?

Its easy to fix. Press the button highlighted and turn the eye cup by 20 degrees, eye cups with holder comes out. Fix the ring snugly into holder and fix the holder with ring back by pressing the button.

Check for DK-33 replacement eye piece. Tanotis has it, but never bought an item from that site.

Take a look at this NIKON DK-33 Rubber for Z9 Camera Camera Eyecup on Flipkart https://dl.flipkart.com/s/GW_PdSuuuN

https://www.videolinks.com/nikon-dk-33-rubber-eye-cup - Best buy if stocks are available. Buy and keep one as replacement in bag.

https://www.nikon.co.in/dk-33-rubber-eyecup

Replacement eye cup from JJC

https://www.amazon.in/Eyepiece-Viewfinder-Silicone-Rotating-Extension/dp/B0BFZXGP99

Rubber ring around the eye cup comes out as it scrapes inside the camera bag. It takes about 30 secs to fix it.

Video length was longer as the space below the camera was narrow and was fixed by stretching myself.

How much to crop

—----------------

Masterclass from Steve Perry

What the Pros Know About Cropping (Unlock These Secrets!)

Peak design, Peak Design, Black Rapid, QD

https://youtu.be/4KxDP6HaPAA?si=blHZ2CZ7DDZKMiC7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMyXjLoOj3o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WetIh9VJC0

Jeyaram

—----------

While I am using monopod, I don’t use any strap. The camera with lens rests on my shoulder and I am comfortable walking/hiking with this for hours.

When I am not using monopod, I attach Peak Design Slide on my lens and walk around

I have both BlackRapid and Peak Design Slide (bit broader than Peak Design Leash). I find Peak Design to be more comfortable to carry big glasses

I find Peak Design Slide more comfortable than BlackRapid. I find it lot easier to attach/detach the camera/lens. It is also lot easier to adjust the length.

However, my most preferred method if I have to walk/hike with my glasses is to carry it with a monopod and monogimbal.

I haven't tried PD leash

Naveen Arur

—-----

Like this: https://www.michaelbrochstein.com/misc/QDconnectors.htm

Gurutej Acharya

—--------

Using black rapid since 2 years. Pretty good expect the plastic lock that got broken(no need to worry).

2 cameras at a time may be practical for wedding photography (wide angle and prime)

BlackRapid Double Camera Harness - Multi-Terrain Camo, Designed for 1 or 2 Cameras

https://amzn.in/d/6gUtvZL

Shankar

—----

I’ve been using Peak Design Leash for my Z8 with 180-600 or 120mm. It’s been very convenient and easy to use or adjust to the need

Got it from VideoLinks

Jayesh Kini

—---------

I use Black Rapid 20674 Hybrid Breathe...

https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01LFR7L9O?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Naveen

—----

Been using Blackrapid for last 5 years. Build quality is very good. https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01LFR7L9O?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Typically use it with one camera. Removed strap for other one. Used two cameras only few times.

Naveen Arur

—---

True. two cameras is mostly not practical

Subash

—----

I am using Black Rapid. Find it very comfortable

Jyotsna

—--------

I’ve been using Black Rapid with a wide shoulder support, single sling. I bought it five years ago so don’t remember the model. I think it is probably similar to what Naveen has suggested.

Sriram

—---

I too have both BlackRapid and Peak Design Slide (SL-SG-3) and have used both quite a bit.

I find Peak Design Slide easier to use, attach/detach the camera/lens, bring the camera up to shoot.

Also the camera+lens hangs upside-down horizontally with BlackRapid - it takes a bit longer to bring it up, plus we have to be a bit more careful to avoid hitting anything in the path.

BlackRapid strap is attached to the lens foot, while Peak Design slide can be attached to the sides of telephoto lens leaving the lens foot free for monopod/tripod.

I typically carry the Backpack Seat Treematic from Decathlon on my back and have my camera+lens on the strap. Peak Design slide is easier to use in this situation as compared to the BlackRapid strap

Sridhar

—--

On blackrapid

I have had this for quite a few years

Not bad but would not buy again

Pros:

•⁠ ⁠easy to clip on and clip off

•⁠ ⁠comfortable

•⁠ ⁠easy change orientation

Cons

•⁠ ⁠winds up very easily

•⁠ ⁠if you use the bottom piece,you give up on tripod use

•⁠ ⁠the bottom screw came off once. But I was lucky and caught the camera before it but anything

Dr Santosh

—------------

My peak design Slide camera sling has arrived... Feels comfortable and easy to use.

Also replaced my Nikon 500mm pf Lens foot with Leofoto NF-01

Now carrying Z9 and 500mm pf will be easy on the field.

Thank you all for all suggestions and recommendation

Nagesh

—-------

You can mount the Peak Design small plate they have given on the inside of your lens plate (not on the tripod side) and attach the lugs to that. That way you can use both ways

And no need to carry the allen

nd one is using the original lens foot attach with Sunwayfoto arca plate which gives an option to attach the lug or anything else

Sriram

—----

Good morning.

Received the Leofoto lens collar for 180-600 mm lens and its build quality is excellent.

But don't want to retain it as it lacks the eyelets for securing the Peak Design Slide strap - can only secure with Black Rapid strap that attaches to the lens foot.

It is unused, would like to sell it to anyone who prefers to use Black Rapid straps.

Could you let me know if anyone is interested? Thanks and have a good day!

Sridhar

—----------

have a peak design strap and have the usual problem that every one who clips one end to the tripod screw has - you can either use the strap or a tripod.

What solutions do people have for this?

I was thinking of taking an old plate and drilling a couple of holes in it for the strap band.

Anyone tried that?

I also found these two products but they look wider than a standard arca Swiss plate. (No specs, so can't decide)

Any reviews from actual users?

https://dl.flipkart.com/s/3Eph90NNNN

https://amzn.in/d/cITsqCJ

Any suggestions for a two-shoulder camera strap that is suitable for all day carry?

I have the peak design slide but do not like it as it is not comfortable on the other shoulder. So after a time my left shoulder starts hurting

I like shooting street and birds

This is for a single camera+lens

Naveen

—------

Two shoulder strap - It’s like a binocular strap. Check hiffin, black rapid, cotton carrier, these have chest harness for cameras. Check gaffarbhai site.

Venkat

—------

Folks, Need some guidance around camera straps to manage weight of Z9 paired with 180-600.

Peak design was one option, but not sure of which model of strap works best. Inputs will be welcome. TIA.

Radha sir

—------

I have always been using Blackrapid with Kirk QD on my Z9 + 600 6.3 lens. First time with Z8 + 100-400 trying Peak Design with Kirk QD.

https://www.tanotis.com/products/really-right-stuff-qd-strap-swivel-d-loop?variant=814469644304

YVS prasad sir

—-

Doc uses a Magpul….https://magpul.com/ms4-dual-qd-sling-gen-2.html

Gurutej

—----

https://gaffarbhaiandsons.com/product/cotton-carrier-ccs-g3-binocular-and-camera-harness-gray/

Naveen Arur

—------

Like this: https://www.michaelbrochstein.com/misc/QDconnectors.htm

https://bcgforums.com/threads/carrying-z9-400-tc-2-8.41288/#post-458832

Power chargers during travel for camera, macbook and mobiles

Multiple discussions over time - summary

Its cumbersome and heavy to carry charges of different cameras, laptops and mobile phones adding ot space and weight. These electronic items are not allowed in checked in bag. So must be carried in a cabin bag. To charge multiple of these devices we need extension box to use in hotel rooms. So to avoid these hassles using a travel charger that works with Macbook, Camera and mobiles which is compact and lightweight.

Here are few recommendations

Anker

Anker 737 is 75$ and 747 is 110$

Yes indeed.. Rs 21K after 35% discount. In India.

Anker Usb C Charger, 747 Charger Ganprime 150W, Pps 4-Port Fast Compact Foldable Wall Charger For Macbook Pro/Air, Ipad Pro, Galaxy S22/S21, Dell Xps 13, Note 20/10+, Iphone 13/Pro, And More,Black

Visit the Anker Store

https://www.amazon.in/Anker-Charger-GaNPrime-Compact-Foldable/dp/B09W2PNLX7

One which is available in India

Ugreen Usb C Charger 100W 4-Port 3C1A Gan Fast Pd Charger Indian Plug For Cellular Phones, Tablets, Laptops - Black

https://amzn.in/d/00dvAhqT

We need a power delivery PD cable as well. Below is very good.

Cable

UGREEN USB-C to USB-C Cable, USB Type C 100W Power Delivery PD Charging Cord for Apple MacBook Pro, Huawei Matebook, iPad Pro 2018, Chromebook, Pixel 3 XL, Samsung Note 10 S10 (3FT)

https://amzn.in/d/0aTyYcPf

Or use the following cable.

This plus the OnePlus cable does the job brilliantly

In case someone doesn't want to invest into above products

Few traditional extension boxes

@YVS Prasad DR B venkatesh's Classmate sir recommended Anker compact.

@Radhakrishnan Rajagopalan Z9 Group sir mentioned that surge protectors help when voltage is more but not when voltage is lower. So he asked us to check for models that protect both over and under voltage protection.

https://www.addmecart.com/shop/electronics/extension-board/honeywell-surge-protector-5-universal-sockets-2usb-ports-1-5-mtr-cord-extension-board/

https://www.amazon.in/STONE-PRO-Adaptable-Countries-Individual-Protector/dp/B07NBHMJ22/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?keywords=STONE-PRO&qid=1700392796&sr=8-4

YVS Prasad sir

—--------------

time to junk the MBP charger and get an Anker....you can charge a MBP, phone and battery at the same time. Saves space too

Sandeep Dutta - 30 Oct 2024

—-------------------------------------

I was about to suggest that too... Get a 100W GAN micro processor based charger and it can charge multiple devices at the same time.. I use (UGreen) it for my MBP, iPad, iPhones, Nikon Batteries, Fenix torch, Garmin watch etc.. Its smaller, cheaper and pretty efficient.. I have been using this for over 3 years now.

Jeyaram - 30 Oct 2024

—-----------------------—-----

This has pretty much helped me avoid carrying power strip and multiple power adapters. I can use this to charge my phone, Mac, batteries (either by attaching to USB-C port on camera or connecting to battery charger)

Powerbank for Z8/z9 cameras

Multiple discussions over time so sharing a summary

Two Main factors to consider

Airline cabin bags have a limit of 27000 mAH - Not all airlines strictly enforce it but it is a rule like many things in life.

Needs power delivery rating

Considering the above, the following one is best suited to charge Z9 cameras. There may many more, sharing a model that is easily available over amazon in India. If you find any power bank that meets above 2 criteria, go ahead and buy it.

Deal of the day: MI Power Bank 3i 20000mAh Lithium Polymer 18W Fast Power Delivery Charging | Input- Type C | Micro USB| Triple Output | Black.

https://amzn.in/d/g0OMYy3

Please remember to buy USB-C to USB-C cable that has power delivery rating.

How many charges do we get for Z9 battery rated at 3300 mAH.

Typically 1/3 capacity of power bank is lost due to heat and other factors. This is true for high quality power banks, cheaper/ budget power banks efficiency is even lower.

So only 60% capacity is used for calculations.

20000*0.6 /3300= 3.6, so we will get minimum 3 recharges of Z9 battery if we have fully charged 20000 mah power bank. Easily 4 recharges as we will start charging z9 batteries with some charge in them.

But in colder climate, batteries discharges faster. That’s for some other day!.

Z8 batter is En-el C capacity is 2800 mah

20000*.6 /2800 = 4.28 times

Sriram

—-------

If you are using a tripod, you can place the power-bank in a small draw-string bag and suspend it from the tripod and charge your camera directly as shoot.

Naveen

—-------------

In fact it will be faster with proper power bank and PD cable. Found 80% of z9 battery gets charged in less than 2 hours.’

Radha sir

—-----------

Yes. That’s been my experience with MI 20K Power Bank as well. Roughly 80% in 2+ hours.

Jay

—

50000 mAH power banks

Cost is reasonable. However,

It’s not allowed in flights ( max allowed is 26700 mah), so good for road trips, It’s 1 kg in weight and only one usb C-port.

Ambrane 50000mAh Powerbank, 20W Fast Charging, Triple Output (2 USB & 1 Type C), PD, Quick Charge for iPhone, Android & Other Devices, Made in India + Type C Cable (Stylo Max 50k, Black) https://amzn.in/d/gyYzywf

Radha sir

—---

Also MI 20000 edition 4 now supports 33W fast charging

moreover, it’s made in Namma Bangalore on Hosur Road.

https://www.amazon.in/Xiaomi-20000mAh-Charging-Delivery-Supports/dp/B0DCZ3WDTB/ref=asc_df_B0DCZ3WDTB/?tag=googleshopmob-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=710082444382&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1855723311492761118&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9061994&hvtargid=pla-2355534075540&psc=1&mcid=2db78e437f89322b9f460d3411d61844&gad_source=1

Printers in Bangalore

Harshit

Hello all, a bit of an off topic question.. does anyone know a good printing lab who can print high quality prints in Bangalore near Sarjapur Road/HSR area.

Anupama

I know someone at Jayanagar. You can share the images online with him. Let me know if this helps. I can share the contact details

Dr Chiranjib Dutta

Partha Sarkar PhotoPrint - 96742 60912 or 82409 52568 and ps.sarkar14@gmail.com

Sunil Kinger

Manjunath Wildlife Prints - Print Gallery - 98459 51127 - printgallery2008@gmail.com

👆he is in Jayanagar and very good. I have got a few prints done from him on canvas

Anantha Murthy

You can try Honeycomb in Koramangala, have got few prints from them, they do a good job. Another place is Vijay Kumar in Jayangar, he is extremely good, try both.

Honey Comb - Srikumar 98443 60170

Vijay Printer - 97393 96444

Sandeep Dutta

Vijay in Jayanagar is awesome.. he does all my prints

Neel ray

Hi @⁨Harshit K Z8⁩ You can reach out to Dinesh, a wildlife photographer who also runs a printing business. His lab is located on Church Street.

DInesh - 81970 84085

Sriram

@⁨Harshit K Z8⁩ Manjunath is based in Jayanagar 2nd Block. You can give him my reference.

Rear Curtain Sync

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Nirmal Badale

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What is this technique

Does anyone know how to click such snaps

Naveen

—---

Slow shutter with flash (rear curtain sync)

He uses D500( till last year beginning). Typical settings. Nikon D500 70-200 FL ,1/14,ISO-320, F16

In z8/z8 entire sensor is not read fully at once. It’s read line by line. If this reading speed is slow, you get rolling shutter effect.

But z9/z8 with stacked sensor has excellent read out speed. The duration of the electronic shutter in the Z9 / Z8 to initiate and read the pixel rows is 5ms, which is 1/200 of a second, the flash synchronization speed.

The camera fires the flash in a much shorter pulse either right at the start (front 'curtain') or at the end (Rear 'curtain') of the sensor read. Obviously, the duration of this sensor reading the scene luminance - ie Shutter speed - can be longer: up to 30 s

Here are settings from manual.

https://onlinemanual.nikonimglib.com/z9/en/flash_modes_77.html

As opposed to rolling shutter read out mode or progressive scan by most cameras , Sony A9iii is has a global shutter. Global shutter comes with its own challenges due to complex design of sensor and slight loss of dynamic range. Sony A9Iii base ISO is 250. Z9/Z8 is ISO 64. Global shutters are used in industrial cameras but not yet popular in regular photography.

Just double checked numbers - . Z9 read out speed is 3.7 milliseconds is 1/270 second.

Example

Example of rear curtain sync.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6g3DVmR_QL/?igsh=MW9mZTJyaHl1Nmg0Zw==

Recommended flash for Macro and Indoors for Z8 and Z9

Venkat 26 Sep 2024

Good morning

Am looking to purchase a good flash, largely to be used for indoor photos during family gatherings.

Any recommendations, for one that will fit in a shoestring budget?

Naveen

—-

Check Godox v1-N. Nikon mount. It’s very good. You need reflectors and modifiers. Do buy an Accessory kit as well. GODOX AK-R1 Accessory Kit for Round Flash Head.

Using Godox V1..

Godox V1 pro is a successor with better thermal characteristics and few more enhancements.

These are entry level flashes.

Sunil Kinger

—---

Recently got a quote from Jayesh for the following

Godox V860iii - 16392/-

Godox V1 Pro N - 22499/-

V1 Pro is apparently the latest..

Both these Flash are ideal for macro photography and general photography (indoors etc)

One of my friends Raghu , (macro_by_raghu on Instagram) uses Godox 860iii and has strongly recommend that flash for macro photography

Dr Kalyan

—------

I use godox v860iii, excellent, long battery life, slightly heavy,

Shalini

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I got a V860iii recently..a great one, LI battery, good battery life..

True that, even the Z8 plus V860iii is slightly heavy..

Remote Wireless Flash Trigger for Z8/Z9 cameras 3 Jan 2024

Swapnil has it.

YONGNUO Wireless Shutter Release & Flash Trigger RF-603II N1 for Nikon DSLR D800 / D700 / D300 / D2X / D2H / D200 / D1H / D1X / D3X / D3 https://amzn.eu/d/0idGInz

BSWL Remote Shutter Release switch cable MC-30 Nikon Z9 D850 D810 D800 D700 D500 D6 D5 D4s D4 D3 D2Xs D2x D2Hs (MPIXO)

https://amzn.eu/d/byBGHE2

Dr BR Venkatesh has this

Pixel TW-283 DC0 Wireless Shutter Release Cable Remote Control Controller for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras D800 D810 1D 2D D700 D500 D200 D4 D5 N90s F5 F6 F100 F90 F90X D3s

https://amzn.in/d/09mK3sJN

Placed an order for this one. It's very good

Jeyaram has

Wired trigger from Nikon

https://www.nikon.co.in/remote-cord-mc-30a

Naveen has this

Intervalo meters

These are very low cost wired solution its a no frill solution to trigger camera without introducing shake and trigger shutter while looking at a scene.

QuikProf Remote Shutter Release Cable Cord for Nikon D3X D200 D300s D700 D800 D800E D810

https://amzn.in/d/0gUCoztD

The wired one- For the z9/8 etc you need a 10 pin MC 30

Rolling Shutter effect

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Naveen 5 Jul 25

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Good morning. What’s this apparition? How did I got this effect? Not with Nikon gears, and why we don’t get this “ creative or weird” photos on z9/z8? 1/4000, f/6.3,iso 1250, EC-0.3

This is a rolling shutter effect. Sensor data is not read at once but line by line scan lines like old CRT tvs. If read of lines is not fast enough we get this jello effect.

Time taken to read entire data from sensor is called read out speed. Shot with Sony A7 Iv. For electronic shutter and full 14 -bit pictures read out speed is 66 milli seconds. Sony A1 has 4 milli seconds readout speeds. Nikon z9/z8 read out speed is 3.7 secs.

More from Internet….

Sensor readout speed refers to the time it takes for a camera sensor to capture and transfer the image data for a single frame. It's essentially how quickly the sensor can read out all the pixel information after the exposure time. Faster readout speeds reduce artifacts like rolling shutter distortion, which occurs when the sensor reads out data line by line, causing skewed or wobbly images, especially with fast-moving subjects.

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

Exposure vs. Readout:

While the shutter speed determines how long the sensor is exposed to light, the readout speed dictates how quickly the sensor can then transfer that captured data to the camera's processor.

Rolling Shutter Effect:

A slower readout speed means the sensor reads out data sequentially, line by line. This can cause distortion when capturing fast-moving objects, as different parts of the image are recorded at slightly different times.

Faster is Better (Generally):

A faster readout speed minimizes these distortions and is particularly important for capturing fast-action scenes or when using the electronic shutter.

Mechanical vs. Electronic Shutters:

Mechanical shutters typically offer faster readout speeds than electronic shutters, but advancements in sensor technology, like stacked sensors, are closing the gap. Mechanical shutter use a different mechanism to read sensors than electronic sensors

https://www.canon-europe.com/pro/infobank/electronic-vs-mechanical-shutter/

https://photographylife.com/mechanical-electronic-shutter-efcs

https://www.panasonic.com/uk/consumer/cameras-camcorders/lumix-expert-advice-learn/technique-technology/electronic-vs-mechanical-shutter-modes.html

Check thread with Jim Kasson replies at Question regarding mechanical shutter vs. e-shutter | Technical Discussions | The-Photo Forum

ES: There's a rolling reset that travels across the sensor at the rate it will be read out. That starts the exposure. There's a rolling read that travels across the sensor at the same rate after a delay set by the shutter speed. That ends the exposure.

MS: There's a rolling curtain that opens. That starts the exposure. There's another curtain that covers the sensor that follows after a delay set by the shutter speed. That ends the exposure. Then the sensor is dark and the electrons are sitting there, and the readout takes place at a pace that is not critical.

Absent global shutter, the only way to end the exposure with ES and today's CMOS sensors is to read the data out. Slower sensors are read a line at a time. Faster ones read more than one line at a time.

With MS, and with ES, you don't have to turn off the sensor after taking a picture, but you do have to put it into a different mode between exposures if you have an EVF.

With MS, the reset takes place before the first curtain is opened. So it's not time-critical either.

3389 posts

So, with ES, the sensor is reset (which clears out any old data, I assume) and then it's read, line by line. which then ends the exposure, line by line. And it's the delay in reading each line which determines the 'shutter' speed.

This assumes that the reset happens line by line as well (if the reset happened to the whole sensor at the beginning, thne the last line to be read would have gathered more light than the first one).

With MS, the whole sensor is reset, shutter is opened and closed and then the sensor is read.

[I'm trying to get it im my head visually - which is how I think]

Is that how it works?

The technogy of good quality mechanical shutters is quite amazing. This technology has been continuously refined over the last 50 years, particularly the last couple of decades of the 20th century.

(With a conventional active-pixel CMOS sensor, and with some other kinds of sensor):

Mechanical shutter decouples sensor readout from sensor exposure: The shutter exposes the sensor, then the sensor is read out. Then the shutter is re-cocked.

With electronic shutter, the "First Curtain" is implemented by bringing rows of the sensor out of reset. The second curtain is implemented by row readout and associated analogue-to-digital conversion. Readout is much slower than reset, so the "rolling shutter", or "shutter travel time" is limited by the speed of row readout.

All the pixels in a row (or perhaps more than one row) are read out, and converted to digital values, in parallel. So, for a given readout mode, the readout time is proportional to the number of rows read. This is why high video frame rates often involve a sensor crop

Rolling shutter examples

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNVtMmLlnoE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP1elMR5qjc

YVS Prasad sir 13 Jul 25

—---------------------------

Going mirrorless – and my move from the Canon EOS R3/R5 to Nikon’s Z8 and Z9 – www.flying-wings.com https://share.google/D716JMQOwYtrnxKux

Naveen 14 Jul 25

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Crucial parameter for rolling shutter effect is sensor readout speeds. Faster readout speed better it is. For aviation photography it’s crucial to have sensor read outs lower than 5.0 ms ( can’t find where I read it sometime back).

No wonder author choose z9/z8 for aviation photography as they are fastest mirror less full frame camera of 45/50 mp in terms of sensor readouts. Battery life was one more parameter for author.

Accuracy of below numbers is +/-0.2 ms.

Z9/Z8 3.7 ms

Sony A1 ii 3.8 ms

Sony A1 4.2 ms

R5 Mark II 6.3ms

R5's 16.3ms.

Sony A7 iv 26.8 ms

Check more details

https://horshack-dpreview.github.io/RollingShutter/

How to set up Mac for photography

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Naveen 12 May 25

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Connect to your WIFI and use the same apple account that you use on IPhone to login to MacBook. This is a super important step as it helps to connect to iCloud and brings in photos. Helps with Airdrop etc.

Most of your work you can do with FInder and Launchpad on Macbook.

No need to partition the hard drive on Mac as we use APFS. So simply

install the following software -

1.⁠ ⁠Adobe Creative Cloud ( brings in few more creative cloud apps thats OK) and then install

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Lightroom Classic ( not cloud version) and Photoshop ( if you are familiar). After you install light room if you have subscription -

3.⁠ ⁠⁠install DXO Pure Raw or Topax Denoise . then

4.⁠ ⁠⁠install Nikon NX Studio( it also installs Nikon Transfer2.). NX Studio helpful to check focus point in NEF Files, super helpful to see where focus is landing. if you have subscription

5.⁠ ⁠⁠install FastRawViewer ( helpful for culling/selecting 1000’s of Raw files).

This completes software installations for photography.

if you have subscriptions install MS Word or Google workplace if required else you can ignore.

Post all software installations, Connect external hard drive, and then go to system settings on the left hand top corner - click apple icon -> System Settings -> Set up time machine select hard drive.

Always store NEF Files in the external hard drive, not on the internal hard drive of Mac.

Store a copy of lightroom catalog externally as well

SHutter count of photos in Mac

From backcountry gallery

—------------------

NOTE: This procedure assumes that the LAST photo that you took with your camera is currently on your Mac somewhere.

Open the "Preview" app on your Mac.

Drop/open the LAST photo you took with your camera in the Preview app.

With that photo as your active photo, click on the "Tools" menu.

Select "Show Inspector."

Click on the "i" button in the Inspector window.

Click on the "Exif" button.

Scroll down to to where you see "Image number."

NOTE: That number indicates how many shutter actuations you have made on your camera as of THAT photo.

Shooting stage performances.

Naveen

TL;DR - check out Photos following this post.

Yesterday( 7th Sept 2024) I had an opportunity to shoot my daughter’s dance class’s annual day. It was at Brigade MLR convention center, Mahadevapura, Bangalore. Shot on dress rehearsal day before to arrive at proper settings and choose the best place to shoot.

1.⁠ ⁠Copied Bank D to Bank A for both photography and custom shooting Banks. Only variations from bank D ( other, street) are mentioned.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠used standard picture control as shadhigh.ncp was too distracting due to low light on stage

3.⁠ ⁠⁠shot on manual + auto iso capped at 6400. EC was set to 0. Allowed photos to underexpose if I wasn’t getting shutter speed and aperture I wanted

4.⁠ ⁠⁠cH and cL were at 12 and 5. Mostly shot on cL. Used highlight metering as focus light was on dancers.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠used remote release.

6.⁠ ⁠⁠switched to shutter release A6 so remote switches Auto focus simulating half press of shutter. Thanks to @⁨Jeyaram Sankar Photographer Friend ⁩for this tip on using remotes.

7.⁠ ⁠⁠preview was on playback. Wanted to check photos in the field as the light keeps changing.

8.⁠ ⁠⁠when auto focus area was set to wC2, a thin strip was configured and mostly used AF-F. When I wanted to focus on my daughter in group dance, used wide-Small using cycle area configured on video record button

9.⁠ ⁠⁠aperture was f/8 mostly except for few dances with large troupes f/10 and f/11. Problem with f/8 is when dancers were closer to the screen at the back even the screen was in focus.

10.⁠ ⁠⁠shutter speed of 1/640 to 1/1000 adjusted based on tempo of dance.

11.⁠ ⁠⁠remote shutter release was a such boon, allowed me to enjoy dance and take photos simultaneously. Just missed focus on 12 photos out of 4 hours shooting of 1800 photos across 30 dances with primary kids to older girls.

12.⁠ ⁠⁠was on my fluid head and height adjusted to match height of my daughter on stage. Couldn’t change height to suit younger dancers as it was cramped as I was on aisles.

14.⁠ ⁠Colourful stage lighting from domes or sides was changed continuously on dancers. So lot of color bleeding in photos. But lighting was not sufficient to get speeds of 1/640 of f/8 so 95% of photos were underexposed by 1/3rd to 2 stops depending on light on dancers.

15.⁠ ⁠⁠my gear was Z9 and FTZ2 and F24-70 f/2.8. Thanks to lens borrowed from @⁨Sathish Beml 2nd Main⁩

15.⁠ ⁠Took permission of dance teacher to position myself next to official photographers at slightly off center. But it showed up in many photos angles. Center positioning makes a huge difference esp shooting dances that have symmetry on either side. Was at 30 ft away from the stage.

16.⁠ ⁠⁠took many photos and few video clips. All videos at 4K, 120 fps, MoV 10 bit, HLG. Adjusted to faster Focus speed.

17.⁠ ⁠⁠didn’t turn on backlight for button as I was pretty sure on button layout even in dark.

Few observations

1.⁠ ⁠It’s challenging to shoot dances as there are many variables

2.⁠ ⁠⁠dancers height varies a lot in group. They keep moving around on stage. So perspective changes a bit as I was relatively closer to stage

3.⁠ ⁠⁠dancers keep coming closer and fan out. So continually adjust zoom.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠dancers costumes and ornaments are bright so dynamic range in each shot is so much to get proper exposure avoid blowing highlights. So shot mostly underexposed.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠tempo of dance changes, needs bit of appreciation of music and anticipate next steps. The Known subject holds true for this genre as well. Even after years of window listening, my son's classical music and daughter dance classes didn’t prepare me much as I was always lost on my mobile.

6.⁠ ⁠Tried few slow shots to show motion but couldn’t pull off. Need more practice.

7.⁠ ⁠⁠getting few hundred useful photos is tough. Poses are not in sync, hands or heads blocking each other, eyes of few open others are closed, few are closer to the group and few are away from rest. esp juniors, look for parents in the audience, look at fellow dancers for next step or start their own step by looking at others or slyly look at the teacher backstage. Senior girls were just brilliant, and the standard of dance was very high.

8.⁠ ⁠⁠all photos denoised in DXO pure raw and processed solely in Lightroom.

Thanks to @⁨Dr Kalyan Anand Toehold⁩ for his tips on stage photography and inspiration. Overall it was great fun over the weekend. It was great visual treat over the weekend. Remote shutter release helped me enjoy the event and get good photos, can’t recommend enough. Without it 4 hours of continuous dances without let up would have been taxing to say the least.

Jeyaram

Excellent observations and tips Naveen.

Though I don’t have any experience on photographing stage performances, one comment I have is that with smaller focal lengths (like 24-70) you can mostly shoot wide open instead of shooting at f/8. The DoF we get are significantly deep at these focal lengths. For example f/2.8 at 50mm for a focus distance of 10mm, the DoF is 7.62m. In addition to getting sufficient DoF, shooting wide open helps manage lower ISO

Dr Kalyan

I don't do remote release etc I do the traditional method, need to concentrate on the subject, even I don't use subject detection etc, ideally one should know the subject, like behavior in wildlife, wild life and stage photography esp fast paced dances are almost similar

Naveen

Thank you Jeyaram. This helps a lot in the field. So much used to handling 500/600 mm lenses or macro lenses to an extent. Need more practice with 24-70 mm lenses.

On dress rehearsal day I misinterpreted a few unfocused shots on a 70-200 lens and lowered my f-stop to avoid issues. Was afraid to shoot wide open with 24-70mm.

Should’ve checked DoF calculators like https://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html choose values for D3.

As you rightly said there was sufficient depth of field at f/2.8 or f/4 for 40-70 mm focal length at 30 to 40 ft subject distance. That would’ve helped with lower iso.

Whatever little I read .. gray card seem to be used by studios or photo shoots where light is controlled and same during a photo scene/ shoot. Each time lighting is changed it’s recalibrated. It’s good for a controlled environment.

how do we use it in stage shoots where lighting is not in our control and changes multiple times in a single dance/ performance?

Jeyaram

Whatever little I read .. gray card seem to be used by studios or photo shoots where light is controlled and same during a photo scene/ shoot. Each time lighting is changed it’s recalibrated. It’s good for a controlled environment.

How do we use it in stage shoots where lighting is not in our control and changes multiple times in a single dance/ performance?

Arun Ramakrishnan

https://youtu.be/DRNw0EiO6-A?si=nmX4TetSQ0E2WzcO

I have seen this tutorial, but have not used got an opportunity to use it for WB correction

Naveen - 5 July 2025

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Had an opportunity to shoot dance school annual day at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall, Malleswaram, Bangalore on 28th July 2025. My friend Ravi shankar who is an experienced stage photographer, guided me through this shoot. He reached the hall early and reserved a nice space in the center for me to shoot. Thanks to him for guidance and support.

My gear and settings:

Z9+FTZ2+ F 70-200 f/2.8,

Our recommended settings changed from wildlife Bank usual to Bank D ( street).

Highlight weighted metering

Manual +Auto ISO - Max ISO 3200.

Subject detection: Human

Auto focus area: Thin strip of WC2

Used shutter release instead of back button to shoot with remote.

Switched off zebra picture controls as they were distributed in the hall.

Used normal vibration control on the lens as I was on a sturdy tripod with fluid head.

White balance was kept to Shade.

Other than adjusting shutter speed, f stop and EC, I didn't use other controls during 2 hours shooting.

Ravi asked me to shoot with 70-200 instead of 24-70 as 70mm was covering 90% of stage area. Asked me to shoot only when all dancers are fitting into frame rather than shoot when the group is fully spread out.

Kids dance groups in motion, don't look good as they are not professional and not synchronous like professionals or ballet dancers. With the shutter speeds that we use, its difficult to get good synchronous shots.

Shoot only a few members 2 to 4 close ups instead of 8 to 10 members. Parents care about photos of their wards. Wider photos won't allow parents to appreciate photos.

Asked me to keep ISO below 500 and EC -2.0 to -3.0. In low light it's a lot. Asked me to keep ISO max to 3200. Underexposed photos are fine, we can retrieve details but over exposure is a huge issue as details are lost forever.

White balance was set to shade but he told me its a wasted effort as light changes a lot and is difficult to set. Shooting in RAW allows us to change it in post.

Aperture should be set in such a way that the frills of the back curtain shouldn't be seen. However when the dance troupe was closer to the back curtain at 70 mm and f2.8 lens frills were seen. We can’t avoid them. They need to be handled in post processing. Asked me to not exceed fstop to 5.0 or 5.6 not beyond.

Shutter speed faster than 1/200 and adjust based on the tempo of the dance. Asked me to pay close attention to music to change shutter speed.

Asked me not to use the lens hood as he wanted more light to get in. I was worried about light seeping through edges, he says we need more light from the hall into the lens. . He wanted a lens with a filter to avoid someone bumping into the lens.

Remote release allowed me not to crane my neck into the viewfinder for the entire program duration. Shooting was a pleasure.

Photos were processed within Lightroom. With latest denoise ( integrated into lightroom). Whitebalance was set to 3500 to 4000 K. and for overexposed portions of the picture, used color grading highlights to adjust it.

Stool for walking around and birding

From Sriram R

From Decathlon

https://www.decathlon.in/p/8771435/wildlife-discovery-winter/backpack-seat-treemetic?id=8771435&type=p

I use this and it has helped get subjects closer, steady my hands as I have my left elbow on my leg, plus sit and observe bird behavior - very different experience from walking around. Plus have my Leofoto 365C Monopod with Wimberley MonoGimbal in the bag that I use when needing to stand and shoot for an extended period or for videos

Initially I thought the metal frame would be heavy, but the design helps distribute the weight evenly against the back, so I don't feel the weight. Straps can be adjusted based on individual preferences.

Earlier I had one that I bought in Dubai but that was a standalone foldable stool that I had to remove from my backpack every-time I needed to use it, often missing opportunities. This is easier to remove from the back and use it, much faster, plus doubles as a backpack. This is much better.

The legs form a frame that is flat against our back and holds the backpack upright without sagging. When needed it opens into a convenient stool and when the backpack is in front we can take things out very conveniently while seated.

I usually have my monopod, MonoGimbal, rain poncho and other accessories in it, quite roomy.

This has changed my birding experience significantly. Now I sit quietly and enjoy the natural world a lot more than earlier when I would mostly walk around.

when we sit quietly in a strategic spot without sudden movements birds do become comfortable enough to engage in their normal activity. My Decathlon Backpack Seat Treemetic comes very handy for such situations, located next to a bush or under a tree where we are not too conspicuous.

Rajesh

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Tripod and Monopod selection criteria

Radhakrishnan

things to consider while choosing a tripod and monopod:

1. The load factor. Camera + lens + TC, the total weight. General rule of thumb is oversize as much as you can to take the load and to dampen the vibrations. I use the 4 times rule. If the overall weight is 5Kgs, I size it to 20kgs. It comes down to what one is comfy with.

2. Clip and lock type or rotary closure and lock type. I am never a fan of clip and lock type. All my tripods and monopods are Rotary lock type and I use Gitzo carbon fibre.

3. 3 section or 4 section. Again a matter of preference. Some would argue, from a stability perspective, a section is more balanced and sturdy than the 4 section. But with advancement in carbon fibre technology, a 4 section is as good as 3 section from a stability perspective, plus the added convenience of being able to check in comfortably in the baggage.

4. I personally never prefer a tripod with a centre column especially for heavier loads as it essentially makes it a monopod on top of a tripod.

5. A good 6X+ carbon fibre monopod gets through even in sea water comfortably with no damage. I have used my Gitzo’s extensively in Rameswaram/Dhanushkoti - zero issues.

6. Heads are a matter of preference. Either a solid gimbal or a fluid head especially for BIFs I suppose.

7. Most apply for a monopods as well.

Again, just my 2

Naveen

Guidelines for tripods

1. Load carrying capacity of capacity should be more than 3 times total weight of camera +lens+ adapter +TC etc..

2. Go for carbon Fibre one as it weighs less

3. Avoid center column ones as they are less stable

4. As we carry gears worth north of 7 lakhs going upto 12 to 15 lakhs, we shouldn't look to compromise on accessories like tripods and heads etc. So pay aa high as possible to get best tripod/ head

5. Accessories typically last for long time like 10 years so getting best makes sense

6. Coming to heads - gimbal or fluid heads are best. Fluid for videos is very good.

Sriram:

A question for those using fluid heads:

A question for those using fluid heads:

How important is counterbalance in fluid heads?

I have a gimbal, but considering getting a fluid head.

Between Leofoto BV 15 vs 20, the lower weight of the 15 is a big attraction. But the BV 20 has counterbalance.

Also plan to do macro, nature, landscape photography with my new Z 24-120mm lens, so prefer to have a lighter, multipurpose head. I use a Z8 with Z 180-600mm for my bird photography. Thanks!

Jeyram:

If you are not looking for big glasses like 600 F4, BV-15 is good enough.Levelling base is not needed to start with as it adds additional weight. But if you are serious into video and looking for panning and tracking subjects, levelling base is a must to get the horizon even during panning

For monopod, I suggest you to go with monogimbal head either from Wimberley (https://www.videolinks.com/wimberley-mh-100-monogimbal-head-for-monopods) or Leofoto (https://www.leofoto-india.com/products/leofoto-pg-1-gimbal-head-1?variant=40239505768585). I have been using both of them for 600 F/4 lens and it is super convenient

Naveen - about counter balance

It helps to balance camera + lens even when they’re tilted. Usually we balance lens + camera in horizontal plane.. when camera+lens is tilted upwards or downwards ( almost like pitch of ships) center of gravity changes wrt to pivot point of fluid head. With counter balance engaged camera+ lens stays balanced without us supporting by placing hand. There are fixed counter balance heads and continuous counter balance heads.

Leofoto Bv-20 has continuous counter balance through its specified tilt angle.

Without counter balance, camera + lens when tilted tries to come back to equilibrium like a see -saw. With counter balance engaged, camera stays tilted wherever we want so we can focus on shooting video without worrying about supporting by hand or lock it at a tilted position.

Gimbal or Fluid head

—-----

Check this video . Scott explains it better. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U92L7NFq5Ns&t=31s&pp=2AEfkAIB

Naveen

I have both Leofoto 365 and Gitzo 4552L and Leofoto Monogimbal MPG-01. Gitzo is well built for 600 f4. Wimberley MH 100 monogimbal is very good per Jeyaram, much better built than leofoto one.

Leofoto is lightweight, cheaper and works very well

GItzo is sturdy, tall, slightly heavier, expensive but works very well for bigger glasses.

Maximum height

Gitzo GM4552 L - 190 cm

Leofoto MP-365C - 175.5 cm

Sirui P 326- 156 cm

Dr Kalyan and Amit have Sirui Carbon fiber monopod P326.

Samarjeet and YVS prasad sir have Sirui L 205 Monopod head.

Dr Santosh

—--------

currently using Leofoto 365C... Sturdy and lightweight... Can be carried in a luggage bag (medium sized).. did so in my recent trip to Meghalaya

Tripod legs are many. Choose one that suits your height. I have Leofoto 325C and few members have RRS, Gitzo, Monfroto, Benro modes.

Arca Swiss Plates

Nikon

Nikon lenses by default does not come with Arca-SWISS plates. In India we find replacement lens foot from LeoFoto. Please check the below compatibility chart.

Vertical Grip for Z8

Karthik

Vertical grip MB-N12 for Z8 is perfect.

1.⁠ ⁠Balances the weight very well with my 400 2.8. Last week 85-90% of clicks was with vertical grip.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠The battery issue gets solved as it holds 2 ENEl15C. I mainly got it as my camera used to drain if I shoot even a couple of videos and photographs.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠Charging the battery is easy. You don’t need to remove the set. Directly connect with USB C cable.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠first time ensure the grip is screwed tight to the right. Else due to loose contact you may loose the frames.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠wish it had some more configurable buttons only joystick and the Af button.

6.⁠ ⁠⁠overall satisfied and it really is a good option for Z8.

Sid

—------

Nikon z8 with Newer vertical grip ...1st review after 15 days of usage ...

1.⁠ ⁠Initially it was not getting a proper fit , but after tightening the grip on the right hand side , connections were established with the camera

2.⁠ ⁠Contains two en el 15 batteries , internal body camera battery needs to be removed when adding the grip

3.⁠ ⁠Works with third party batteries like digitek platinum series 15c

4.⁠ ⁠Works actually very nice and feels Sturdy and obviously gives a proper battery life for z8

Video capture card to display Z9/z8 camera screen on laptop

Naveen

Just need a video capture card and cables. Entire set up costs less than Rs800

Video Capture Card, PiBOX India... https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0973PR9HH?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Amazon Basics Flexible Premium... https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07KSMBL2H?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Website for photo Portfolio

Dr Kalyan

wish to make a website for my photography, if anyone in this group can do it for me I would be most happy, any one who is interested can DM me, on a professional basis

Swapnil

Squarespace.com

Naveen

https://piwigo.org

If we don’t want the hassle of separate domain name etc. you can use google option. It’s pretty basic and not flexible. Will do the job. Just pay for google one subscription.

https://sites.google.com/u/0/d/1UVDtBKDyCSpO844G5McLav74G-SPyOtJ/preview

Why FX file is 46 MB and DX is only 20 MB

Naveen

—-----

We answered all other effects of DX but not the question itself. Here’s the math.

Nikon Z9/z8 camera sensors have a pixel density of 5.32 MP/cm2.

FX mode - sensor size equivalent of 35 mm -36mm*24 mm= 864 mm2 area or 8.64 cm2 area. Multiply by pixel density you get a 45.96 MP image.

DX mode -crop sensor size - 24 mm * 16 mm ( length and width reduced by 1.5 times for Nikon cameras) = 384 mm2 or 3.84 cm2. Gives an image of 20.42 MP.

Strictly speaking it’s 35.9 mm *23.9 mm. You could work math yourself.

Hope you heard about yesteryear's 35 mm movies and 70 mm movies.

Why is it 35 mm- one story goes like this .. it seems George Eastman( Kodak fame) and thomas Edison met to discuss film production. Eastman asked what size of film Edison showed by lifting his thumb and forefinger. Eastman asked his assistant to measure that width between fingers of Edison which was 35 mm.

There are other stories for another day.

Hope it helps.

Why upgrade devices

Radha sir

—-------------

But come to think of it as a techie, I think it is inevitable… with every firmware update the hardware gets squeezed to extract max out of it… battery ages, so are the NAND memory systems getting worn out. Avg power consumption when the battery / NAND is fresh vs average power consumption to be retained the same even after they are worn out makes all the difference. Performance degradation is a natural thing with the LiON batteries and the NANDs. The NAND SSDs are even worst. If you continuously use them they go bad, if you dont power them up for a year or so also the chances of them going bad is high. That’s why we recommend your portable SSDs be atleast connected to your laptops and randomly accessed a bit just to keep the cells in the SSDs activated and retain their capacity.

Even if you are given an option of a replaceable battery, replacing a NAND is impractical and it is often the Battery/NAND combination that’s a drainer

Z9 ii or next gen Z9 camera

—----

Radhar sir

—------

https://petapixel.com/2024/04/17/a-new-camera-using-both-nikon-and-red-tech-will-com

A reasonable guess, more than the hardware, to keep the interest alive, the first to get integrated will be the RedRAW 16-bit in the Z series… will be awesome if they can drop it via a firmware for the 9 and 8… just a big wish

Naveen Apr 2024

—---

14-bit to 16-bit would be too fundamental a change to be introduced via firmware. Buffer and ADC pipeline capacity would be an issue. It requires new hardware.

Z9 is in market for close to 2.5 years with 5 firmwares. Z9/Z8 “broadley caught up” with Canon/ Sony on subject detection. Next few statements are all my guess, adding to rumours 😀

1.⁠ ⁠Z9 may get one or two more firmwares max. Z8 update frequency would be a lot lower as there’s almost parity between z8 and Z9 on many features.

2.⁠ ⁠mid to late next year would be a good time to announce new flagship replacing Z9.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠release new flagship by end of 2024 or mid 2025.

4.⁠ ⁠Minimum 18 to 20 months are needed to bring new technologies of RED for engineering and releasing a solid product.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠next flagship would prepare fundamental hardware and controls on still/ hybrid camera and release advanced features later through firmware towards end of 2025 to 2027.

Anticipating the entire field to progress towards with GenAI in what I call augmented photography. It’s just a matter of time. Professionals will lament lack of purity and moan about bygone era. Inexorable march of technologies continues unabated to bring in more folks to the field helping camera manufacturers to carve out a niche that they are struggling to find today with the onslaught of mobile phones.

Combine GenAI with plenoptic cameras ( light field cameras) you get an accurate 3D model to render fast moving subjects beyond current AF capabilities. Plenoptic cameras are already in use in industrial settings. NASA transferred technology for commercial use a few years back. They are not new but have been spoken since 1906 but like AI from Marvin Minsky times of 60’s needed cloud, internet and mobile technologies along with foundational breakthroughs to unleash it.

Anticipating plenoptic technologies will advance a lot more in next few years, still they are in the state of digital cameras of the early 90’s. But possibilities of technology for medical imaging and digital cameras are exciting.

If you look at the foundational level, Digital photography is powering AI because we take a billion photographs every day and store them. ( that’s where @⁨KumKum Prakash Birding Z8 Owner Bangalore⁩ question started and then @⁨Sunil (SCK) Z8 Group⁩sharing global shutter and @⁨YVS Prasad DR B venkatesh's Classmate⁩ asking AF related questions all are interrelated).

Our photos are used to train AI algorithms to get better. Long back I shared Fei Fei Li insights etc. So it’s natural at some point we use improved algorithms to take better photographs.

Entire digital photography at foundations is estimating voltage from number of electrons that got dislodged from pixel due to photons hitting it. Digital signal processing is all algorithms and mathematics. AI takes to next level. So it’s a natural progression at some level.

ArunWell said Naveen

We have come a long way from SLR and film photography where good portraits used to be the pinnacle of wildlife photos

Today we are able to track subjects and capture behaviour in lights and which otherwise considered impossible

With so much data we share on social media we are already contributing to AI improvements

Naveen Jan 2025

—--

Looks like an AI generated video to me. Short on details except few tidbit hooks of expeed 8 processor, 50 to 60 mp resolution, 240 hz refresh rate for viewfinder etc. Rest of features are already present in Nikon Z9.

Flagships of competition from Sony A1mk2 and Canon R5 mk2 and R1 already in the market.

We can expect Nikon to announce the Z92 towards the 2nd half of 2025 with release by end of 2025. Next winter Olympics are in Feb2026 so a few months before release times it well.

This also means it would be a surprise if we get new firmware or improvements for the current Z9 in 2025 except a few bug fixes etc.

By the end of 2025 we could expect Z9Ii that supports Cf express 4.0.

YVs prasad sir

—------

Heard the hardware is maxxed out

if there is any , it would be cosmetic

Personally I need only one upgrade...AF. Canon and Sony flagships have a separate AF chip

Sunil

—----------

Processor upgrade too....so that pre-capture RAW can be enabled

YVS Prasad sir

—-----

That they will, as they have already pushed the Expeed 7 to lower end cameras Zf and Z6 lll

Radha sir

—

Happy to see shutter angles in 5.10 for video

No AF improvements - bummer

Naveen

——----

Few features from the web..

New RED video features

- Same sensor

- EVF from the Nikon Z6III

- Content credentials

- Open gate recording ideally in 5.7k (5760x3840) and “4K” (3840x2560)

- Enable proxies to be recorded to the SD card instead of both to the CF-B card

- Include 32 bit float audio in camera

- 4 channel audio via dual 3.5mm or 3.5mm + usb c

- Better 3D tracking and centre point autofocus in video. It can be pretty unreliable. Subject detection is good right now.

- Internal LUTS

- Second base iso at 6400 or 12800

- Centralized video setting into one folder instead of two

- Allow the camera to illuminate the buttons and top screen during video recording

- Articulating screen (on the z8 at least)

- A middle ground codec between H.265 and N-RAW. I absolutely adore N-RAW Normal but sometimes it’s still too large.

- Bring back the autofocus point selection lock switc

Jay

—--

iPhone has an awesome strategy. Everytime you update their software updates, the phone battery life falls by 10-20% and by the time they release 5 updates, they release a new model also so now you think your current phone is useless and you have to get the new model

Swapnil

—---

It's all business. They need us to buy equipment after 3-4 years like the iPhone.

New dedicated and improved chip needed for AF accuracy

Radha sir

—---

But come to think of it as a techie, I think it is inevitable… With every firmware update the hardware gets squeezed to extract max out of it… battery ages, so are the NAND memory systems getting worn out. Avg power consumption when the battery / NAND is fresh vs average power consumption to be retained the same even after they are worn out makes all the difference. Performance degradation is a natural thing with the LiON batteries and the NANDs. The NAND SSDs are even worse. If you continuously use them they go bad, if you don't power them up for a year or so also the chances of them going bad is high. That’s why we recommend your portable SSDs be at least connected to your laptops and randomly accessed a bit just to keep the cells in the SSDs activated and retain their capacity.

Even if you are given an option of a replaceable battery, replacing a NAND is impractical and it is often the Battery/NAND combination that’s a drainer

Jeyaram

—---

I’m not sure how much of AI is implemented in hardware in Nikon as they are able to improve AI performance through firmware updates. In case of Sony no AI improvements through firmware indicating that it’s all implemented in their chip

Radha sir

—-

IMHO -90% of the time when they say AI, it’s plain ML - Machine Learning models. These models are pre trained with image attributes with a huge data collection and the trained model is what is deployed with each firmware. All of these cameras come with chipsets that typically run these ML models to scene match and do the guesswork for autofocus. Like we do frequent firmware and OS updates, these models get trained all the time to improve their accuracy with additional training and testing data. The upgrades to the chips are essential only when the Model gets very sophisticated and big enough that warrants more powerful chips to run them quickly in runtime. As otherwise, it’s like an SOC on a mac that lasts for years and we keep updating the OS till such time you either feel the SOC is not running as fast as before with the previous OS’s or Apple or any vendor announcing end of life for the SOC that no further OS updates will be available for it. Nikon may find it as a requirement to plant a new SOC with Expeed 8 that further advances speed and supports enhanced models for AF with improved accuracy with mark II z8 and z9

YVs Prasad sir

—-----

Sony and Canon have a separate AI chip for AF

Jeyaram

—-

It will need additional buffer and probably require hardware and not likely to be done in firmware

We can expect minimum of two things in Z9 II

1.⁠ ⁠Per-capture in raw

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Better auto-focus

Radha sir

—--

To be honest, the very AF systems we use today for subject detection and eye tracking are all ML enabled models at play. Technically one can label them as well. Why just post the process? It happens right in our camera. The distinction perhaps is “assisted” vs “created”

Naveen

—--

Augmented, computational and assisted photography.

Augmented- using AI/ML while taking photos, before shutter click. Like subject detection.

Computational-DSP processing in the pipeline and before the first raw/ jpg gets created. It happens on the firmware/ hardware of the camera/ mobile.

Assisted- Using AI/ML for post processing outside of camera / mobile in a software tool. Like Lightroom/ photoshop.

Naveen

—---

As opposed to rolling shutter readout mode or progressive scan by most cameras , Sony A9iii has a global shutter. Global shutter comes with its own challenges due to complex design of sensor and slight loss of dynamic range. Sony A9Iii base ISO is 250. Z9/Z8 is ISO 64. Global shutters are used in industrial cameras but not yet popular in regular photography.

In z8/z8 the entire sensor is not read fully at once. It’s read line by line. If this reading speed is slow, you get rolling shutter effect

But the z9/z8 with a stacked sensor has excellent read out speed. The duration of the electronic shutter in the Z9 / Z8 to initiate and read the pixel rows is 5ms, which is 1/200 of a second, the flash synchronization speed.

The camera fires the flash in a much shorter pulse either right at the start (front 'curtain') or at the end (Rear 'curtain') of the sensor. Obviously, the duration of this sensor reading the scene luminance - ie Shutter speed - can be longer: up to 30 s.

Z9 read out speed is 3.7 milliseconds is 1/270 second.

Radha sir

—-

By far the most successful full frame global shutter with excellent dynamic range in the market is Nikon owned “RED” cameras for cinematography.

YVS sir Jan 2025

—--------

Take backups of photos from CF Express card to external SSD like below. This avoids carrying a laptop on trips.

This is the photo I sent to Sterin for him to understand how the transfer will be helpful and we can do away with laptops. when you can transfer from slot 1 to slot 2 this should be possible

to bypass if the write speed of the card is higher than the buffer. If it can detect the storage capacity it should also be able to read the write speed. Sony and Canon should have used GEN 4 with backward compatibility in the new releases

Radha sir Feb 2025

—-----

It is an acknowledged fact that both Sony and canon are ahead and superior to Nikon as it stands now even with the Z9/8/6 mark 3 bodies.

To put it in perspective, the AF in Nikon mirrorless when said it's superior now, is relative to where it all started with Z6/7 mark 1, 2s. Nikon has come miles ahead of where it was with these initial days mirrorless cameras. The Z9 changed it all and in relative terms is far far superior to the original Z6/7 mark 1 and 2 cameras.

But the advancements in Z9/8/6 mark 3 and the Zf is still in Gen 1 AI/ML when it comes to subject detection, tracking and stickiness. Sony and Canon are in Gen 2 of their AI/ML implementations and Nikon is catching up.

The gap until Z9 firmware 2.0 was released was Nikon 30, Sony and Canon 90. Now Nikons are near 75% and Sony and Canon are already at near 95%.

Nikon started training their ML models pretty late and this is partly due to them not significantly updating / upgrading their hardware.

Also, truth be told, Nikon’s financial status in 4 years back left them very vulnerable and they had to prioritise their investments and they chose to prioritise on the new Z mount itself and the Z mount lenses rather than the AF sophistication.

Even today, with the flange distance of 16mm Nikon is easily the best implementation of the newer 35mm mount suited for mirrorless. An apt demonstration of this is the Noct 0.95 lens and now RED adapting to the Z mount within a year of acquisition is a testimony.

All this doesn’t take away the “laggard” status of the Nikon AF. At some point in time all three will be near equal.

At that time, with the sophistication of a 16mm flange Z mount, the lens collection including the Plana, PZ, the Noct Series, the widest telephoto lens collection, a terrific hybrid video system including Nikon RAW, ProRes RAW, Later Red RAW, I am sure Nikons will be no slouch.

Again, to put it in perspective - YES, the Nikons are behind Sony and Canon in AF. Gen 1 vs Gen 2 shows up!

Radha sir Feb 2025

—----

100% with you sir… it’s the hardware refresh that is the need of the hour. i am reasonably sure of one thing: nikon won't add a ton of new features in Z9 mark 2. They definitely are aware the Z9 is already feature rich. the focus i am optimistic will just need to be in 3 areas:

1.⁠ ⁠Gen 2 AF with the next expeed processor iteration

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Dual/Parallel/Redundant writing of videos and stills to card slots(RAW)

3.⁠ ⁠⁠RAW pre-capture up to 120fps…

Radha sir Feb 2025

—-------

I don’t think they will bring raw pre-capture to the current series of either 9/8/6. It will need a faster processing hardware pipeline and more memory and bandwidth. I also had that hope but looking at their strategy, they seem to be more focused on refining video, menus, UI and make it smoother with the current series. It’s more polished than features that demand hardware and memory. We are out of luck with the current series and perhaps the new series will focus on bringing (hope so, and my wish list, if they want my $$$ 😜🤣):

1.⁠ ⁠Second generation AI Subject tracking and AF

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Raw Pre-Capture

3.⁠ ⁠⁠Faster frame rates

4.⁠ ⁠⁠CFExpress Type B v4 support

5.⁠ ⁠⁠Additional RED Raw formats and video improvements

6.⁠ ⁠⁠writing to external SSDs via type C

Zeiss premoist Lens Wipes

Raghy Iyer 20 Sep 2024

Naveen

Been using these for many years. Very good to carry them on field.

One observation is, these are very good within 18 to 24 months from manufacture date. Beyond that pre moist wipes became flaky. Upon cleaning, leaves paper traces on lens / camera surfaces.

Radhar sir

After 18-24 months, it leaves the lint on the lens surfaces, we may have to again wipe it with a dry microfibre cloth to remove them

Its good when it is fresh

Comparison of DXO Pure Raw 4.16 with DXO Pure Raw 6.0 and Lightroom AI denoise. 5 Mar 2026

DxO PureRAW 6.0 from DxO Labs was released on 3 March 2026. I currently own PureRAW 4, which I purchased in 2024 and have updated over time to version 4.16. In 2025, Adobe Lightroom introduced AI-based Denoise, so I wanted to compare the performance of these tools.

For this test, I selected a few images captured on 1 March 2025 at Khagalaya Hide near Bhatkal. The photos were taken using a Nikon Z9 paired with the Nikon NIKKOR Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S PF. The camera was mounted on a tripod for all shots.

Lighting conditions were poor on that day, so several images were taken at very high ISO settings.

Methodology

DxO PureRAW 6.0 and PureRAW 4.16 were both processed using default settings.

Adobe Lightroom AI Denoise was applied with 50% strength.

Files Shared

For reference, I am sharing JPG versions of the images:

The RAW (NEF) files were exported directly to JPG without any edits.

No cropping has been applied.

You can access the original RAW files, denoised DNG files, and exported JPGs here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GyGg8Rw1z0gv0hAPoDqOIaAPx82FLKbP?usp=drive_link

Red whiskered bulbul

Exif: 1/2000, f/8.0, ISO 6400 EC -2/3

Screen grab from lightroom at 300% zoom

Raw export to JPG without edits

Denoised with DXO Pure Raw 4.16

Denoised with DXO Pure Raw 6.0

DXO Pure Raw 4.16 vs Pure Raw 6.0(xd3.dng)

Indian Pitta

1/25, f/6.3, ISO 14400 EC 0

Screen grab from lightroom

Raw export to JPG without edits

Adobe Lightroom AI denoise at 50%

Denoised with DXO Pure Raw 4.16

Denoised with DXO Pure Raw 6.0

Emerald Dove

EXIF: 1/2000, f/8.0, ISO 22800 EC -2/3

Screen grab from lightroom

Raw export to JPG without edits

Adobe Lightroom AI denoise at 50%

Adobe Lightroom AI denoise at 85%

Denoised with DXO Pure Raw 4.16

Denoised with DXO Pure Raw 6.0

DXO 4.16 vs DXO 6.0 (XD3.dng)

Overall Conclusion

The processing time for denoising using DXO PureRAW 4.16 and DXO PureRAW 6.0 appears to be very similar. (This was based on observation and not measured precisely with a stopwatch.)

The resulting DNG file sizes are also nearly identical between the two versions.

Image Quality Observation

In the sample images above, the Emerald Dove processed with DXO PureRAW 6.0 shows slightly better detail recovery.

Apart from this minor improvement, no significant differences are immediately noticeable between the outputs.

Recommendation

If you are currently using DXO PureRAW 4.x or 5.x, it may be reasonable to hold off on upgrading to DXO PureRAW 6.0 for now. It might be better to wait for upcoming service packs or updates to see whether further improvements are introduced.

—----------

Default settings of DXO PureRaw 6.0

Difference between NXMobile Air and Snapbridge

From Sridhar

—---------

Open source alternatives to Lightroom and Photoshop

Naveen

—--------

Open source Alternative to Lightroom, Darktable has released 5.0 version.

It’s a worthy alternative to Lightroom but complicated to learn. Tried it few years back.

Scroll down in below link to find section “The Big ones” for actual feature list in latest version.

https://www.darktable.org/2024/12/darktable-5.0.0-released/

Harshit

—--------

Yes and Gimp is a free alternative to photoshop. Tried a year back… almost similar with some features missing like subject selection and pretty much all the masks were needed to create manually

https://www.gimp.org/

Lightroom Denoise vs DXO Pure Raw 4.0

Apr 5 ,2025

Naveen

—-----

It’s been a while since I used Lightroom for high iso photos. So checked it today

Following oystercatcher photo was denoised using dxo pure raw and Lightroom denoise.

Z9+Z600 PF

1/500, f/6.3 iso 25600 EC 0

Matrix meeting, auto area-AF

WhatsApp compression messes up photos, keep it in mind while checking the below.

Denoised with DXO Pure Raw

Denoised in Lightroom Denoise

Similarly one more image

Denoised in DXO Pure Raw

Wood Pigeon

1/2000 f/6.3 ISO 18000 EC 0

Same image denoised in Lightroom Denoise

Side by side comparison at 100%

Side by Side comparison at 200%

Few observations

Few observations on Lightroom denoise vs DxO pure raw 4.0 after checking multiple images at different isos and in different lighting conditions on monitor.

1.⁠ ⁠Lightroom denoise improved a lot since its introduction last year.

2.⁠ ⁠Dxo pure raw appears better on screen. Slightly better details retention esp in shadows.

3.⁠ ⁠social media purposes not much of difference between dxo and LR. We can adjust settings in Lightroom and get good results. Not played with LR denoise settings.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠At 100% zoom they appear almost same. At 200% and 300% zoom dxo is better.

5.⁠ ⁠Lightroom produces dng files slightly more in size.

6.⁠ ⁠Dxo pure raw adds a bit of contrast to dng.

If someone doesn’t have DXO pure raw no need to buy it imo.

Arun Ramakrishnan

—---

I recently purchased DxO pure raw. I pre-ordered version 5 with which version 4 was free. Will get a link for version 5 when it is released.

Initially I used to use Masks with Texture, Contrast and Clarity adjustments (before processing) plus Topaz (post processing). When Lightroom DNoise was released, I started to use a combination of Lightroom DNoise (before processing) and Topaz (post processing).

Since I trialled using DxO, that has been my go to software for Noise as well as sharpening. I use it for all images irrespective of ISO. I find it's sharpening and correction of lens softness is good for low ISO images as well.

In my view , currently it has the best algo for noise reduction and recovery of details and lens softness. Topaz works well when ISO is not very high, say 3-4k ISO. Thereafter it introduces many artifacts and hard edges and gives an unnatural look to details. Lightroom DNoise while it does a good job, it's detail recovery is slightly inferior to DxO.

One of the advantages I have found is there is no need for much sharpening or second pass of noise reduction post processing. Both these are done very well in the first pass before processing. So much so that I have restarted processing most images in LR itself after DxO making workflow much easier. Now I use PS only for my very best images or where images need a bit more of local adjustments.

Will send some sample screenshots shortly.

Devadath sir

—-

Is it better to denoise, before or after PP. IMO it is better to denoise before PP, as denoise adjusts the contrast be default, which can be corrected if necessary, in PP.

Naveen

—-----

Better to denoise before pp. do it as the first step on raw file.

Arun Ramakrishnan

—-----------------------

You are correct. It is better to do it before.

If required post processing especially for images that were not properly exposed because of field conditions or suddenly taking a pic because the subject did not give chance, you can do a localised post

However with DxO, I find even very high ISO images 10K - 26K do not require any post noise reduction

Naveen

—-------

If we use dxo pure raw, no need to use sharpening in post.

Master curves in Light room

From Rajesh

https://youtu.be/iIWZFiKn6vQ?si=Ze3cZpQthWVLw9t0

Ornithographique

Naveen

—-----------

ornithographies popularised by Xavier bou ( xavibou Instagram) -

Check this link on how to do it

Xavi Bou - Ornithographies

Ornithography Post Production in Photoshop

Sort/Cull 1000’s of RAW files after a trip - 7 Mar 2024

Naveen

NX studio being free software from Nikon shows focus point on images. However it tends to be slow when the folder has more than a few hundred RAW files. It starts creaking and groaning if the folder has more than 1000+ files. Even Lightroom is also slow to import and sort/cull. We need a faster viewer.

Typically after a trip we end up with a few thousands of photos. So need faster software that helps sorting and culling much faster.

Here are two softwares that are tried and tested.

For Mac Use Best is to use https://www.fastrawviewer.com/ - it is a paid software but worth it. It displays RAW File without any processing not embedded jpg file.

For windows - use faststone image viewer - its a freeware - https://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm

These 2 image viewers are in the industry for long time and used them extensively. As these are dedicated viewers without any fancy catalog/tagging etc. they work faster. These are basically no frills viewer. You cant get focus point displayed on photos on these softwares.

Photomechanic is one more popular viewer with many photographers, however I have not used it so can't say. Its good, I heard, to help organize photos better. But no first hand experience to recommend it. However we use Lightroom for organizing photos.

Doc, here’s how I am using fastrawviewer in combination with Lightroom..

Copy files from CF Express card to your laptop.

Go to the fastraw viewer and open the folder to sort them.

Rate photos as 1 star that I want to delete. XMP metadata can be read in lightroom.

If files are not imported in lightroom, you can delete them here itself.

If a file is already imported to lightroom. Mark them in fastraw viewer

Go to Lightroom , in library module,

1. select file folder that was sorted in fast raw viewer, keep photos in thumbnail view.

2. ⁠select all photos in the folder

3. ⁠go to Metadata menu, select option “ Read Metadata from files”. It takes a few seconds to minutes to load ratings for all photos.

4. ⁠in library filter , select attribute rating 1 star. Lightroom will display all photos that are rated 1 star in fastrawviewer

5. ⁠right click or from photos menu select Remove photos and then select Delete from disk option. It takes a few minutes to delete files.

6. ⁠in library filter, remove filter and select none. So the remaining files get displayed again.

This is a safer way to delete files in Lightroom library Catalog to avoid issues.

Radhakrishnan

I have so far tried both FastRawViewer(thanks to Naveen sir) and photomechanic…. They both are way and miles ahead of LRC and NX Studio… if the primary purpose is culling and rating… they are super quick and runs like a breeze… it provided the same hardware and memory, these two will hands down beat LRC and NX Studio… between FRW and PM, FRM is light weight and will do 99% of our needs 99% of the time… PM is equally fast but has a ton of features including variable substitution, workflow management and IPTC information coding etc which for 99% of us will be an over kill… like wise the price of PM is $130+…

Naveen

Been using NX Studio ever since it was released in 2021. Always used it for initial culling of photos and not used for any editing purposes.

1. It’s good for sorting photos if a folder has less than 1000 photos. Ideal is about less than 500 photos in a folder.

2. ⁠on each photo, auto area focus box is shown, so helps to learn and understand how autofocus works. In fact this is the only app that shows a focus box on photos for Nikon mirrorless cameras.

3. ⁠hangs many a times randomly.

4. ⁠NX transfer works well for cf express cards size upto 325 Gb. Higher capacity cards lead to hanging and unresponsiveness.

5. ⁠when z9 was released in 2021, NX studio was the only app that rendered Z9 raw files properly. Lightroom support came slightly later and it got better.

6. ⁠NX studio applies some sharpening and settings to photos so you will find differences from raw file rendered in Lightroom.

7. ⁠of late finding that i needed a lot faster raw viewer, so using fastrawviewer

Read more details on fastrawviewer in an excellent article by Nasim

https://photographylife.com/reviews/fastrawviewer#:~:text=Whether%20the%20software%20is%20used,speed%2C%20as%20the%20name%20implies

Here are different approaches to manage/organize storage of files..

Here’s an excellent article that youc an refer

https://photographylife.com/dealing-with-photo-storage-pains

Naveen

—----

Got just 2 hard disks one from 2017 till 2022 and other later on.

All my photos are organised year wise.

While importing files. Add tags- location, people I travelled and then for a few individual photos tag them with iDs of birds.

Each folder is named - date, location and people on the trip.

@⁨Jeyaram Photographer Friend⁩ mentioned some time back that tags we use on photos are hierarchical so we have to use one consistent system for search to work.

Been using this way since 2018/2019 onwards. So files are consistent,

Just following a process that’s working for me, definitely it's not the best. It can be more efficient and optimised just got used to it. Nowadays I do it instinctively as part of a workflow.

1.⁠ ⁠Got 2.5 TB of CF express type B cards with me on trips. All the cards are numbered so I know which card was used/ filled. Quick format them before long trips and store settings bin file / picture control on them as a back up.

2.⁠ ⁠Keep filling cf express cards in trips.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠If I have a laptop with me on trips- will copy files from CF express card using reader to SSD drive. Else I use CF express card till it fills and pop in a formatted card in camera.

Note: Tried copying files from CF express card with iPad / IPhone to SSD. it’s clunky and doesn’t work reliably. Tried with different cables / hubs etc. it’s just not reliable.

4.⁠ ⁠If I don’t have a laptop on a trip, come back home and dump all files ( photos/ videos) from CF express cards to ssd drive in date wise folders. Will have 1000s of images. NEF files reset numbers after 9999 to 0. So store files by date.

5.⁠ ⁠Do 1st pass culling/ sorting of file using fastrawviewer.

6.⁠ ⁠Copy culled/ selected files to subfolder under each date. We get to a few 100s from a few 1000s here.

7.⁠ ⁠Copy selected / culled files to the mac hard drive. Filter them using NX studio. Another 20 to 30% gets filtered out. 2nd pass. For Local trips, I just copy files from the camera to the Mac hard drive. Skip all earlier steps. My cards capacity is sufficient for 4 to 6 months of local trips. So keep using them till they fill.

8.⁠ ⁠Copy filtered files carefully from mac to external HDD. In HDD create folders in a scheme- under year - Date location, people on trip.

9.⁠ ⁠From external HDD import raw files to Lightroom. While importing add tags/key words - location, people and few files tag IDs. And process these photos.

10.⁠ ⁠While processing raw files in LR, filter them once more. they come down by another 10 to 15%. I mark deleted files, delete them once processing is over in a few weeks/ days.

11.⁠ ⁠After processing is over after a few weeks , I update my backups and few processed raw files move them to google cloud.

12.⁠ ⁠Once in a while or once i am running out of space, flush mac folders and ssd. I don’t travel a lot so it works fine.

Once in a while I miss a step here and there and run into issues. Delete files thinking I have a back up etc. lost many files.

Arun Ramakrishan

Excellent workflow. Deleting unwanted photos is the biggest task of the modern day high FPS kits.

I follow a similar workflow. While copying to hard disk, I name the folder with date and location and while adding to LR tag the photos. I am attaching a screenshot of the folder naming.

If one is not following a naming system, you can start now. At least going forward your pics will be in an organised system. Once you get time you can slowly sort out the older folders and files

The greatest challenge is to keep reminding ourselves not to be trigger happy. No matter how much I try and remind myself before any outing, the improvement is very slow in this regard.

Naveen

My folder structure is similar – here its for 2024..

Jeyaram

—---

Keywords are hierarchical. Think about how you may want to analyze/organize your images and define the structure before start implementing them in Lightroom

You can add Keywords in the Library Module under “Keyword Tags”. Use keywords. You can use as many keywords as needed for a single image. You can later create smart collections to group them based on your requirements.

However this works only within a catalog, this is one of the reasons i am maintaining a single catalog for all my wildlife images.

It helps me track all the lifers, where it was taken (another keyword), when, the image and all related metadata. It’s powerful

Once you have the Keywords in place, you can create Smart collections to dissect your images the way you want

Sudhir

—-

I get the categorisation you have done by keyword. Thank you for this. I will use this ballpark logic for my bird catalogue going forward, and if the spirit is willing - for the data already assimilated

Yes that’s what I caught onto from your earlier message. With keywords, I will not have to depend upon sheer memory recall to locate the data I need when it can easily be sorted with the present tools

Jeyaram

—----

—-----

I’m not sure if we can take less particularly in wildlife. We tend to always take a burst looking for perfect head turn, eye contact and right moment when shooting action

Naveen

—-------

With photography, guess it’s “Less is more”

Take less photos ( as minimum as possible) and store even fewer.

I mean not randomly spray and pray..position well, check background, look for lighting, not get excited looking at subject, check settings etc, in action it’s tough to predict number of images..

Jeyaram

—--------

Yes, I fully agree on that. Sudhir Shivaram used to say a good photographer should know when not to click as well

Devadath sir

—----

I fully agree.

But most of the time I do this by default. It not only saves storage space, it also saves a lot of time on PP.

Rarely have I lost a prize capture.

This is my opinion.

Naveen

—------

Few more softwares used by photographers on Mac and Windows.

Adobe Bridge. - comes as part of a creative photography subscription. So you can use it.. Tried, its decent enough but not fast enough on thousands of images. .

XN View MP is one more - XnView MP is provided as FREEWARE (NO Adware, NO Spyware) for private or educational use (including non-profit organizations) - Not ried it personally bt seen good reviews. https://www.xnview.com/en/xnviewmp/

Naveen - 28 Dec 2025

—-----------

Link to Steve Perry’s master class of using LR to sort and cull 400 images in an hour

https://backcountrygallery.com/sort-and-cull-4000-images-an-hour-masterclass/

Tried this method multiple times, creating 1:1 previews in LR is slow on my Mac. So using FastRawviewer to sort images instead. I guess we need the latest hardware to make Steve’s technique work.

Use of Gen AI for photography

Anticipating entire field to progress towards with GenAI in what I call as augmented photography. It’s just a matter of time. Professionals will lament lack of purity and moan about bygone era. Inexorable march of technologies continue unabated to bring in more folks to field helping camera manufacturers to carve out a niche that they are struggling to find today with onslaught of mobile phones.

Combine GenAI with plenoptic cameras ( light field cameras) you get accurate 3D model to render fast moving subjects beyond current AF capabilities. Plenoptic cameras are already there in use in industrial settings. NASA transferred technology for commercial use few years back. They are not new but been spoken since 1906 but like AI from Marvin Minsky times of 60’s needed cloud, internet and mobile technologies along with foundational breakthroughs to unleash it.

Anticipating plenoptic technologies will advance lot more in next few years, still they are at state of digital camera of early 90’s. But possibilities of technology for medical imaging and digital cameras are exciting.

If you look at foundational level, Digital photography is powering AI because we take billion photographs every day and store them. ( that’s where @⁨KumKum Prakash Birding Z8 Owner Bangalore⁩ question started and then @⁨Sunil (SCK) Z8 Group⁩sharing global shutter and @⁨YVS Prasad DR B venkatesh's Classmate⁩ asking AF related questions all are interrelated).

Our photos are used to train AI algorithms to get better. Long back I shared Fei Fei Li insights etc. So it’s natural at some point we use improved algorithms to take better photographs.

Entire digital photography at foundations is estimating voltage from number of electrons that got dislodged from pixel due to photons hitting it. Digital signal processing is all algorithms and mathematics. AI takes to next level. So it’s a natural progression at some level.

ArunWell said Naveen

We have come a long way from SLR and film photography where good portraits used to be the pinnacle of wildlife photos

Today we are able to track subjects and capture behaviour in lights and which otherwise considered impossible

With so much data we share on social media we are already contributing to AI improvements

Nikon has more to catch up on AF, the gap has reduced these days but still not there yet. Canon is better on AF than Sony.

With the way the computer vision field has rapidly progressed with multimodal LLMs in the last 2 years. i am expecting new cameras with SLMs to ID species/ subjects just not features like the current generation. We will download packs like Ebird for a particular country/ area and take a camera to the field. Camera will id the species and ask us to choose. Camera needs input on what to follow, warbler or myna; giraffe or oxpecker; Lion or Cape buffalo! Exciting times ahead.

Swarovski already has AI powered binoculars in the market.

my only wish is that it betters the Sony in AF

It’s not even a rumour.. it’s an expectation like many we express on this forum but someone took time to make a video to boost viewership on YouTube.

It's common sense that global shutter will come out sooner or later. Big issue is dynamic range. As more pixels need to be transferred frame rates come down so reduce the pixels of the camera to 24mp not 46 mp. Anticipate , Nikon will look for a leap in technology that solves these fundamental issues before it introduces a global shutter camera.

Shankar

—---

https://www.databricks.com/blog/shutterstocks-content-datasets-now-databricks-marketplace

https://analyticsindiamag.com/databricks-marketplace-partners-with-shutterstock-to-avail-its-vast-image-library/

A view of the changing landscape of photos ( our photos ), owership ( who owns what ) and how they could be used by the host and their partners - when such photos & vidoes hosted in a social site such as Shutterstock.

While these are subscription based, where they tout about information security and sharing controls - these evolving models opens up our hosted content for SS to train their AI models , sell/share such ( machine/deep learning ) training data to their vendors and potentially ( this is where this partnership is not having much of details yet - this was announced in the last few hours ) expose the asset ( photos in this case ) along with its metadata for the vendor to further train and finetune their platforms ( e.g. OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Apple etc. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/how-shutterstock-is-helping-apple-google-amazon-to-train-ai-models/articleshow/109136376.cms )

There are many who are concerned about this and such partnerships, Meanwhile it appears that the next time we would login to our account - SS may ask for our 'consent' to "use our photos" - what that "usage" entails, how those T&Cs are structured needs to be read through to take a call.

Meanwhile watch out.

Naveen

—

Adobe has released beta version of photoshop with firefly gen aI . That one would have new innovations and will be new cash cow product. Adobe’s best talent would focus on it.

It’s a classic product company dilemma, cannibalizing existing cash cow or allow new nimble innovators to eat their market share. Adobe identified GenAI as its impending Kodak or xerox moment in their journey so making moves to update its product portfolio.

New GenAI firefly versions will be priced at premium so adobe is trying to mop up and bind existing customers to current versions of Lightroom and photoshop by giving discounts.

By Radhakrishnan Rajagopalan 16 Mar 2024

—------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATED: Some learnings while experimenting with Hi-Res Zoom:

1.⁠ ⁠Image area needs to be FX (not surprised)

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Can’t do Hi-Res with NRAW & ProRes RAW

3.⁠ ⁠⁠Only non-RAW modes or ProRes (422 HQ), H.265, H.264 works with Hi-Res Zoom

4.⁠ ⁠⁠While in 4K, only selectable frame rate options are 24p and 30p

5.⁠ ⁠⁠While AF-F (full time video AF) is supported, AF-Area auto or any other AF area other than Wide-area AF Large cannot be selected.

6.⁠ ⁠⁠While we can see the Wide L selected in the display, the focus frame is not shown, but it focuses well.

7.⁠ ⁠⁠You cannot use Electronic VR (IBIS) when Hi-Res Zoom is on… They are mutually exclusive.

8.⁠ ⁠⁠But the lens VR works…

9.⁠ ⁠Hi-Res Zoom works with Primes and zooms equally well. Tried with 24-70 S, 600 PF and works great. Just use the left and right of the selector pad

10.⁠ ⁠⁠AF-F seems not a great idea for Wildlife especially while in safaris or subject moving moderate to fast in and out.

11.⁠ ⁠⁠My tests while in Panna suggests, its better to stick to AF-C(using back button focus with AF-ON) and Wide L as anyway we only press the record button once to activate and once to deactivat

120fps video breaking when played at 24 fps

Ravi Desai

—---------------

Quick help pls - trying Video on Z8 180-600. Planning to shoot in 120 fps so that i can slow it down later. Once I take the media into Da Vinci, should I set up the attribute to 24 fps or higher?

If I go down to 24 fps it’s breaking as I slow down parts of the Clíp… what am I missing?

DSK Senthil

—-------------

Typically, when you shoot video at 120fps and convert it directly to 24fps, the system compensates by skipping frames. It generally skips 5 frames for every alternate frame. For instance, if you have frames 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, the system would select frames like 1, 7, 13, etc., essentially skipping over intermediate frames.

For slow-moving subjects, this frame skipping usually isn't noticeable. However, if the subject is moving quickly, such as in the case of a fast-moving bird, the skipped frames can create noticeable jumps between the frames, resulting in a less smooth transition. In this case, we would extend the video. For example, if a video shot at 120fps lasts 4 seconds, we'd stretch the video to 8 seconds, effectively reducing the frame rate to 60fps. This adjustment makes the frame skipping less noticeable when converting to 24fps, as fewer frames need to be skipped (only 2 or 2.5 frames per second).

My suggestion is to choose the frame rate based on the subject's movement. I often switch frame rates during filming depending on the anticipated action. For instance, if I know a bird is about to fly, I switch to 100fps. However, I typically shoot at 60fps for most of my videos.

Hope this helps

Ravi Desai

—------------

Very helpful ! Thanks a lot. Will try and mid filming change a few times and see how that goes. Appreciate it

Combining two videos of different orientations in Da Vinci Resolve

Harshit

—-------

Hello all, one question regarding Davinci resolve, while i am trying to combine 2 videos, one which is shot in horizontal orientation of camera and one with vertical orientation, i have changed the timeline settings to vertical to horizontal video is all fine in correct aspect ratio but the one shot vertical is getting rotated and getting cropped.. any pointers on what I am missing here?

Umendra

—------

Computer and laptop recos in 2024

Naveen

—---------

CPU, GPU and RAM depends on OS ( windows or mac), editing software ( free/ paid versions of adobe or black magic ), is it video/ photos, in video is it 4K/8K or 8 bit/10bit, Multi frame rendering, in photo editing ( use of Gpu accelerated features like camera raw, blur gallery, neural features etc).

As hobbyists, we are editing one odd video, not a lot of batch processing or overnight rendering jobs or 3dsmax or CAD kind of tools or a lot of 4K /8K videos. Still the good old reco of processor > RAM>GPU holds good.

If it’s games or CAD tools with a lot of ray tracing then the latest GPU with dedicated memory is a must. They also need huge RAM but a huge performance boost comes from the GPU.

In 2025, for hobbyist creator needs

Windows :

Processor: latest intel / AMD processors 13th or 14th i9 or Arrowlake or AMD’s Zen5 based Ryzen 7 9700X processors preferred ,

RAM: DD5 32 Gb RAM and

GPU: a dedicated / integrated GPU card. Even a low end integrated Gpu card ( that uses main memory) is preferred to no Gpu and

Hard Drive: 1TB ssd ( nvme) or 2 TB ssd( nvme)

MAC:

Processor: Chips M4 or M5 ( latest better) are good

Memory/RAM: with 16 GB unified memory/32 GB memory is better

Hard Drive: and 1 TB SSD ( nvme)

For Videos: If a lot of 8K video or Davinci studio version ( not free) go with 64 GB RAM and Max chips.

Laptop sizes: 14” can be used on travels. At home if we have a dedicated monitor, it can be used as well or at home use a dedicated desktop for processing.

Here are a few links for authentic or authoritative information. Pls note software vendors give minimum configuration to run software not best specs for a task.

https://benchmarks.pugetsystems.com/benchmarks/ - it's widely referenced in industry .

https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/kb/hardware-recommendations.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/in/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cc-gpu-card-faq.html

https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/ConfigGuides/DaVinci_Resolve_15_Mac_Configuration_Guide.pdf

Radha sir

—-----

Great points! One more thing I would add, increasingly AI features are trickling in for corrections in post such as object removal, GenAI fill, etc., that will demand the use of GPUs and more memory. So slight upsizing of the hardware wont harm. Also even a small 4K footage when edited with multiple layers of color correction, grading, effects, transitions all consume memory

Computer and laptop recos in 2025

Naveen

—---------

CPU, GPU and RAM depends on OS ( windows or mac), editing software ( free/ paid versions of adobe or black magic ), is it video/ photos, in video is it 4K/8K or 8 bit/10bit, Multi frame rendering, in photo editing ( use of Gpu accelerated features like camera raw, blur gallery, neural features etc).

As hobbyists, we are editing one odd video, not a lot of batch processing or overnight rendering jobs or 3dsmax or CAD kind of tools or a lot of 4K /8K videos. Still the good old reco of processor > RAM>GPU holds good.

If it’s games or CAD tools with a lot of ray tracing then the latest GPU with dedicated memory is a must. They also need huge RAM but a huge performance boost comes from the GPU.

In 2025, for hobbyist creator needs

Windows :

Processor: latest intel / AMD processors 13th or 14th i9 or Arrowlake or AMD’s Zen5 based Ryzen 7 9700X processors preferred ,

RAM: DD5 32 Gb RAM and

GPU: a dedicated / integrated GPU card. Even a low end integrated Gpu card ( that uses main memory) is preferred to no Gpu and

Hard Drive: 1TB ssd ( nvme) or 2 TB ssd( nvme)

MAC:

Processor: Chips M4 or M5 ( latest better) are good

Memory/RAM: with 16 GB unified memory/32 GB memory is better

Hard Drive: and 1 TB SSD ( nvme)

For Videos: If a lot of 8K video or Davinci studio version ( not free) go with 64 GB RAM and Max chips.

Laptop sizes: 14” can be used on travels. At home if we have a dedicated monitor, it can be used as well or at home use a dedicated desktop for processing.

Here are a few links for authentic or authoritative information. Pls note software vendors give minimum configuration to run software not best specs for a task.

https://benchmarks.pugetsystems.com/benchmarks/ - it's widely referenced in industry .

https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/kb/hardware-recommendations.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/in/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cc-gpu-card-faq.html

https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/ConfigGuides/DaVinci_Resolve_15_Mac_Configuration_Guide.pdf

Radha sir

—-----

Great points! One more thing I would add, increasingly AI features are trickling in for corrections in post such as object removal, GenAI fill, etc., that will demand the use of GPUs and more memory. So slight upsizing of the hardware wont harm. Also even a small 4K footage when edited with multiple layers of color correction, grading, effects, transitions all consume memory

Quick TL;DR (if you want one line)

Desktop (best overall): 12–16 core CPU (modern Ryzen 7/9 or Intel i7/i9), 32–64 GB RAM (32GB min, 64GB if you work with huge layered PS files / large catalogs), discrete GPU with 8+ GB VRAM, NVMe SSD for OS/catalog (1–2TB), separate NVMe (2TB) for active projects/scratch, large NAS (4+ bays) for archive + backup. Use Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 on laptop or TB dock for fast external SSDs. (Adobe system recommendations + Puget benchmarks cited). (Adobe Help Center)

Desktop recommendations (3 tiers)

Pro / Enthusiast (fast, future-proof)

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X / 7950X or Intel Core i9 13900K / 14900K (12–24 cores is ideal for export/encode parallelism).

RAM: 64 GB DDR5 (you can start with 32 GB but I recommend 64 GB if you keep many PS layers, big panoramas, or 8K proxies). (Puget Systems)

GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4070/4080 (or equivalent) or AMD Radeon with 8–12 GB VRAM (Lightroom/Photoshop GPU acceleration + occasional Premiere tasks). Adobe recommends 4–8+ GB VRAM for GPU features and 8 GB+ for 4K/AI features. (Adobe Help Center)

Primary drive: 1–2 TB NVMe (PCIe 4.0/5.0) for OS + Lightroom catalog + apps.

Active project scratch: 2 TB NVMe (separate) for cache, previews, PS scratch.

Archive: 2–3 bay NAS (or external RAID) with 2–4 x 10–16 TB HDDs in RAID5/6 (or 4-bay Synology/QNAP, expandable). Use HDDs for cold archive; SSDs for active projects. (Synology)

Ports/IO: USB4/Thunderbolt 4 (if on Intel/Apple) or multiple USB-C/10 GbE for fast transfers.

Why this: big cores help exports and video transcodes, lots of RAM keeps big PS composites responsive, a decent GPU helps Lightroom GPU-accelerated adjustments and Adobe AI features. (Puget Systems)

Mid-range (most hobbyists who keep many NEFs)

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X / Intel i7-13700K (6–12 cores).

RAM: 32 GB DDR4/DDR5 (upgradeable). Puget recommends 32GB for most Lightroom workflows; bump to 64GB if you edit huge RAWs / layers. (Puget Systems)

GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4060 / 4070 (6–8 GB VRAM).

Primary drive: 1 TB NVMe for OS + catalog.

Active project: 1–2 TB NVMe external (TB4) or internal.

Archive: Desktop external 8–16 TB HDD or 4-bay NAS later.

Good balance of price vs performance for Z9/Z8 RAWs.

Budget (first serious upgrade)

CPU: Ryzen 5 7600 / Intel i5 (recent gen).

RAM: 16–32 GB (16GB minimum — Adobe recommends 16GB as a practical minimum). (Adobe Help Center)

GPU: mid-tier GTX/RTX or integrated if only light edits.

Storage: 1 TB NVMe for OS/catalog, 4–8 TB HDD for archive.

Use case: mostly Lightroom with occasional PS work and light video.

Laptop recommendations (portable workflows / travel)

Two routes depending on whether you prefer macOS or Windows:

Apple route (best battery life, RAW processing speed, superb displays)

MacBook Pro 14” or 16” (M2 Pro / M2 Max or 2024/2025 M3-series if available) — choose M2 Pro/Max or newer with 32–64 GB unified RAM if you edit big NEFs and do video. These machines punch above their weight for Lightroom / Photoshop and long battery life; they also have color-accurate displays. RTINGS and other reviews still rate MacBook Pros top for video editing. (RTINGS.com)

Storage: 1–2 TB internal NVMe is ideal; use fast external TB4 SSDs when traveling.

Windows route (more configurability and GPU options)

Models to consider: Dell XPS 16 / Precision family, Razer Blade 14/16, ASUS ROG Zephyrus / Zephyrus Duo, MSI Creator series or MSI Vector—choose configs with Ryzen 9 / Intel i9 HX + RTX 4070/4080 mobile and 32–64 GB RAM. The Asus ROG Zephyrus and Razer Blade are popular choices offering strong GPU power in a compact body. (Tom's Guide)

Ports: Ensure Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 + full-size SD UHS-II or CFexpress reader (use a dongle if necessary).

Laptop sizing tip: If you’ll do occasional video editing (timeline, color grading), prefer 16” for screen real estate; for field portability pick a configured 14–16” with high-dpi, P3 or AdobeRGB display.

Storage & backup workflow (practical, for TBs of Z9/Z8 data)

Principles: fast NVMe for current work; cheap high-capacity HDDs for archive; and multiple copies (3-2-1 backup rule).

Working (active) drive: 1–2 TB NVMe (internal) — Lightroom catalog + current job folder + previews. NVMe SSDs dramatically speed catalog searches and preview generation. (Puget Systems)

Scratch / cache: separate 1–2 TB NVMe (or second partition/drive) dedicated to Photoshop scratch and Lightroom cache.

Local archive: large desktop HDD(s) (8–20 TB) or a 4-bay NAS running RAID5/6 (Synology/QNAP/TerraMaster). Start with 2 x 10TB or 4 x 8–12TB drives depending on growth projections. Use NAS for on-site redundancy and LAN access. (TechRadar)

Portable backup (travel): Rugged external NVMe SSD (e.g., LaCie, Samsung T7/Pro, SanDisk Professional) — keep two copies while traveling. TechRadar and reviewers recommend rugged SSDs for field use. (TechRadar)

Off-site / cloud: one copy in cloud (Backblaze B2, S3, or Imagen Cloud / other photo-oriented cloud). This satisfies 3-2-1.

Workflow notes: Import RAWs to the active NVMe, build 1:1 previews only if needed, enable Smart Previews for speed in Lightroom if you want to edit when the archive drive is offline. Regularly move older shoots to the NAS/HDD archive.

Specific components/brands (practical picks)

SSDs (NVMe): Samsung 990/980 Pro, WD Black SN770/PS, Sabrent Rocket 4/5.

External portable SSDs (rugged): LaCie Rugged Pro, Samsung T7/T9, SanDisk Professional G-Drive. (TechRadar)

NAS: Synology DiskStation (4-bay/5-bay) or QNAP for photography studios; TerraMaster for budget-friendly 2–4 bay options. Use NAS selector tools on Synology for fit. (Synology)

HDD archive drives: Seagate IronWolf (NAS) or WD Red (NAS).

GPUs: NVIDIA RTX 40-series (desktop) / RTX 30/40-series mobile (laptops) for CUDA-accelerated export and Premiere tasks.

Configuration checklist & practical settings (what to set today)

RAM: 32GB minimum; 64GB if you keep huge PS files and large catalogs. (Puget: 32GB for most; 64GB for heavy workflows). (Puget Systems)

GPU VRAM: 8 GB+ recommended for 4K/AI features in Lightroom/Photoshop. Adobe guidance shows 4GB for 4K but 8GB or more for full acceleration and AI. (Adobe Help Center)

Catalog on SSD & previews on SSD: Faster catalog = big UX boost. Use Smart Previews if you want to work disconnected. (Puget Systems)

Photoshop Scratch Disk: point to a fast NVMe or separate disk.

Card reader: get a UHS-II SD or CFexpress reader matching your cards for faster ingest from Z9/Z8.

Network: if using NAS, use 2.5GbE or 10GbE for fast transfers (or Thunderbolt docking).

Example builds / laptop configurations (concrete)

Desktop — Pro build (2025-style)

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X or Intel i9-13900K

RAM: 64 GB DDR5 (2×32)

GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4080 (10–16 GB VRAM)

Boot/Apps: 2 TB NVMe PCIe 4.0

Scratch: 2 TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 (separate)

Archive: 4-bay NAS w/ 4×12 TB HDD in RAID5

TB4/10GbE card for fast external storage and NAS connection

Laptop — field + edit

MacBook Pro 14”/16” M2 Pro or M2 Max (32–64 GB unified RAM), 2 TB internal SSD — or —

Razer Blade 16 / Dell XPS 16 with Ryzen 9 / i9, RTX 4070/4080 mobile, 64 GB RAM, 2 TB NVMe, TB4 port.

(These product examples reflect current reviews and tests; pick exact SKU based on budget and regional availability.) (RTINGS.com)

Budgeting guidance (very rough)

Pro desktop: INR equivalent of ~$2500–$4500 (varies widely by local pricing) — includes GPU and NAS.

Mid desktop: ~$1200–$2000.

Good laptop (Mac): $2000–$3500 depending on RAM/storage.

Portable NVMe SSD (2TB): $150–$350.

(Prices change fast — check local retailers.)

Final practical tips

If you must choose one upgrade first: invest in fast NVMe for catalog + 32 GB RAM. That will give the biggest daily UX improvement. (Puget Systems)

Use Smart Previews for travel to avoid carrying large external arrays.

Keep a 2-drive travel setup (primary portable SSD + clone) when shooting in the field. (johnmakphotography.com)

Difference between h264 8 bit mp4, and h 265 8 bit mov

Dr Kalyan Anand

What is the difference between h264 8 bit mp4, and h 265 8 bit mov, for a beginner and for easy editing which is better

Naveen

8 bit will have less Color transitions in it, Compared to 10 bit.

H.264 is older codec

H.265 is newer and more efficient (50%) codec than H.264.

MP4 is widely supported on devices, web, social media etc

Mov is apple Eco system/ quick time player.

For beginners on apple Eco system

H.265 Mob 10-bit HLG at 4k 120 p. gives lot of head room to process.

For absolute beginners with no processing at all

H.264, MP4 8-bit. This file assuming sound is decent enough, just crop / cut and post it to social media.

Editing 8K NEV files

—----------------------

Anish

—------

Request to share any link " how to setup FCP edit 8k video NEV extension files " ? Looks like my current FCP not able to recognize NEV files. Da Vinci i have only trial version if that software helps.

Naveen

—------

Requesting @⁨Radhakrishnan Rajagopalan Z9 Group ⁩ @⁨DSK Senthil Video Expert Z9 Forum⁩ to answer.

As I know Davinci free version doesnt support 8K videos. We need studio version.

Radha sir

—---------

Yes Naveen sir. Only the paid version of Davinci supports 8K . It’s Davinci Resolve Studio edition. FCP does not support editing any raw formats other than ProRes RAW natively. Forget 8K, even 4K N-RAW not supported.

Here are your choices:

1.⁠ ⁠Get a paid version of Davcinci Studio for 8K

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Or get the Color Finale 2 Transcorder for Final Cut Pro” add-on.

They both work. They both cost money. The choice comes down to familiarity with the tool you use. I have both paid versions. 80% of the time I find myself using FCP as it is easy to use and works flawlessly on my Mac. I shoot N-RAW and ProRes RAW. For ProRes RAW, there is no match for FCP. It’s that simple. For N-RAW I use Davinci Studio, do minor corrections and conversions, export it to HEVC and then bring it into FCP for final edits, effects and delivery.

The Colour Finale 2 Transcorder for FCP works standalone as a tool to transcode N-RAW, Black Magic B-RAW, ARRI RAW or works as a plug in within FCP itself. As a plug-in it allows you to drag and drop N-RAW directly on to the magnetic timeline.

Here is a screen shot of Color Finale 2 Transcorder within FCP 11

This can be launched from within FCP

My suggestion - If you are used to editing in Davinci and if N-RAW 8K is the only thing that is coming in the way, I suggest updating to the Studio Version. Its not a subscription model. One time full purchase, Life time free upgrades.

Anish

—-----

Thanks a lot for elaborate details @⁨Radhakrishnan Rajagopalan Z9 Group ⁩ @⁨Naveen Kumar S⁩ ... this helps and yes will consider buying DaVinci. 8K started experimenting and it's crazy storage hogger.

Radha sir

—------

both RED and Canon have developed their RAW plugin for FCP and approved by Apple. There are several requests from the apple camp and nikon camps that have made requests to amend both sides. But nothing has happened so far. See this link.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254137912?sortBy=rank

Davinci supports all other RAW formats but doesn’t support RroRes RAW and FCP doesn’t support anything other RAW formats other than their own ProRes RAW format 🙂.. This is classic of the tech industry 🙂

Yes, these are huge files. Nikon does 16:9 and for this itself the size is so huge. Imagine what happens if they open up their full sensor read out (a.k.a Open Gate).. it will be huge++

Anish

—------

Yeah...Better would be to get bursts of short clips and it will be lighter on copying from card to disk as well…

Radha sir

—-------

Also you need a faster SSD for Davinci to process.

it has to be either your Windows/Mac internal SSD or an external thunderbolt or USB4 NVMe SSD for better speeds to be able to read and edit in Davinci

Anish

—----

Yeah ~50 GB transfer from card to Mac m3 internal ssd took around 20mins I believe

Devadath sir

—-----------

By default, I always restrict my video clips to 30 or less seconds each, and stitch it later if required. This has also taken care of card and body heating in Z8, which has been reported by many.

If I am wrong, please share your thoughts.

Anish

—-----

Yeah I did have to eject the card reader after long continuous copy to get more mileage from.card reader... agree short clips help but z9 heating issue haven't observed closely...will check.

But error rate of long video can be avoided using this method AFAIK

Extract JPEG from Video

Yes you can extract a JPEG from a video in-camera video. And with 4K or 8K video it may be of decent size. Here is how to do it: select video for review > press OK button to play > press bottom of multi selector to pause video > use the right or left sides of the multi selector or use the Command or Sub-Command dials to navigate through the video to find the image you want to save > hit the i menu button > choose "Save Current Frame" > the image will be saved as a JPEG and it will be identified by a "scissor cutting film" icon in the upper top corner of the image

Gain/ ISO in videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-g84NSS7aI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIDclNOOAd0

Specifically for Sony cameras

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLG_zlshlSA

From Radhakrishnan Rajagopalan 6 Apr 2024

—--------------------------------------

Some general guidelines and best practices (of course there are always exceptions and no one rule fits all) for video for a cinematic video production.

1. The best apertures range is from F 1.8 to 4… increased depth of field works best with stills and not for video (again most of the times, there will be exceptions).

2. ⁠Keeping the frame rates between 24/25/30 for a more real movie experience

3. ⁠Use higher FPS only when needed to slow mo to show a critical highlight of the movie feature when it is only required 4. Highly recommended that the shutter speed is twice the frame rate, 24 - 1/48, 25-1/50, 30 -1/60

5. ⁠Since we don’t have 1/48 of a second on our cams for 24 frames, shooting at 1/50 is absolutely fine

6. ⁠for such low shutter speeds, and a shallow to some what narrow apperture, all cameras tend to over expose and hence keeping an eye on highlights is the key. Lower your ISO to the base when possible and if shooting N-Log stick to what the camera supports.

7. ⁠invest in a good ND filter… the best of the best Variable ND filters that are expensive also will have a slight colour shift which is fixable in post. Life indeed is full of compromises 😊. I carry Solid ND (64 and 1000) filters and often change on the field depending on the lighting conditions (I know it’s a pain, over time we learn to live with it)

8. ⁠try to avoid the tendency to stop down beyond f8 to allow less light to compensate for over exposure as it ruins the over all movie experience and your movie looks like still images stitched together.. I know what you are thinking 😜! Damn, more money for ND filters

9. ⁠if you must stop down beyond f8, shoot in 1080p rather than 4K, as 4K at that resolution and increased depth of field will make everything pronounced from sharpness to fringing to whatnot. So stick to 1080p.

These are my 2c… again there is no one rule. Just guidelines and experience on the field that will give us what we want

Cautions: Low ISO Sensitivities

The maximum output level for videos recorded at low ISO sensitivities drops due to loss of highlight data. We recommend that you select a low value for Custom Setting g13 [Zebra pattern] > [Highlight threshold] when using the zebra pattern feature. A highlight threshold around [230] is recommended for Lo 0.3 to 1.0 and [200] for Lo 2.0.

The normal photographic principle of increasing the shutter speed to reduce light doesn’t work well in videography….. If you increase the shutter speed more than twice(tolerance perhaps + or - 15%), then video doesn’t look natural and infact looks way unnatural…

If your shooting NRAW NLOG, the default ISO is 800, at this ISO and shooting at 1/48sec for a 24 fps, you will clip the highlights and you have to be careful to stop down the lens aperture to reduce the light.. as clipped highlights are a point of no return in post production

first reduce ISO.. if you scenes are still getting blown, then stop down your aperture by a few stops to reduce the light hitting the sensor….. keep in mind unlike photography, in videography you dont have much control and shutter as it is twice the frame rate

so your best control as a demonstration:

While shooting at 24 fps which is considered as Cinematic, here is an illustration…

24 frames per second

H265 10 Bit SDR

1/48 second

for 24-70 f2.8, on Broad Day light out doors:

Base ISO of 64-200 depending on your needs

f2.8 - f5.6

If the light is harsh and you dont want to stop down beyond f5.6 and if there is no scope to go below ISO 64, use an ND filter such as ND64 for 6 stops of light reduction or ND1000 for 10 stops of light reduction

—----------

Fantastic coverage and details @Naveen Kumar S sir. Very detailed and thanks for sharing.

For practical purposes, I will just add my learnings so far.

The frame rate / ISO / Shutter combination is the most tricky part in video.

As you have covered in detail,

For a 25fps (serves most of Asia/ANZ/Europe to PAL standards), one has to shoot no more than 1/50 of a second as shutter speed.

At this slow shutter speed the following things matters:

1. The scene will be too bright even indoors, and makes it completely over blown outdoors in bright sun light.. The Auto ISO will drop down to 64 or 100 base ISO and beyond which point your only option is to increase the f stop… many a times you will have to take it all the away up to f/22 or the narrowest your lens supports. This will defeat the purpose of using a fast aperture lens for that creamy background especially for video. And at that narrow aperture the scenes display severe vignetting and practically unusable.

2. To alleviate #1 above, our only option is to use a Neutral Density filter anywhere from 6 stops to 10 stops to maintain the fast aperture, low base ISO and yet not over blow the shot. Using an ND filter from 6 - 10 stops allows you to maintain your aperture between 1.4-4 or whatever is the fastest in your lens, maintain base ISO and keep the shutter speed to follow 1/50th for 25fps for smooth/shudder free rendering. There are two kinds of ND filters. Fixed ND and VND or Variable NDs. Variable ND range from 1.5 stops to 6 stops, some will come with 6 stops to 10 stops. As far as I have learned, VND or Variable ND filters suffers from quality and most cheap ones are absolute waste of money and time as they heavily do colour fringing and distort the scene.

3. One definitely needs a tripod + a smooth head. Our normal gimbals fair poorly for videos with no resistance at all and your scenes look choppy. The best is to have a fluid head to maintain that kind of low shutter speeds in the following order:

1. Cinematic - 24fps : 1/48s

2. PAL countries - 25fps : 1/50s normal, 50fps : 1/100s slow-mo, 100fps. : 1/200s super slow-mo

3. NTSC countries - 30fps - 1/60s normal, 60fps - 1/120s slow-mo, 120fps: 1/240s super slow-mo

4. From the chart above in #3, you can clear see anything less than 1/100s of shutter speed becomes impractical to hand hold however good our VR or IBIS is and hence it is strongly recommended we use at least a ball head bare minimum.

5. There is also the N-RAW with N-LOG that Nikon promotes. Any modes you shoot with N-LOG the base ISO is already 800 across Nikon Z series and you can’t drop below that. This makes it even more challenging and therefore an ND filter is definitely recommended as there is only so much you recover in post.

Hope it helps!

Radha sir

—--------

There are four fundamental parts to video post processing:

1.⁠ ⁠Editing

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Colour Grading

3.⁠ ⁠⁠Audio Mixing

4.⁠ ⁠⁠Rendering

the most complex ones that are overwhelming are #2 and #3.

#1 - Editing involves, trimming, cutting what is not required, sequencing, adding text titles, watermarks, etc. This can be practiced easily.

#4 - Rendering involves choosing which medium the final output is for - youtube, insta, 4K large televisions, projectors, etc. This is also easy to determine and for each of the mediums/media there is a specific output format which is easy to learn.

#2 and #3 are complex especially when you shoot RAW and LOG as they are like our image RAW and needs extensive colour corrections, tone corrections, grading, effects, and #3 adding third party audio, muting recorded audio, mixing tracks, etc…

If the primary goal is wildlife and birds short videos and the medium of delivery is small/medium form factors like mobile phones, laptops, small monitors, tablets, we can easily get away by shooting H.265 10 bit HLG MP4 (use camera level settings) and just do a minimal #1 and #4. The colour science of Nikon is excellent for video as is without NRAW and NLOG while shooting in H.265 10 bit. One would need #2 and #3 for high end professional videos and need absolute RAW footage for colour grading and correcting to suit to their taste.

DSK Senthil 6 Feb 2024

—-------------------

Slowing down video that are recorded at 30fps is okay, until you are slowing down not lesser than 75%. Say you shoot a video of 10 sec, you can slow it down to 75% which give you 12.5 sec.

but if you shoot at 30fps with shutter speed of say 1000, then you will get a slow motion video with nice quality, as the all the 30 pics recorded will not have any motion blur.

If you want slow down further, then you have to shoot at higher frame rates.

I shoot all the bird actions like flying, diving, taking off, etc at 120 or 100 fps, with a minimum shutter of 200, but when the light is good and if you can increase the shutter it would be great.

Technically, camera records n number of pics as per frame rate and slow down duration to time of n/24. 60 fps can be slowed down of 2x of duration recorded and 120 fps can be slowed down to 4x.

Video shows only 24 fps on any device, we can either slow it down, if it is taken at higher fps, else video display software will cut down alternate pixels to bring it down to 24 fps

How to calculate video sizes

—-----------------------------------

https://onlinemanual.nikonimglib.com/z9/en/06_video_recording_02.html

Pls check 3rd and 4th table for bit rate info of different formats.

Convert bit rate to bytes by dividing by 8 and then multiply by duration in seconds to arrive at size.

Simple back of envelope calculation or thumb rule for 4 k videos at H.265 10-bit at 30 fps. For 1 minute of such video is 1.5 gb( 1.425 gb to be precise) of card space.

Simple to remember 1 min recording of 4 k video at 30 fps is 1.5 gb card space.

Same space for HD video recording would last for 4 mins. 1:4 ratio.

If you shoot videos at N-RAW 12 bit (NEV) 8K at 60 fps, has bit rate of 5780 mbps so 128 GB cf express card will run out of space for 3 min of video. 1TB card will give you about 22 / 23 mins recording time.

Also the heat generated on these cards doing internal recording could potentially reduce their lifespans. Ofcourse, all these are my assumptions and skepticism

Heat is a major issue with 8 k videos. Camera has overheat warning to switch it off. To begin with, you will miss action in field and leisurely worry about life of card / camera later

How to find Max print width

Jay V

—------

Someone shared this interesting tip for printing photographs:

To find your maximum print width, the first thing you need to know is how many pixels wide your image is. Here is an easy formula that will tell you the maximum width you can print and still have a high resolution image.

Take the width of your image in pixels and divide it by 100. This will give you the maximum number of inches wide you can print (and still have a high resolution image.)

For example: A digital image file that is 6,000 pixels wide divided by 100 can make a 60-inch-wide print.

Naveen

Above works for 100 DPI. if we use 300 DPI then we'll divide by 300 and so on.

Is the Video ISO calibration in the camera different to ISO in photos? 11 March 2024

Jyotsna:

Is the Video ISO calibration in the camera different to ISO in photos?

Naveen:

Not sure I understand question properly .

Short answer is it’s same.. video is nothing but series of pictures taken/ recorded at certain frames per second. And consequently played at higher than optical persistence speed to give an illusion of continuity of motion.

Long answer is

Photos evolved from film with ASA or DiN or ISO standards nothing but a standardised number to designate exposure.

Analog videos didn’t have iso, rather gain voltage bump on cathode ray tube. Or gain done on medium to record to utilise its full capacity.

When it comes to digital cameras, photo and video mixed up as same camera ( hybrid we call now) can record photos and videos. But photos started first on digital cameras so iso notion carried from film camera days to it.

Dual gain of iso is what we speak these days. @Arun PJ Nikon tech Team Jogi Francis’s Team Member spoke about it during our session. It’s mainly a conversion gain not gain in traditional analog video sense. On digital cameras, if capacitance value of pixel is kept low mean it gives higher voltage output for same light. Higher output means subsequent electronic noise matters less. Dual gain means, two capacitance values one for low light to produce low electronic noise and one for bright light so it’s accepts larger exposure.

Most noise we see in our cameras these days is from photon shot noise than electronic noise. So we keep bumping iso to higher values as electronics got better in cameras.

Radhakrishnan:

The only thing I would add is:

Keep in mind that while filming with your mirrorless, you use a shutter speed which is twice or 2x the frame rate.

For example:

if you are shooting at 24fps footage, for optimum cinematic rendition the recommended shutter speed shall be 1/48, for 30fps, 1/60, for 60fps 1/120sec and for 120fps it shall be no more than 1/240sec

at that low shutter speed, having high ISOs will blow up your filming and your highlights will be clipped beyond recovery..

and hence your first attempt shall be to keep the ISO as low as possible… if possible keep it at 64 your options to control are again the Shutter, Aperture, ISO triangle rule…base…

Naveen:

N-log has base iso of 800. New options given firmware 4.0 like lo which bring iso value to 200. Never experimented as I don’t have skills and tools to process those videos.

first reduce ISO.. if you scenes are still getting blown, then stop down your aperture by a few stops to reduce the light hitting the sensor….. keep in mind unlike photography, in videography you dont have much control and shutter as it is twice the frame rate

Radhakrishnan:

Yes sir.. I was going to talk about it as well

N-Logs dynamic range is at the thresholds both the ends

and hence nikon standardises at 800 base ISO

thats why I always recommend using an ND filter… ND64 or ND1000 depending on the ligh

The ND filter will cutdown the amount of light hitting the sensor

You cannot drop the ISO beyond a point and all the lens optics will max out at a particular F-stop and that is usually between F8-11… you can not push beyond that

so your best control as a demonstration:

While shooting at 24 fps which is considered as Cinematic, here is an illustration…

24 frames per second

H265 10 Bit SDR

1/48 second

for 24-70 f2.8, on Broad Day light out doors:

Base ISO of 64-200 depending on your needs

f2.8 - f5.6

If the light is harsh and you dont want to stop down beyond f5.6 and if there is no scope to go below ISO 64, use an ND filter such as ND64 for 6 stops of light reduction or ND1000 for 10 stops of light reduction

If your shooting NRAW NLOG, the default ISO is 800, at this ISO and shooting at 1/48sec for a 24 fps, you will clip the highlights and you have to be careful to stop down the lens aperture to reduce the light.. as clipped highlights are a point of no return in post production

As naveen sir has suggested, if NRAW NLOG allows us to go below 800 it is really good, i haven’t tried it yet

The normal photographic principle of increasing the shutter speed to reduce light doesn’t work well in videography….. If you increase the shutter speed more than twice(tolerance perhaps + or - 15%), then video doesn’t look natural and infact looks way unnatural…

just my 2c, DSK sir, Aditya and Ron - I have seen their brilliant videos… and perhaps they can share their expertise

DSK:

Slowing down video that are recorded at 30fps is okay, until you are slowing down not lesser than 75%. Say you shoot a video of 10 sec, you can slow it down to 75% which give you 12.5 sec.

but if you shoot at 30fps with shutter speed of say 1000, then you will get a slow motion video with nice quality, as the all the 30 pics recorded will not have any motion blur.

If you want slow down further, then you have to shoot at higher frame rates.

I shoot all the bird actions like flying, diving, taking off, etc at 120 or 100 fps, with a minimum shutter of 200, but when the light is good and if you can increase the shutter it would be great.

Technically, camera records n number of pics as per frame rate and slow down duration to time of n/24. 60 fps can be slowed down of 2x of duration recorded and 120 fps can be slowed down to 4x.

Video shows only 24 fps on any device, we can either slow it down, if it is taken at higher fps, else video display software will cut down alternate pixels to bring it down to 24 fps.

LUTS For video footage

—------------------------------

Tarang - Jan 2025

For videos, does anyone know what LUTs to apply for a z9 footage?

Sadanand

For wildlife footage I don’t apply any LUTs … based on the scene I edit the colors, light and tones

Radha sir

For LUTs to produce good results, you should have near perfect exposure for NLOG aligned to the ETTR, which in practice is difficult if you are not doing controlled light environment while shooting, something which is difficult to achieve consistently in wilelife. Subject movement of the animal from under the tree to the open can cause a dramatic shift. Best is to do a manual colour correction and grading and then apply just aesthetic LUTs(Such as RED’s film) of your choice to get that filmy look. Here are some compiled best practices in the following order:

1.⁠ ⁠Composting, Editing & Trimming.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠Highlights and Shadows correction

3.⁠ ⁠⁠colour correction

4.⁠ ⁠⁠colour grading

5.⁠ ⁠⁠LUTs for Looks and aesthetics

6.⁠ ⁠⁠Titles & VFX

7.⁠ ⁠⁠Rendering & Delivery for Media

I find creating a small project plan for these 7 steps helps us maintain the workflow and keeps it clean. Infact Davinci’s workflow pages would more or less mirror these steps.

Power Zoom and Hi-Res Zoom

—---------------------------------------

Let's peel power zoom to start with.

1.⁠ ⁠On our Z180-600 mm lens, how do we zoom or change focal length? By manually turning the zoom ring. Many times we don’t want to touch the camera while recording a video or assume the z9/z8 is fixed at a height and operated remotely. We could change zoom/focal length, if there’s a motor to adjust zoom/focal length and electronics to operate it remotely. These lenses that have a servo motor to adjust zoom smoothly are called power zoom lenses. Basically a motor and electronics ( not manual unlike all other zoom lenses) powers/turns the zoom. Power zoom helps in video as zoom motion is smooth not like manual zoom which requires lot more care while zooming into a subject to rotate and not cause vibrations.

Nikon has only power zoom lens - NIKKOR Z DX 12-28mm f/3.5-5.6 PZ

And one more is in production at end of 2024 - NIKKOR Z 28-135mm f/4 PZ

Now on to hi-res zoom.

2.⁠ ⁠Hi-Res zoom. Z8/Z9 is a 45.7 mp cameras, it produces NEF or large jpg of size 8256*5504 pixels. If we take this as a single frame in video then it’s much larger than a 4K or HD video frame. For 4 k video each frame needs only 3840*2160 pixels. HD video each frame has only 1920*1080 pixels. So it means the z8/z9 max resolution is a lot more than 4k and HD video needs. So z8/z9 zooms( crops frames) into video to record at 4k / HD without losing any resolution that’s needed for those 4K/ HD videos. This feature is called hi-res zoom. This feature is available for all lenses including prime lenses.

Hi res zoom has been there in Z9 from firmware 3.0 onwards. In firmware 5.1 we can combine hi-res zoom with power zoom for lenses that have PZ capability.

It’s supported in 4K 24p, 25 p, 30 p or 1080 24 p, 25p, 30p, 50p, 60p, 100p and 120p.

Our setting xls has settings for this feature.

How to use it

Hi res zoom best used when subject is far and light is low, so we can drop to 1/60 SS ( now 180 shutter angle) using 30p frame size/ rate. We get amazing footage of videos where photos are almost hopeless.

@⁨Jeyaram Sankar Photographer Friend ⁩has recorded a beautiful video of Grey headed fish eagle with hi-res zoom at 2000 mm focal length at Anejhari JLR camp in this year June.

Raghu Jan 2025

—-----

Hey, so I just got back from a quick weekend trip to Bharatpur, and I used DX mode for video with, like, a 2400mm lens (DX + digital zoom on my 800mm). The quality and reach were awesome, and I shot way more videos this time, plus lots of pics. I'm stoked to be using videos more now with the 5.10 firmware. Thanks for all the tips, everyone!

3.⁠ ⁠Now in Z9, firmware 5.1, we can combine power zoom with hi- res zoom.

4. High res zoom comes with some restrictions.

https://onlinemanual.nikonimglib.com/z9/en/hi_res_zoom_39.html

AF-area mode is fixed at [Wide-area AF (L)]. The focus point is not displayed.

[Electronic VR] in the video recording menu is fixed at [OFF].

Shot video at 120fps how to do slomo..

Sid Feb 2025

—

I need some advice on video editing ...I generally shoot at 120 fps at 4k...H 265 10 bit (mov) ... Now when I try to edit these footages ..the output that I see is normal speed and not a slow motion ....

First question

Why is that ?

Since 120 fps is itself slow motion ..but it appear as normal speed .I need to change the attributes to 24 fps to view it in slow mo ...

I mean why I need to change it to 24 and not view it as it is ....since 120 fps is itself slow mo

Is it because I m not shooting in raw ?

Jeyaram

—-------

No, it’s not because you are not shooting in RAW. It’s because of your project/timeline settings. Your final output should still be 24/30 fps. You have to add slow motion depending on where you want to introduce. Check the training video that I did some time back

Sid

—---

So 120 fps doens't mean I will see the output in slow mo without editing ?

Suppose I shoot at 4k 120 fps ..in clip attributes i change it to 24fps ...and while exporting I keep the format at 60 fps ...hd ..

Can I see slow mo then ?

Radha sir

—-------

As much as possible keep the slow mo frame rate absolute:

120 fps -> 60

120 fps -> 30

100 fps -> 50

100 fps -> 25

Uneven slow mo frame rates for fast moving subjects look weird. May not show that bad in still or slow moving ones.

Jeyaram

—-------

If your final output is 60fps then I suggest you keep the timeline settings to the same

Shutter Angle

—----------------

Pls check slide 10 animation in video concepts presentation and session. It has some references in notes. Slide 17 talks about cinematic look and 180 degree rule, purposefully didn’t refer to it not being overwhelming, as the session introduced more than dozen concepts and our cameras didn’t have that setting option at that time.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qUi8iat64DmLRATBH4e2GPhvfwurb7KE

Cut to the chase, it's a relic of the past, degrees by which a rotary disc ( Semi circle shape) opens a gate for exposure within a single frame. Refers to spatial orientation within frame.

Shutter angle is how dedicated video cameras set shutter speed. But hybrid cameras didn’t have this option except a few cameras like Panasonic Lumix.

Why it’s a big deal, as we change frame rate, if we set shutter mode ( G13) to shutter angle, shutter speed will automatically change. If shutter mode is set to shutter speed, we must remember to dial in the correct shutter speed by doing mental math( twice fps). Is it hard to do this math but definitely tedious as we change fps. So this setting helps to have an option at our disposal.

Most videographers will use a 180 degree shutter angle. To be confused, there are multiple 180 degree rules, we will discuss some other day.

Useful websites and videos

Here are a few links where the signal to noise ratio is good. Most of these photographers just get to the point quickly, no histrionics and don't waste time with a lot of advertisements or side trips. There are a lot of very good photographers and amazing talent but not everyone is a born teacher.. These are some that can be bookmarked and followed regularly as these photographers explain concepts and techniques in easy to follow language.

Steve Perry - Backcountry Gallery

Most of Steve Perry’s articles and videos are outstanding. He publishes on the Backcountry Gallery website.

It's difficult to maintain web links as they might change over time.

Few foundational videos to understand Nukon cameras.

All About Auto ISO (Nikon Cameras)

Manual Mode With Auto ISO

Here are few of my personal favorites published after 2021

Top 12 Nikon Mirrorless Problems & Solutions: Troubleshooting Z-Series Cameras - Backcountry Gallery

Master Nikon AF Handoffs on Z8, Z9, and Z6iii for Jaw-Dropping Action Shots! - Backcountry Gallery

AMAZING Photos In BAD WEATHER - Unlock These Pro Secrets To Drop Jaws! - Backcountry Gallery

11 Pro Secrets To Supercharge Your Wildlife Photography - Backcountry Gallery

The #1 Sharpness Killer For Wildlife Shooters - Backcountry Gallery

Nikon Z8 & Z9: BEST Bird-In-Flight AF Settings - Backcountry Gallery

Make ISO 12,800 Look Like ISO 400: A Lightroom Denoise Master Class - Backcountry Gallery

AF Speed: Do You Have It All Wrong? - Backcountry Gallery

5 Pro Secrets To For Great Backgrounds - Backcountry Gallery

FPS: The Secret To Better Keepers And Sharper Shots! - Backcountry Gallery

Pro Secrets: Depth Of Field, Lens Magnification, And Field Of View! - Backcountry Gallery

Mirrorless Shooters: Critical Advice About Battery Life - Backcountry Gallery

https://backcountrygallery.com/6-wildlife-photography-mistakes-everyone-makes-ok-almost-everyone%ef%bf%bc/

5 Amazing Tips For Better Face And Eye Detection! - Backcountry Gallery

Fall Photography Basics - Backcountry Gallery

The (Secret) ISO Technique Every Wildlife Shooter Should Know - Backcountry Gallery

5 Amazing Tips For Better Face And Eye Detection! - Backcountry Gallery

Nail The Shot: Dancing Reddish Egret - Backcountry Gallery

Top Ten Traits Of Great Wildlife Photographers - Backcountry Gallery

3 Secrets To Creating Wildlife Photos With Depth And Dimension - Backcountry Gallery

AMAZING: Slow Shutter Speed Wildlife Panning - Backcountry Gallery

How To Beat Lens Fogging - Backcountry Gallery

High Key, High-Contrast B&W For Wildlife - Backcountry Gallery

Essential Tripod Tips For Wildlife Photographers - Backcountry Gallery

10 Ways To Instantly Improve Your Wildlife Photography - Backcountry Gallery

Too Close? Unlock The Power Of Wildlife Panos! - Backcountry Gallery

Does Cropping Make Your Photos Noisy?! - Backcountry Gallery

Shoot Razor Sharp Images From Your Car! - Backcountry Gallery

Backcountry Gallery -Stop Struggling With Shadow Recovery!

Exposure Compensation Made Easy! - Backcountry Gallery

5 Metering & Exposure Tips Every Nikon User Needs To Know - Backcountry Gallery

Create Smooth, Blurry, Buttery Backgrounds For Wildlife - Backcountry Gallery

To spare us hassle, Steve himself created a master list here it is..

https://backcountrygallery.com/the-bcg-college-of-photo-education/

Here’s a 2.5 hours presentation - Wildlife Photography Presentation - My Best Techniques - Backcountry Gallery

Thomas Hogan

ByThom

Z System User

Thom’s articles are pure gold mine however tend to be little longer and critical of Nikon. There's a lot to learn from him.

Jan wagner

Jan shoots on Canon primarily but his videos on Nikon and photo techniques are very good.

Must-Know AUTOFOCUS Tricks You’re NOT Using (But SHOULD!)

Get MULTIPLE Subjects IN FOCUS Every Time!

What Pros Keep QUIET! | The UNFILTERED TRUTH of Bird Photography

Low ISOs Are RUINING Your Photos! Here's Why!

MASTERING FLASH - How & When to Use it - Bird Photography Secrets Revealed

5 Tips For Taking Razor Sharp Images - Bird Photography Secrets Revealed - Jan Wegener Vlog

How to take AMAZING Bird Photos | The Bird Photography Show EP.1 with Glenn Bartley & Jan Wegener

Scott Keys - wildlife inspired

Wildlife Inspired w/ Scott Keys - YouTube

Mininum Focus Distance

Basic Composition in Wildlife and Bird Photography

Photo Basics - Aperture and Depth of Field

The Right Light for the Right Bird - Part 2

Wildlife Photography Light - Quality vs. Quantity

Simon D'entremont

Is a canon ambassador, his advise is common sensical and to the point. At times, I feel he just time lapses steve’s videos by 6 to 8 months.

https://www.youtube.com/@simon_dentremont

Crazy hack for the PERFECT EXPOSURE every time!

NOISE, WHAT NOISE?? How to get GREAT WILDLIFE PHOTOS in LOW LIGHT conditions.

The NUMBER ONE SKILL of PRO photographers!’

The REAL TRUTH about LENS COMPRESSION. Fact or fiction?

Moose Peterson

Celebrating Flight - Photographing Hummingbirds

Aviation Photography with Moose Peterson

Sharpness Series Basic #3 Long Lens

Ricci Chera

https://www.youtube.com/@RicciTalks

Mainly posts videos of Nikon’s new gear reviews or firmwares.

Nikon School - Photography & creativity - YouTube

Using Atomos with Z9 - Radhakrishnan

I recently bought the Atomos ninja ultra external recorder primarily for Z6 that my wife shoots for video. The Z6 has a limitation of 29:59 minutes internal recording and the battery drains quickly as well. The ninja has no limitations. Limited only by the SSD capacity. Got the Z6 updated at the Nikon service center for free for recording ProRes/ProRes RAW. Works flawlessly. Atomos offers a free codec update for H265 as well post device registration. Been able to shoot ProRes/ProRes RAW via HDMI to Atomos ninja. The Z6/Z7 and their mark II counterparts are all well supported by Atomos till ProRes RAW. The latest N-RAW is supported only on the Z9 and Z8. Annoyingly, Atomos still hasn’t tested the Z9/Z8 for ProRes RAW and N-RAW over HDMI and hence not officially listed on their support page. If you want to record in ProRes RAW or N-RAW then your only option as of now is recording to CFExpress internally. Hope they will update this soon. All other modes of recording to Atomos via HDMI works as expected.

As far the power source - I have tried a Sony NPF970 compatible 3100 maH battery, direct DC power adapter via the included battery adapter.

Thanks to @Naveen Kumar S sir, the newly bought Mi 20000 maH battery pack over type C with Atomos works flawlessly and goes on continuously. I plan on using this on the Z9 and keep us posted as and when Atomos supports ProRes RAW and N-RAW.

Current setup

Ninja Ultra Recorder

Atomos Mini SSD 500GB x 2

Atom Full HDMI Cable

Newell NPF970 Battery 3100 maH

Newell NPF970 Charger

SmallRig 3809 Mount

USB-C SATA doc for transfer from SSD to comp

Mi 20000 maH connected to Atomos for power source

Preferred recording mode - ProRes 422 HQ with N-Log

Radha sir - Jan 25

—-----------

Some of you may recall I was cribbing when Nikon stopped supporting 4K RAW recording to Atomos external recorder altogether. They supported it on Z6 and Z7 but NOT on the cameras that came after that. The reason is simple:

1.⁠ ⁠Atomos uses eSATA SSDs that caps at a theoretical limit of 600MB/s with a 10% overhead will cap at even lower at 540MB/s barely sufficient for a 4K 30.

2. The earlier Nikons when updated to support NRAW and ProResRAW supported only 24/30fps and it was ok to do a HDMI out on to atomos that supports eSATA SSD.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠when the Z9/8 and later Z cameras came out with 4K 24 30 60 120 and 8K 24 30 60 with 10/12 bit 4:2:2 the demand for I/O increases substantially and the eSATA won’t be able to cope up despite HDMI 2x supporting the bandwidth.

4. Whereas Nikon’s utilisation of CFExpress 2 over PCIe provides far superior write speeds internally than atomos there by choosing not to support the slower external recorder.

The higher frames per second, the higher colour bit depth, the higher resolution - the higher demand on Bandwidth to write. Typically in excess of 800-900MB/s. Consider your recording style/demand and then choose the card. Nikon’s website on video recording option pages gives you the average MB/s requirement for each of the formats as a guidance. Please refer to that.

Radha Sir

—-----

Even the Z8 and Z9 supports atmos sir. The only issue is you can’t do NRAW/ProRes RAW 4K directly to atmos. The rest of the formats it works with atmos nicely even with Z8 and Z9. NRAW + ProRes RAW over HDMI is not allowed. Has to be internal. Think, the same applies now to the Z6 III

Video concepts

• Video – is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, streaming, and display of moving visual media. Video is nothing but frames that are played at faster speed than optical persistence of vision to give continuity of

motion. Video can be analog or digital. Remember flip books a sort of analog video. Digital refers to data in binary format (bits: 1 or 0).

• Container – is like a zip file with multiple files in it. Video container has image frames, audio and meta data ( data about data). MP4, MOV, NEV

• Codec – coder encodes data and decoder – decodes data. H.264, H.265, ProRes RAW, N-RAW

• Bitsize or bit depth – computer stores data in bits. Pixels in each frame can be stored in 8-bit or 10 bit or 12 –bit . Its fineness of color graduations

• Frame rate – Frame is a single still image within a video clip. Number of frames that are captured in a second ( FPS). 24 p,30 p, 60 p, 120 p etc. Smoothness of motion

• Frame Size or resolution or display mode– size of video frame measured in pixels. Its fine ness of image/frame details. Width * height of frame measured in pixels. SD – 720*480 , HD – 1280*720, FHD - 1920*1080, 2K – 2048*1080, 4K or Ultra HD – 3840*2160, 8K – 7680*4320 pixels.

• Bit rate - Amount of data processed and sent in a given amount of time, usually measured in bits per second (bps), kilobits per second (kbps), or megabits per second (Mbps)

• Color gamut – Color space. Or shades of colors. Vividness of colors. Range of colors that can be displayed. BT-709, BT- 2020, BT-2100

• Brightness – Intensity of image lighting. Dynamic range. Standard (SDR) or High ( HDR)

• Tone Mode – is combination of Color Gamut/Color space and Brightness. SDR-BT 709 , HLG- BT 2100, N-LOG- BT2020

Cinematic – 24 FPS. The standard frame rate for cinematic film and television is 24 frames per second (fps). This rate is the minimum needed to capture video while still maintaining realistic motion. Requires shutter speed of 1/50.

• Base ISO- The base ISO is the unamplified sensitivity of the camera's sensor, and is considered the best balance between noise and dynamic range. It's also the point where the camera can record the greatest dynamic range without adding unnecessary gain to the sensor's output. Base ISO changes with tone mode.

• H264 8 bit ( MP4) and H265 8bit ( MOV ) – ISO 64 ( if not tone mode is mentioned, we can take it as SDR tone mode)

• SDR tone mode – ISO 64

• HDR tone mode - ISO 400

• N-Log tone mode – ISO 800 ( from firmware 4.0 in Z9, we can go down to below ISO 800 by 0.3 o 2.0 EV approximately equivalent to ISO 640

to ISO 200. At lo values, maximum output level for videos drops due to loss of highlight data. Enable zebra pattern and set highlight threshold

value of 230).

• Oversampling. Shoot at maximum possible sensor resolution at 8K and then outputs at 4K. Oversampled footage utilises additional resolution

available from the sensor and therefore increases both the image sharpness and quality when outputting at lower resolutions.

• In Video Menu Extended over sampling - Selecting [ON] optimizes image readout for improved image quality.

• Extended oversampling applies when [3840×2160; 60p] or [3840×2160; 50p] is selected for [Frame size/frame rate] and [FX] is selected for

[Image area] > [Choose image area] in the video recording menu.

• Note that the drain on the battery increases when [ON] is selected

• Getting framerate/ISO/Shutter speed combination is most tricky part of video

• if videos are shot at 24 P, we need double of it 1/50 as shutter speed ( 180 degree rule ). This helps in smooth shudder free rendering. Shutter speed is so low in videos even for 120 P shutter speed is 1/240 sec. Normal photographic principle of increasing shutter speed to reduce light doesn’t work well in videography. If we increase shutter speed more than twice ( +/- 15%), video doesn’t look natural.

• At low shutter speeds, to get middle grey ( 18% grey) exposure, needs low aperture like f/16 or low ISO. But beyond f/16 leads to diffraction and we can't go below ISO 64 ( z9 and Z8) cameras. Only way is to cut down light that reaches sensor. So, we must use neutral density filters to cut the light that reaches sensor. Use fixed ND filters. Even most expensive, Variable ND filters lead to color fringing and distort the scene.

• Best apertures are f 2.8, f/4 or as wide as your lens can open. Don’t go lower aperture than f/8 or f/10 in any case.

• Try to shoot at base ISO as much as possible.

• Use tripod and smooth head. Gimbals leads to jerky motion. Fluid heads are best. Z9 IBIS and VR helps. Or use a stable support like bean bag( ensure vehicle engine is switched off ) or Rock.

• Once you start video, usually don’t touch camera to avoid shake except to switch it off. So deciding camera settings before video start is crucial.

Post 1:

“When a horse gallops, are all four hooves ever off the ground? Or did horses always fix one hoof on the ground at some point?”

It may seem like a question with an easy answer. But we live in the days of YouTube. In 1878, getting photographic evidence was much more difficult. So a few people like English photographer Eadweard Muybridge set up a row of successive still cameras, had them go off in succession, and technically created the first “movie.” As it turned out, the horse did indeed have all four hooves off the ground at certain points.

https://www.skillshare.com/en/blog/film-history-from-invention-to-the-digital-age/

Post 2: Typical video requires many features to be set

1. Container

2. Codec

3. Bit size

4. Frame rate

5. Frame size

6. Resolution

7. Aspect ratio

8. Bit rate

Nikon has few more settings like Tone Mode, Color Space, and raw video has some more settings like HLG and N-Log video settings. Nikon peculiarities we will cover later.

Post 3:

Good morning, how many of us remember vinyl disks, tape recorder cassettes, 8 mm, 16 mm or 35 mm, VHS tapes, mini DV cassettes.. tape recorders and VCRs etc. how many of us remember 35 mm Theater and 70 mm theatres of yester years or CinemaScope, Eastman colour or Kodak or Fuji camera rolls etc.

World was simple at one point of time. We record a picture or series of pictures or sound on a medium ( some plastic with coatings eventually ) with a recorder and reproduce or play the same amplified sound or film through a cassette or video player. Series of pictures played at optical persistence is a movie or video.

From that analog world, we moved to digital world.. it is somewhere in mid 90’s that we will began here to understand the digital video formats etc. digital affects only the way we record, store and transmit but depends on many fundamental principles and discoveries of optics that were used in analog world helped us reach where we are today. There are lot of innovations over last 130 years in cinema that have a huge role, so time to time we will visit them as they are relevant to our topics under consideration.

None of this information is going to make you a better photographer or videographer but helps you to make sense of what we do or helps find a way when we are stuck. Will try to explain concepts in simple language so no need to know deep science.

Request you all to add, share additional perspectives and critique it. More importantly participate enthusiastically or if this is just too much technical mumbo jumbo, let me know. We can take it offline.

Here’s the fundamental optical principle of movies/ videos. This is essential to understand frame rates and refresh rates etc.

“Your eye and brain retain a visual impression for about 1/30 of a second. (The exact time depends on the brightness of the image.) This ability to retain an image is known as persistence of vision.

Different technologies take advantage of human persistence of vision. For example, when we watch a movie, it feels like a continuous experience even though the screen is dark about half the time. Films show one new frame every 1/24 of a second. Depending on the film, each frame is shown twice or three times during this period. The eye retains the image of each frame long enough to give us the illusion of smooth motion. Even newer TV and computer monitors take advantage of our failure to notice the constant and steady refreshing of images right in front of us. “

Am shamelessly borrowing material from internet and adding my commentary as it suits storyline of topic under consideration. So don’t claim any copyrights and will give references of material for you to explore.

https://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/persistence-of-vision#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20when%20we%20watch,1%2F24%20of%20a%20second.

Post 4: Persistence of Vision:

Even after the object is removed, the impression of an object seen by the eye remains on the retina for 1/16th of a second.

If we see another object before this time, the impressions of the two merge to give us a sense of continuity.

This eye property is known as persistence of vision.

https://youtu.be/A5HVcNZypzQ

Check Paper Movie Machines by B Wentz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YismwdgMIRc

Post 5: How many of us remember flip books collectibles with thumbs up; Kapil Dev’s bowling action or Viv Richard’s cover drive or Gavaskar’s straight drive books that we coveted in child hood. Each book used to have 80 to 100 pages for a simple action. It was as if Kapil Dev was running in our hand..

Post 6: One more concept to understand is analog to digital.

Earlier we were recording images on films coated with light sensitive silver crystals such as silver bromide. When shutter is opened reflected light from scene falls on chemical coated film thus exposing it.

During development the brightness on film is tonally reversed - a negative. Dark parts of scene have less silver and bright parts have more silver. Exposure by enlarger light gives out latent image on negative.

This is all analog process.

Similar process happens in digital cameras. How?

Digital is only 1 and 0. Nothing in between, just only 2 states. And is not continuous it’s discrete.

Fundamental concept is analog to digital converter ( ADC). Which converts analog signal of light and its intensity and colours to digital representation in 1’s and 0’s.

Before we delve ADCs lets us step and try to understand a simple concept.

We all know how to find areas of regular shapes like squares, rectangle, triangles etc.

How do we estimate area of irregular shape like an area of typical Maple leaf.

Simple or highly simplistic answer for our discussion is you can’t exactly find out. Good news is you can find approximate area that is sufficient for most of our purposes.

We take leaf shape and divide it into small grids of 10 mm by 10 mm. Find how many grids are within the boundary of leaf. How many grids are partially within leaf boundaries. Then you add both these grids in a formula like area = full grids area + 1/2 of partially filled grids area.

This gives approximate area. But if we divide grid into 5 mm by 5 mm we will have 4 times grids than earlier and get more precise area estimate. Similarly if we divide area into 1 mm by 1mm we will have 100 times more grids and get even more precise sampled answer.

You know where it’s going pixels, more pixels and mega pixels but we will park it for time being.

Let’s get back to analog to digital conversion process.

Request our electronic/ electrical engineers or DSP professionals to correct and add more to below.

Analog to Digital converter ( ADC)

Analogue signal like light or sounds is plotted on X axis ( time), its intensity ( amplitude ) on Y Axis. Take a typical S curve on this X and Y axis. We have to find how many grids have signal and within each grid have to find value of intensity of light/ sound.

Analog to digital happens through two stage process. Highly simplified for our discussion not very precise, skipping many details.

Sampling, find how many grids have signal and quantisation, giving value to signal. Sampling say goes from left to right and finds grids and then goes to next line, repeat till end. How fast we do sampling, frequency and refresh rates etc we will keep aside.

Quantisation introduces noise as it’s approximate. As we know we can’t get 100% analog signal converted to digital. We get Signal to noise ratio etc depends on output volume ( bandwidth) of ADC.

There many types of ADCs, software and hardware etc. we will not get into them.

This analog to digital conversion is called coding while recording a song or taking image. Reverse process of digital to analog is called decoding to play back sound or show image. Codecs do this coding and decoding.

Remember Codecs, we will get back to it later.

https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/combination/analogue-to-digital-converter.html

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog-to-digital_converter

https://youtu.be/qSEmEpv5ct8?si=HKlHPh-Cu3yklD82

Post 7: Building further…

One more concept to understand is compression and decompression..

All or most of us would have come across a situation where our mail such as yahoo or gmail limits max file that can be attached to mail to maximum of 10mb file size and we got 18 mb file say .doc or .xls to send? What did we do?

we used a file compression application like winzip or winrar or 7-zip etc that reduces or compresses the files. Taking winzip as software for our further discussions. But output of winzip comes out as . Zip ( a container) with .doc or .xls in it. So we took 18 mb .doc or .xls file and ran through a winzip application and created an archive .zip of say 9 mb. So instead of sending 18 mb .doc or .xls we can now send 9 mb .zip file by mail.

Receiver runs 9 mb .zip file and decompresses or unzips to get 18 mb .doc or .xls original file.

In the above what does winzip do? Takes .xls and compresses it and puts into its container or bin of .zip. zip file format is different from .doc and .xls.

Typically files like.bmp ( output of paint application in windows) or .doc or .xls that have lot of white spaces etc. winzip puts files through software called compression algorithms that strips files of white spaces and other redundant information based on data without loss of information. For example e.g., Imagine word file can have images or tables along with text but your 18mb files didn’t have any images of tables in it. So winzip algorithm detects no tables and images in word, remove all file tags related to tables and images without losing any actual information.

Getting back to codecs-

When coding of analog signal to digital, humongous amount of data is generated, so it runs various compression algorithms. And reduces the file size. So output file size is smaller. Why? all of our devices have limited amount of storage that needs to be efficiently utilised. Similarly decoder does reverse of compression.

There are two types of compression algorithms. Lossy and loss-less. Lossy reduces file size by permanently removing some of the original data. It does through approximation and an irreversible process. Most popular example is jpeg or jpg files. Generally. Jpgs are 8-bit color images, so if our cameras give higher bit depth say 10 or 12 bit depths, so output jpg will be compressed by cameras through reduction in dynamic range and bit depth. Each time when we share jpg, it goes through process of compression and decompression so file size keeps reducing as we lose pixels.

Popular example of losssless compression is pdf. It retains same size and information without any loss through multiple transmissions. In loss-less compression you get 100% of original data back.

Summing up. In codec - Encoder does a compression of data and decoder does a decompression of data. Two types of compression, lossy and loss-less.

Just remember this much for now. Rest sooner.

Previous post talks about 8 bit color images. So let’s understand this further.

Computer stores data in bits. A byte is series of 8 bits.

Bit can be on (1) or off (0). So if we take black and white photo ( bitonal) pixels and each pixel data is stored in 1 bit. If pixel has white colour we will store 1 and if pixel has black colour we will store 0. Let us take an Image that has only 100 pixels ( we will discuss them later) size and we use 1-bit to represent colors( black or white). Then this kind of image is 1-bit depth. Bit depth is also called bits per pixel. Please note we are not talking of total number of pixels in image.

But black and white images have shades of gray, ( gray scale) how do we store? We need more bits to store gray colour shade in each pixel.

2-bits stores 4 (2*2) colour values. 3-bits store 8 (2*2*2 or 2^3) color values, so on and so forth. So 8bit stores 256 (2^8)color values. For a black and white picture it’s 254 shades of gray+1 white +1 black colour can be stored. So if each pixel color is stored in 8-bit it is a 8-bit picture or sometimes referred as 8-bit color depth picture.

Black and white pictures are easy. How about color pictures?

Let’s step back a bit.

There are 3 primary colours Red, Green and Blue -RGB. By mixing these colours we get different shades of colours.

If R=0, G=0, B=0, then it’s a black color. If R=255, G=255, B=255 then it’s a white color. So color image of 8-bit image has 256 shades of colours. Jpg is 8-bit image. But we know 256 shades are not sufficient, we need more shades. So instead of 8 we can use 16 bits to store color information in each pixel that gives 2^16 =65 536 shares or tones of colours. Similarly if use 24 bits we get 2^24= 16.7 million shades or tones of color.

For 24 bit color depth images, 8-bits store shades of Red, 8-bits store green and 8-bits store Blue.

When we say it stores shade of color, it actually doesn’t. It stores the number of color shade in color table( take it as palette).

PNG images have 32 bits, along with 24 bit like above, 8 bits are used for transparency information.

If we use more than 8-bits we need more storage space and more processing power.

While we discussed above in the context of pictures, same happens for individual frames in video as well. Just that lot of optimisations happen as changes from frame to frame changes are minimal.

Post 8: Video file formats

Where does the coded data goes into, as you rightly guessed, it goes into a video file. Each video file has a certain format ( order of things)

Let’s start with the basics – what does “video format” even mean?

Video formats refer to the way in which the video’s information is stored on digital devices or servers.

There are two main components to each video format; the Codec and the Container.

We had already understood Codec – Coder and Decoder. Coder encodes and compresses and decoder, decodes and decompresses data. An example is H.264 video codec. Similarly for Audios codec is AAC-LC.

What is a Container. We briefly touched upon it in Zip file. Similar to Zip file, it is a single file with multiple files or data in it. Video file is a container that has image frames and audio data. Some containers also have metadata ( data about data or data that gives context or meaning to data), subtitles etc that make up the video. An example is MP4 and MOV formats.

MP4 is a popular format used on internet for videos. Most widely compatible with multiple players.

MOV is created by Apple for use with Quicktime Player. It is better suited for Apple Devices.

There are many more formats like AVI, WMV, WebM, FLV etc but just treat them as one more format, we don’t come across them these days.

When we select a video format, we have to specify container ( MP4/MOV/NEV), codec ( H.264 or HEVC) and bit rate combination. HEVC is also known as H.265 it is 50% more efficient than H.264. So it is MOV(H.265) 10 -bit or MP4 (H.264) 8 bit.

Typically we record our videos in MP4 paired with H.264 codec for videos and AAC-LC for audios. This file is suitable for YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.’​

Just like we shoot pictures in RAW, videos also can be shot in RAW. Because RAW file contains all the color and tonal information and image details captured by Sensor, because it allows professional videographers more headroom while processing videos.

Nikon Cameras support two types of RAW format of videos.

1. Nikon RAW Format called NEV format that uses N-RAW codec.-12-bit

2. MOV format of Apple uses codec ProResRAWHQ – 12 bit

Video file also mentions

subsampling method – we know sampling is done by Analog to Digital converter (ADC).

Why sub sampling? By reducing color information in video signal to allow more luminance data. Just chroma subsampling allows clarity to be maintained while effectively reducing file size by 50%.

Bayer or YCbCr. It comes from the fact that human eye is sensitive to Green colors more than Red and Blue. So in Bayer filter in a grid of 4 pixels, 2 green and 1 Red and 1 Blue pixels are taken. 2 Green pixels average value is taken as Green channel value.

Second aspect of human eye is its more sensitive to luminance( brightness) than Color (Chroma). So 4:4:4 sampling means out of 8 pixels ( 4*2) – Luma( Luminance) and Chroma( color) Information is retained for all pixels. If the ratio is 4:2:2 means – All pixels have Luma but only 2 in first row and 2 in second row retain color information. If the ratio is 4:2:0 means All pixels retain Luma, only 2 in the first row retains Chroma, none in the second row retains Chroma information.

In RAW files only Bayer filter information is used without any loss of information. Bayer filter is placed just after low pass filter ( that blocks high frequency waves reaching image sensor) but before image sensor in terms of lightest travel or rather Bayer color filter array ( CFA) overlaid on top of image Sensir.

YcbCr will explain some other time possibly while we get to printing of pictures.

In RAW files only Bayer filter information is used without any loss of information.

https://petapixel.com/what-is-a-low-pass-filter/#:~:text=To%20combat%20unwanted%20moir%C3%A9%20patterns,moir%C3%A9%20interference%20seen%20in%20photos.

Post 9: Before we can understand why we should use any sort of spatial resolution filter on the camera sensor, let us first explain some basic concepts regarding signal processing. Fundamentally, a 2D image can be decomposed into a sum of sinusoidal waves with different amplitudes and frequencies.

Although a mathematical proof of it would be far beyond this forum, this property is used in many image processing algorithms or image compression formats. To get a sense of the frequency content of an image, one can compute a Fourier transform of it, using the 2D-FFT algorithm.

. It is possible to try this algorithm online with your own images. The center of any 2D Fourier transform comprises the low spatial frequencies of the image whereas the edges contain the high spatial frequencies, namely the fine details of the image.

From a mathematical viewpoint, taking a perfect picture requires a proper estimation of all the spatial frequencies from the object scene. In practice, the worst that could happen to the image content is that some spatial frequencies are lost or recorded with wrong information through the imaging process.

Since the image resolution is finite, there is by definition a maximal spatial frequency that can be recorded, which is sensor related. This is known as the sensor “Nyquist frequency”. Any spatial frequency above this maximal frequency simply cannot be recorded, in the same way, that one cannot count 30 with only 10 fingers. The estimation of this highest spatial frequency recorded depends on the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem. This theorem states that for a given frequency f (in cycles/mm), one needs to acquire at least twice the number of points per cycle. A direct formula should look like this:

When available, this formula is further enriched with information about the pixel shape and display through the Kell factor. The Nyquist spatial frequency of most sensors is usually around 100 cycles/mm.

http://bigwww.epfl.ch/demo/ip/demos/FFT/

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-sensors.htm

Fast Fourier Transformation FFT - Basics

The "Fast Fourier Transform" (FFT) is an important measurement method in the science of audio and acoustics measurement. It converts a signal into individual spectral components and thereby provides frequency information about the signal. FFTs are used for fault analysis, quality control, and condition monitoring of machines or systems. This article explains how an FFT works, the relevant parameters and their effects on the measurement result.

Strictly speaking, the FFT is an optimized algorithm for the implementation of the "Discrete Fourier Transformation" (DFT). A signal is sampled over a period of time and divided into its frequency components. These components are single sinusoidal oscillations at distinct frequencies each with their own amplitude and phase. This transformation is illustrated in the following diagram. Over the time period measured, the signal contains 3 distinct dominant frequencies.

https://www.nti-audio.com/en/support/know-how/fast-fourier-transform-fft

Post 10:

Framerate is number of frames that are captured in a second. Its expressed in Frames per second ( fps). Over a period of time, through trial and error, experimentation and advancement of science persistence of vision was discovered. If still images are shown more than 16 times in a second then it leads to smoother motion.

Cinemas started shooting in 24 Frames per second at this fps, even sound fidelity was good or synchronized nicely with pictures/motion. So this a cinematic standard.

When TV started in 50’s, video signal had be transmitted to TVs over air. TVs were operating at a refresh rate ( rate at which TV shows images per second) of 50 HZ in Europe/India because of electrical power frequency and at 60 HZ in America/South America.

Fun fact is in Japan, eastern half of country runs on 50 HZ and western half of country runs on 60 HZ, so grid steps up and down.

Back to framerates. In Europe and India, video signals transmitted at 25 fps in video standard called as PAL, with 625 scan lines per frame and in US at 30 fps in video standard called NTSC at 525 scan lines per frame ( remember scan lines it will come later in frame size setting) Why 25 and 30, they are multiple of 50 HZ and 60 HZ electrical frequencies. TV Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) used to draw every odd line first and then draw even lines in next sweep from top to down, this is interlacing. CRT requires 2 sweeps to complete one frame. So In India for FPS is 25, one frame in 2 sweeps could be shown in 50 HZ.

Spectrum ( requires micro wave theory, let us not get there now) that is needed for transmission is costly, you didn’t want to waste it and due to interlacing of pictures in 2 sweeps.. So finally settled on 25 fps and 30 fps for India/Europe and US.

25 fps means movies that were shot up at 24 fps needed to be speeded up a bit and audio was slightly higher in pitch. Whereas in US it was almost same.

When I said American TVs ran at 30 fps, they didn’t, it was a lie or. Half a lie as only American B&W TV ran at 30 fps till late 50’s but Color TVs actually ran at 29.97 FPS due to NTSC Standard specification. As we know Movies are shot at 24 fps how to tranmit them over NTSC standard channels.? It goes through a process of speeding and 3:3 pull down method to show vide frames, but it was faster than NTSC standard fps so they slowed down the cinema videos by .1% ( 24 fps/1.001= 23.976 fps).

Why it, requires a post by itself. But simply remember it is for transition between B&W TVs to Color TVs for backward compatibility and to avoid interference between sound and audio signals in spectrum during transmission.

For some time both B&W TVs and Color TVs co-existed like some of us envying in 80’s our neighbours having a Onida colour TV ( Neighbours envy owners pride) But this 23.976 fps to be remembered only if we are transmitting video. However over last many decades, all audio recorders, editing software and standards were built according to old standard. So we are stuck with it.

it is a relic of past but all our cameras including Nikon Z9 and Z8 have this 24 p frame rate. Many camera specify framerates as ‘p” not fps. Note “p” not 24 fps. 24p mean 23.976 fps.

From Nikon Z9 manual “The frame rates for 120p, 100p, 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p, and 24p are respectively 119.88 fps, 100 fps, 59.94 fps, 50 fps, 29.97 fps, 25 fps, and 23.976 fps”.

What does it all mean,

24 p is cinematic standard: just because we shoot 24 p doesn’t mean we get cinematic look, lot more artistic and post processing things like color grading to be taken care.

30 p is a video standard. For smart phone, live TV, sports action etc. wild life shooting.

30 p and 24 p are known as standard frame rates

60 p is slow motion standard.

60 p and 120 p are high frame rates. Gives much more smoother motion but needs lot more space.

Human eyes can see up to frame rate of 1000 fps but our LCD monitors and screens have typically 60 HZ refresh rate. Even if we are viewing 1000 fps videos, it drops down to 60 HZ due to limitations of screens.

If you are curious, you can see more information on maths about 23.976 or 29.97 fps

https://youtu.be/oQzvFKB605s and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GJUM6pCpew&t=43s

Post 12: Let us understand Frame Size, Resolution and Aspect Ratio

These 3 are interrelated concepts.

Before we look at Frame Size, let us understand frame a bit more

What is a Frame?

A frame is a single still image within a video clip.

What is a Pixel?

A pixel usually refers to a physical picture element that emanates light on a video display. But a pixel is also a term for a sample of light intensity—a piece of data for storing luma or chroma values. When stored on tape or on hard disk, the intensity of a pixel has no inherent shape, height, or width; it is merely a data value. For example, one pixel may have a value of 255, and another may have a value of 150. The value of each pixel determines the intensity of a corresponding point on a video display. In an ideal world, all pixels would be captured and displayed as squares (equal height and width), but this is not always the case.

As with any digital image, a frame consists of pixels (picture elements), with each pixel representing a colour or chroma and Luma values within the image.

Frame size is the size of a single video frame measured in pixels. Frame size is width * height of frame. Width of frame depends whether pixels are square or rectangular. Frame size is the same as resolution..

Horizontal and vertical pixel dimensions of format determine the frame size/ resolution and aspect ratio. There are multiple formats that we will see few minutes.

The higher the number of pixels, the more accurately an image can be represented. This is called resolution and is usually measured in megapixels.

Something to note is that while NTSC is 525 lines, only 486 lines were actually used to visually show the image. The other 26 lines were used for vertical synchronization and retrace. That’s why SD digital is 480p, as that’s equal to the actual visual representation of NTSC. But 486 is not divisible by 16, whereas 480 is divisible by 16. Why 16 is such an important number?, typically encoding and compression is done in blocks of 16 pixels. So settled on 480 lines but we just have horizontal line. How do we get pixels?

But how many vertical lines these to be divided?

For this we have to go back to beginning of motion pictures. Mr William Kennedy Dickson who was working with Thomas Edison was given credit to coming out with aspect ratio. Thomas Edison filed a preliminary patent ( Caveat) with patent office for kinetoscope but didn’t have the equipment/device ready. So in 1892 Edison tasked William Dickson who was working in his lab to come up with a device. William came up with film that was originally derived from 2¾” aviation roll film (almost 70mm), cut done the centre ( so it became 35 mm) spliced end-to-end, and perforated for the camera/projector sprockets. Dickson chose an image area of 24.89mm horizontal by 18.67mm vertical, thus the 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Or 4:3 ratio. This became an international standard in 1909, officially set at 34.976 ± 0.025 mm in width, nominally 35mm.

If you want to know why 35 mm? Eastman Kodak met Thomas Edison and asked how wide film should be, it seems Edison held is thumb and forefinger to show width, Mr Eastman Kodak asked an assistant to measure, Edison’s thumb to forefinger was 35 mm length a standard for film cameras and even in DSLRs as size of image sensors.

This 4:3 ratio by which most of silent films were shot. When TV came, it adapted 4:3 as it is easy to transmit 4:3 aspect ratio.

Around 1932, 1.37 ratio was used to shoot movie at “Academy” aspect ratio.

When we do 4:3 ratio – 480 horizontal lines becomes 640 vertical lines. Remember you can only divide horizontal line into vertical, you can’t divide a vertical line into vertical

This 640 *480 is SD video size.

SD video provides lower quality, but is cheaper and faster to stream, and can be used on older devices or in environments with limited Internet bandwidth and connectivity, or for users with limited data plans.

However with advent of TV, foot falls in theatres were going down in early 50’s. So theatres needed to give cinematic appeal, so they started produced pictures at 2.55:1, a much wider screen like IMAX of the day. This ratio eventually standardized to 2.39:1. Over a period of lot of experimentation happened with TVs and Cinemas.

With the rise of television, films moved to wide-screen aspect ratios to offer expansive viewing experiences that TV couldn’t match. Ratios of 2.59 (Cinerama), 2.35 (Cinemascope), 2.2 (Todd A-O), 2.76 (MGM 65) and 2.20 (Super Panavision) presented extremely wide pictures, perfect for telling epic stories like Patton, Ben-Hur and Lawrence of Arabia.

Analog video started shifting towards digital in 1980’s.

What Is HD Format?

High-definition video (HD video) is a video with high resolution and high audio-visual quality. HD has no standardized meaning, but is generally considered as a video with more than 480 vertical scan lines (in the US) or 576 vertical scan lines (in Europe).

Most HD video formats provide either 720 or 1080 vertical scan lines. Common formats include Blu-ray, AVC-Intra, AVCHD, D-5 HD, and DivX Plus HD.

80’s is a huge experimentation and innovation time as personal computers came into being. Various companies were working on high definition television in the USA, but there wasn’t much in the way of agreed-upon standards. Some were thinking analog, some were thinking it ought to go forward as digital, etc. The Federal Communications Commission called together the various players, who format Grand Alliance consortium in 1993. This group hammered together the standards that eventually became the ATSC 1.0 digital television standard used today in the USA.

This brought together representatives from the film and television, consumer electronics, and computer industries. The resulting standard selected a 16:9 (1.77:1) aspect ratio as a compromise between the film industry’s preferred 2:1 ratio (a middle ground between CinemaScope and Widescreen ratios) and the computer industry, which wasn’t all that anxious to leave behind the 4:3 ratio, but at that time was pushing for a 16:10 format.

So the newly minted ATSC 1.0 standard codified 16:9 as the standard for television going forward, and that impacted DVD, Blu-ray, even today’s UltraHD-4K, UltraHD-8K, and ATSC 3.0 specifications. While there are related standards, such as the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) formats for digital cinema, they’re all working around a common set of formats. DCI-2K and DCI-4K are 1.9:1 formats, slightly wider than the consumer standards.

Of course, the need for a standard was always attached to the film and consumer electronics industries. The computer industry doesn’t necessarily care — display chips are programmable in resolution and can support practically anything. So right off, the computer industry adopted 16:10 as a defacto standard. For awhile.

That started to fail in light of the huge volumes of LCD screens driven by the CE folks, all in 16:9 aspect ratio. Since ATSC and HDTV had gone digital, and display technology as well had gone digital, there was no fundamental difference between a television display and a computer display. So over time, the PC folks relented and largely went to 16:9.

Pls read more at https://www.quora.com/Why-do-old-computers-and-TVs-have-an-aspect-ratio-of-4-3-pretty-much-universally - liberally and shamelessly borrowed a lot from this link.

Aspect ratios can be expressed as absolute dimensions (4 x 3), a ratio (4:3), a fraction (4/3), or as the decimal equivalent of a ratio (1.33:1, or simply 1.33). Aspect ratios are generally expressed according to the following conventions:

Video aspect ratios are often written as ratios, such as 4:3 for SD video or 16:9 for HD video.

Film aspect ratios are often written as decimal equivalents, such as 1.33, 1.85, and 2.40. The larger the decimal number, the wider the image. An aspect ratio of 2.40 is wider than 1.85, and 1.85 is wider than 1.33.

Digital video resolutions are usually written as absolute pixel dimensions, such as 720 x 480, 1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080, and so on.

Vertical video on the rise.

With the rise of smartphones and social media channels like Facebook and Instagram, aspect ratios have shifted to a vertical direction. Instagram’s standard aspect ratio is a square (1:1), which is great for close-ups of people’s faces, but fails to capture the magnificence of an alpine vista or beach sunset. So many people view video content on their phones now that a vertical aspect ratio (9.16) has gained wider acceptance.

HD, Full HD, 2K, 4K, 8K and 10K are different screen resolutions, whether for TVs, monitors, among others.

They differ by the number of pixels that are displayed on the screen, that is, how many points will form the image. The more pixels, the better the display quality.

SD: 720*480 – 0.34 MP

HD: 1280 x 720 pixels;

Full HD ( FHD): 1920 x 1080 pixels;

2K: 2048 x 1080 pixels;

4K or Ultra HD: 3840 x 2160 pixels;

8K: 7680 x 4320 pixels;

10K: 10240 x 4320 pixels.

Remember: A higher resolution means more data to deal with

If your camera can do it, shooting in a higher resolution than required for your purposes increases your post-production flexibility: you have more leeway to crop frames, and also more pixels to pull information from, which can give you better results in editing processes like colour grading.

However, handling all that extra data requires more computing power and storage capacity. Don't forget to consider those when you decide which resolution to shoot in

Post 13: One more concept to look into is bitrate

As we understood, encoders, encoder converts analog light( Chroma and Luma in electrical voltage) to digital data in bits ( 1 and 0). As we know, video has continuous stream of frames. So humungous amount of data generated that needs to be stored in a persistent storage or streamed to viewer.

Question is how much amount of data gets generated. As we have seen it depends on various factors

Resolution – total number of pixels in frame, SD video, HD, 2K, 4K or 8K or 10 K

Bit depth – whether each pixel is represented as 8 -bit, 10 or 12 or 14 bit etc

Framerate – how many frames are show in each second fps, 30 fps.60 fps/120 fps etc.

As you can see, higher resolution, higher bit-depth and higher frame rate leads to larger files. Remember what we are discussing is also “largely” applicable to audio as well.

One more important thing to note, most video is compressed including RAW video. Raw video is compressed less or differently using special encoders. So encoder compression efficiency also matters. H.265 produces 50% lesser file size than H.264 encoder.

As we know, in a scene, movement or data changes very little from frame to frame. Many a times, we can be sure that once we have first frame, next few seconds very little changes in that frame. Remember flip books example. How very little changes from frame to frame. So encoder records a full frame and for next 30 frames( taking framerate of 30 fps) , it can send only differential information from 1 frame. This first frame is called key frame as full frame is stored or streamed rest only differential data. This is needed for efficient compression and utilization of bandwidth. Key frame is specified in key frame interval in seconds or i-frame( information frame). This interval value varies from 1 second to 4 seconds ( max).

http://wsa.wikidot.com/tbm:video-basics#:~:text=Video%2C%20or%20moving%20image%20in,clips%2C%20together%20in%20a%20timeline

Post 14: There are one more concept called Bitrate mode to understand:

Constant Bitrate – stores entire video at same bit rate

Variable Bitrate – stores video at different bitrates based on complexity of the scene. For Variable Bitrate, maximum bitrate is also specified.

Why are we discussing bit rate ?

Remember our storage is typically hard drives or CF express cards or SD cards that have maximum or sustained write speeds. If the amount of data that gets generated from encoders exceeds the write speed of our storage, then it leads to buffering and heat generation.

Similarly, while playing the data, we read from storage ( SD/CF Express or hard drives) and so read speed also matters. If we don’t read data at sufficient speed, viewer keeps waiting for data. But when we read data many a times, we also stream it over like live event of sport like cricket match to viewers over air. Bandwidth ( amount of data that can sent over a channel in a second) is also limited. Everyone has a different bandwidth available at their homes specified in Mbps ranging from 2 mbps to 100s of mbps to Gbps. So many factors come into play such as video buffer capacity of viewer etc.

Modern streaming protocols like HTTP Livestreaming (HLS) and Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH) also support Adaptive Bitrate Streaming (ABS). ABS can adjust streaming bitrates in real-time to handle fluctuations in bandwidth without leading to buffering. This ensures viewers are watching the best possible video quality that their current network and device can support.

So in short, we need to understand bitrate while storing or reading or streaming as we come in contact with physical mediums that have fixed capacity to store, write or read.

As it is not a straight forward, depends on many factors. While we can calculate bit rate based on resolution, encoder, bit depth etc. it is lot more nuanced and involved. So each device manufacturer shares bitrate for different combinations. For Nikon Z9, you can check rates at https://onlinemanual.nikonimglib.com/z9/en/06_video_recording_02.html. It mentions average bit rates not maximum bitrates. Don’t forget to convert to Bytes as our storage read /write speeds are specified in Bytes.

You can check calculation for 8K video shared earlier on the forum.

Post 15: Good morning,

if you’re still following posts or I haven’t lost you all, just covered concepts 1 to 8 in detail. Hope you survived those posts to read this post😂

Requesting all of you to go through posts and ask doubts/ clarifications etc.

Few more things to do..

1. Settings on Nikon z8/9 for video shooting and Nikon peculiarities.

2. iMovie workflow demo

3. Requesting @~DSK to schedule a session on Nikon video shooting and DaVinci workflow

Video practical considerations

Radhakrishnan 24 Oct 2024

Fantastic coverage and details @Naveen Kumar S sir. Very detailed and thanks for sharing.

For practical purposes, I will just add my learnings so far.

The frame rate / ISO / Shutter combination is the most tricky part in video.

As you have covered in detail,

For a 25fps (serves most of Asia/ANZ/Europe to PAL standards), one has to shoot no more than 1/50 of a second as shutter speed.

At this slow shutter speed the following things matters:

1. The scene will be too bright even indoors, and makes it completely over blown outdoors in bright sun light.. The Auto ISO will drop down to 64 or 100 base ISO and beyond which point your only option is to increase the f stop… many a times you will have to take it all the away up to f/22 or the narrowest your lens supports. This will defeat the purpose of using a fast aperture lens for that creamy background especially for video. And at that narrow aperture the scenes display severe vignetting and practically unusable.

2. To alleviate #1 above, our only option is to use a Neutral Density filter anywhere from 6 stops to 10 stops to maintain the fast aperture, low base ISO and yet not over blow the shot. Using an ND filter from 6 - 10 stops allows you to maintain your aperture between 1.4-4 or whatever is the fastest in your lens, maintain base ISO and keep the shutter speed to follow 1/50th for 25fps for smooth/shudder free rendering. There are two kinds of ND filters. Fixed ND and VND or Variable NDs. Variable ND range from 1.5 stops to 6 stops, some will come with 6 stops to 10 stops. As far as I have learned, VND or Variable ND filters suffers from quality and most cheap ones are absolute waste of money and time as they heavily do colour fringing and distort the scene.

3. One definitely needs a tripod + a smooth head. Our normal gimbals fair poorly for videos with no resistance at all and your scenes look choppy. The best is to have a fluid head to maintain that kind of low shutter speeds in the following order:

1. Cinematic - 24fps : 1/48s

2. PAL countries - 25fps : 1/50s normal, 50fps : 1/100s slow-mo, 100fps. : 1/200s super slow-mo

3. NTSC countries - 30fps - 1/60s normal, 60fps - 1/120s slow-mo, 120fps: 1/240s super slow-mo

4. From the chart above in #3, you can clear see anything less than 1/100s of shutter speed becomes impractical to hand hold however good our VR or IBIS is and hence it is strongly recommended we use at least a ball head bare minimum.

5. There is also the N-RAW with N-LOG that Nikon promotes. Any modes you shoot with N-LOG the base ISO is already 800 across Nikon Z series and you can’t drop below that. This makes it even more challenging and therefore an ND filter is definitely recommended as there is only so much you recover in post.

Hope it helps!

Naveen kumar 15 March 2024

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Zebra display in exposure simulation to show blown out highlights and shadows is not available in Z8/Z9 for still photos. It’s available for videos. So far managing avoiding highlights by looking into viewfinder and adjusting settings. But it’s a bit of trail and error process esp if a subject has tiny white spots that show up as blown out.

Knew few solutions and workarounds for it. But I have never tried them so far.

@Jeyaram Toehold Mentor is used to a similar feature supported by Sony A1. Currently he is touring Peru. So tried out a solution found on forums and tested it in field. It’s working well so far without any disadvantages. @Jeyaram Toehold Mentor also tried out and reported it’s working fine. So sharing with you all, try it at your own discretion.

Here’s a solution you may try. It’s custom picture control.

Just download Shadhigh.ncp and invert.ncp from below post..

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/67163910

Post has how to use section for instructions. Read post fully to understand it.

No need to format card or delete existing photos from your cf express card to copy the .ncp file.

Just follow instructions. It’s a few minutes' job..

Applied shadhigh.ncp as picture control and zebras are shown in real-time for blown out highlights and dark shadows in the viewfinder.

Approaching birds closer to photograph them

Sridhar Parthasarathy

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Actually I would love to attend a session by someone on how to get close to a bird.

Syam Sunder

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Since you asked, there are no secrets except consistently going and observing. Patch birding helps. You go to your local patch regularly and observe.

Raghu Iyer

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Thanks for the opportunity- I simply follow a rule of closeness

1. If the place something that you only visited once or twice you have to give time for the bird to settle around you like they should feel safe around you and you should note that no extra noise or movement you make rather than important, even if you become super-silent birds will observe that so do minimal activity and spend good time on the field with the bird/ subject.

2.⁠ ⁠If the place is something wherein you can visit often, I suggest to visit multiple times with the subject / birds you know that they reside over there- this is specifically important for residents species like owls or birds like Saras crane, munia etc. who camp during the season and they know that every season they can find me since I’m a regular visitor. Then I also make a point not to disturb them and go closer day by day- I found many bird species become friendly and I have taken many beautiful shot and experienced many such good incidents wherein I became a family or friend to them

Devdath sir

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Small groups of 2-3 will help in approaching birds without disturbing them.

While taking record shots, you should approach the bird step by step. At every step you should keep observing the bird's reaction to your approach.

While taking the attached picture, this logic was followed, and could approach up to say 30 ft close.

Observe this video.

-If the bird is looking all round it indicates it is comfortable.

-If it is sitting on one leg also indicates it is feeling comfortable.

-If the bird closes its eyes while staring at you, it feels comfortable.

So approaching the bird without scaring it is essential.

Different birds have different behavior. Practice will teach.

It will take some time and observation.

I always use a tree or bush in front of me to approach closer.

There are some don't care birds also

Naveen

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Try to approach the bird quietly when it’s busy in some activity like feeding or looking away.

Don’t approach birds in a straight line, use some hiding etc.

Don’t stand in the open in front of a perch, stay behind a bush to allow birds to land and we move to position slowly to take photos.

When no hiding is available, reduce our profile by bending and approach slowly. Having a monopod, tripod etc makes the profile bigger, hand holding helps.

In LRK kind of places, use knee pads and crawl on ground to get closer to birds to get eye level shots.

Staying quiet in the field is important to keenly observe birds and listen to sounds.

Sriram

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In addition, when we sit quietly in a strategic spot without sudden movements birds do become comfortable enough to engage in their normal activity. My Decathlon Backpack Seat Treemetic comes very handy for such situations, located next to a bush or under a tree where we are not too conspicuous.

Binoculars

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Matters related to Bins

Sunil ( SCK)

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Dear friends....Any suggestion for a good binocular...in INR10 to 20K max range? Primary purpose is bird /wildlife watching. Also what is the right magnification 10x or 12x ? My Google research shortlists are Nikon Aculon A211 10x50, Olympus 10x50S and Pentax SP 12x50. Any pointers/suggestions in this regard is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Dr Santosh

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8 x 40 is generally recommended, you can choose between olympus, Vanguard or Nikon.. whichever fits your budget

Jyotsna

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https://amzn.eu/d/3nZ1pTz

https://amzn.eu/d/i7433Ag

Recently did some research on binocs for a friend. Narrowed down to above two. Both available on Amazon.

Would recommend 8x42. I use 10 and my husband 8. Higher the magnification, higher the shake.

Naveen

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For forest and open field birding choose 8*42 or 8*50 as you will be walking around.

10*50 typically used for shore birding will be heavy and bulky.

First number 8 or 10 is magnification or power of bin

Second number is 42 or 50 is size or diameter of objective lens.

When you’re investing in accessories like binoculars invest for long term.

Feature to look are

1.⁠ ⁠Low light capabilities

2.⁠ ⁠⁠fog / water proof

3.⁠ ⁠⁠distortion

4.⁠ ⁠⁠color rendition fidelity

5.⁠ ⁠⁠if you wear glasses, look for adjustable eye piece

Typically you will find zeiss terra ED or Nikon Monarch M7 will be good if you can increase budget. Nikon is better these days.

You may find few decent ones in decathlon at lower price range. Try them before you buy.

Arjit sir

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Well at that price point, you will end up getting the dregs of the optic world. Poor optical performance in terms of contrast colour fidelity and sharpness, a small sweet spot, high levels of chromatic aberration. Coupled with that expect a weak body made of plastic, plastic eye cups that will keep falling down.

New binoculars in town

https://www.zeiss.com/consumer-products/int/hunting/binoculars/conquest-hdx/conquest-hdx-8x42.html

Rick Young Outdoors

Ultra Light Bino Harness

The best around. But available only in USA. Get some

Sid

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Recently bought the nikon m5 monarch ..10*42 ...it's a good one actually

Naveen Arur

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do check Decathlon India website

they have their own brand as well as resell vanguard ones

and oh! buy a waterproof one if possible

Shiva IT

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https://www.yankodesign.com/2024/04/13/yashicas-4k-night-vision-binoculars-give-you-ai-powered-super-sight-for-less-than-a-pair-of-airpods/?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialWarfare

150 USD, many would be tempted

Jay

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Has anyone purchased a night vision binoculars and brought it india without any issues ?? I have been getting mixed feedback about customs not permitting them and some saying they got it without any issues.

Radha sir

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Nikon ACULON A211 -10-22 x 50 8252 Binocular (Black)

https://amzn.in/d/0ChpRye

NIKON PROSTAFF P3 8x42

https://amzn.in/d/du4lzV3

Are these good for a beginner bird watcher ? This is for a friend of mine who is not in to photography. Just developed some interest in morning walk bird watching

Swapnil

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Go for Sony, 8x42 is good for birding

Prasad sir

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prostaff is better

8 is the magnification and 42 is the object lens diameter

22x 50 is difficult to hold steady

Sudhir Paul

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The Vanguard or Vortex 8x42 is a tried and tested pair in the birding circles in India. If I am not wrong, Mohammed Mothi from Chennai deals with these also

Rajiv Verma

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Please advise best value for money binoculars I need to gift a bird observer

Sudhir paul

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Nikon Monarch’s are a decent pair for absolute starters

Gurutej

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Got Vanguard from mothi. It's good. Now he is dealing with vortex only i think. But it's not in that budget

Vortex was around 15k and 23k few months back. U can check for latest price

Ethics in wildlife

—-

Naveen

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0279718

Jayesh kini

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We emphasize that there remains a huge gap in our knowledge of flicker perception by animals, which could potentially be hampering our understanding of its impacts on biodiversity, especially in key taxa like bats, nocturnal birds and insects.

Good enough for me to pause flash till I read more

Swapnil

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Diffused light can be used

Who is certifying it?

Radha sir

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Think wildlife, bird photography have always been slightly edgy and often stays on the knife’s edge. Safaris, going on noisy vehicles in to the wildlife habitats, use of flash, have all been edgy topics always. A tiger in a water hole surrounded by 15 safari jeeps is no less in troubling and disturbing them. Shooting in brigade road with humans showing up in your frame technically amounts invading their privacy as well(one may argue this way too..). I for once, have always been confused with all this… what is that thin line that one should stay to be within the boundaries of the ethical limits… think like every thing this evolves too by government laws, regulators, ecologists, naturalists, and perhaps us as photographers too… difficult to comprehend..

Naveen

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am saying in general, not in particular..most ethics discussions on wildlife are tricky. They end up on a slippery slope.

Human activity disturbs wildlife. Humans are greedy and resource hungry. That’s the maximalist position. We can say we are conserving but that’s after decimating. Humans need wildlife and forests, they don’t need us. Left alone they will do well by themselves. Many of us don’t know how to live with less resources and in harmony with nature.

How much minimum damage we want to do to wildlife that we love is a key question. Even travel or walking in pristine wildlife habitats causes damage. We can say tourism helps in conservation. Air Travel, local travel in SUVs, food, stay, trash etc all impact nature. Why travel to pristine locations to take one more photo of endangered species? Or record sightings to tick mark a list? Best is to stay at home and watch Animal Planet shows.

Most of the discussions are about moralistic superiority rather than discussions or practices from a wildlife point of view. Arguments like I don’t photograph with a long lens or use flash or calls and use only binoculars, so am superior is best avoided.

Appreciate you trying to find what’s acceptable and causes minimal damage to wildlife.

Define your own thresholds based on literature / guidelines and stick to them.

moderation is key whether it’s food or wildlife. Enjoy.

Jayesh Kini

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Totally agree, the base line for me here is , as mentioned Define own thresholds on literature /guidelines and stick to them Following general practice just because it is done by everyone, needs introspection.

Lakshmi

—-

As long as the bird is ok 😄 The answers depends on what you want to do with flash. Here’s how I handled it when I had a similar question in my mind.

My story: If I need, I will use it. If I don’t see a need, I don’t. I haven’t used it yet for the below reasons.

Coming to the use cases:

1.⁠ ⁠Flash is used to get rid of shadows. I don’t shoot portraits and l thrive in shadows. No use, Case dismissed.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠As a photographer, I want to see how flash works on birds - With 600mm with monopod/tripod, I felt the entire set up to be heavy. The thrill of photography is in composing and I get totally lost when in front of a heavy set up. May be I can try using it in a hide and see the results. I don’t prefer shooting in hides, so haven’t used it yet. Case dismissed.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠Flash helps in studio like portraits with black BG when situations are ideal for it - I have a lot of black BG shots and don’t want to force one too with flash. Case dismissed.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠Creative photography- Use of flash with slow shutter will open a lot of opportunities. I’m planning to explore this on common birds. Project pending.

https://www.janwegener.com/flash-for-bird-photography

Naveen

—---

This topic elicits a wide multitude of responses. Flash for wildlife ( just not birds)

1.⁠ ⁠doesn’t harm birds

2.⁠ ⁠⁠blinds birds

3.⁠ ⁠⁠can be used as human presence and camera sounds scares birds.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠can be used sparingly and in short intensity

5.⁠ ⁠⁠for macro handling of subjects is harmful.

6.⁠ ⁠Never use or don’t flash like that.

Pick any response you like. There’s no consensus and widely accepted scientific studies on harmful effects of flash on wildlife.

It’s a known fact that flash causes blinding for night birds like owls and nightjars that hunt in the dark .

Avoid using flash as much as possible, don’t flash bird continuously, if you use it, use it sparingly in low intensity.

Yvs Prasad

—---

Is it okay to use a flash in bird photography ?

For ID cards of birds please check https://ogaclicks.com/?s=identification

Humming bird photography

—---------------------------------

https://photographylife.com/photographing-fierce-hummingbird

https://photographylife.com/hummingbird-photography-tips-facts-1

https://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/attracting-hummingbirds/how-fast-do-hummingbirds-fly/

Rufous-crested Coquette!!

This is one of the top attraction in Peru birding, its a strikingly beautiful Humming bird.

@ Peru, May - 2025.

#Redfortnight

Humming bird, Ecuador

Anna's Hummingbird, Vancouver-Canada. ISO 800, f6.3, 600mm 1/500s

#GreenFortnight

https://www.instagram.com/p/DB-YOBmTeG-/?igsh=MXUxbGkwZ2hiMXl1

In this image if I had used auto the focus jumped to the flower. I avoided the flower and placed the AF area to the left of the flower. Whenever the hummingbird flew in, subject detection kicks in and grabs it

Jeyaram

—-------

I also used the TC for Yellow-eared Parrots and also for perched hummingbirds as they are generally small and because of the minimum focus distance of 4.3 meters

Any given day I will always choose the big glass but one can mostly manage without big glass

You are right, most of the feeders you don't need 600 prime, but few rare species of Hummingbirds which don't visit feeders you need them, also I used it with a tc while shooting Yellow eared parrots.

I had similar combination in my trip to Peru. Minimum focus distance of 180-600 allowed me to get closer to hummingbirds

Anantha murthy

—--------

You are right, most of the feeders you don't need 600 prime, but few rare species of Hummingbirds which don't visit feeders you need them, also I used it with a tc while shooting Yellow eared parrots.

Indu Sekhar

The Costa Rica trip was my first bird photography trip outside India. Bird watching and photography tour is a big industry there - found the feeders everywhere in most of the road side restaurants and so called luxury resorts. The hummingbirds are being fed syrups through the feeders everywhere and found them mobbing the feeders like flies. The multi flash set up was indeed an experience for me. It’s not very difficult to take photos of the hummingbirds (without flash) with the cameras that are available today, have taken many photos though yet to process them. We have different ethical standards here in India than in those countries we even call feeding a bird here as unethical and perhaps even unlawful.

Jeyaram

—------

I had the pleasure of shooting hummingbirds in Costa Rica, Colombia last year and Peru this year.

My first experience was in Costa Rica where we were mostly using multi-flash setup. It made sense during DSLR days where subject tracking wasn't available and it is very difficult to nail critical focus on the birds eye. It was fun shooting with flash and able to nail some amazing action shots. However, it felt bit artificial due to the usage of flash.

In the same trip, I experimented shooting hummingbirds in natural lights by using subject detection and tracking and got good results.

We went to Colombia from Costa Rica and where there was no flash setup. It was very interesting to establish techniques (figuring out the right AF area mode, right shutter speed combination) and really enjoyed shooting them in natural light.

In my Sony A1, I have mostly used Zone and Wide auto focus areas to nail the focus.

I have seen good results with shutter speeds varying from 1/640 to 1/3200 as hummingbirds are mostly static when they are feeding on nectars. However freezing their wing is a challenge. With flash it is easy to freeze the wing due to very high flash duration (say 1/16,000)

However, rolling shutter effect has major impact when shooting hummingbirds. My wife was shooting with her Sony a7iv and couldn't really shoot good action images. A1 and Z9/Z8 don't have any issues due to their stack sensor design

I managed to get some decent images in my recent trip to Peru with both my Sony A1 with 600 F4 lens and Z9 with 180-600mm

Overall I enjoy shooting hummingbirds in natural light than shooting with multi-flash setup

I continued using the same

Anantha Murthy

—-----

My two cents about flash photography for Hummingbirds.

I have photographed Hummingbirds in Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru. Personally I don't like the feel of pictures where flash is used, it looks too plasticy I feel, its my personal opinion only, not imposing it in any one. With new age cameras and lenses you don't really need to use flash even in low light. I am sharing some of the images which is shot without using flash, with Z9 and 600mm f4 lens. Please feel free to comment

Jeyaram

—--------

Btw, @⁨Jeyaram Photographer Friend⁩ travelled to South America twice in last one year. Lot of his hummingbird flight shots are taken at 1/1250 and 1/1600 without flash. He said hummingbirds are almost stationery when they come to drink nectar. High fps and eye focus of modern cameras help a lot. Requesting him to share more..

In my recent trip to Peru, I had used 180-600 lens more than I expected.

This hummingbird was so small and always used to perch on this specific branch. It’s not shy and didn’t my our presence.

I couldn’t fill the frame with my 600 F4 even with 1.4x TC because of its minimum focus distance of > 4 meters

Minimum focus distance of 180-600 at 600mm is about 2.4 meters allowed me to get closer and able to fill the frame

Has anyone tried extension tubes on super telephoto primes?

Hummingbirds, when hovering or feeding are relatively still. I have been successful freezing them from 1/640 sec. However, their wings are much faster and need very high shutter speed to freeze them. I pick the shutter speed depending on the light available. Sometimes, lower shutter speed also freezes the wings to an extent but not always

Ravi Desai

—-----

Yes, they can flap their wings 50-80 times per Second !!

Gurutej Acharya 23 Mar 2024

—-------------------------

Jungle bushquail has that distinct brown eyestripe surrounded by white

Lost focus bird while its on Sun center

Lakshmi

One point : In the past, I’ve lost focus the moment a bird comes in front of the sun. I lock the focus in one of the modes, keep tracking the bird and fire the frames without touching the BBF. What’s your experience?

Naveen

Agree. That’s what I did. This is the safest method that works well.

Losing focus is a problem with a single bird when it comes right in front of the sun as highlights would be blown out, no contrast. in a flock of birds, focus moves to where the camera finds contrast, say a bird outside of the Sun ring. So it’s easier to shoot a flock of birds.

Typically, birds are at a hyper focal distance, not close to the camera for these kinds of shots. We take silhouettes as the sun is behind subjects. So subject detection can’t find eyes, the camera focuses on the body of a bird. It doesn’t matter which bird gets focus. That’s good enough for us.

Just acquire focus while birds are away from Sun, once we get focus just release Af-On bbf to lock focus and keep firing as birds fly in front of sun.

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher Male vs Female ID

Odkf upper: female, lower: male

Export Certificate to take camera gear out of India.

When traveling abroad, customs officials in India typically do not stop us for the gear we carry out of the country. However, upon returning, customs officers may sometimes ask for proof or question why we didn’t declare the equipment when leaving India. Although we might not be stopped or questioned on every return, this scenario is similar to vehicle insurance—something ignored until an incident occurs. Not having an export certificate means taking a risk upon re-entry.

Indian customs allows a duty-free limit of ₹50,000 for gadgets; items exceeding this amount are subject to customs duty. Since camera gear is usually much more expensive, this is an important consideration.

Few things to note:

Allocate an additional 45 minutes beyond the usual airport formalities.

The export certificate remains valid for three years. You’ll need to obtain a new certificate either once every three years or whenever you carry or replace equipment with new gear.

Keep copies of your gadget purchase invoices as proof—digital copies are acceptable as well.

Steps

—------

Use the following steps to obtain an export certificate for camera gear at Bengaluru Airport. The process is likely similar at other airports across India.

1.⁠ ⁠Print a letter with equipment- Format is given below.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠After completing immigration, but before reaching the security X-ray machine, proceed to the far end on the left side. There is a display board providing directions to the customs desk. However, the staff managing the queues may either not be aware of customs procedures or insist that you join the line. Simply disregard this and head straight to the customs des. This desk may be before immigration in some airports. So double check at your airport.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠Custom desk may be empty. Next to it a little away you will find a security person manning the material/machinery movement gate.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠Ask the security person when the Customs officer will come and how to reach them.

5.⁠ ⁠⁠Officers' names are displayed with phone number ( landline 080 22001404), called last one in the list a junior officer. Thought will start at the lowest level.

6.⁠ ⁠⁠Talked with the junior officer, he asked about gear, value, purpose, travel date, mention that your flight is in the next 2 hours and waiting at the customs counter before security. Time is important, if you have sufficient time and indicate that you are willing to wait, they don't have an excuse not to show up.

7.⁠ ⁠⁠ Waited for 15 to 20 mins for the officer to show up.

8.⁠I presented a letter I had brought and firmly requested an official export certificate. The customs officer was reluctant and grumbled about it. Then asked him to sign the letter that I brought along. Explained that I had obtained a valid 3-year export certificate several years ago and questioned why such certificates are no longer issued. I asked him to issue one and highlighted how straightforward the process used to be. I also mentioned that the certificate format is now missing from the website. This approach was intended to demonstrate familiarity with the process and assert experience. However, you may not need to go through all this if the customs officer is in a cooperative mood.

9.⁠ ⁠⁠Finally the officer relented and produced an empty certificate, asked me to fill, and checked the gear.

10. The officer signed and sealed it. It's valid for 3 years. My redacted certificate was shared below for your reference.

11. The letter that I brought was useless just to show the officer that I am serious about getting an export certificate. Sometimes they put a seal and sign on the letter itself.

12.⁠ C⁠complete airport security after taking certificate and proceed to your gates.

Here’s the export certificate that i got ( redacted few personal details)

Here’s the letter format. Take 2 copies with updated information.

—----------------------

​​Date – 24 Jan 2024

To whomsoever it may concern

I, << Full name as in Passport>> holding passport number XXX hereby declare that I am traveling to the Masai Mara National Reserve for a photography trip. As part of this journey, I will be carrying the following cameras and lenses:

I am bringing these cameras and lenses for personal use and photography purposes during my stay at the Masai Mara National Reserve. I assure you that I will not use these equipment for any commercial or business-related activities during my trip.

Sincerely,

<< Full Name as in passport>>

—-----------

In case you are going on a business trip but carrying equipment.. Update the paragraph after table

I am taking these cameras and lenses for personal use and photography purposes during my stay in Europe and will bring them with me back to India. I assure you that I will not use these equipment for any commercial or business-related activities during my trip.

—----------------

Or there’s one more format that Dr Kalyan Anand uses. Here it is..

Customs declaration form-1.pdf

Use any format but have a letter with you.

Customs Rules

—--------------

Indian customs regulations allow duty-free import of certain equipment, with a general limit of ₹50,000 for personal baggage, and specific allowances for professional equipment, electronics, and gifts.

Here's a breakdown of the key points:

General Duty-Free Allowance:

Total Value Limit: The total value of duty-free items (including electronics, gifts, and other goods) is ₹50,000 per passenger.

Electronics: This includes items like laptops, computers, and other electronic devices, but not LED/LCD/Plasma TVs.

Gifts: Unconditional gifts worth up to ₹50,000 are allowed

Here's the process that I found on the internet but couldn't find the format on the customs website. Sharing here for reference, no need to go through it.

—--------------------

New at Bengaluru International Airport-Export Certificate and Courier Assessment status a click away

Bangalore Customs introduces two first of its kind initiatives through online portal to ease the waiting time of the passengers

and to enable faster clearance of courier consignments

The next time you travel abroad via Bengaluru International Airport and have high value goods, which you wish to bring back on return, you can avoid spending time at the airport to obtain the Export Certificate. Instead you can simply log on to a website, fill in the format available there, carry a hard copy with you and get it endorsed from Customs when you reach the airport. The Bangalore Customs have set up a smart process through their web portal www.bangalorecustoms.gov.in to make the process of obtaining the Export Certificate simpler, faster and more convenient.

In another initiative, the courier consignees/ importers would now be able to access real time information regarding issues their consignment is facing with the Customs. The Bangalore Customs have created a link on their website which will enable the consignee/ importer to feed their Airway Bill No. and obtain information regarding queries, if any, raised by Customs. This will help them in providing appropriate clarifications to the Customs, through their courier company, without visiting the airport.

Commenting on these initiatives, Mr. Sandeep Prakash, Commissioner of Customs, Bengaluru said, “These two initiatives are being attempted for the first time at an Indian airport. We are delighted to have made a time consuming process simple and more transparent. We hope this will considerably reduce the time spent at the airport for the passengers and enable the courier consignments to be cleared faster. This will also add to the efficiency merits of the Bengaluru International Airport.”

Commenting on the impact of this change, Mr. Hari Marar, President, Airport Operations, BIAL said,"Continuously improving efficiency is a key priority for us at Bangalore International Airport Limited. To achieve this, it is critical that our partners and other stakeholders demonstrate equal commitment to our vision, and we are delighted that Bangalore Customs is taking proactive measures to improve our customer experience. These new initiatives will bring in greater simplicity, transparency and ease for passengers, importers as well as courier service providers"

The format of the Export Certificate has been made available on the Commissionerate websitewww.bangalorecustoms.gov.in under a separate link “Export Certificate”. The passengers can download the format, fill in all the particulars and mail the duly filled in form to acairportbangalore@gmail.com as an attachment, 24 hours in advance of their flight. The passengers may carry hard copy of the Export Certificate, filled in by them, to the airport and present the same to the Customs officers manning the designated counter at the departure level of the airport.

Notes to the editor

Export Certificates are issued to passengers departing India for the high value items carried by them which they intend to bring back. The Certificate is a proof that the item brought back is not a newly imported item and therefore no duty needs to be paid in this respect. The online facility initiated now is in addition to the existing options of the Certificate being issued at the Customs Office (at Queens Road) and at the International Airport.

Similarly, the courier consignment information facility is available on the Bangalore Customs websitewww.bangalorecustoms.gov.in under a separate link “Courier Assessment”. The courier importer can click on this link, fill in the Airway Bill Number in the relevant window and get the information if any query has been raised regarding that consignment. The courier consignments are cleared at two separate courier terminals operated by DHL and EICI at the Bengaluru International Airport. The Customs related documentation is filed by the concerned courier company. In case of any doubt, the Customs raise a Query Memo on the courier company and thereafter decide the matter, including duty liability, based on the reply received. Presently, the importer/ consignee has no first-hand knowledge in this regard. With the new initiative, the consignee would be able to proactively assist the courier company in giving an appropriate reply. This would enable faster clearance besides giving a first-hand stake to the importer in the clearance process.

Nikon financing options in India to buy gear - Precautions

Santosh

—----------

Nikon Z6 iii (body only), discounted price 198000rs. If opting for EMI by HDFC finance... They are giving 1 EMI free

In their 18/0 scheme, no upfront payment, and 1 EMI of 11000rs free

So effective price is 187000rs.

Sounds like a good offer

Naveen

—---------

I=Finance looks good but better to get outright discounts from dealers in case cash is available.

Finance tax implications on individual EMIs to be accounted for. So total savings would be lot lower or we end up paying more.

Nirmal

—-------

Generally an interest free loan is from the discount given upfront. So it works either ways, upfront discount or subvention to dealer/financier for 0% loan

Naveen

Each installment had 3 components in it

1.⁠ ⁠Principal

2.⁠ ⁠⁠interest

3.⁠ ⁠⁠IGST (9%)

1 and 2 depend on the interest rate & number of installments, always clearly shared.

IGST components are not typically shared by dealers during signing the finance. It will appear in statements later. Make sure it’s part of the monthly installment amount.

Nirmal

Igst is not charged on interest

Best Mass Storage solution to dump raw files

Susheel wanted to know

So What is th best Mass Storage solution to dump raw files ?

Naveen

On trips use 4TB / 2TB ssds to dump raw files. Upon completion of trip, cull them and keep only subset typically 1 to 10% of total files from the trip. Use fast raw viewer on Mac ( paid version) or faststone viewer ( free version) to shortlist photos. These dedicated viewers are very good.

1.⁠ ⁠Store photos on your high capacity external drive ( 5 TB to 20 TB) / SSD or DAS/NAS.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠keep a copy on cloud storage or in one more external backup drive.

External drives are many. Western digital / seagate I had been using for many years. Am sure our members will have their own favorite brands.

SSD - Samsung T7/T9 are good.

Trick is to be highly disciplined to cull photos ruthlessly else no amount of storage would be sufficient.

While buying

1.⁠ ⁠external hard drives go for minimum of 5600 or 7200 rpm disks ( higher RPM preferred) and usb-C 3.2 Gen 2. Typical Capacities range from 1 Tb to 20 Tb or more.

2.⁠ ⁠For SSD’s go for NVMe not SATA. Typical Capacities from 1TB to 4 TB or higher.

Brand names were shared earlier. Samsung buy from their website directly.

From Radha Sir

+1 for Samsung T7/T9 - they should have named it as T9 and T8 to pair with my Z9 and Z8

Naveen

—-----------------

Difference between EHD and SSD

Storage, we need data to be stored even when there’s no power ( battery or power line) .

Two types of external hard drives that we use these days

External hard drives use magnetic disks to store data. needs connector and mechanical parts to read data from magnetic disk. Remember old LP vinyl records of gramophone but a lot smaller, faster and more capacity. Typically many terabytes of capacity. Technology traces back to 50’s but evolved a lot. It has delicate moving parts, so if it falls it is difficult to retrieve data. Like dslr shutters, mechanical parts have limited life span, as they wear out after some time.

Ssd- solid state drives- it stores Data on flash memory much like ( not exactly) usb sticks. Rather use charge in semiconductors to store data. These are the latest tech only a few decades back tracing to bubble memory technology. There are no moving parts, more durable, lower capacity, a lot faster and more costlier.

There are two types of connectors

SATA - serial advanced technology attachment was introduced in 2003 to connect storage with the motherboard. It’s more popular and more supported as it’s 2 decades old. Supports up to 600 mbps speeds.

NVMe- non volatile memory Express was introduced in 2011. It's a lot faster up to 20 gbps speeds. It’s more costly.

Ssds support SATA and NVME. Hdd supports only SATA max speed at 300 mbps.

SSDs that support NVMEs are latest and faster. Older Ssds with SATA caps at 600 Mbps and new SSDs with NVME between 1000 mbps - 6000 mbps ( depends on PCIE version).

We can discuss more about connector types, controllers, interfaces on motherboard like PCIE versions and generations of technologies etc but it gets more confusing.

May not be accurate as I tried simplifying a lot. Hope above helps.

DAS - Direct Attached Storage

Vinay:

https://arihant.net.in/product/16tb-lacie-2big-thunderbolt-3-stgb16000400/

Hii Doc.. Check this out... https://arihant.net.in/product/16tb-stardom-i310-b31-type-c-external-storage/

Requirements:

3 to 5 bay enclosure

Capacity - 8TB to 24TB

OS support - Mac

Support for SATA HDD/SSD; Support for NVMe is preferred and would like to use NVMe as caching layer

Need RAID support for both SATA and NVMe

Hardware RAID preferred with support for RAID 0, 1, 10, 5 and 6 (10 and 6 are optional)

External interface - USB 3.2 Gen 2 or later

Plug and Play with MacBook

Products Available

LaCie 2big RAID - Seagate

https://www.seagate.com/in/en/products/creative-pro/lacie-2big-raid/

Capacity - 4TB to 48TB

HDD

RAID 0/1

Terramaster D5 Thunderbold 3 (D8 with 8 bay enclosure)

https://www.terra-master.com/global/products/video-professional-das/d5-thunderbolt-3.html

5 bay enclosure

SATA 2.5” or 3.5” HDD or SSD

Up to 70TB

Thunderbolt 3 - 40 Gb/s

Read speed 1035 MBPS

Hardware RAID 0, 1, 10, 5, JBOD and single disk array

Hot spare; Hot swap; RAID management

Flash cache - What is this?

Terramaster D8 Hybrid

https://www.terra-master.com/global/products/homesoho-das/d8-hybrid.html

4 SATA; 4 NVMe

Up to 128 TB

No RAID for NVMe

RAID 0/1 for SATA HDD

USB 3.2 Gen 2

Terramaster D5 Hybrid

https://www.terra-master.com/global/products/homesoho-das/d5-hybrid.html

2 SATA; 3 NVMe

Up to 68 TB

No RAID for NVMe

RAID 0/1 for SATA HDD

USB 3.2 Gen 2

OWC Express 4M2

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB3EX4M2/

Four-Slot Thunderbolt (40Gb/s) NVMe M.2 SSD Enclosure for NVMe M.2 2280 SSDs

Up to 32TB of storage

No RAID

Optional SoftRAID for performance and protection

Thunderbolt 3

Also comes up with drives and SoftRAID models

OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MEQCTJB000O/

Four-Bay USB 3.2 (10Gb/s) External Storage Enclosure for 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA Drives

Up to 947 MB/s

No hardware RAID

Potential Solutions

14TB Total capacity with hybrid storage

Setup

Host

MacBook Air M2/M3, 1TB or 2TB storage, 16GB to 24GB RAM

MacBook Pro M4, 1 TB or 2TB storage, 16GB to 32GB RAM

Storage Enclosure

Terramaster D5 Hybrid

Alternatively Terramaster D8 Hybrid can also be considered for future proofing. This can take 4 HDDs and 4 M.2 NVMe SSD

SATA HDD

WD 14TB Red Pro 7200 rpm SATA III 3.5" Internal NAS HDD x 2

NVMe M.2

Samsung 2TB 990 PRO PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 Internal SSD x 2

Backup Device

LaCie 16TB d2 Professional USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 External Hard Drive

Cost

* cost does not include tax and shipping cost

Description of the setup

Configure the HDD in RAID 1 mode. This will be hardware RAID utilizing the capability provided by the Terramaster D5 Hybrid enclosure. This protects the data from single drive failure. This acts as 2nd tier of storage. The volume created out of this storage will be used to store data that is not accessed frequently as accessing the data from the HDD will be slower. Format this volume with APFS (Apple File System).

Terramaster D5 Hybrid solution does not have RAID support for the M.2 NVMe SSDs. It has to be done in MacOS using Disk Utility. Create RAID 1 volume using both NVMe SSDs. This protects the volume from single drive failure. Format this volume using APFS. This volume will be used to store recent and more frequently accessed data. Move the data from this volume to the volume created with HDD when it is not accessed frequently. This is the 1st tier of storage

External HDD (LaCie 16TB drive) will be used as the backup of the overall storage. Backup data from both volumes regularly to this external drive.

https://pibox.in/product/m-2-dual-nvme-ngff-dual-enclosure-pibox-india-nvme-ngff-sata-dual-protocol-usb-c-3-2-2x2-4-raid-modes-jbod-raid-0-1-clone-tool-free-aluminum-m2-ssd-reader-support-m-bm-key-2230-2242-228/

M.2 Dual NVMe NGFF Dual Enclosure, PiBOX India NVMe/NGFF SATA Dual Protocol USB-C 3.2 2×2 , 4 RAID Modes JBOD/RAID 0/1/CLONE, Tool-Free Aluminum M2 SSD Reader Support M & B&M Key 2230/2242/2280 SSD

This appears as a decent DAS with RAID option for storage.

Data Recovery software and companies for failed memory cards/ hard drives.

Sometimes, hard drives fail or don't get recognized by our laptops or CF Express or memory cards don't work). It's important to invest in data recovery software before we go for costlier recovery options.

Dr Kalyan and Naveen have the following software and found to be effective. It's really simple and intuitive to use.

This software is found to be effective as stated in the product website. Buy a pro version. Costs Rs 3000 ( in Nov 2024) for lifetime upgrades ( lifetime is defined as life of product!) from https://www.cleverfiles.com/?srsltid=AfmBOopCu_xOSYvV71KdxSFpMWt8A99WKRffSj9coc6TK0TxbJpCUHK8

Recover deleted, lost, or damaged data, personal or business documents, music, photos, videos, and other files from internal, external and virtual hard drives, memory cards, iPhones, iPads, Android devices,

It's important to note, many times, we may not recover data from external hard drive failures if the drive has mechanical failures or falls.

Many of us have the following workflow when we carry a laptop with us on trips. .

From the field, we reach our place and copy photos from memory cards to the local drive of Mac/Windows

Do sorting and culling of photos.

Copy photos to a backup External drive.

Now if any recent data is not recoverable due to some reasons from external/backup drive. You may use disk drill on Mac/Windows to recover data even after emptying Bin or Trash. It's important to recover data from Mac/Windows as soon as possible, not after a long gap.

Data Recovery Companies.

If you’re not able to recover data with human effort, then approach data recovery companies, they are extremely costly. They should be your last option.

They quote prices depending on the size of the hard drive. Some charge Rs 10000 to 25000 even to give initial estimates. For a 5 TB hard drive ( doesn't matter even if it's partially full or has less than 800 MB data in it). They quote anywhere between Rs 95000 to Rs 115000.

Stellar data recovery is needed for mechanical failures or disk not being recognized by Mac/Windows after trying out disk drill software. If your data is super important or precious then here’s one company really at the top end of the spectrum in India.

https://www.stellarinfo.co.in/locations/data-recovery-bengaluru.php?srsltid=AfmBOopDbC6idWRTH4d0C4yBbTgs43lYTzXg4l3HG5gY89_OanS0eQGW

One more company you may consider. ( These are less costly than stellar but less capable as well).

https://www.bworld.co.in/

Tarang-

Is there a way to recover photos from a trip I made in November? I’ve quick formatted the memory card multiple times after that.

SRAVAN

—-------

As per my last 3 weeks research in this recovery area, I would rank Prograde recovery software the least. It is unable to identify Z9 nef files. It's naming something else and due to which unable to preview too.

It takes half a day to fully read 512gb card even from its own image on a very high end machine.

I would suggest to try other software first and better to keep Prograde as the last option.

You need equal amount of disk space either internal or external for ProGrade Recovery Pro s/w to start its recovery process. It creates an image and then scans and takes long time, some times few hours. No other s/w does this. Most of other s/w are instantaneous and previews instantly.

For recovery of nef files, most s/w asks to purchase, few of them are on monthly charges and only few are with lifetime license.

Devadatha sir

—------------

Usually no, but there are a few narrow exceptions.

What happens when you format a CFexpress card

Quick format (camera or computer):

Only the file table is erased. The image data may still exist until it’s overwritten.

Repeated formatting:

Each format increases the chance that file system structures and parts of the data blocks get overwritten.

Camera usage after formatting:

New photos/videos overwrite old data very quickly on CFexpress cards due to wear-leveling.

Why CFexpress is especially hard to recover from

CFexpress cards use:

NVMe + wear-leveling

Background block remapping

TRIM / garbage collection (often automatic)

Because of this:

Old data blocks are often physically erased soon after formatting

Even if nothing new is written, the controller may clear blocks internally

Recovered files (if any) are often corrupted

Recovery chances by scenario

Situation

Recovery chance

Formatted once, not used

Low–Moderate

Formatted multiple times

Very low

Formatted + new photos taken

Almost zero

Secure/low-level format

Zero

What you can still try (only if card not used after last format)

Immediately stop using the card

Use professional recovery software (computer, not phone):

PhotoRec (free, deep scan)

R-Studio

Disk Drill (paid)

EaseUS Data Recovery

Use a CFexpress card reader, not the camera

Recover to a different drive

⚠️ Expect:

Missing filenames

Partial or corrupted images

Many unusable RAW files

When professional recovery won’t help

Even data-recovery labs cannot bypass:

Wear-leveling

Controller-level erasure

TRIM-cleared NAND

So labs often refuse CFexpress recovery unless the card is physically damaged.

Bottom line

If a CFexpress card has been formatted multiple times, the odds of recovering old pictures are extremely slim, especially if the card was reused afterward.

Dr Kalyan Anand

—-------

if you have overwritten then it is difficult, disk drill is best, if you courier your memory card, I can try, bring the card back to mangalajodi

Formatting of SSD cards - how often and few issues

—-------------------------------

Jyotsna

—--------

Naveen, how often should one format the cards? I generally tend to format it every time after downloading the images, instead of deleting the images and re-using the card.

Anupama

—--------

I format it every time after I transfer images from the card before the next shoot. Is this the right way to do ? Is it unsafe to format cards more often?

Naveen

—------

No specific guidance as such. Do full format once in few months when card was filled up few times or after every major firmware release. formatting once a quarter after couple of major trips

For anupamaa - Not needed as such. Your usage is minimal as I understand, so once in a while before a major trip or firmware upgrade you can format.

Funny thing is the lifespan of cf express cards is not mentioned anywhere explicitly. But should last easily for 8 to 10 years.

Big problem is CF express cards; it has 50 pins to read/ write data. Many times some alignment issues crop up leading to funny behaviors of camera.

most likely encounters physical damage than damage or lesser life due to formatting. So you shouldn’t worry much.

Formatting is nothing more than re-arranging blocks like any other read-write operation but to the original state. so technically it shouldn’t affect.

Radha sir

—-------

I do the same… once in 5-6 used I do a hard format also

Shouldn’t be a major concern… 1-2% lifespan reduction for moderate hard formatting and 4-6% life span reduction for very heavy and frequent hard formatting… that is because hard formatting, reorganises blocks and fills it with 0’s (or nulls) to ensure no physical sectors being bad or going bad… because this is a write intensive action it reduces a tiny bit lifespan… perhaps by that time would have moved to another camera and perhaps another medium

Jay varadarajan

—-----

Usually each trip i just delete the photos but formatting i do it before any new firmware upgrade only

Dr Kalyan

—----------

Adventures with SSD Cards, recently got a SSD 4TB Card from B AND. H, thought I will keep my albums in the SSD card, I searched for a NEF file, in the middle of the search the computer, fairly new one hung up and possibly my mistake, I shut off the computer, now the SSD refused to be recognised and it advised me to format the card, thankfully some wisdom prevailed, did not format, used a software called disk drill which did a marvelous of possibly recovering all the files, moral of the story, SSD is not a panacea,do not format immediately keep multiple back ups, use traditional storage device like WD external hard drive, may be upload even in swami nityaananda kailasa 😀, thank you jeyaram for your help

Naveen

—-----

Good morning, Glad to hear you recovered data safely.

Computer shutdown during harddisk write usually leads to master file table corruption. This is a software issue having nothing to do with hardware like ssd or hard drive. With ssds we may face this issue less as they complete file ops lot faster but system hangs are insidious as they strike randomly.

Issue is recoverable through chkdsk or repair disk or through recovery software.

Always safe eject of hard drive or ssds is preferred and recommended to avoid issues

Dr Kalyan 28 Aug 2025

—-------

Some technical help, I had 180 gb data in sad, this data was put into the ssd via Mac laptop, I am a Windows person, now the ssd does not come up in the windows computer, any suggestions welcome, i discussed with naveen briefly

Naveen

—--------

Good morning,

Apple Mac uses proprietary Apple File System ( APFS) format.

Windows uses proprietary NT file system ( NTFS) format.

Both support ExFAT file format.

If you want hard drives , ssd, usb stick to move data from windows to Mac or vice versa use ExFAT format.

If your ssd was formatted to APFS on MAC and now you want open it in windows machine, you need a software that understand APFS files, called drivers that run at lower levels of operating system.

There are 3rd party drivers like paragon and mac drive etc. these we’ve to buy from their websites directly and install on windows using admin privileges. These are costly about 30 to 60 USD. Please don’t get tempted to use cracks or pirated ones. It’s extremely dangerous as your windows system might be severely compromised.

As we spoke, best course of action is to find someone in your friends circle who has MAC book and connect your ssd and copy files to google drive or another ssd / hard drive that has been formatted in ExFAT.

Sandeep Dutta

—-----------------

You can also copy back the data to your mac (provided you have space), format the SSD in exFAT format and copy back again. You can then read and write from both os

Umendra singh

—-----------------

This will work 100% as I use both mac and windows pc to transfer data

Jyotsna

—-----

Right suggestions by Naveen and Sandeep. In addition, for future whenever starting with a new external drive, first format the empty drive, in Disk Utilities in Mac, to ex-FAT, then transfer data.

\Venaktesj

Dr Venkatesh

—---

Good evening, I just formatted a new 6 tb HDD in exFAT on windows desktop, transferred some folder and then connected the HDD to the Mac Book pro. I was able to open the files easily in Mac, likewise I found that the 4TB SSD Samsung T7 was already in exFAT system and I was able to transfer and open the files in both windows desktop and Mac book pro. Thanks Mr Naveen for the info

Naveen

—------

Great to hear Doc. For purposes of photo storage, removable hdds, usb sticks and ssd’s always format in ExFAT. It helps to move around windows or mac systems.

HD picture sharing in WhatsApp.

Open WhatsApp Settings > Storage and data > Media upload quality.

Select HD quality. ( on iPhone - it’s HD).

Quality is mentioned as resolution MP- Mega pixels whereas we store pictures on our computers in MB ( megabytes). MP to MB conversion is straightforward but causes confusion due to compression algorithms used by different softwares. Jpg is a lossy picture format so each operation like storing, uploading etc compresses and reduces file size.

Resolution of pictures for JPG -

Standard quality (1600 x 1052) pixels at 100% ( uncompressed) is 1.7 MB in size and

HD quality (4096 x 2692) pixels at 100%( uncompressed) is 11 mb in size.

We don’t know exact compression ratio for each picture that WhatsApp uses.

As a thumb rule.

•⁠ ⁠Usually pictures less than 2 to 3 MB in size are sent as SD.

•⁠ ⁠⁠keep pictures above 2 to 3 MB in size will be sent as HD.

Hope above helps.

Home NAS Setup for storing photos and videos 12 June 2024

Radhakrishnan

Been wanting to put together for a while. This is my current video/editing setup. Sort of a crude diagram. Considering the video files are getting bigger and bigger with NRAW, ProRes RAW, H.265 N-Log, I recently switched to a 10GbE high speed Local Area Network to edit the video files from the high capacity SSD/Mechanical Drives based NAS with a 3-2-1 backup strategy. 3-2-1 - 3 backups, 2 onsite, 1 offsite. This is a very crude representation of the topology. Thought may provide an idea if someone is interested in creating a workflow with fairly large video/image files to edit and not suffocate/overwhelm your Desktop/Laptop setup.

Other than the new Main NAS and the network switches, other two NAS systems and macs are old and have been reused

Yes Naveen sir, the biggest challenge was to saturate the 10GbE network with the right sizing of caching and balance between those SSDs and Spinning mechanical drives… I am now limited only by MacBook Pro M1’s 16GB memory. Can comfortably edit a 8K N-Log of the NAS directly and a couple of 4K 120fps N-Log streams effortlessly. Haven’t stressed yet but my guess is even 4 or 5 4K streams shouldn’t be a problem. I bought a barebones QNAP AMD Ryzen box and did the upgrades slowly one at a time. Bought two PCIe expansion boards from B&H. 1 with a quad slot NVMe 3x4 SSDs and the 2nd one with 2 10GbE NIC RJ45 ports. The barebones box itself came with 2 X 2.5GbE ports. I upgraded the memory from onboard 8GB default to 64GB and it now runs Debian with ZFS, Software RAIDZ. The Ryzen motherboard came with a PCIe 3 integrated with 2 open slots for NVMe SSDs. I used it to plug in 2 Samsung 1TB SSD disks for ZFS caching to improve performance for the spinning mechanical drives which are seagate ironwolf pro NAS certified drives. Components were sourced over time from B&H and assembled. Our @KumKum Prakash Birding Z8 Owner Bangalore had a first hand view of it when it was getting assembled when he visited home 🤣🤣🤣🤣. It was a great experience as good as being in the wild clicking

Swapnil:

Synology DiskStation DS224+ Network Attached Storage Drive (Black)

https://amzn.in/d/a3tuRQI

This is also good option. It has 2 HDD. You can choose as per your requirement. Make sure HDD has 7200 rpm .

As nvme are expensive setup

Radhakrishnan:

Yes. That’s why I use NVMe only for caching and not as main storage. All my main storage are 7200 RPMs with 256GB onboard cache spinning drives from seagate ironwolf pro.

Your network is the bottleneck

1 GbE network cards are insufficient

It is 1GbE that translates to 110GBps

Even your spinning drives are now more than 220MBps writes and > 300MBps reads with right caching

For those who do not want to get in to complex networking etc, the best choice is to do DAS and Not NAS

Direct Access Storage via thunderbolt from windows PC or Mac

Just that the storage device should be wired with thunderbolt cables next to your laptop.

Most high end intel based windows laptops and Macs come default with either a thunderbolt 3 or 4 both of which can do 40Gbps transfer speeds, excellent for editing multiple 4K or 8K streams directly of the storage

Sridhar:

I might have to ping you for advice, Radhakrishnan.

Just got an 8 bay NAS shell. Have a Netgear 4 bay NAS which I intend to use as back up

Radhakrishnan:

Right strategy to have the older 4 bay as a back up and make the new 8-bay as the primary work horse. Here is what I would recommend. The new 8-bay:

1. The first 2 bays, use SATA SSDs for your OS, System Utils and Applications. Though they are expensive compared to the spinning drives, these days we get 4TB SATA SSDs at very decent prices. I picked up Crucial 4TB SSDs from B&H. Put them on RAID 1 for redundancy. Because they are SSDs the overall boot time will be very quick and the app response will be snappier. All of this shouldn’t take more 100GB. The rest of the storage use it for your day to day editing of videos as SSD throughput will be double that of your spinning drives.

2. ⁠the remaining 6 bays, go for mechanical drives with 7200rpm and a minimum 128mb onboard disk cache. Both seagate and western digital have these certified for NAS drives. There are two types of NAS mechanical drives. One is SMR and the other is CMR. Don’t go for SMR. The seagate ironwolf pros are CMR, 7200RPM, 256mb cache, ideal for NAS, these come in 4,8,10,12,16,20TB configurations.

3. ⁠the 6 bays you can slowly populate as and when you need. Only thing to keep in mind is for RAID, you will need equal sized drives. Can’t mix and match. Meaning can’t have one disk at 4TB and the second at 8TB. The smallest of the 2 will be used for building RAID redundancy and you lose 4TB.

Hope this helps. Happy to help with what little I have learned so far.

Dr BR venkatesh:

Wow !!! Superb setup. Thrilling infact. Goes way above a non technical persons head. But it's very good to know that such equipment and components are available to master the art of photograph

Ha ha. Yes sir.. we keep joking at home all the time. Neither a full time photographer pro nor a full time technology pro would do all this as they would focus on what they want and do. It’s only some of us who are neither of it and in between who are in to this!

Drives to use within NAS

You can use any drive inside a NAS ... but how long it will last is a whole different question. Source: XDA https://search.app/4EJ5sySMhKjqStan8

Good short article on storage drives for NAS. Please read the difference between SMR and CMR mechanical drives and why CMR is more suited for NAS. CMR drives are usually certified for NAS. Both seagate and WD has both the options and one should read the fine print to understand if the drives are SMR or CMR and certified for NAS. SMR drives are cheaper but are not that suitable for larger work loads and reliability considering RAID configuration that needs to be constantly scrubbed to maintain clean parity

The above is not applicable for SSDs.

Instagram and Facebook file size guide and sharing matters

https://help.instagram.com/1631821640426723

“When you share a photo on Instagram, regardless of whether you're using Instagram for iPhone or Android, we make sure that you upload it at the best resolution possible (up to a width of 1,080 pixels).

When you share a photo that has a width between 320 and 1,080 pixels, we keep that photo at its original resolution as long as the photo's aspect ratio is between 1.91:1 and 4:5 (a height between 566 and 1,350 pixels with a width of 1,080 pixels). If the aspect ratio of your photo isn't supported, it will be cropped to fit a supported ratio. If you share a photo at a lower resolution, we enlarge it to a width of 320 pixels. If you share a photo at a higher resolution, we size it down to a width of 1,080 pixels.

If you want to make sure that your photo is shared with a width of 1,080 pixels:

Download the most recent version of the Instagram app.

Upload a photo with a width of at least 1,080 pixels with an aspect ratio of between 1.91:1 and 4:5.

Make sure that you're using a phone with a high-quality camera, as different phones have cameras of varying qualities.

“

https://www.adobe.com/in/express/discover/sizes/instagram

Naveen

—-------

Export from Lightroom in sRGB color space and airdrop to the phone. Keep photos to 1080 pixels width and max size of 3.6 mb else Instagram will crop and/or compress it.

Instagram messes up photos if we don’t stick to guidance.

Gurutej Acharya

—--------

What are ideal dimensions for FB and Instagram to retain sharpness

Anything less than 1080 i hope it doesn't apply any compressions?

Naveen

—------

If you share photoos at a lower resolution, instagram will enlarge it to to 320 pixels width. If you upload a picture with aspect ratio not supported by instagram, it will be cropped to fit 4:5, 1:1 or 1.91:1 crop ratios. If you share a photo at a higher resolution it gets downsized or compressed to 1080 pixels.

Facebook image sizes

https://www.adobe.com/in/express/discover/sizes/facebook

Complete List of All Facebook Photo Sizes in 2024 - OWOX BI

OWOX BI

·

https://www.owox.com › blog › articles › all-facebook-...

https://lucidgen.com/en/facebook-image-size-post-and-cover/

Radha sir

—--------

Reference for export presets for your LRC exports for social posting

Recommended resolution is 72 pixels for all social formats and 300 for most prints

Standard default profile is sRGB for screens and aRGB for prints

2025 Social Media sizes.

Naveen

—-----

To avoid Instagram tags, and partial photos in WhatsApp don’t directly share from Instagram.

To get a full photo of an Instagram post in WhatsApp do the following.

1.⁠ ⁠Copy the link of post from Instagram that you want to share.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠go to your phone’s photo library, select same photo ( preferably HD) of the post.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠click share, paste Instagram link from step 1 as caption of photo.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠and send/ share.

This way we get full sized photos in WhatsApp else we see partial photos with tags in WhatsApp.

Online Backup for photos with BackBlaze.com

—------------------------------------------------------------

Naveen Jan 2026

—---------------------

With my current Google Drive subscription ( 2 TB at Rs 6500 per annum) filling up 75%. was looking for an online back up solution for my photos that caters to the following

Unlimited storage

Reasonable cost

Ability to restore fast

With good security and encryption

Been in the industry for long time

I also have multiple cloud storages such as Onedrive ( 5 GB free tier) and iCloud ( 200 GB) subscriptions for MS software and Mac.

Considered buying more SSDs and Direct Access Storage solutions for speed and local availability. Currently I have 2 SSDs with 4 TB capacity and 5 HDDs with 12 TB capacity overall.

I have about a total of 5 TB photos from my DSLR and mirrorless including family photos from mobiles and other device backups. This 5TB is expected to grow further in coming years.

Local storage options while they are good and needed but they are not sufficient to have an offsite and 3-2-1 back up strategy. Wanted an affordable and reliable offsite cloud based backup.

Evaluated multiple options and finally chose BackBlaze ( www.backblaze.com) unlimited storage for USD 99 per annum and with taxes it came to USD 116. This comes with 1 year version history. iDrive is one more popular option but more costly. This creates a standing instruction for e-mandate. SiHubID refers to a unique identifier for an e-mandate (Standing Instruction) set up via the SiHub platform for recurring payments. I am still trying to figure out how to remove the mandate for future payments and implications on continuity of service.

Backblaze increased its storage costs from USD 5 per month to USD 9 per month from 2007 till 2025. It's a small company with about 150 MN US turnover but has been in the industry for a long time.

With Backblaze limitation is only it backs up only 1 computer and I have only 1 MAC from where I do my photography work. Backblaze backs up USB drives ( SSD and HDDs) connected to this computer and it wont back up data from NAS. Backblaze is more of a backup than a cloud storage. Backblaze is a simple interface and easy to use.

We can enrol using our email and download MAC or windows client. Before downloading software connect USB drives to your MAC or Windows. In case you haven't connected the USB drive and will connect later, we have to leave it connected for 6 hours before it starts the back up.

At home I have an internet connection of 500 MBPS speed with unlimited data ( guess it caps at 3 TB per month). On this connection it took 52 hours to back my 3 TB of photos from SSDs.

Backblaze uses a private key from a combination of email and password to encrypt data, this encryption happens on server rather than on client.

I have currently set one week as frequency for my continuous backups. On my login to my Macbook, I get a reminder to back up. Connect SSD/HDD and open the backblaze app and click back up now, it does incremental back up.

Restoring is also easy, login to Backblaze and choose the files that need to be restored to download as zip files to your laptop. Unzip the files and use them.

If you’re interested in subscribing to Back Blaze, feel free to **reach out to me**—I can refer you and help you get **a few months of free subscription** as long as an offer is available.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are my research notes from ChatGPT for reference.. While I read many reviews and referred to many sites but following gives a nice summary based on links that I shared with ChatGPT.

If you’re a photographer with 4–6 TB of data (lots of RAW files, maybe video too), here are some of the best cloud-based backup options to consider — from easy automated backups to scalable professional storage: (Aftershoot)

🔒 Best Dedicated Cloud Backup Services (Great for large archives)

1. Backblaze Personal / Business Backup

Why it’s great: Unlimited backup for your entire computer or attached drives — you don’t have to pick what to backup. It runs in the background with automatic versioning. (backblaze.com)

Best for: Photographers who want a set-and-forget cloud backup.

Bonus: If you lose your data, you can pay for them to ship a hard drive with your files for fast restore. (backblaze.com)

2. IDrive

Why it’s great: Combines cloud backup + storage + sync across multiple devices under one account. (Imagen)

Best for: Photographers with multiple computers or drives to backup.

Notes: Useful if you want both backup & access from different devices/apps. (Imagen)

3. Sync.com

Why it’s great: Strong security and privacy with relatively affordable large storage options (e.g., 6 TB plan ≈ $20/mo). (Them Frames)

Best for: Those wanting both backup and cloud file sync, with good value per TB. (Them Frames)

4. Livedrive (if available in your region)

Why: Known for unlimited backup storage options — good for huge photo libraries. (ProPrivacy.com)

Best for: Photographers who want simple unlimited cloud backups without a lot of tech setup.

5. SmugMug (Plus Backup)

Why: Offers unlimited photo/video backup + portfolio/website features. (Aftershoot)

Best for: Photographers who also want to showcase or sell their work online. (Aftershoot)

☁️ Cloud Storage That Can Double as Backup

If you’d prefer general cloud storage with lots of space (but will need to structure backups/self-manage):

Google One (Google Drive + Photos)

Plans scale up to large capacities (e.g., 10 TB, 20 TB+) — a solid option if you also use Google ecosystem tools. (Lifewire)

Dropbox / OneDrive

Easy file sync across devices and good reliability; decent if you want accessible storage but may become pricey at multiple TB without business plans. (Aftershoot)

Tip: With these, you might want to use third-party backup tools (like Duplicati or Rclone) to ensure backups happen automatically and securely (especially if you don’t want service providers to see your data). (WIRED)

🧠 What to Consider When Choosing

✔ Backup vs Storage:

Cloud backup services (Backblaze, IDrive, Livedrive) automatically backup your system or folders to the cloud with versioning and restore options. (backblaze.com)

Cloud storage providers (Google, Dropbox, Sync.com) focus on storing and syncing files — good, but you may need extra tools to manage backups effectively.

✔ Upload speed matters: Uploading 4–6 TB initially can take days/weeks depending on your internet. Plan to start your backup overnight or use backup throttling/scheduling.

**✔ Always keep multiple backups: Ideally one local (NAS or external drive) + one cloud for redundancy.

💡 Recommended Setup for 4–6 TB Photographers

Here’s an approximate pricing comparison (2025–2026) for cloud-based backup/storage options suitable for photographers with ~4–6 TB of data. Note that prices can vary by region, billing method (monthly vs annual), and ongoing promotions — but this gives a solid baseline to compare costs: (Backblaze)

☁️ 1) Backblaze (Cloud Backup)

Unlimited backup — one flat plan backs up everything on your computer/external drives. (Backblaze)

Pricing

• ~$99 / year (~$8.25 / mo) for personal unlimited backup. (Backblaze)

Pros: Simple set-and-forget, unlimited data regardless of size (great for even 6 TB). (Aftershoot)

Cons: Backs up devices, not just raw cloud storage; you can’t selectively buy just 6 TB. (Aftershoot)

📌 Estimated cost for 4–6 TB: ~$99/year (flat — no extra cost as you grow). (Backblaze)

💾 2) IDrive (Cloud Backup + Storage)

IDrive combines backup + cloud storage with tiered storage capacities. (IDrive)

10 TB personal plan: ~$149.50/year ($104–$150 first-year discounts). (IDrive)

(Note: 5 TB plans exist but are slightly too small for 6 TB unless you upgrade.) (IDrive)

Other tiers: 20 TB = ~$249.50/year. (IDrive)

Pros: Backup multiple computers and external drives; good for one account. (IDrive)

Cons: More expensive per TB vs raw storage options. (IDrive)

📌 Estimated cost for ~6 TB (using 10 TB tier): ~$150/year (paying for extra capacity). (IDrive)

📂 3) Google One (Cloud Storage)

General cloud storage shared across Drive/Photos/etc. (Google One)

2 TB plan: ~$150/year (just 2 TB – too small). (Google One)

10 TB plan: ~$99–$120/year (based on typical pricing tiers). (Google One)

20 TB plan: ~$199–$240/year. (Google One)

Pros: Easy access and sharing; works well with Google ecosystem. (Google One)

Cons: Not a dedicated backup tool unless you manually upload. (Google One)

📌 Estimated cost for 6 TB: Buy 10 TB plan ~ $99–$120/year. (Google One)

📦 4) Sync.com (Cloud Storage + Optional Backup)

Secure cloud storage with personal and team plans. (Sync)

Pro Solo 5 TB: ~$28/month (~$336/year) — slightly below ideal capacity for 6 TB. (Sync)

Pro Solo Unlimited: ~$90/month (~$1,080/year) — truly unlimited storage. (Sync)

Team Unlimited: ~$15 per user/month (minimum 3 users) — team-focused unlimited. (Sync)

Pros: Secure, encrypted storage; unlimited options available. (Sync)

Cons: High cost for individual unlimited storage. (Sync)

📌 Estimated cost for ~6 TB:

~5 TB plan (~$336/yr) — but might be tight;

True unlimited ~$1,080/yr if you go unlimited plan. (Sync)

📸 5) SmugMug (Unlimited Photo Backup + Portfolio)

All plans include unlimited photo storage (RAW/JPEG). (SmugMug)

Pricing (billed annually): ~$20/mo ($240/yr) for the base Direct plan. (SmugMug)

• Higher tiers with portfolio/e-commerce features: ~$23.50–$37/mo (~$282–$444/yr). (SmugMug)

Pros: Unlimited photo storage, galleries, delivery tools. (SmugMug)

Cons: Not a general backup service for all files (focus is photo content). (SmugMug)

📌 Estimated cost for unlimited photo backup: ~$240–$444/yr. (SmugMug)

📊 Quick Annual Cost Comparison (Approximate)

🧠 Tips for Photographers

✅ Best overall, simple backup: Backblaze for unlimited cloud backup at around $99/yr. (Backblaze)

✅ Best storage + access: Google One if you want easy access and sharing for many file types. (Google One)

✅ Best for portfolio + client delivery: SmugMug. (SmugMug)

✅ Best encrypted storage: Sync.com (but pricier for large amounts). (Sync)

✅ Best hybrid (backup + extra storage): IDrive’s large-TB plans. (IDrive)

SSD write protected or readonly

Dr Kalyan

have a strange problem my ssd is write protected in my computers, a desk top and a laptop, which means I can't transfer files to ssd, but from other lap tops it can be transferred, any idea, may be a format of my lap top and trying again may help

Naveen

have a strange problem my ssd is write protected in my computers, a desk top and a laptop, which means I can't transfer files to ssd, but from other lap tops it can be transferred, any idea, may be a format of my lap top and trying again may help

Try this .. after copying entire data.

Method 1. Remove write protection from SSD using CMD

If your SSD has been set to be read-only in Diskpart accidentally, you can disable it for the SSD using CMD. Here are the steps below.

Step 1. Press "Win+R" to open Run dialogue and type "CMD" press "Enter" to open Diskpart.

Step 2. Type "list disk" and hit Enter to get information of every disk.

Step 3. Type "select disk n" and press "Enter" ("n" is the number of your SSD drive on your computer).

Step 4. Type "attributes disk clear readonly" and hit "Enter".

https://www.diskinternals.com/partition-recovery/disk-is-write-protected-dont-give-up-yet/

Auto focus system design

https://www.photonstophotos.net/MarianneOelund/AutoFocus_System_Design/AutoFocus_System_Design.htm

https://exclusivearchitecture.com/03-technical-articles-DSLR-03-autofocus-systems.html

https://www.canon-europe.com/pro/infobank/autofocus/

https://www.vision-systems.com/cameras-accessories/article/16737679/camera-systems-phase-detection-speeds-camera-autofocusing

https://www.vadzoimaging.com/post/how-autofocus-camera-works?srsltid=AfmBOoo8sb1eI1V-94HHz_dX3JdcxzEKUujWTVICuUV3ui3X7X8hSu90

https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/autofocus.htm

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/autofocus

https://pages.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/5700/AUTO-FOCUS/Auto-Focus.html

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20100254690A1/en

Use of autofocus in cameras

https://photographylife.com/autofocus-modes

Camera Obscura to modern camera - camera and lens evolution

The history of the camera began even before the introduction of photography. Cameras evolved from the camera obscura through many generations of photographic technology – daguerreotypes, calotypes, dry plates, film – to the modern day with digital cameras and camera phones.

Anyone who visited Hampi, ruins of Vijayanagara empire will find a pinhole camera in Virupaksha Temple, a 7th century AD shiva ( pampa pathi or virupaksha temple, on the banks of Tungabhadra river ( pampa river) dates back to Chalukya empire.

Pinhole camera displays temple gopuram inverted, it is located in the north west corner of the temple. Check in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGYePhc_wAc

One more pinhole camera effect. At Hampu in the same temple - https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/bangalore/others/another-shadow-at-hampi-another-miracle-claim/articleshow/21501555.cms#:~:text=The%20tower%20housing%20the%20sanctum,Federation%20of%20Indian%20Rationalist%20Associations.

More about temple at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virupaksha_Temple,_Hampi#:~:text=3%20Festivals-,History,about%20the%207th%20century%20CE.

This is exactly similar to Camera Obscura (translated as ‘the dark room’) that we find in western literature.

Pinhole camera - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinhole_camera - Optimally, the size of the aperture should be 1/100 or less of the distance between it and the projected image.

PInhole camera

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/project/how-to-make-a-pinhole-camera/

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/make-pinhole-projector.html

Camera Obsura was portable …

https://www.capture.com/blogs/insights/evolution-of-the-camera

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_camera

https://www.adorama.com/alc/camera-history/ - fabulous photographs of early cameras

Brief history of photographic Lens

https://www.moneymakerphotography.com/brief-history-photographic-lens/#:~:text=The%20Lens%20Undergoes%20Rapid%20Development,6%2C%20requiring%20shorter%20exposure%20times.

The history of photographic lenses includes the development of achromatic lenses, variable focus lenses, and more complex lenses with more elements and adjustments:

Achromatic lenses

In 1829, Charles Chevalier created an achromatic lens for Daguerre's photography experiments. This two-element lens was made from crown and flint glass to reduce chromatic aberration.

Variable focus lenses

In 1840, Chevalier developed the world's first variable focus lens for portraits. This lens had an f/6 aperture, which required shorter exposure times.

Petzval lenses

Max Petzval developed a portrait lens in 1840 that used separated rear elements to correct for spherical aberration and coma. Petzval also designed a landscape lens called the Dialyte.

Telephoto lenses

The telephoto lens was invented in Germany in 1905.

Zoom lenses

The first use of a zoom shot was in a 1927 film. However, an acceptably sharp zoom lens for still photography didn't come around until 1959.

The development of photographic lenses has also been aided by innovations such as lens coating, rare-earth glasses, and computer aided lens design and testing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_photographic_lens_design#:~:text=Charles%20Chevalier's%20Paris%20optical,16.5%C3%9721.5%20cm)%20images.

https://books.google.co.in/books/about/A_History_of_the_Photographic_Lens.html?id=OJrJrEJ-r9QC&redir_esc=y#:~:text=The%20lens%20is%20generally%20the,and%20manufacturers%20of%20the%20past.

https://u42.co/Tech-Blog/Photographic-Lense-History/Photographic-Lense-History.html

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2022/02/a-brief-history-of-early-lenses-part-1/?srsltid=AfmBOoovHjpB8o__PGI59hgijcZ-3JkJG78o07_T1kLKUcL8EAUQ3idW

Color spaces and Color Gamuts

Naveen

Adobe RGB Color space

These Colors spaces and a lot of jpegs settings got evolved in dslr/ mirrorless due to needs of sports and live event photographers. The TV and broadcasting industry got into digital signal transmission in 2000’s coinciding with the development of dslrs.

Sports action/ event photographers want to transmit photos immediately as action happens on the ground. aggressive and high octane media broadcasting is about scoring brownie points of “seen first on our channel” loud and inface messaging.

They need jpgs that are very good straight out of cameras from their staff photographers. They won’t have time for raw editing. Recent iconic images from olympics and attempts on trump are good examples of it. Even camera networking settings are developed to support those use cases.

Digital Tvs and consumer electronics also evolved over time from supporting resolutions of SD, Hd, QHD, 4K and now 8K.

Adobe RGB contains CMYK Color space for printing as well for newspapers. Hence adobe RGB is preferred by jpg shooters.

No wildlife will ask us why its photo is not on Instagram! Raw gets cooked by us slowly.

https://petapixel.com/2024/04/11/color-gamut-in-smartphones-what-you-should-know/

We shouldn’t mix working space with export space.

So if you have a high end monitor you edit in such a way as not clip Colors in image. If you clip Colors during editing you can’t export them. So if your editing is done with precision then when you export to sRGB picture retains as much Colors as possible

There are three things to remember

1.⁠ ⁠Input space- Color space within image/ RAW

2.⁠ ⁠⁠working space - color space in editor. You can’t display RAW and you can’t edit what you can’t see. So RAW has to be conveyed to image format like jpg or tiff with embedded Color space in it. So choose the widest Color space like profotorgb but your display / monitor limitations will come into picture. So professionals use high end monitors.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠output space - export to Dxo or topaz Denoise or photoshop if we started editing in Lightroom or jpg output to social media. When working with different tools like topaz or photoshop from Lightroom set it to Color space profotorgb and 16 bit depth. After all edits in Lightroom or photoshop export to sRGB for social media. Printing typically requires us to match the Color profile of printers like CMYK.

Color perception

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/11/10/361219912/if-the-same-shade-looks-both-yellow-and-gray-whats-color/

“So don't try to tell Fairchild an apple is red. He'll say, no it's not, technically — red is just your perception.

"I could change the color of illumination on that apple and make it look green or blue or something completely different," he says. "The redness isn't a property of the apple. It's a property of the apple in combination with a particular lighting that's on it and a particular observer looking at it."“

CIE Color spaces

These are concerned with color matching system

https://medium.com/hipster-color-science/a-beginners-guide-to-colorimetry-401f1830b65a

Color space tutorials

https://horizon-lab.org/colorvis/

https://www.cs.rochester.edu/courses/572/fall2022/decks/lect5-hvs.pdf

Depth of field calculator

Depth of Field Calculator

What is depth of field

http://dougkerr.net/Pumpkin/articles/Depth_of_Field-i12.pdf

Does lenses display true focal length

Focal length - It is not a measurement of the actual length of a lens, but a calculation of an optical distance from the point where light rays converge to form a sharp image of an object to the digital sensor or 35mm film at the focal plane in the camera. It is not the distance from the point of convergence to the center of the camera, but rather the distance between the center of a lens and the point of convergence for that lens.

https://www.nikonusa.com/learn-and-explore/c/tips-and-techniques/understanding-focal-length

Does lenses have actual focal length

https://youtu.be/ndnzekp6HMk?si=-M27BLqO5jXin5In

@toddwschroeder214

4 years ago

Great Channel. Got to the point that focal length is a representation of the angle of view. You then asked the question why not just market the angle of view. One reason is that camera makers can place any sensor they want behind the lens mount or even operate a single sensor in multiple modes like a 35mm sensor run in APS-C mode. The angle of view will be of course different for those differently sized sensors while the theoretical "focal length" is fixed and can remain one simple marketed spec.

@karlgunterwunsch1950

1 year ago

You fail to understand that you are using oversimplifications - that assume that the lens is consisting of a single element. The set of lens elements do have the stated physical focal lengt! Your answer thus is false because you didn‘t convert the formula for the multi element lens correctly - but that takes a lengthy study in optical engeneering to get right as you need not only account for the curvature of the putside of the front element but also the refractive index of the glass elements used, with that being complicated by the fact that some lens elements consust of up to three layers of different glasses glued together that have different refractive indicees where these meet… The important bit is telephoto design which shifts the point of convergence in front of the lens, respectively the reverse telephoto design, which shifts the point of convergence behind the lens.

@alberteinstein3148

4 years ago

Hi from France, Dave ! First, excuse my bad english, then know I 'm a fan of your channel (not only for Rusty), but you should have worked harder before making this video : the focal length is a physical reality, it's the distance between focal and principal planes (defined by a transverse magnification equal to 1). For a single slim lens, the principal planes and the nodal planes are confounded with the lens, but not for an association of lenses. And yes, given the size of the sensor, there is an equivalence between this focal lens and view angle. (Note that it's the same focal length for the both sides). In english, you can find this, by instance, in Applied Optics and Optical Engeneering, R. Kingslake, vol.1 , Academic Press NY, for a ridiculous price.

Finally its not actual measurement for multiple lenses - its effective focal length.

DoF, Bokeh, Focal Length & Distance

https://www.nickdalephotography.com/blog/how-best-to-change-your-depth-of-field?srsltid=AfmBOopbN_20sK1s61m0Bj31Y5Pw81yoI2SsIeoQwYaFSkpP7-mIQOq-

Dual Gain ISO

Dual Gain ISO: Camera supports two distinct analog gain/conversion factors, with only one used for a given exposure.

Dual Gain Output: Camera supports two distinct gains applied to the same exposure, increasing DR without compromising full-well capacity / saturation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAT4AYLV36Y&t=286s

https://www.photonstophotos.net/Aptina/DR-Pix_WhitePaper.pdf

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/1570070253/what-is-dual-gain-and-how-does-it-work

You can find the dual ISO gain of any camera by visiting Bill Claff's PDR results page, clicking on a camera, then looking for the ISO on the graph that shows a noticeable increase in measured PDR. For example, here are his results for the Z6 III:

https://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR.htm#Nikon%20Z%206III

https://blog.kasson.com/d850/exposure-strategies-for-the-d850-numbers/

Z5: no dual gain

Z6, Z6 II, Z6 III, ZF: 100, 800

D850, Z7, Z7 II: 64, 400

Z8, Z9: 64, 500

Naveen Kumar 8 March 2024

—---------------------------------------

Just checked this.. used exiftool to extract embedded jpgs in NEF. Used it on a DX mode ( 25.7 mb) and FX mode ( 58.8 mb) NEF files.

Tool extracted 4 jpgs and 2 Tiffs from each NEF file

1. Thumbnail image- 160*120 pixels - 8 kb

2. ⁠preview image- 640*424 pixels - 110 kb

3. ⁠other image - 1620*1080 pixels - 645 kb

4. ⁠Jpg from raw - 5392*3592 pixels - 1.1 MB for DX image and 8256*5504 pixels and 2.5 MB for FX image.

5. ⁠thumb nail. Tiff - 210 bytes

6. ⁠preview tiff - 99 kb to 139 kb

# 4 size changes based on DX or FX file.

Yet to check on #4 of above. Is it generated by tool or embedded in raw file. My sense is it’s embedded, tool looks straightforward to me. Will have to double check through other methods or read specs of NEF file.

Exposure triangle? Hoax?

6 Reasons Why We Should Ditch the Exposure Triangle

https://www.damiensymonds.net/exposure-triangle-hoax/#:~:text=Testimonials-,The%20%22Exposure%20Triangle%22%20is%20a%20hoax,This%20is%20a%20myth.

https://dprevived.com/t/the-exposure-triangle-is-misleading-and-unnecessary/1602/

https://www.fastrawviewer.com/blog/mystic-exposure-triangle

https://fstoppers.com/education/can-we-just-kill-exposure-triangle-already-392790

https://petapixel.com/2016/07/18/never-teach-exposure-triangle-beginners/

https://www.diyphotography.net/time-change-stupid-illogical-photography-terms/

External tools DNG or TIFF files

Here's a good time to step back and understand why these external tools/ plugins create Dng or tiff? Why do we come across these beast files?

Raw can’t be manipulated. So how to Denoise raw file and don’t lose data of raw file.

So when we pass raw fiie to these to topaz or Dxo pure raw tools, they apply Denoise algorithms on a raw file but can’t output another raw file but need a file that preserves information in raw file. Raw file can be usually created only by camera and once. There are raw creator apps but thats for some other day.

That’s where tiff ( tag image file format) an older image format, bigger files but widely accepted in industry. It’s lossless compression algos. Tiff supports transparency and layering. It contains data and images.

Dng ( digital negative) is an attempt by Adobe to move industry to adapt more efficient loss less compression algos, more meta data info ( exif, iptc etc). So cameras can produce Dng directly instead of NEF. ARW, CR2 etc. files . DNG files are interoperable between cameras.

DNG is based on the Tiff standard. But the industry didn’t adapt as camera manufacturers didn’t want to cede control to Adobe or share their secret sauce of proprietary files and didn’t have motivation to invest into a photo processing vendor promoted “open” file format. It was supported by some camera vendors for some time. But not widely adapted. Currently supported mainly in adobe software.

Read very old articles ( 2010 to 2915) by Nasim Mansurov of photography life

Find subject distance from photo

Prof Jitender G

Pic from the recent trip to Pilibhit. No added colours or Photoshop effect on light. As natural as it was clicked. The beauty of Winter light.

Exif

Anish

Thank you...i believe focal length should have been below or 200mm ? Bcoz pretty good dof here ?

Sid

Looks a 400mm focal length

Prof Jitender

Yes it was more than 20 feet

Naveen

—--

Now we can do bit of reverse engineering. We got exif to work with.

Estimate ( not accurate) subject distances from exif and photo.

1.⁠ ⁠Typical fully grown tiger is 6 to 10 ft length . Take 8 ft. Tiger here is fully in focus from head to toe. To make it easy, assume the depth of the field center falls on the center of the tiger. So take 8 ft as depth of field. Feed it into the calculator to get subject distance. You would get about 100 ft to 120 ft as subject distance.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠measure size of tiger image relative to overall image size. Work out trigonometry with field of view and exif parameters. This is homework

Anish

—----

This is the Exif we have :

F2.8, 400mm, 8256 x 5504

Full frame sensor size 36 x 24

Then field of view using below formula :

For horizontal,

AoV (horizontal) = 2 * arctan(36 mm / (2 * 400 mm)) is 5.15 degrees

AoV (vertical) = 2 * arctan(24 mm / (2 * 400 mm)) is 3.43 degrees

Next is to find Subject Distance = 115 ft

Subject size

assuming 1200 pixels (width) and 600 pixels (height)

-

tiger_width_ratio = 1200 pixels / 8256 pixels = 0.145

tiger_height_ratio = 600 pixels / 5504 pixels = 0.109

So we have now AoV and subject distance so :

subject_width = (2 * subject_distance * tan(AoV/2)) * tiger_width_ratio = 8.44 ft

subject_height = (2 * subject_distance * tan(AoV/2)) * tiger_height_ratio = 4.55 ft

So subject size could be 8.44 ft wide and 4.55 ft tall.

Does this match ur answer ? I googled and found some data as well how to arrive .. hopefully correct?

https://www.scantips.com/lights/fieldofviewmath.html

Naveen

—-----

It’s pretty simple, we use similar triangles concept.

object height on sensor (mm) = (sensor height ( mm)*object height (pixel’s) )/sensor height ( pixels)

In the above formula we can reasonably confidently feed values if the picture is not cropped, just exported from camera. We know the pixel dimensions of the sensor. Do reasonable measurements with a ruler to find pixels of the object in the picture.

Distance to object = (real object height * focal length (mm))/object height on sensor (mm)

We feed in the assumed value of real object height based on orientation of the object. In the above formula keep units the same.

Open the above tiger photo in photoshop and use the Ruler tool to measure tiger height in pixels.

Image dimensions: 4160 * 2774 Pixels

TIger height : 1136 pixels

Tiger height on sensor ( mm) = 24*1136/2774 = 9.828

Tiger height is 3 ft ( assumption)

Distance to tiger in ft = 3*400/9.828 = 122 ft. which is a reasonable approximation.

In Depth article on topic

https://www.scantips.com/lights/subjectdistance.html

Flash Photography fundamentals

Flash pictures are double exposures

Any flash picture is effectively a double exposure, once from the flash, and once from any ambient continuous light that might be present. These two effects work differently, with different rules. The ambient may be an insignificant level indoors, or it may be overwhelmingly significant when using fill flash in bright sunlight. We might be able to ignore the ambient indoors, but generally must match it in daylight. There are always these two effects to be considered in any flash picture. Note again, flash and ambient have some different rules about exposures

https://www.scantips.com/lights/flashbasics4.html

https://westcottu.com/mastering-flash-photography-5-lighting-principles-for-beginners

Flash History

https://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Ilford/Flash_History.html

Foveon sensor and camera from Sigma

A Foveon sensor is a digital camera image sensor that works by gathering data vertically to create an image. Here's how it works:

Layers

The sensor has three layers of pixels stacked vertically, similar to the layers of a film emulsion. Each layer has a different spectral sensitivity, meaning it responds differently to different wavelengths of light.

Data collection

The sensor gathers all the information needed for each pixel at the point of capture.

Color reproduction

The sensor's three photodiodes process signals as additive color data, which is then transformed into a standard RGB color space.

Image creation

The sensor turns the collected data into a recognizable image of the scene.

Foveon sensors have several advantages over other digital camera sensors, including:

Color detail: Foveon sensors can capture more color detail.

Artifacts: Foveon sensors produce fewer artifacts.

Wavelengths: Foveon sensors take account of different wavelengths of light.

Color accuracy: Foveon sensors reproduce color more accurately because they don't have to rely on interpreting neighboring pixels.

The first Foveon X3 sensor was used in the Sigma SD9 DSLR camera in 2002

On a foveon sensor, it is three stacked sensors which individually capture red, green, and blue. Thus, each individual layer is able to be converted to black and white. This creates an image similar to how black and white film would interpret the scene

https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/11ec6gn/sigma_struggles_with_the_development_of_the/#:~:text=On%20a%20foveon%20sensor%2C%20it,film%20would%20interpret%20the%20scene.

Why Foveon sensor did not took off.

https://petapixel.com/foveon-x3-image-sensor-explained/

There were few folks who were swearing by sigma FP camera..

https://www.blauvista.com/html/the-sigma-fp-camera/

Future Camera Sensors 20240

—-----------

https://vocal.media/01/future-camera-sensor-in-2040

How is ISO implemented in Digital Cameras

https://www.quora.com/How-is-ISO-implemented-in-digital-cameras

Dave Haynie

Been shooting since I was a kid.... before digital, before computers...Upvoted by Kevin Connery, Photographer since the 1970's, switched to digital in 2002.Author has 8.1K answers and 133.3M answer viewsUpdated 5y

ISO in any electronic camera, just as with film, is the result of a calibrated index of sensitivity. But there are a few things in a modern camera that contribute to the ISO rating that a camera exhibits.

Just about any kind of image sensor is an array of photodiodes. A photodiode is a device that will conduct electrons in response to being “excited” by photons. Built around a photodiode, there’s a microlens, to help collect the maximum number of photons, and a color filter, if you want a color image. Photodiodes used in cameras today are sensitive to all visible light and even a little infrared and ultraviolet light.

A perfect photodiode will conduct one electron for every photon impact. Such a photodiode would be said to have 100% quantum efficiency. No real photodiode has that, but some get to around 95% in recent cameras with Backside-Illuminated sensors. However, the need to filter color usually means that about 1/3 of the photons that could excite a photodiode actually lead to electrons being conducted. A larger photodiode will, not surprisingly, be struck by more photons in the same photon flux, and of course, conduct more electrons.

As long as the number of photons impacting a photodiode yields a linear conduction of elections, the diode is working in its active region and things are good. It’s possible that at some point, an increase in photons does not result in a linear increase in electrons. That means that the photodiode is saturated. This sets one of the possible limits on the native ISO value for a sensor.

Now, keep in mind that the flow of electrons based on photon impacts is a continuous function. A photographic exposure, rather, is a collection of light over a set time period. If you think of the photons and their matching electrons as rain, the next element in the sensor is called a charge well. It’s your bucket! A bucket that collects electrons is called a capacitor in electronics engineering speak, but camera folks tend to call it a charge.

In a professional camera, there’s a mechanical shutter that covers the sensor these days. Prior to opening that shutter, electronics empty each charge well of all electrons, then activates the photodiode array. That’s done by biasing each photodiode. Photodiodes, as mentioned, conduction electrons, but they don’t create them. The bias voltage is where those electrons come from, and applying it, or not, allows any particular set of photodiodes in the sensor’s array to become sensitive to light, or not.

So the shutter opens up and light pours in. The photodiodes conduct electrons, the charge wells fill with electrons. If this goes on long enough, one or more of these wells will “overflow”… no more electrons will fit. That means that particular charge well is now limited — this is the second mechanism that sets a native ISO.

The ISO Standard

So, let’s assume I made a camera with a brand new sensor, and I have no idea what the ISO is. Let’s say I grab my trusty Olympus OM-1 film camera, a few boxes of film, and my digital camera. If I shoot photos with the same lens, in the same light, I can compare the film to the camera and maybe have an idea about comparative ISOs. For one, if my ISO 100 film is starting to overexpose at the same exact time I see my digital sensor overexpose, that’s a good indication my digital camera’s ISO is about 100.

In practice, since we have a thing called ISO, from the International Standards Organization, you might imagine there’s some kind of formula or recipe for ISO. For color negative film, when you say “ISO”, you’re really speaking of the ISO 5800:2001 standard. For B&W negative film, it actually means ISO 6:1993, and for color transparency film, it means the ISO 2240:2003 standard.

So naturally, there are standards for digital sensors, too. The current ISO 12232:2006 specification gives digital camera makers five different ways to calculate ISO, up from three means in the original version of the spec from 1996. Only the most recent two methods, the Recommended Exposure Index (REI) technique, and the Standard Output Sensitivity (SOS), are currently legal for cameras made by Japanese companies — almost everyone.

Just as with film, there’s a degree of judgment involved, so it’s quite possible that the ISO on one camera can be a little different than ISO on another, but the goal is a standard that’s essentially the same from one camera to another.

Variable ISO

Up until now I have been talking about native ISO, which is only a function of the camera’s charge well and photodiode array. But there’s much more to a digital camera.

When it comes time to read the sensor, the charge in each charge well is in turn converted to a voltage and run into an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). The ADC circuitry is designed such that a filled-up charge well is going to result in a full-scale voltage at the ADC. But what if we’re in the dark, and each charge well only fills up 1/2 or 1/4 of the way? That’s where variable ISO — or gain, as it was originally called — comes in.

Here’s the block diagram of an actual OV10822 digital image sensor from Omnivision. This is the sort you might have found in a smartphone a few years back, but the idea is the same for any sensor. If you look at the image array (photodiodes) in the diagram, between it and the ADC is a block labelled “AMP” and another labelled “gain control”. This is where variable ISO happens.

Back in the days before digital cameras, we still had electronic cameras. Only we called them camcorders. And when you dialed in gain on a camcorder, you dialed in gain. That gain was just measured in dB, and it was applied to the native ISO of your camera, which you probably didn’t know. As a result, it was difficult to set two different cameras to use the same light.

The ISO specifications are used to calibrate an ISO scale for a digital camera. If I dial in a 2x gain on that 1/2 full charge well case, I have boosted from native ISO, say ISO 100, to ISO 200. I now have an amplified signal feeding the ADC, and the full-scale value of that is now 1/2 the full charge well level.

The interesting thing to see here is that, in boosting the output of the charge well conversion, I haven’t actually changed the sensor in any way. If I was using a 14-bit ADC at native ISO, I’m now reading in one bit below that, and tossing out the top bit — which I expect, in my low light, to always be zero. I’m counting on the camera to have enough sensitivity to deliver useful information out of the amplifier.

Why might it not? Noise! There is always noise in any electrical system. The key trick in digital systems is changing everything to a number, allowing us to usually ignore the analog nature of the signals making up those bits. But the image sensor itself is a pure analog thing, up to the point we reach the ADC.

Noise comes from several sources. When you have heat, you have random electron activity. So some noise is due to heat, and yes, if you’re shooting outdoors on a very cold day, you’ll see less noise in your images at the same ISO than if you shot on a hot summer day. Formally, this is dubbed thermal noise.

Another source of noise is the camera itself. During an exposure, the sensor can be pretty quiet, but at some point, all sorts of extra circuitry has to be activated to read the sensor. This will create noise that’s, oddly enough, dubbed read noise.

And finally, we have this weird thing called shot noise or pixel noise. I mentioned that photons hit photodiodes and conduct electrons. The light through your lens is called a photo flux, and it’s not the continuous beam you might think it is, but a statistical sample of photons that follows the Poisson distribution.

Why does the matter? Well, in bright light, it doesn’t, as you’re counting thousands, even millions of electrons. But as the light dims, fewer and fewer photons are captured by a camera. And gradually, the number is small enough that the count captured from identically colored, identically lit sections of an image are not the same. And so we see this as different luminance and color between things that should be the same: noise.

ISO enters in here directly. When a signal is amplified, so is the noise in that signal. So higher ISO numbers always mean more noise. However, a quieter sensor, a larger chip, etc. can mean a greater signal-to-noise ratio in the sensor. So over time, sensors have got much quieter. And as a sensor gets larger and provides larger photodiodes, it’s going to collect more photons in the same light than the smaller sensor. So it’ll have a statistically sound number of electrons in the kind of light that would exhibit noise on a smaller camera.

Resolution and Stupid Software Tricks

So let’s look at the particulars of the thing I’m doing here. In that block diagram of the smartphone sensor, you can see that the ADC is 10-bit. That means the ADC can read in a maximum of 0–1023 as a number from the input. I also suggested we might have a 14-bit sensor — that’s what you typically find in a Full Frame digital camera today, levels of 0–16,383.

Now look at the JPEG format: it’s 8-bits per pixel — values of 0–255 for each color (JPEG doesn’t actually encode in RGB, but YUV, but you decompress to RGB). So what if we have a native ISO of 100, but wanted to offer JPEGs at ISO 50? That’s totally doable with a 10-bit sensor, easier still with a 14-bit sensor. Think of it as sliding an 8-bit window across a much wider range of numbers.

This could, of course, be done at the other end. If my camera only goes up to ISO 25,600, perhaps I could use software to boost the ISO to 51,200. In software, I can simply select higher-order bits starting at bit 1 rather than bit 0 — mathematically similar to multiplying by two in this case.

This is software amplification, and it’s used at least to some extent in nearly every camera. Most cameras have “extended” ISO ranges, such as the ISO50 or 51,200 that I suggested. Both of those are not quite ideal in some way, in this case being software derived, so the manufacturer labels them as “extended” to let you know. However, if a software-extended ISO still matches both the ISO specs and the manufacturer’s standards for image quality, a software derived ISO doesn’t have to have a special label.

Notes on Real World JPEG

I wasn’t going to get into the complexities of this, but as Dave Martindale pointed out in the comments, JPEG encoders can use a dynamic range compression function called a gamma curve, to deliver some of the flavor of a higher dynamic range, at the expense of in-between colors and sometimes, color banding in the image. Your 8-bit computer monitor or television does the same thing, only as an inverse, to deliver a linear-looking output. The camera sensor sees light in linear terms, but your eye does not. So the gamma curve can be applied to a 10-bit or 12-bit image to deliver a non-linear dynamic range compression of that as part of the JPEG encodi

Most cameras can be adjusted on exactly what they do with color when creating a JPEG, so this is a thing an advanced user can control. The downside of gamma correction is that it makes a JPEG very “fragile” — even small corrections to color, luminance, contrast, etc. can move around where those would have belonged on the gamma curve to places they don’t belong. So maybe you don’t see any banding in your original JPEG, but make a few tweaks, and you have a holy mess on your hands. This is why JPEG is largely considered uneditable by professionals. Yes, you can make tweaks if you’re careful, but again, it’s very fragile.

What if We Had No ISO At All!

In fact, there are some cameras that are claimed to be “ISO-less”. What this should mean, anyway, is that there’s never any analog amplification. Every image is captured at base ISO and just software-manipulated to higher or lower ISO values. The problem with this is resolution.

So, let’s say I have a camera with a native ISO of 100 and a 12-bit ADC. That gives me, of course, an 8-bit JPEG at ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO400, ISO 800, and ISO 1600… beyond that, I would start reducing the sample by one bit for every new ISO speed.’

In a professional camera, however, there’s the possibility of a raw image. My 12-bit ADC would give me 12-bits at ISO 100, 11-bits at ISO 200, 10-bits at ISO 400, etc. using software only. Using the hardware amplification, I bring in 12-bits at any ISO setting…. but that’s only what I’m digitizing. The real effective value is based on the system noise floor — remember that noise I mentioned? So there’s a pretty good chance that I still have a useful 12-bits of information with that 2x gain at ISO 400. Maybe as well at ISO 800…. but eventually, all that gain is going to just boost the noise floor. And that’s exactly why extended high ISOs are nearly always software. Once that 12-bit ADC is bringing in 11-bits of signal and 1-bit of pure noise, there’s absolutely no need to add more amplification… you can get exactly the same result with software.

The New Thing: Dual Native ISO

So as I mentioned, the native ISO is based on various properties of the sensor: photodiode sensitivity, photodiode bias voltage, charge well capacity, etc. And it’s quite possible to design a sensor that has redundant circuitry for these things, each one done a little differently. Put in two read paths and the sensor will have a dual native ISO.

What am I talking about here? Well, let’s take my original sensor, with a native ISO of 100. I have built very large charge wells to allow all those photons to be collected in bright light. But what if I want to deliver a second, much higher ISO for low light. I can build a second charge well capacitor. I have no need to deal with bright lights, so this can be relatively tiny. And perhaps, in keeping it very small, I can optimize that data path for super low noise instead of high capacity. The sensor will be able to use either native path to feed the variable amplifier or ADC, based on settings. So boosting up ISO over two native ISOs keep the image quality going up to higher ISO values.

What determines ISO Of a camera

It’s a few different things. A camera’s sensor is an array of photodiodes. A photodiode is a tiny semiconductor device. During an exposure, each photodiode is under an electrical bias. When photons impact the photodiode, it conducts electrons. The more photons, the more electrons. So it’s basically turning light into charge… hey, we can work with this. And that level of sensitivity to photons in part of what gets wrapped up in the ISO rating for a chip.

Making an Exposure

But that’s not all The photodiode is instantaneous — photons hit, electrons flow. You can’t make an image out of that, because a photographic exposure is light collected over a fixed time period. Enter the “charge well”. A fundamental electronic component called a capacitor is a device that stores charge. Our photodiodes are passing electons. It’s a good match. So a charge well is a capacitor that’s essentially part of every pixel cell on a digital sensor. When I start an exposure, all charge wells are empty. As the exposure proceeds, electrons build up. When you’re done, the photodiodes are shut down and additional circuitry does something with that charge.

One more thing before we wrap it all up. At this point, all that charge is analog… it’s some huge (hopefully) number of electrons in each charge well. We have a device, called an analog to digital converter (ADC), that can turn a voltage (analog) into a number (digital), and so we will have at small charge-to-voltage circuit feeding the analog to digital converter.

We’d like to ensure that when the charge well is full — all the electrons it can store — that we also hit the peak voltage than the ADC can handle. But what happens if the charge well’s peak is only half full? Well, we can put in an amplifer, to boost the output of the charge wells for lower-than-full exposures. We’re adding gain… we’re increasing sensitivity… like going from an ISO 200 film to an ISO 800 film. And so yes, this programmable gain amplifier becomes part of the ISO too. And in fact, back in the days when most electronic cameras were camcorders, not smartphones, there was a knob called “gain” that, in fact, set the value on that amplifier.

That worked, but here’s the problem: what if I want to match the exposure on two different cameras? That gain knob just tells me the dB of applied gain. That’s dimensionless, and relative to the output of the sensor without gain. When electronics moved to still cameras, where film sensitivity was a long established thing, we all said “whoa” to the electronics guys, and wanted independent speed settings. Like the ISO on our film.

Let’s Make ISO!

And so, a new spec was made for digital camera ISO. The current version of this is ISO 12232:2019, and this includes approved methods for a camera vendor to assess and scale it’s system “gain”. Much of this is determining digital camera sensitivy based on comparison to the parameters used to define film sensitivity. But there are a few part of this that are easy to understand.

One is saturation. On film, that’s the point at which you’ve exposed all the silver halide particles in a section of film and you can’t collect any more light. On a digital camera, it could be either one of two physical occurances. If the photon flux is such that my photodiodes can’t possibly output any more electrons in response to more light input, that actually is saturation of the photodiode.

The other one is charge well overflow. As I mentioned, at some point, your charge well is full, no more photons will be stored. This is the other thing that would define saturation… and it really doesn’t matter which is which.

How do we get ISO out of this. Well, the specs have a complete set of tests for this, but here’s one easy one to argue. Let’s get some light, some film, and our new unrated/unscaled digital camera. Let’s run a bracket of exposures, and see where the film saturates and where the camera saturates. That saturation point is one indication of the effective ISO of the digital camera.

Going Native!

So I discussed the read circuity: the charge to voltage converter, programmable gain amplifier, analog to digital converter. Native ISO simply means the ISO value based on the amplifier at unity gain, or bypassed completely.

Some recent camera sensors have “dual native” ISOs. That’s actually a real thing. It tell you that they have some dual read circuits in the chip at two different sensitivities. The high sensitivity circuit would give you a higher native ISO, but might contain circuitry that would saturate or even be damaged by light levels at lower ISOs.

ISOless Is Cult

Some cameras claim to be “ISOless”… this can be real, or it can actually be an accident. And for some people, there does seem be a “cult of ISOlessness”. ISOless doesn’t mean there’s no ISO — there always is. It means there’s no amplifier — the sensor is always run at native ISO, and software is used to create the user’s effective ISO.

WARNING: Numbers Are Coming.

Let’s consider a point and shoot camera with a 14-bit ADC. Ok, P&S cameras don’t usually have a 14-bit ADC, but let’s pretend. So your JPEG engine might be able to do something with 12-bit input, but maybe it can works with less, for a lower quality result of course. So in full brightness, you’re at native ISO, say ISO 200, and you toss out the lower two bits in software. Switch to ISO 400, you have that same 14-bit output, but now toss out the top and bottom bit,. Go to ISO 800, and you toss out the top 2-bits, you still have a 12-bit image going into the JPEG engine. At ISO 1600, that’s now only an 11-bit image, but it probably looks ok. At ISO 3200, it’s now a 10-bit image.. but actually, a 10-bit image at ISO 3200 on a phone or cheap P&S would be better than you’re probably getting.

On a professional camera, though, this would be a problem. Why? Well, let’s go to native ISO. Depending on your camera, you’re shooting a raw image and expecting, basically, the output of your camera’s ADC in that raw image. If Sony sells me a shiny new A7RIV and claims a 16-bit color depth, I really do expect to see those 16-bits a native ISO and at least a few after that.

I might be asking for trouble with the Sony, though. And no, I have not used one. But here’s a little thought experiment, and this is an important part of understanding how this all works. You start losing pixel resolution, not specially due to amplification, but due to your camera’s noise floor. Every electronic system has noise. Noise due to the operation of the system, noise due to the thermal excitation of electrons. If I have a larger charge well, I can deliver a lower ISO level, and basically extend the range of ISOs that will give me a full resolution image. In any given technology, I can have a larger charge well with a large pixel. Sony’s claiming a 16-bit ADC in their A7RIV, but it’s got pixels the size of those in a 16 megapixel Micro Four Thirds camera… M43 sensors have typically been 12-bit resolution. Maybe it’s magic?

The question of the amplifier is simple: what is the real dynamic range of the analog system, including noise added by the amplifier (all amplifiers add noise, it’s physics). If the dynamic range available is greater than the dynamic range of your ADC, you don’t want an ISOless camera.

My old Canon 6D had about a 120dB dynamic range, about 20-bits worth. It technically had a 14-bit ADC, but being an older-style Canon, the ADC was on the main circuit board, not in the sensor chip. So you got about 12-bits of real dynamic range, because of board noise. Thing is, that big fat full frame 20 megapixel sensor could be amplified with success, so the range of successful 12-bit ADC conversions was wider than the ability to get that to the ADC without amplification.

Now, of course, if you put a 20-bit ADC on-chip, exactly mathing the whole range of the sensor, no one would be thinking about amplification, since all you’d ever amplify would be noise.

It’s also possible for a sensor with real amplification to seem no different than an ISOless sensor. If I add an amplifier, while I might technically always get a full-scale input to my ADC, as the gain increases, more noise will be part of that signal. Once you're only amplifying the noise floor, there is no advantage to using an amplifier any longer. And so you often find that a camera with a real gain amplifier will have at least a couple of “extended" ISO values, which are probably done all in software. Extended ISOs can also imply that those settings don't conform to some element of the ISO specs, or that the manufacturer considers the image quality below their standards, but offer those settings as a choice anyway.

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/8924544559/you-probably-don-t-know-what-iso-means-and-that-s-a-problem

https://bcgforums.com/threads/iso-confusion.9161/

My own understanding of ISO deepened when I learned the subtle difference between these two concepts:

how ISO settings are implemented "under the hood" in digital cameras

what the ISO standard for digital cameras actually defines

Most discussions about ISO usually focus on #1, this thread included. This is understandable, because knowing how a camera's ISO settings are implemented can provide a lot of valuable insight about when and why one should choose different ISO settings.

However, the ISO standard for digital cameras does not focus on any of these "under the hood" concepts or technical details. It is not concerned with the how. That's an implementation detail left up to each camera manufacturer. All the standard does is provide a few different ways to correlate measured camera input (the amount of light striking the sensor) with measured camera output (certain characteristics of a final image produced by the camera). In fact the meat of the standard is just a handful of incredibly simple math formulas that combine the measured input & output values into one number, an exposure index, and then a few very long look-up tables that assign a specific ISO number to whatever that calculated exposure index might be.

To put it simply, the less light that is needed at the focal plane in order to create a desired final image, the higher the ISO value. That pretty much (loosely) sums up the standard.

A couple of other interesting takeaways from reading the standard (well, interesting to me at least):

as defined by the ISO standard, an ISO value is a measured property of a digital camera at a particular ISO setting, not a property of its sensor or a property of a digital photo. In the film world, ISO is not of course a measured property of the camera but of the sensitive medium (the film), and in cases of positive slides and polaroids, a property of the final photo itself. Not so in digital! Cameras have ISO speeds. Digital photos do not, and also neither do camera sensors (although a sensor's electronics can certainly contribute to implementing its camera's response to its ISO setting).

ISO values for digital cameras are defined in the context of final images produced in-camera. Think JPG, TIFF, etc. The ISO standard does not make any guarantees about raw data, as raw data is not yet a camera-produced photograph. A camera's ISO setting will certainly affect raw data in the vast majority of cameras, but not all! I can think of one modern high-end camera that produces the same raw values for ISOs between 1600 and 12,800, and just leaves the "implementation" of the chosen ISO setting to whatever software is processing the raw file.

Many folks will tell you that the statement "ISO changes your sensor's sensitivity" is a myth. They are technically correct, insofar as a sensor's quantum efficiency is fixed. However, changing ISO does change your camera's "photographic sensitivity", as defined by the ISO standard. So most negative reactions to the word "sensitivity" are slightly misplaced IMHO, as the ISO standard itself defines and uses that term repeatedly.

The standard provides three different ways to measure and define a camera's ISO values: ISO Speed, ISO (SOS), and ISO (REI). Nikon, Canon, and Sony use REI. Fuji, Olympus, and (I think) Panasonic use SOS. I don't know of any camera maker that actually uses ISO Speed. As a result of these different methods you'll often see people complaining about ISO values of one camera not producing an equivalent photo in a different camera with the same scene & exposure settings. It is what it is, and will be that way as long as the standard provides multiple different definitions of ISO. Fuji specifically has been accused of "cheating" because they use SOS. The funny thing is, SOS is objectively measured, while REI is not actually measured at all, it simply based on a number freely chosen and specified by the manufacturer.

Anyway... hope that helps provide a little more perspective.

ISO invariance

ISO invariance - probably most practical and non technical explanation that I came across.

ISO invariance - probably most practical and non technical explanation that I came across.

https://photographylife.com/iso-invariance-explained

Image File Size Calculator

https://www.omnicalculator.com/other/image-file-size

Image Sensor Basics

https://www.cs.rochester.edu/courses/572/fall2022/decks/lect10-sensor-basics.pdf

https://www.cs.rochester.edu/courses/572/fall2022/syllabus.html

Introduction to radiometry and photometry

https://andor.oxinst.com/learning/view/article/radiometry-photometry

https://www.physics.muni.cz/~jancely/PPL/Texty/IntegracniKoule/Photometry%20and%20Radiometry.pdf

https://www.opticsforhire.com/blog/understanding-radiometric-vs-photometric-data-in-lighting-design/

https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Radiometry_A_Simplified_Description_of_Light/a25123

Radiometry and photometry are both sciences that measure light, but they use different units and have different purposes:

Radiometry

Measures electromagnetic radiation in any part of the spectrum, including infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. Radiometric units include:

Watt: Radiant flux

Watt per steradian: Radiant intensity

Watt per square meter: Irradiance

Watt per square meter per steradian: Radiance

Photometry

Measures visible light as perceived by the human eye. Photometric units include:

Lumens per square meter: Illuminance, the photometric equivalent of radiance

Candela: The SI unit for luminous intensity

Radiometry measures total electromagnetic radiation without regard to the human eye's sensitivity, while photometry measures light based on how it's perceived by the human eye. The human eye is most sensitive to green light at about 0.555 microns, and less sensitive to blue and red light

Why do we use RGB instead of wavelengths

https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/89875/why-do-we-use-rgb-instead-of-wavelengths-to-represent-colours/89882#89882

Perkinje effect

Purkinje Effect!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=NpisePffCd4

Mobile visual computing..

Entire course material can be referred here.

https://www.cs.rochester.edu/courses/572/fall2022/schedule.html

Monitor selection Notes

Naveen Created 18 Sep 2024, Last Updated on 29 May 2025

The idea is to select a monitor that lasts and serves for 4 to 5 years.

Select a 4 K monitor. It is the future

Select a monitor that support Adobe RGB for printing purposes

Select a monitor that helps in video editing as well. At this moment only photos, given we’ve hybrid cameras, at some stage we would start shooting videos. That time we need dci- p3 Color space support.

Here are criteria notes that I made for myself a few days back while exploring the technology. This area, like many consumer techs, is full of jargons. Some terms below are oversimplified, not technically accurate, and vary a lot from literature.

1. Display technologies: IPS vs OLED. IPS is LCD tech, well established. Gives less viewing angle compared to oled and blacks bleed through the screen. OLED color accuracy is better, less shelf life due to burn out. OLED scenes are thinner but a lot costlier.

2. ⁠resolution: as we deal with 4 k videos and large images ( 8K or more)- go for true 4 K uhd ( 3840*2160) monitors. No point in buying non 4K monitor at the end of 2024. From apple you get 5K monitors as well. Higher resolutions are more costly.

3. ⁠Color display accuracy- best is to go for monitors that can be used for video editing as well just not photos. Don't select monitors only with sRGB (99 or 100%). Need Adobe RGB along with it. Adobe RGB automatically has sRGB and CMYK ( needed for printing on paper) in it. See the below diagram.

Go for adobe RGB ( used for pictures) and DCI-P3( used in videos) coverage above 95%. For videos HLG or HDR20 support is also mentioned. You come across 10 bit or 12 bit or 16 bit LUTs as well. 95 to 99% accuracy is sufficient for all practical purposes. 95 or 99% is tough to make out in use except in few rare cases. Wider color gamuts and higher accuracy leads to higher cost.

4. ⁠connectivity- go for usb-c, thunderbolt, hdmi, display port. USB-c 3.2 gen 2 if possible.

5. ⁠response rates/ refresh rates. How fast a change is displayed on screen. These matter a lot for gamers not for designers. Humans can’t distinguish more than 60 hz. Some may say the human eye doesn’t have frame rate. Let’s keep it aside for the time being. We shoot at 120 fps max in videos. So any monitor with 120 hz or 144 hz refresh rate is more than sufficient.

6. delta E numbers - go for less than 3. delta E measures the difference between standard input color vs display Color. 0 is no color difference and 100 is full distortion. Lower the number better it's as more accurate Colors are displayed and more costly. Practically for monitors delta E 1 to 3 is good as distortion’s are perceivable only through extreme close observation. This is a typically mathematically computed number.

7. ⁠Pantone validated - a standard to evaluate color accuracy mainly in print industry. Been there since 1963. Pantone matching system , x-rite tech is what we come across. prints are printed on many outputs like plastic, vinyl, just not paper, color accuracy matters a lot.

8. ⁠Stand- this is super important in my view to get a proper viewing angle. Go with height adjustable, tiltable etc. unfortunately hinges and holders are non standard so you can’t buy and plonk it. Buy a monitor with a built-in stand.

9. Cables. Many monitors don't bundle cables, you may have to buy them extra.

10. ⁠Size 24 to 27”. Sweet spot is 27” or 32”.

11. No need to buy a specialized light bar etc.

12. CalMAN certification means the monitor has been factory-calibrated and tested using CalMAN software to meet specific color standards. This means we don't have to calibrate it.

Plenty of brands - BenQ, ASUS, LG, Dell are well known in this space. There is plenty of marketing jargon in terms of different series of monitors by vendors. Go for designer/ creator series not gamer series monitors. Some brands sell specialized photo editing monitors, they are typically costlier and may not be needed. Graphic Designer series monitors are sufficient.

Good luck and share what you bought for other members' reference.

Following monitors meet above criteria as on 20th Sep 2024

ASUS ProArt Display PA279CRV Professional Monitor – 27-inch, IPS, 4K UHD (3840 x 2160), 99% DCI-P3, 99% Adobe RGB, Color Accuracy

https://amzn.in/d/7CH0WGI

BenQ 272 U also meets criteria - Anupama has it

View sonic https://www.viewsonic.com/in/products/lcd/VP2785-4K

Considering above criteria following monitor is the one which meets at a cost effective price. PD2770U | 27" 4K Color Management Monitor for Graphic & Video Editing

99% AdobeRGB, 99% DCI-P3, 100% Rec.709. Factory-calibrated for out-of-the-box accuracy

Naveen

Check this BenQ monitor available in Amazon sale..specs look decent, don’t have first hand experience. Treat it as input for your own research/ shortlist ..there are few more variants of size/ color space support, be extremely careful while choosing, it’s super confusing to say the least.

BenQ PD 27 inch PD2706U Monitor | 99% Rec709, 99% sRGB, 95% P3 | Pantone Skintone, Calman Verified | Gray

https://amzn.in/d/ew99j3K

Dr Chiranjeeb has it. Bought it in sept 2024 for Rs 39.5 K at Kolkata dealer

BenQ PD 27 inch PD2706U Monitor, bought by YVS Prasad sir in May 2025 at Hyderabad for Rs38 K and is happy with it. Naveen bought it in Sep 2025 from computechstores online for Rs37 K.

Swapnil has the following. Bought during covid time

BenQ Sw270C 27 inches (68.58 cm) 2560 X 1440 Pixels, LCD 2K Photo Editing Monitor, of Adobe RGB, of Srgb/Rec.709, and of Dci-P3/Display P3, USB-C Connectivity, Black

https://amzn.in/d/fNw0cF9

Color calibration spider

Datacolor SpyderX Pro Monitor Calibration Designed for Serious Photographers and Designers, SXP100, White

https://amzn.in/d/7v8d7PP

Dr Chiranjeeb has it.

22 Nov 2025

—-----

https://www.benq.com/en-in/monitor/professional/pd2770u.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqC-fpli1ybbEQ2Xx1TrphSqPuisNcHvJJQXS31TJRkbSfO4Jso

This appears as the best possible monitor available in India with its support for specs. Though it is launched, however its not yet available in India.

Noise, Dynamic Range, Bit depth in DSLRs.

https://homes.psd.uchicago.edu/~ejmartin/pix/20d/tests/noise/index.html

https://www.microscopyu.com/tutorials/ccd-signal-to-noise-ratio

Sources of Noise

Noise in a camera image is the aggregate spatial and temporal variation in the measured signal, assuming constant, uniform illumination. There are several components of noise:

Dark Shot Noise (σD): Dark current is a current that flows even when no photons are incident on the camera. It is a thermal phenomenon resulting from electrons spontaneously generated within the silicon chip (valence electrons are thermally excited into the conduction band). The variation in the amount of dark electrons collected during the exposure is the dark shot noise. It is independent of the signal level but is dependent on the temperature of the sensor as shown in Table 1.

Read Noise (σR): This is the noise generated in producing the electronic signal. This results from the sensor design but can also be impacted by the design of the camera electronics. It is independent of signal level and temperature of the sensor, and is larger for faster CCD pixel clock rates.

Photon Shot Noise (σS): This is the statistical noise associated with the arrival of photons at the pixel. Since photon measurement obeys Poisson statistics, the photon shot noise is dependent on the signal level measured. It is independent of sensor temperature.

Fixed Pattern Noise (σF): This is caused by spatial non-uniformities of the pixels and is independent of signal level and temperature of the sensor. Note that fixed pattern noise will be ignored in the discussion below; this is a valid assumption for the CCD cameras sold here but may need to be included for other non-scientific-grade sensors.

Dominant noise in digital cameras is from photon noise or photon shot noise.

Photon noise, also known as photon shot noise, is a natural variation in the number of photons that reach a camera's sensor.

Explanation

Light is made up of individual particles called photons, and the flow of photons is not perfectly constant. This means that the number of photons reaching the sensor per unit of time varies, resulting in a "hail-like" bombardment of photons. This can make the image appear grainy.

Characteristics

Photon noise is a physical characteristic of light sources that cannot be controlled by technical devices. It's more evident at lower signals, but increases with signal. The ratio of signal to noise (SNR) is equal to the square root of the signal.

Impact

Noise can be more noticeable in compact digital cameras and camera phones with smaller sensors, especially in low light or at high ISO speeds.

Reduction

Software noise reduction (NR) can reduce the visibility of noise by smoothing the image. However, this technique can also obscure fine details. Machine learning tools like Topaz DeNoise AI and DxO PhotoLab's DeepPRIME can also be used to reduce noise.

Photon Noise

https://medium.com/hipster-color-science/photon-noise-4ecc95aae31d

https://photographylife.com/what-is-noise-in-photography

https://www.strollswithmydog.com/photons-poisson-shot-noise/

Go through many articles here.. Fabulous collection without getting into deep science, formulae and mathematics.

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-noise.htm

Some formulae

https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=10773

https://therefractedlight.blogspot.com/2014/03/why-are-blue-skies-noisy-in-digital.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_noise

https://www.e-consystems.com/blog/camera/technology/a-deep-dive-into-types-of-camera-noise-and-their-impact-on-image-quality/?srsltid=AfmBOoo12yrGP5pA6XPgyQBUabTWDlew96-jK9l6uCf1GMKQ1vrLwLaa

https://www.cs.rochester.edu/courses/572/fall2022/decks/lect11-noise-color-sensing.pdf

Origins of Stops in camera and how to use them

F-stop numbers may seem unusual because they represent the doubling or halving of the area of a circle, which is based on the square root of 2. This geometric sequence of numbers is chosen because it makes it easier for the human brain to remember that each stop doubles or halves the light coming through the aperture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterhouse_stop

https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/8245/where-does-the-term-f-stop-come-from

https://medium.com/photography-secrets/f-stop-scale-56efa60bd67e

How to use it

https://photographylife.com/f-stop

https://www.adobe.com/in/creativecloud/photography/discover/f-stop.html

http://www.uscoles.com/fstop.htm

PF - Phase Fresnel lens - The invention that saved a million ships

In 1819, Augustin Fresnel invented a new kind of lens and installed it in France’s Cordouan lighthouse. Suddenly, one lamp could light the way for sailors many miles out to sea. Augustin Fresnel installed his creation in the Phare de Cordouan, a towering lighthouse situated in France’s Gironde estuary, about 100km north of Bordeaux.

We use Fresnel lenses in torchlights to direct light rays to make them spotlights, more intense and brighter.

Many of us have been using PF lenses such as F 500 f/5.6 PF, Z600 f.6.3 PF, Z800 f/6.3 PF or F 300 f/4 lenses, these lenses are feather weight compared to regular lenses. Why they are so light and is there any compromise, whats the concept and ideas behind PF lenses.

How they are so light compared to normal lights from Prof David Willey - brilliant explanation and demonstration.

https://youtu.be/_nBNnlu6Rqo?si=cHP8MW8ByV-AlY8d

History

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190620-the-invention-that-saved-a-million-ships

https://youtu.be/8z0l0yjBFmo?si=lrCQMf7JpfaufbGb

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_lens

About Man himself

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustin-Jean_Fresnel

His lens

There’s a movie called “The Lighthouse”

In India, The first light was commissioned in Mahabalipuram in 1887 on the roof of the Olakkannesvara Temple. The lighthouse, with a circular masonry tower made of natural stone, became fully functional in 1904. India's oldest lighthouse, built around 640 CE by Pallava king Mahendravarman I stands next to this modern structure. Old and new lighthouses can be seen.

In ancient times, the log fire on one of the high rocks used to serve as a beacon. The first conventional lighthouse was established by placing a wick lamp inside a 4th order optic and lantern on the roof of Olakkaneeswar temple in May1887.

The existing dressed stone masonry circular tower 26M in height was built on the rock in 1900. Its exterior surface was left natural and unpainted so as to blend with surroundings. The light was commissioned in to service in March 1901. The PV Source was replaced by incandescent electric lamp in 1994. The Main light and emergency light source were modified to a cluster of three 150W230V Metal Halide lamp in August 2004. National Heritage, Maritime Museum were thrown open to Public since 28th February 2014.The Main light source was modified by an array of 236W LED lamp in August 2020 which is first of its kind in the Directorate of Lighthouses and Lightships, Chennai.

Fresnel lenses in India - Aguada in Sinquerim, Goa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqLbPkKsXS4

From Nikon

https://www.nikonimgsupport.com/eu/BV_article?articleNo=000044675&configured=1&lang=en_GB

"The PF (Phase Fresnel) lens, developed by Nikon, effectively compensates chromatic aberration utilizing the photo diffraction phenomenon*. It provides superior chromatic aberration compensation performance when combined with a normal glass lens. Compared to many general camera lenses that employ an optical system using the photorefractive phenomenon, a remarkably compact and lightweight body can be attained with less number of lens elements.

* Diffraction phenomenon: Light has characteristics as a waveform. When a waveform faces an obstacle, it attempts to go around and behind it, and this characteristic is referred to as diffraction. Diffraction causes chromatic dispersion in the reverse order of refraction."

https://petapixel.com/2015/01/10/closer-look-nikons-new-phase-fresnel-pf-lens-technology/

https://petapixel.com/2021/03/15/how-a-fresnel-lens-works-explained-with-a-simple-blackboard-model/

Pixel shift in Nkon cameras and their working

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Scott Keys produced a very good video on Pixel Shift on Nikon cameras

Pixel shift can be used on static subjects such as landscape, products and macro etc.

https://youtu.be/U997TTH3XWo?si=RvTHRq30GvLbFJJ1

Naveen

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How the pixel shift works to produce better quality images is simple.. our cameras capture at each individual pixel capture only 1/3rd color ( either R or G or B) due to bayer pattern that filters out colors from light.. So you get mosaic of color information from sensor. After capture they are demosaiced to create color approximation using algorithms. Pixel shift - does is shift the camera by a pixel and capture light.. in attached photo, take top horizontal row of bayer sequence, by shifting camera to left, image top left coordinates move to right by one pixel. Where we had green earlier we capture red there and finally merge the images. when image left most coordinate moves down by a pixel we capture blue instead of red. Similar left and down movements by different pixels are used to capture full color at each pixel. Pixel shift sequence is in the bayer pattern of 4, 8, 16, 32 images. finally it merges these images in post. Currently for Nikon Z8, Z6ii cameras pixel shift is supported only in Nx Studio. output image is upscaled by factor of many than a single NEF file. if you go to our concepts folder on google drive, you will find more information on sensors, bayer patters.and Sigma’s fovoen sensor that captures three colros at single pixels but technology had huge limitations, so never became popular.

Plenoptic or Lightfield camera

Light Field camera

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_field

http://www.plenoptic.info/index.html

https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/lytro

https://raytrix.de/

https://fstoppers.com/historical/why-camera-maker-lytro-failed-despite-brilliant-technology-633479

https://www.theverge.com/2014/7/30/5949913/lytro-illum-review

RGB for monitors Vs CMYK for printing, why?

Naveen

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Why we have to export to CMYK for printing is crucial to understanding here.

Jyotsna

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Actually I don’t know the right answer to that Naveen. I just followed your advice. I suppose RGB is the profile used for monitors whereas CMYK is used for printing machines. Please educate me. Thank you

Radha sir

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A very simple explanation is - the alternate profile for printing is because sRGB and aRGB that is fine tuned for pixels on a monitor is not the same for inks on paper.

The billions of colors they can render on monitor has to translate to inks with limited color combinations

Mostly colors while printing is produced with a combination of inks of mostly CMYK

While it’s the same for monitor the mixture of colors in monitor will be billions of combinations

Naveen

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Few things we all know

Why do we see ? Because light reflected from the surface gets into our eye. Our eyes can see 3 primary colors Red, Green and Blue and millions of combinations if it. Technically we are color blind to other colors than primary colors. Doctors in our forum can correct me.

Say when we see a Red color ball in daylight, why is it appearing Red? Because the ball surface absorbs all other colors in day light EXCEPT Red. Similarly for the Green color ball, it appears green to us because it absorbs all their colors and reflects green.

As Newton proved in the mid 1600’s through his prism experiments, day time white light that we see is not white but combinations of VIBGYOR colors.

So white color is nothing but the addition of RGB color values. It’s an additive process. If R=255, G=255,B=255 for 8 bit color depth we get white color.

If we look at our monitors, they are black in color and have Leds glowing different colors on them. That’s how we look at photos on screen and process them. Leds are a light source. The Monitor Surface is black and we add colors on it. This is an additive process.

When it comes to printing. What do we do?

We print on white paper. How to get desired colors on it? If we take the red color first and put it on white paper what happens? Remember white color already has a mix of red, green and blue colors. Ink dye absorbs light. So white color paper minus red color ink is what we see as Cyan. Cyan is a complimentary color to red. cR is how it’s written in documents. Similarly white minus green is magenta (cG) and white minus blue is yellow(cB). So when we are printing colors on white paper we have to remove colors from white color to get the desired color, this is a subtractive process.

You understand why it is CMY but we use CMYK on printers. Why not CMYB?? Coming to K. K is the key color black. K is the last letter of black. B is already used for blue in RGB.

How to get black color on white paper? Add all CMY colors in equal proportions. Even then you don’t get perfect black. To save costly ink dye, instead of 3 color dyes only black ( K )color dye is used.

Because of ink dye and mixing precision we can get only 16000 colors from CMYK whereas we see a million colors on our monitors.

Sensor evolution over decades by inventors of technology

In case you’re interested. It’s a very long article by inventors of many technologies that go into our cameras.

It’s not at depth but amazing breadth over many decades. not been able to get to the end of it after many days of reading due to need to cross reference many things.

https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-vision-101322-105538

Subject detection how it works

Naveen

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Subject detection algorithms require huge amounts of data and fine tuning.

How does a child identify a cat?Human eye has about 30 to 60 fps. So in a minute we process 2000 images. In an hour 1.2 lakh images and in 12 hours of day time about 15 lakh images. In a month about 4.5 crore images and in a year about 50 crore images. So a child by the age of 5 years would have processed about 200 crore images. So one year or 2 year old identify a dog or cat because parents ( or moms more) show real/ pictures of dog and cat over and over again and combine it with intelligence passed by our genes to kids. This is called labeled data in Data science. So it looks effortless but a lot more happens behind it. So computer scientists instead of extracting features like eye, nose, and head by drawing bounding boxes of yester years around 2007/2009 started an effort to recruit thousand volunteers ( called mechanical Turks) to label billion images on the internet for image net, an open source initiative. These labeled images are fed to deep learning algorithms which started doing magic.

About 2013/2014 so many techniques of generative adversarial networks etc were developed with millions now billions of parameters in chatgpt. Instead of finding meaning of words ( semantic) now algorithms measure distance between words called word vectors and give answers magically like in chatgpt.

As you can see more data, more processing and more accuracy. This is the current state of algorithms broadly but with a lot more optimisations. Skipped many details and forsake precision in above.

AI subject detection algorithms require a lot of careful labeling of data for many edge conditions to train them. It’s like training a dog to fetch a frisbee. Train repeatedly to get it right. Trained algorithms are deployed into cameras for subject predictions in real-time. When we point a camera at a subject these algorithms detect subject, head and eyes in split seconds for thousands of animals, birds in zillion lighting conditions, poses/angles, juvenile / Adult etc and draw boxes around these elements for our viewing sake.

These algorithms were perfected by Sony and Canon AI scientists and engineers over many years. Nikon is late to the game. Not only companies have to develop AI algorithms on computers with massive power on huge datasets but also have to transfer them to smaller footprint camera processors. This is called transfer learning, which is an art by itself.

Companies like Adobe have a tonne of labeled data and many times with location tagged data in its cloud servers that we have voluntarily stored in our libraries. It can call on the cloud for processing if local computing ( like a laptop) is not sufficient. So it has a different problem.

For a company like Nikon which has strengths in hardware and Optics, software development and integration with hardware etc for mirrorless cameras is a huge challenge. AI algorithms are a beast by themselves. Regression to ensure no new bugs introduced in each update requires massive automation.

So this is one of the reasons every time they improve algorithms to some level, they issue a firmware update.

Not trying to absolve Nikon of its fault lines or tardiness but what I have seen in the last few years gives me hope that they are headed in the right direction. We have invested into a system that is being improved regularly.

This space moves very fast so am sure Canon and Sony have something big up their sleeves as they don’t issue firmwares regularly, so would have directed their development efforts to next generation camera software. So we’re in interesting times.

Seminal work has been done by many over years, insight of child identifying objects was made by Fei Fei Li. Go through her Ted talk here at

How we teach computers to understand pictures | Fei Fei Li

YVS Prasad sir

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Sony and Canon have a separate AI chip for AF

Jeyaram

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pre-capture requires holding the images in a buffer until shutter release is pressed. It’s typically a non-volatile memory like DRAM

I’m not sure how much of AI is implemented in hardware in Nikon as they are able to improve AI performance through firmware updates. In case of Sony no AI improvements through firmware indicating that it’s all implemented in their chip

Radha sir

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IMHO -90% of the time when they say AI, it’s plain ML - Machine Learning models. These models are pre trained with image attributes with a huge data collection and the trained model is what is deployed with each firmware. All of these cameras come with chipsets that typically run these ML models to scene match and do the guesswork for autofocus. Like we do frequent firmware and OS updates, these models get trained all the time to improve their accuracy with additional training and testing data. The upgradation to the chips are essential only when the Model gets very sophisticated and big enough that warrants more powerful chips to run them quickly in runtime. As otherwise, it’s like an SOC on a mac that lasts for years and we keep updating the OS till such time you either feel the SOC is not running as fast as before with the previous OS’s or Apple or any vendor announcing end of life for the SOC that no further OS updates will be available for it. Nikon may find it as a requirement to plant a new SOC with Expeed 8 that further advances speed and supports enhanced models for AF with improved accuracy with mark II z8 and z9

Same reason why Apple Intelligence is supported only from iPhone 15 Pros as the SOCs are faster and they come with sufficient memory to run the deployed ML models at the end point (or EDGE as we call it)

What is 18% Grey or middle grey

The production of a perfect picture by means of photography is an art; the production of a technically perfect negative is a science.

Ferdinand Hurter

– Ferdinand Hurter, Ph.D., and V. C. Driffield, “Photo-chemical Investigations and a new Method of Determination of the Sensitiveness of Photographic Plates” (Reprinted from The Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, 31st May, 1890, No. 5, Vol. IX) [“The Photographic Research of Ferdinand Hurter & Vero C. Driffield” (A Facsimile Edition), Morgan & Morgan, Inc., Dobbs Ferry, New York 1974, p. 76]

A camera’s auto-exposure system knows one thing: 18% grey. No matter what the camera meters on (and I am speaking of a generic SLR or DSLR to make things simple), it will make all adjustments possible to try and make that portion of the image as close to 18% grey as it can. Everything in the scene that’s brighter than the metered area will be rendered brighter in the resulting image, and everything that’s darker will be rendered darker in the image.

There are many smart answers on internet

The short answer to why we use 18% Gray is simply this, if the light in an average scene being photographed is averaged out, it will produce an 18% gray tone (neutral). So film cameras, dSLRs cameras, and video cameras are all formulated to produce proper exposure when exposed to produce an 18% gray tone.

How camera sets exposure

https://pixelsandwanderlust.com/what-is-middle-grey-understanding-18-grey-reflectance/

But what is 18% grey and how did it come up in photography.

There are many answers that give practical application and how to use than why or how it came about. So had to dig around a bit to find..

One useful discussion thread ..https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/62307/why-is-18-grey-considered-to-be-in-the-middle-for-photography

And one more

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4694149

Both of them have very insightful and authoritative answers from Alan Marcus.

Abstracted above answer here for reference.. These are not mine.. All credits to original authors.

Question is who found 18% average scene light and how did they found out?

Many credit 18% grey to Ansel Adam

“In 1941, Ansel Adams, a prominent landscape photographer, and his friend, Fred Archer, a photo magazine editor, jointly published the Zone System which provided photographers with a method to precisely fine-tune exposure”

“36

The story goes that Ansel Adams came up with the "18% gray" figure. Back in the hay day of film photography he was developing the zone system and needed to define a "middle gray". It was a judgment call. Eventually, the idea caught on, but film and camera companies picked their own middle gray”

Some credit it to ..

Edward Weston who came up with it when he invented the light meter. Observation had him realize that in nature (especially in landscapes) with a bright sky the tones were distributed in roughly a third of white, black and medium tones.

Some credit it to

“In the mid 1930's, Messrs Jones and Condit at the Kodak Laboratory determined that statistically, a typical sunlit scene integrated to a reflectance value of about 18%”

Finally. A more authentic answer from Alan Marcus. https://photo.meta.stackexchange.com/users/44949/alan-marcus

Retired PHOTO-ENGINEER -- Photofinisher - photo equipment manufacturer -- OK to email alanmaxinemarcus@att.net

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Photography was invented in France in 1822 by Joseph Nicephore and perfected by Louis Daguerre in 1839. The Daguerreotype still yields near the top of the mark black & white images.

However, exposure settings remain hit and miss until Ferdinand Hurter and V.C. Driffield published in 1890, receiving The Progress Medal, Royal Photographic Society. These are the founders of the modern science of Sensitometry and Densitometry. We stand on their shoulders for film speed, exposure control.

The H&D film curve is a plot that reveals how film reacts to exposure and development. A plot of the gray scale produced by a sensitometer shows how film blackens upon different levels of exposure and development. The typical plot is film exposed in ½ stops increments. This will be a gray scale of 21 steps. Note step 11 is the midpoint of the straight-line region of the plot.

Its typical density is 0.75 density units. Photo scientist measure the light stopping ability of exposed and developed film using logarithmic notation base 10. This blacking of film is called “density”. The value is 10 elevated to the 0.75 power. This value is typically the center of the straight-line portion of the H&D curve.

This tells me that step 11 has been exposed and developed and if we shine a light at this step some will be blocked (density) some will traverse (transmission). Density and transmission are the inverse of each other. First we convert the log value 0.75 to common base 10 numbers = 5.62. This value would be the filter factor of step 11 if used as a neutral density filter. The invers of t=5.62 is 1/5.62 = 0.1778. This is the transmission of step 11 however by tradition we convert this to a percentage. Percent means per 100 so we divide by 100 = 17.8%. Rounded this 18%. Note this value is step 5 of using 1 f-stop increments.

In other words, step 5 of Ansel Adams’s grayscale is 18% gray shade, it's the middle plot of the straight-line portion of the graph of the H&D plot i.e. step 11 of a tropical pictorial film.

Sorry this stuff is based on the math of logs and the slide rule.

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From Alan Marcus - https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4694149

Transmission and reflection density readings stem from the work of Ferdinand Hurter and V.C Driffield, published in 1890. They devised instruments that passed a beam of light through film and or reflected that beam off a paper print. The reduction in the brightness of the beam was assigned a numerical value. We are talking reflection and transmission densitometry.

As an example, 50% Transmission written as a decimal = 0.50 Transmission. (T) The inverse (reciprocal) is 1 / 2 =2 This is the Opacity (O) of a 50% transmission or reflection. The optical Density is the value 2 (opacity) converted to logarithmic notation base 10 = 10^0.30 (ten elevated to the 0.30 power). The base is 10, the exponent is 0.30 portion. Since the base 10 is understood, we omit the base and only write the exponent thus a 50% T = Opacity O = 2.00 = Density D = 0.30

For middle gray 18% T, Opacity is 1 ÷ 0.18 = O=5.55 Density= this value in log10 = D = 0.75.

Explanation: It was the era of engineering before the calculator or computer. Tables of logarithm were used, they eased math by substituting addition and subtraction for multiplication and division. This is how the slide rule works.

The H & D instruments were based on visual observations. These were black and white films and prints. The instruments provided a dual view. The area under study is adjacent to a calibrated filter. The filter was stepped and movable. The filter value was adjustable by turning a knob. This method of finding the density by visual comparison is quite accurate as the human eye/brain is good at this task.

As the science progressed, the visual method was replaced by electronics. The modern densitometric reading gives four values. V for visual, R for red, G for green and B for blue.

The beam of light is adjusted using Wratten filter V =106 Amber to convert response to match the luminosity response of the human eye.

Color film B = Wratten 98 G = Wratten 99 R = Wratten 92

Noted filters used vary based on the sensitivity of the light sensor used.

Wratten filter values from the catalog of Wratten and Wainwright acquired by kodak 1912. Frederic Wratten was the master maker of filters, and his catalog was the standard.

Look at 4th image:

https://www1.columbia.edu/sec/cu/libraries/bts/img/assets/8936/GrayscaleSummary2.pdf

How to read H&D Film curves

The H&D curve, also known as the characteristic curve, is a graph that shows the relationship between a film's optical density and the amount of exposure it receives. The curve is named after Hurter and Driffield, who developed the graphical method for photographic film.

The H&D curve has the following characteristics:

Axes

The x-axis is logarithmic and is often called log relative exposure, while the y-axis is the logarithm of the transmission.

Regions

The curve has three regions:

Toe: The low-exposure region of the curve that extends to zero exposure.

Linear: The region of the curve where ideally all radiographic images should be exposed.

Shoulder: The region of high exposure.

Shape

The curve resembles the letter S, with a relatively linear mid-section and lower contrast at the high and low density parts.

Slope

The slope of the curve decreases as the film's ability to record contrast between different exposures decreases.

A full set of H&D curves for a film shows how these characteristics vary with developer type and time.

Go through

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eILVzTNWnq8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=PGKP2upe2aw

Though H&D Curves gives ways to compute density of film based on exposure.. H&D didnt actually refer to middle grey.

Albert Munsell’s is the first to actually use middle gray..

In Albert Munsell's color system, middle gray has a value of 5N: ALbert mentions it as medium gray not middle gray

Explanation: In Munsell's color system, value refers to how much black or white a color contains, or how light or dark it is. The value scale ranges from 0N for black to 10N for white, with middle gray at 5N.

Munsell's color system is based on three attributes: hue, chroma, and value. Munsell created the system to provide a rational way to describe color, using decimal notation instead of color names. He published his system in A Color Notation in 1905.

Munsell's color system has been revised over time, but it's still widely used today because of its simplicity and ease.

In Albert Munsell's color system, a medium gray is represented by the notation "N 5/". In the Munsell system, gray is a neutral color that runs vertically between white and black. The letter "N" is used to represent gray

Read more at

Munsell color system - Wikipedia

John Hess from Film maker IQ explains thing well more authoritatively But according to comments on his vidoe even he wasn’t fully correct :). Its shows the the nature of topic!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RbudPe7pp8

Some commentary summarizing John Hess’s video https://www.diyphotography.net/what-is-middle-grey-and-why-does-it-even-matter/

Comments on video by John Hess by https://www.youtube.com/@phpn99 - surprisingly not found much content from phpn - Phil Pan

I work in colour science and I have to tell you that you are somewhat off the mark. You make it sound like "18%" is just a convention based on the Lab colour space. First, you have to differentiate between radiometric and photometric light measurements. Light is either measured as a physical phenomenon independent of human viewers, in which case we call the measurements "radiometric"; or it is measured according to the standard perception of the human visual system, in which case we call the measurements "photometric".

Object brightness can thus be measured either as a radiometric quantity, in which case we'd measure its "radiance" in watt per steradian per square meter; or as a photometric (perceptual) quantity, in which case we'd measure its "luminance" in candela per square meter (aka 'nits'). The difference between the two is that in the case of radiant intensity we add together the contributions of every wavelength of light in the source's spectrum, whereas for luminous (i.e. photometric) intensity the contribution of each wavelength is weighted by the "standard luminosity function".

This standard luminosity function is a standardized model of the way the human eye is sensitive to various radiant wavelength — it is the characteristic spectral response of the human eye. The standard luminosity function looks like a bell curve centred on ~570 nanometers of wavelength for relatively bright light (so-called 'photopic' light, perceived by the retina's cone cells), and shifted to ~500 nanometers for relatively dim light (so-called 'scotopic' light, perceived by the retina's rod cells).

When you measured the brightness of grey patches in your video, your exposure meter was converting the radiometric measurements of wide spectrum reflected photon energy into the photometric quantity of luminance (with a reading in candelas per square meter). In essence, your meter was "looking" at the grey patches through a green-sensitive bandpass filter (that's what the standard luminosity function is). As it comes to the conversion of this reading into reflectance (or transmittance) values, and how we get to the standard "18%" value for the middle grey patch, we use another function, which you are correct in stating that it was first suggested by Albert Munsell in 1905.

Throughout the 20th century, the mathematical description of this function has been refined, but it essentially has always been a cube-root function that plots object luminance versus lightness perception, and normalized between 0 and 100%, in what is called 'relative luminance'. Munsell called this dimension of colour perception, the "Value" of a colour (along with its "Hue" and its "Chroma" aka, saturation) and by the mid-1930s the plot of this function by itself (void of hue and chroma), the "neutral value scale". By the end of the 1950s, Kodak scientists refined Munsell's neutral scale model into the "Lightness" scale, denoted "L*" (pronounced "L-star"), and by 1976, the Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage standardized the "CIELAB" colour space, that enhanced Richard Hunter's "Lab" colour model by using Glasser and Wyszecki's cube-root model in place of Hunter's square-root.

Thus, the CIELAB model uses the L*a*b* notation (with asterisks), and the L* function has since then represented the most practical and stable representation of a "perceptually uniform" visual scale of lightness, in spite of much more complex "colour appearance models" having come into existence since the late 1970s (models that take into account various perceptual effects such as simultaneous contrast, saturation-dependent brightness perception, and so forth). It IS safe and accurate to state today, that in general as it concerns relative luminance (that is, as per the CIE XYZ model, Luminance — denoted "Y" — normalized between 0 and 100, the latter value representing diffuse white, and not considering specular highlights), the L* function represents the perceptually-uniform scale of lightness, computable directly from radiometric and photometric measurements.

You incorrectly stated that the "L'" in CIELAB corresponds to "Luminance", whereas in fact it corresponds to "Lightness", a totally different metric. As you were nonetheless accurate to point out, when computing this function, it so happens that when an object reflects 18.42% of its incident illumination, one will obtain an L* value of 50, spank in the middle of the Lightness scale. This is valid throughout the luminance range that the human visual system can cope with, it goes without saying.

The fudge factors used by Ansel Adams in the 1930s (some of which have unfortunately made their way into exposure meters) were based on empirical methods at a time these functions were not in existence. In the days of black and white silver halide photography, the golden rule was "expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights", so a modicum of overexposure was deemed preferable, to obtain a dense negative (silver halide emulsions don't suffer from quantization issues like digital imagers do), which you could then either under-develop ("pull process") and tone to achieve excellent contrast effects.

Adams was a master of these techniques, all of which he documented in his books about the Zone System which is concerned with both exposure and negative development. But Adams was not a champion of colour photography — it's a well-known fact in contrast, that colour negative film in the motion picture industry always looked better when under-exposed. It's also a well-known fact that antiquated standards such as ANSI PH3.49 1971, which was quickly superseded by ISO 2720-1974, contain ludicrous mathematics and dubious fudge factors such as the infamous "K" constant used by exposure meter manufacturers. Simply stating that "Aha ! ANSI PH3.49 defines middle grey as 12.8%" has zero scientific value.

It IS because serious engineers abide by the proper math, that colour science in the context of digital imaging produces consistent results and much better handling of colour and exposure than was the case 50 years ago. Two last points in the context of the new wave of HDR imaging: The beauty of the L* function is that it defines the Just Noticeable Difference (JND) in lightness that can be perceived. The JND, also referred to as the Delta-E (a metric those who calibrate devices will recognize) corresponds uniformly to 1% of the L* function. So each 1% step along the L*, represents the smallest increment in lightness that can be perceived.

In parallel, Peter Barten published a series of seminal papers from 1992 onward, about the contrast sensitivity of human vision. The Barten model complements the L* scale to define the just noticeable difference in contrast. Whereas scientists and engineers used the L* function to define the proper amount of digital encoding resolution required to represent relative luminance without quantization artifacts (i.e 'banding'), in recent years engineers used Barten's model to define the proper way to encode high dynamic range scenes that extend beyond diffuse white (relative luminance) and into the specular domain.

What the Barten model helped engineers with, is decide how few bits (code values) could be used, and according to what mathematical distribution (the so-called "opto-electronic transfer function" or EOTF), to encode very wide dynamic range (0 to 10,000 nits) without viewers seeing quantization errors. This led to both the HDR Hybrid Log-Gamma and Perceptual Quantizer standards that are in use today. In HDR PQ, when properly exposed, your 18% grey card reads... 50 nits.

Here’s a paper that goes into details of Hunter and Driffield’s paper and invention.

https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1961AuJPh..14..160C/0000172.000.html

Should Z9 uses switch to DX mode to achieve more Zoom ? 23 Jun 2024

Tarang:

Should z9 users switch to DX mode to achieve more zoom? Is there a drawback to doing this in terms of quality?

Dr Kalyan:

More zoom, at the cost of pixels, dx helps in focusing far away subjects,

Tarang: Are we not shooting at 45 MP in DX mode?

Dr Kalyan

It becomes a crop sensor Camera,

Radhakrishnan:

No, it becomes close to 20 MP

Tarang: How did get to 20 MP, trying to understand the math

Radhaakrishnan:

DX mode forces to take the image just out of the centre portion of the sensor.. all the data coming out of it comes from 24mm instead of the 35mm. This is done to create a field of view as that of a 1.5 crop APSC sensor

It’s sort of in-camera cropping for you to provide the field of view of 1.5 time

Dr Kalyan:

Eternal debate, converter or DX?

Radhakrishnan

Yes. TC = light loss + softness, but full sensor read out

DX = no loss of light, no softness, but you are throwing the pixels away

Bright light, prime lenses f2.8 - f4, TC is reliable

All other situations, DX if you have to get closer to the subject at a distance

Can’t decide on what to do? Use FX, put max pixels on the subject, decide what you want to do in post 😊

That’s a general rule of thumb

There are some prime lenses + 1.4 TC that lends themselves well with very good sharpness despite loss of light..

400 2.8 + TC 1.4

500 f4 + TC 1.4

600 f4 + TC 1.4

300 2.8 + TC 1.4

70-200 2.8 + TC 1.4

300 f4 + TC 1.4

400 4.5 + TC 1.4

Are all tried and tested combinations that main very good sharpness + colour contrast and very little to no softness. With these you can maintain your 45mp, not throw away pixels and extend the reach..

Avoid TC 2x at any cost. Majority of the times it’s not worth it. Very few have found success with a very very few combination. Most of us are unlucky with the 2x TC on any lens we have tried.

Naveen Kumar:

In Nikon Z cameras, using DX mode in field helps with better subject detection of far away subjects. Technically you can crop in post using FX mode instead of in-camera crop by DX mode. Any way if we’re going to crop in post, why not take advantage of better subject detection in DX mode to get sharper pictures from fieid.

We answered all other effects of DX but not question itself. Here’s the math.

Nikon Z9/z8 camera sensors have pixel density of 5.32 MP/cm2.

FX mode - sensor size equivalent of 35 mm -36mm*24 mm= 864 mm2 area or 8.64 cm2 area. Multiply by pixel density you get 45.96 MP image.

DX mode -crop sensor size - 24 mm * 16 mm ( lentgth and width reduced by 1.5 times for Nikon cameras) = 384 mm2 or 3.84 cm2. Gives image of 20.42 MP.

Strictly speaking it’s 35.9 mm *23.9 mm. You could work math yourself.

Hope you heard about yesteryears 35 mm movies and 70 mm movies.

Why is it 35 mm- one story goes like this .. it seems George Eastman( Kodak fame) and thomas Edison met to discuss film production. Eastman asked what’s size of film, Edison showed size by lifting his thumb and fore finger. Eastman asked his assistant to measure that width between fingers of Edison which was 35 mm.

There are other stories for some other day.

Hope it helps.

updating firmware in Z8/Z9 cameras. It’s simple..

1. Format card in Z8/9 camera . Make sure the battery is fully charged to 100%.

2. ⁠download firmware to laptop/ Mac

3. ⁠unzip firmware

4. ⁠connect CF express external card reader with memory card to laptop / mac.

5. ⁠copy unzipped file . Exe ( windows) or bin( Mac) to the root folder of the memory card. This is important

6. ⁠once firmware file copied, eject card reader to make sure it is safe to take out card

7. ⁠insert card into Slot 1 of camera. Make sure the battery has 100% power. Full is highly recommended.

8. ⁠go to settings menu, scroll to firmware.. scroll down and select update firmware

9. ⁠takes about 6 to 8 mins max

10. ⁠switch off camera when you get a pop up that update is completed and asks you to switch off camera. Switch it back on.

11. ⁠go to settings menu and scroll to firmware options and check versions.

12. ⁠you’re done. Congratulations!

13. Optional: applicable only for Z9. Just in case GNSS firmware to be updated, ⁠for updating GNSS firmware to G 0.17 version ( in case it’s needed) , repeat steps from 8 to 11. Follow the same process for updating the firmware of lenses as well.

Naveen Kumar 29 March 2024

—-----------------------------------------------------------------

My experience of using firmware 5.0 on Z9 for last 2 weeks( not missed a single day!) during my morning walks for about 90 mins each day.

Tried cycle AF area mode as Steve suggested for few days.

Configured AF-area cycle mode in video recording button. Tried turning focus ring manually closer to subject and using Af-F to detect subject. It works if subjects are in clear. Else focus sticks to some stick or background. And difficult to move focus back to bird and get subject detection working even if we use single point after Af-F. It’s a struggle many a times with small skittish birds in clutter, it was difficult to get initial focus. Lost precious time and birds moving out. Most of the times I had to follow birds in clutter.

So experimented few different settings that worked well for me.

1. AF-On+WC(1*1) on Fn1 helps me to get initial focus accurately on birds in cluttter. Focus on perch or bottom of perch and use Fn1 to get intial focus. 9 out of 10 times it works well.

If it doesn’t work switch off subject detection or use single point immediately using video recording button and go back to Fn1 to get subject detection working.

2. Once subject detection is engaged then using video recording button to shift to different AF area like wide -small if in clutter and subject moving. Or use Af-F if subject is in clear.

3. ⁠not using 3D area mode as AF-F is reliable these days.

4. ⁠Used limit AF-Area modes setting to choose only few area modes available for AF-area cycling so it’s faster to shift to different mode in field.

5. ⁠for vertical once again fn3 is set to Af-On +Wc2 ( 19*3) as I turn the vertical only when bird is in vertical orientation and is of decent size.

6. vertical Af-On is set to AF-On + Wc1(1*1)

7. Fn2 once again has cycle Af-area mode. So easier to shift to different area mode in case I need it but not used many times in field to share experience.

At the moment settled on above settings and found giving me good results. After each day session, checked photos by importing to NX studio and checked where AF box landed and fine tuned my approach.

Am sure each one of us have a certain comfort with different button customisations, use any combination that works for you. Hope above is useful. Looking forward to receive your experiences.

Auto focus working well for Tigers and few examples of not working well.

Tarang.. Tadoba trip.. Working well

Kartihik not working well

Auto Focussing Issues

Naveen

—-----

180-600 lens is a little slower to acquire focus or shift focus from the background.

Few strategies to help.

1. Use appropriate focus area mode to acquire initial focus. Ensure the eye is detected. Use AF cycle area to switch area modes faster. If the eye is not detected chances are that the subject is not sharp. Use f/8 for enough depth of field.

2. ⁠change to single point without subject detection or WC1(1*1) to get focus

3. ⁠camera is little faster to focus from closer to far. So after focussing at distance refocus to minimum focus distance. So don’t leave focus at farther distance

4. ⁠focus on perch base to acquire initial focus and then focus on subject

5. Use a manual focus ring on the lens to get focus when the lens is struggling to autofocus. Manual hand off works without fail.

6. ⁠if you know subject is going to be at a distance use focus limiter switch. But remember to set it to full for closer subjects.

For birds in flight

Panning skills also play a large role. Keeping birds at “almost“ the same place in the viewfinder with auto focus area on head as bird flies is a key skill to be mastered to get good flight shots. This requires panning speed to be in sync with bird flight speed. Good anticipation and good panning skills go hand in hand.

Try AF-F , it's a lot better these days.

Always pre focus at where the bird would land or action appears or just before the perch.

Naveen 5 Feb 2025

—---------

Good morning, it’s a brand new day. So let’s start with hope and positivity.

sharing a few things on autofocus performance on Z9/Z8. Sometimes discussion in a forum in the flow of a thread appears as bashing, hopeless etc or we’re critiquing excessively.

The following are working for me, quite well.

1.⁠ ⁠Auto area -AF and subject detection birds, works well for 75 to 80% of my regular shooting of birds. Use your favourite area and your experience should be similar barring +|- some percentage.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠with slight help from photographer - change area mode, move focus point and use manual focus ring etc we can easily get good photos upto 90 to 95% of scenarios.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠Manual focus ring rotation and single point area is a sure shot way to get shots in tricky situations. Requires a bit of practice and needs appropriate lens handling as the focus ring is not at the same position on all lenses. Develop muscle memory for your favourite lenses.

4.⁠ ⁠⁠practice af- overrides and handoffs and good panning technique for tracking birds in flight or action.

5.⁠ ⁠using f/8 where possible ( subject to background distance is more and in good light etc), helps to get sharp photos even when focus point wanders. This increases keepers at the cost of bokeh, soft fall off at edges, low iso etc . F/8 is an issue as we shoot wide open with big glass. My favourite 600 PF wide opens at f6.3 so not an issue. So find an appropriate stop down that works for you.

6.⁠ ⁠don’t go by focus point box painting on a photo in monitor or in NX studio. Focus box painting is not always accurate. If you got a sharp photo, keep it, don’t bother about the focus box display.

7.⁠ ⁠to check where you’re locking focus, set zoom 100% to a button like lens function button. This is possible if the subject is cooperative. or with practice you can check easily.

8.⁠ ⁠in a burst, just lock focus before shooting. don’t bother even if the focus lock is lost, camera recovers and catches up, so you get more keepers. Is there a chance to lose prize photo? Yes, but Burst happens fast, don’t bother.

9.⁠ ⁠be aware where focus lock is getting acquired and react instantly, cameras needs help from us.

10.⁠ ⁠Not shot lot of Mammals, however requires little more closer monitoring of focus lock than birds and react appropriately.

11.⁠ ⁠⁠there are techniques like focus Limiter on lens and focus recall to a distance, focusing on constraty areas etc to help us.

12.⁠ ⁠after each photo, go back to your default settings, focus camera at minimum focus distance. The trick is to keep the camera ready for the next shot.

13.⁠ ⁠Practice above techniques. No point in looking at what the next photographer does.

Above has been documented on google drive.

Does z9/Z8 need to improve autofocus performance, yes undoubtedly.

Can we get good tack sharp photos, in the meantime ? Yes, requires little more monitoring and help from us.

With above you get about 95 to 98% or even upto 99% keeper rate. Enjoy your camera and shooting.

Exposure meter not showing

Sridhar Parthasarathy

Suddenly I am not seeing the exposure meter in the view finder

How do I get it back?

This is on the z8

Naveen

Check viewfinder settings D21 or D20. Cycle view finder display if you configured it for any switch - check custom controls f2.

Sridhar

It was. Thanks

D18/d19 on z8

Flicker while taking indoor Badminton photos

Umendra Singh Rana 16 Aug 2025

—----------------------

One issue I’m facing while taking photos in indoor Badminton action shots. To freeze the action I need atleast 1/500th shutter speed.

I face lots of light flickering in evf and screen. With dslr I was not facing this issue. Plz suggest any possible solution

Sriram

—-----

Why Flicker Happens Indoors

• Fluorescent and LED lights don’t emit continuous light — they pulse with the mains frequency (50Hz in India, 60Hz in US).

• At high shutter speeds (1/1000s, 1/2000s), your camera may capture light at different parts of the pulse cycle → flickering brightness and color in frames.

• Problem worsens with electronic shutter (sensor scans line-by-line), leading to banding.

Solutions on Nikon Z8/Z9

1.⁠ ⁠Use Anti-Flicker Shooting (Shutter-based)

• Menu > Photo Shooting Menu > Flicker reduction shooting → ON.

• Camera detects flicker and adjusts timing to fire at the brightest phase of the light cycle.

• Works best with mechanical shutter (but Z8/Z9 don’t have a true mechanical shutter, only electronic). Still, flicker reduction works in continuous shooting.

Downside: Slightly reduces burst speed and may introduce a small delay.

2.⁠ ⁠Use Flicker Reduction (Scan-based)

• Menu > Setup Menu > Flicker reduction (for monitor/live view) → Set to Auto, 50Hz, or 60Hz depending on region.

• Auto usually detects correctly, but if you still see banding, manually match to mains frequency.

3.⁠ ⁠Shutter Speed Adjustment

• Avoid shutter speeds that “fight” with the light frequency.

• For 50Hz regions (India/Europe): Use multiples of 1/50 → 1/100, 1/200, 1/400, 1/1000 etc.

• For 60Hz regions (US/Japan): Use multiples of 1/60 → 1/120, 1/240, 1/480, 1/960 etc.

• 1/500s or 1/2000s often produce worst flicker. Try 1/1000s (50Hz) or 1/960s (60Hz) instead.

4.⁠ ⁠Rolling Shutter / Banding Fix

• Z8/Z9 use fast stacked sensors, but electronic shutter can still produce banding under LED lights.

• Try enabling High-frequency flicker reduction (in Movie settings, also works for live view stills). It lets you fine-tune shutter speed in small increments (1/96, 1/104, 1/192 etc.) to match light frequency.

5.⁠ ⁠Custom Shooting Strategy for Badminton

• Mode: Manual exposure (for consistency).

• Shutter speed: Start with 1/1000s (fast enough for badminton, safer against flicker in 50Hz).

• Aperture: Wide open (f/2.8–f/4 if lens allows).

• ISO: Let it float (Auto ISO with upper limit set, e.g., 6400).

• Flicker reduction: ON in Photo Shooting Menu.

• Drive mode: Continuous high (expect a small fps drop with flicker reduction enabled).

PS: With the help of ChatGPT, experienced members please critique

Naveen

—------

Z9/Z8 has High frequency flicker reduction for action shots in indoor led lighting.

1.⁠ ⁠Set it to ON ( shutter speed fine tuning)

2.⁠ ⁠⁠go inside and select one of the preset frequency.

3.⁠ ⁠⁠check the light source as you adjust which frequency works for your light.

4.⁠ ⁠Adjust shutter speed

Focus Wandering on Black winged stilt

Series of Scaly breasted Munia pictures. Shot on 20 May 2024

Focus wandering with Auto Area AF in near ideal conditions. Was on Monopod early in the morning with decent lighting. its surprising to see focus wandering without major head movement of bird.

Z9 ( firmware 5.0)+ Z 600 PF , 600 mm Focal length, FX mode, VR sports mode,

Auto Area AF , Matrix Metering, White balance Natural light auto.

Below are screenshots of pictures in NX Studio.

First picture ( Z91_6929) shows the overall background. Taken at 6:43:003, shows birds in focus.

Second picture ( Z91_6929) onwards, zoomed to 100% to show where autofocus landed. Second picture auto focus is correct as the bird head is in focus.

Third picture Z91_6930 – focus wandered to flowers on stalks without any major head movement of the bird.

Last picture Z91_6936 at 6:43:01:27 where the bird is in focus.

Each picture observes the time at which it was taken starting at 6:43:00:61.

Focus aberrations are observed at micro seconds in burst.

File Info 1

File: Z91_6929.NEF

Date Created: 2024/05/20 06:43:00

Date Modified: 2024/05/20 06:43:00

File Size: 56.0 MB

Image Size: L (8256 x 5504), FX

File Info 2

Date Shot: 2024/05/20 06:43:00.37

Time Zone and Date: UTC+5:30, DST:ON

Image Quality: Lossless Compressed RAW (14-bit)

Tone Mode: SDR

Artist: NAVEEN KUMAR

Copyright: NAVEEN KUMAR

Image Comment: NAVEEN KUMAR

Camera Info

Device: Nikon Z 9

Lens: NIKKOR Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S

Focal Length: 600mm

Focus Mode: AF-C

AF-Area Mode: Auto-area AF

VR: ON (SPORT)

AF Fine Tune: ON(0)

Exposure

Aperture: f/6.3

Shutter Speed: 1/2000s (Electronic Shutter)

Exposure Mode: Manual

Exposure Comp.: 0EV

Exposure Tuning:

Metering: Matrix

ISO Sensitivity: Auto (ISO 5600)

Flash

Device:

Image Settings

White Balance: Natural light auto, 0, 0 (4810K)

Color Space: sRGB

High ISO NR: ON (High), Type A

Long Exposure NR: OFF

Active D-Lighting: Auto

Vignette Control: Normal

Auto Distortion Control: ON

Diffraction Compensation: ON

Skin softening: OFF

Portrait impression balance: Mode1,Hue 0.0,Brightness 0.0

Picture Control

Picture Control: Horshack ShadowHi02

Base: [NL] NEUTRAL

Effect Level:

Quick Sharp: -

Sharpening: +2.00

Mid-Range Sharpening: +1.00

Clarity: 0.00

Contrast: Custom Curve

Brightness: Custom Curve

Saturation: 0.00

Hue: 0.00

Filter Effects:

Toning:

Location Info

Latitude:

Longitude:

Altitude:

Altitude Reference:

Heading:

UTC:

Map Datum:

Focussing issues with elephants

Sharing series of elephants from Bandipur from 25 to 27th Dec 2024.

Subject detection for the entire trip was set to Animal. Was shooting from a Safari jeep, camera rested on bean bag. Z9 firmware 5.0.

On 25th Dec - In evening light

—--------------------------------------

Eye is in shadows - Wide -S, tried moving focus point to eye but was not sticking instead head being detected. EXIF and other details in the picture.

When the elephant was looking little sideways.

When elephant is looking straight

We moved lot closer to elephant

Tried Auto Area - AF

Tried with Wide-Large

Tried Auto Area AF when elephant is in good light and in DX mode.

Tried WC1(1*1) - Positiioned on eyes and took few shots.

Finally when light is good on eye.. Detected the eye with WIde - L

On 26th Sept

—----------

Morning in good light with WC1(1*1)

Early morning Light on head is not good - Auto Area AF

Went back to WC1(1*1)

In the evening.. Light was falling onto elephant

With DX mode

Tried getting multiple elephants in focus

Not sure where focus landed as thai shot is in burst

With Wide-Small DX mode

With WC1(1*1)

Auto Area-AF not sure where focus landed as these are in burst

In water with WC1(1*1)

Summary of observations

—----------------

Few structural aspects of elephants make subject detection extremely hard ( refer to zoomed in eye photo of elephant below)

Elephant Eye is darker ( more black) than its head

Skin Folds around eye socket

Most of the times, Hair on elephant eyelid cover the eye

Size of eye in relation to subject. Even when elephant is near, eye is small

Eyelids cover the small eye when looked down for grazing. So it's even harder.

If the elephant eye is in the shadows, contrast is not sufficient for the eye to be detected. In such a situation we expect the head to be detected but that itself was not being detected for some reason.

Esp Auto-Area AF to be avoided when shooting elephants.Tried many times with DX mode and Auto-Area AF but its not helping to detect body/head/eyes. Tried in good light but it's simply not reliable.

Even Wide-Large mostly stuck to the body or head of elephants most of the time. Eye of the elephant was not detected.

Even Wide-Small didn't help at all with subject detection.

Best is to keep a watch on how subject detection is happening or not happening and switch to smallest auto focus area possible and try with WC1(1*1) and place the focus point closer to the eye and take shots. Or if you’ve sufficient depth of field, use wide-large and take shots by keeping focus point on the body, entire elephant will be in focus.

In general, Auto-Area AF for mammals is a bit of hit and miss, it's inconsistent. Try smallest area like Wide-Small or Wide-Large or WC1(1*1) for better subject detection

Hot card warning

Hot card warning

• Switch off camera, if you’re not going to shoot for more than 4 to 6 mins or walking around and waiting for subject to show up. Mirrorless cameras start instantaneously. This helps it to conserve battery and cool the camera.

• Esp with Z8, many users face hot card warnings. So, keep a watch on the camera heat and switch it off or replace battery and card.

• Avoid taking videos while taking continuous burst of pictures

• Carry extra CF express cards and batteries. Keep them in your pocket for easy access.

Heat could be unbearable esp on metal side of card, so be careful.

• Use recommended CF express card like prograde cobalt or delkin black cards. Please note cards of same make with different capacities and generations have different ratings of speed. Please check for sustained write speed ( >1400 MB/sec) before buying cards. Please don’t fall for maximum speed on cards or ecommerce portals. Some cards heat up more than others. Gen 2 CF express cards are reported with maximum issues.

• Use 2nd slot for overflow not for back up copy. Backup copy leads to heat due to extra copy operation and might lead to issues as overall speed will be equal to slowest card speed.

• Switch off camera before placing it in camera bag. If camera is switched ON, by mistake and some part of bag presses buttons, then camera won't go into stand by mode. Camera will heat up till battery drains out. It will give hot card warning, but we won't see as camera is in bag. Could be afire hazard.

Few similar issues

—-----

Card reader get hot when there are more 4000 photos in the card?

Prograde readers have less heat. Check reader speed, cable speed rating assuming laptop/computer/storage is fast enough

To recover a hacked Instagram account, follow the official steps from Instagram/Meta as quickly as possible. The process can vary depending on whether the hacker changed your email, phone number, password, or all of them.

Step 1: Start with the dedicated hacked account tool (most recommended first step)

Go to this official page in a browser (desktop or mobile): https://www.instagram.com/hacked

Enter your username, email address, or phone number associated with the account.

Select the option that best matches your situation (usually "My account was hacked" or similar).

Follow the on-screen prompts. Instagram will guide you through verification steps to prove ownership.

This is the primary official recovery flow Instagram directs people to for hacked accounts.

Step 2: Try basic password reset / login help (if the above doesn't appear or if you still have partial access)

Open the Instagram app or go to the login screen.

Tap Forgot password? or Get help logging in.

Enter your username, email, or phone number → tap Next or Send login link.

If you get a reset link or code:

Use it immediately to change the password.

Log in and secure the account right away (see Step 5 below).

If the email/phone was changed by the hacker and you can't receive the code/link:

On the login/help screen, look for "Need more help?", "Try another way", or "Can't reset your password?".

Continue through those options.

Step 3: Check your original email inbox (very important if email was recently changed)

Search your inbox (and spam/junk) for emails from security@mail.instagram.com.

If you see a message saying your email was changed, click "Secure my account" or the undo/revert link inside it.

This sometimes lets you reverse the change quickly before the hacker fully locks you out.

Step 4: If the basic steps fail and credentials are fully changed

Instagram may ask for identity verification to prove it's really your account:

They often request a video selfie (you record a short video turning your head, etc., to match face recognition).

In some cases, they ask for a photo of yourself holding a code they provide or government ID (like Aadhaar, passport, driver's license).

Provide accurate info and be patient — reviews can take days to weeks.

If no option appears, keep retrying the instagram.com/hacked flow or the "Need more help?" path in the app.

Step 5: Once you regain access — secure it immediately (critical!)

Change your password to a strong, new one (never reuse old passwords).

Go to Settings → Security → Two-factor authentication → Enable it (use an authenticator app like Google Authenticator instead of SMS if possible — SMS can be SIM-swapped).

Check and remove any unfamiliar login activity, linked apps, emails, phone numbers.

Revoke access to any suspicious third-party apps (Settings → Security → Apps and Websites).

Enable login alerts (email/SMS notifications for new logins).

Additional notes (2025–2026 reality)

Recovery success is highest when you act fast (within hours/days) and use a trusted device/browser you’ve logged in from before.

Instagram support is mostly automated/self-service; there is no direct live chat or quick email support for most users.

If you have Meta Verified (paid blue tick subscription), you may get faster human support through that channel.

Avoid third-party "recovery services," paid hackers, or anyone asking for your credentials — they are almost always scams.

If the account is very valuable (business, large following) and nothing works after 1–2 weeks of repeated attempts, some people escalate via consumer complaints (e.g., in India via consumer forums or cyber cell), but official channels are still the main path.

Start right now with instagram.com/hacked — good luck, most recoverable accounts get restored if you follow these steps persistently! If you run into a specific error message or step, share it for more targeted advice.

Lens Cap Stuck

From Venkat

Naveen

Use hair dryer to blow hot air on it, cap will expand a bit.

After you open, next time to fix it, align two solid dots before fixing it. Then you wont run into issues. This technique works for lens hoods and caps.

From Sriram

I had spoken to Mr Krishna regarding the problem faced by some users about the FTZ cover getting jammed. Mr Krishna demonstrated how to lock correctly to prevent this problem. In the first of the two images of the FTZ cover, the black dot on the cover has to be aligned with the white dot on the FTZ and then locked. The second image shows the locked position.

He stated that by following this process the cover would not get jammed. Not following this results in the lock getting misaligned and jamming.

Check direction on rim of cap next to screw. Marked with red for reference . This is the direction for opening the lid. On lids you find this Pac-Man character

Hi @⁨Venkat Z9 FORUM⁩. Sharing something I had learnt from Mr Krishna of Bangalore Nikon Service Center - had shared it in another group earlier.

From Sridhar

Get a strap wrench and _gently_ turn it

Multi-Purpose Adjustable Rubber Belt Strap Wrench 12" (300mm) and Steel Handle Adjustable Strap Filter Opener Wrench for Opening Filter, Pipe and Tin - Green

https://amzn.in/d/04nkxqrG

Naveen Arur

Put a couple of rubber bands. This will increase the grip to hold the cap. Then try to open it. This is what the Nikon rep did when my teleconverter cap was stuck because I had turned it to the wrong side with much force

Lens Collar Screw stuck

—---------------

Aditya Rao

—---

Team, need a recommendation .. sometimes this collar screw on my 400mm gets super tight and makes it difficult to unlock. As you can see, slightly damaged as I have tried keys, etc. I tried 3D printing and it gave in as it gets stuck sometimes (ideally should loosen up with hand, but never). Wish, some kind of Allen keys were there for this... thoughts ??

Naveen

—------

Agree. Serrations on the knob give enough grip to turn it. Sometimes due to moisture or dust it gets stuck. You gently tap on it, blow air or use a hair dryer to warm it a little or apply WD-40 but not use Allen keys or any other metal parts to insert into the hole that fits the cap of the knob to turn it. It’s a plastic part, Allen keys will damage it.

Aditya

—----

Thanks Naveen. Its not plastic for sure. Mostly some form of Aluminum in my opinion. I meant some kind of Allen keys, as Allen won't fit for sure

Naveen

—----

Don’t have 400 mm lens to check. Grip was plastic is what i remember. Check lens repair manual at.. page 23 has this part assembly drawing. Part no 44- 137HK - tripod knob unit.

https://download.nikonimglib.com/archive7/Iyuxm00lrr3806RvaqF6989YFA51/Z400_2.8TCVRS_RM_(En)02.pdf

Manual + Auto ISO problems 7 APR 2024

From Vinay C

I have an issue to discuss with respect to Manual / Aperture mode and Auto ISO. I use a Z9 with F2Z adapter and a 500mm PF F mount lens. With the manual mode, the Auto ISO is not scaling up as expected. It stays between 60 to 400 range when my minimum ISO is set at 500 and Max at 6400. On the other hand, in Aperture Mode, Auto ISO takes up to max ISO even in good light, and the shutter speed is automatically set to 1/20000 or even more.. I'm not sure if this is an issue with the F2Z adapter or the camera or the lens. I have shifted to Manual mode with Manual ISO settings for now. Thanks in advance for any input. See below for details for example.

Jeyaram S

Appears as a strange problem.

Share screen shot of auto ISO settings.

Set minimum iso to 64( base iso of z9 )

Naveen:

Set ISO senitivity to 64. So you have full range of iso.

Minimum shutter speed is applicable for aperture priority or or program mode where camera is setting shutter speed. Not applicable with shutter priority, manual + auto ISO mode. So don’t bother about it.

No one explains better than master Steve. Pls check video once, clean your contacts, check operation with different lens/ native Z lens before we conclude there’s a problem. Check with Partha’s 400 f/4.5 lens once.

https://youtu.be/Tos-RK7zgBU?feature=shared

Jeyaram :

This looks fine and I don't see any problem. Though the minimum ISO is set to 500, the camera has set the ISO as 160 as the shutter speed is set 1/160. For the given light, ISO 500 is likely to overexpose and camera will start reducing the ISO until it reaches proper exposure or base ISO of 64

Behaviour of the camera in aperture priority and auto ISO looks strange. It is not expected to set the shutter speed to 1/20000. Can you confirm if the ISO sensitivity is set to 500 in aperture priority also?

In aperture priority with auto ISO, the camera will set the ISO to ISO sensitivity value and minimum shutter speed. If there is more light, the camera will increase the shutter speed accordingly to arrive at proper exposure. If the light is low, camera will increase the ISO until proper exposure or it reaches the max ISO

My 2 cents on auto ISO below.

1. Set your maximum ISO based on your camera’s ISO performance and your noise tolerance level once. You don’t have to change this often

2. ⁠If using M + auto ISO, set your ISO to base ISO (64) and don’t change it. Vary the shutter speed based on the situation in the field and light. Camera will automatically adjust the ISO (I use this mode 99% of the time when shooting birds with super telephoto lenses)

3. ⁠Aperture priority with auto ISO is bit tricky. I would rather use aperture priority with manual ISO (I use this mode when I am using standard/wide angle lenses)

GuruTej Acharya

Manual + auto iso is gud. Majority of the time I use this. Only be careful when you don't need much shutter, decrease it to lower the iso value. Else majority of shots will be with max iso

Jeyaram

I am never comfortable with full manual mode for bird photography. I prefer to use the camera's metering to get a proper exposure setting.

Key is to use shutter speed required for a given scenario. Don’t use excessive shutter speed as it increases ISO and adds noise.

For perched birds, I use shutter speed from 1/focal length and reduce/increase depending on the light. For birds in flight, I tend to prefer 1/1000 and more depending on various factors.

Naveen:

Agree.

1. Manual + auto ISO is my preferred mode 99% of time. Max iso on Z9 set to 8000/10000.

2. Early in the morning or late evening when light is low and exceeding max iso, keep checking exposure meter to see how many stops the camera is underexposing. Upto 2/3 rd to 1 stop under exposure is fine. In such situations, keep lowering shutter speed from 1/600 ( 600 PF) to as much as possible. For stationary subjects, keep going down to 1/50 sec( VR in lens, IBIS in camera helps) handholding. In such situations, taking a few extra shots at each speed as insurance to snag a few sharp photos.

3. Then increase max iso 12800 if the subject is filling frame and won’t have to crop a lot in post. If the subject is small, there is no point in shooting photos in such a light.

4. If that’s not possible, then shift to fully manual iso ( iso button+ sub command dial) and try with Ram Bharose settings if I am desperate to get a photo.

5. Taking videos these days in low light if I have a stable support. Handheld videos are tough for m

Jeyaram:

I have set my max ISO to 12800 on Z9 and i dont change it

I always try to keep an eye on ISO particularly when shooting in low light.

I lower my shutter speed as low as 1/100 ( I have even gone to 1/50) unit the ISO is below 10,000. I wait for the bird to be still and take a small burst.

Steve perry mentioned that Z9 ISO tolerance limit as 6400 but dont know which firmware was it.

Naveen

In case you want to read about it more..

https://photographylife.com/manual-mode-auto-iso-wildlife-photography

Radha sir

—-----

Would EC have any effect on Manual + Auto ISO ?

Naveen

—--------

Yes sir.. it does..

For manual + auto iso, Take case of iso falling within bounds of min and max after EC adjustment for same exposure settings of shutter speed and aperture.,

1.⁠ ⁠With positive EC at same exposure settings of shutter speed and aperture. Iso increases.

2.⁠ ⁠⁠with negative EC at same exposure settings of shutter speed and aperture. Iso decreases.

Nikon Z9/Z8 autofocus issues for wildlife

Overview

This document captures examples of various autofocus issues faced with Nikon Z9/Z8 cameras for wildlife. Z9 firmware 5.0 and Z8 firmware 2.0/2.1 were used.

Autofocus issues faced with Bird Photography

Autofocus issues with Sarus crane

Problem

When enabled subject tracking with birds and when used with Wide C2 (customised to 19x11) and Wide L auto focus jumping frequently between the head/eye and the back. Similar issue was also seen with Grey Heron

Focus not acquired in few images in a series

When the above problem happened with Wide C2, I switched to Wide L and placed the AF area around the head forcing the autofocus to look for the subject only within that area. However, the autofocus still jumped between head/eye and back though the autofocus area was not within the area of Wide L

Screenshots

In the below sequence it is very evident that autofocus was jumping between eye and back of the bird

Sample RAW file : GJ_20250213Z91_7830.NEF

In the below sequence, autofocus was able to consistently stick to the eye of the bird

Screenshot of similar issue where the autofocus was switching between head/eye and back of Grey Heron

In the below thought the autofocus seem to have latched onto the head, the subject is soft and not sharp

Link to RAW file : GJ_20250213Z91_7778.NEF

Camera settings

Camera : Nikon Z9

Firmware Version :

Lens : Nikkor Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S

Focal Length : 600mm

Focus Mode : AF-C

AF-Area Mode : Wide-Area AF (L)

VR : ON (SPORT)

Aperture : f/5.6

Shutter speed : 1/1000 s

Exposure Mode : Manual

Exposure Comp : -0.7 EV

Metering : Matrix

ISO Sensitivity : Auto (ISO 220)

Autofocus issues with Spotted Owlett

Problem

Autofocus with subject tracking (Birds) enabled didn’t consistently detect the Spotted Owlett. I have found similar issue with Oriental scops owl as well before. As a workaround, I used single point AF area without subject tracking to get the shots.

Screenshots

In the sequence below the subject tracking wasn’t reliable

Sample RAW file : GJ_20250203Z91_6714.NEF

In the below sequence the autofocus was even more unreliable when they were two owletts. After this point, I had to switch to single point focus

Sample RAW file : GJ_20250203Z91_6734.NEF

Camera Settings

Camera : Nikon Z9

Firmware Version :

Lens : Nikkor Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S

Focal Length : 840mm

Focus Mode : AF-C

AF-Area Mode : Wide-Area AF (L)

VR : ON (SPORT)

Aperture : f/5.6

Shutter speed : 1/640 s

Exposure Mode : Manual

Exposure Comp : -0.3 EV

Metering : Matrix

ISO Sensitivity : Auto (ISO 800)

Pied Kingfisher not being detected

Finally figured out today( August 2024) why the camera is getting fooled with subject detection of pied kingfishers after 3 years. When the z9 camera was released, a Srilankan photographer maintained a list of birds for which subject detection was working and problematic.

Patterns on the head make it hard for the camera to detect. This morning, I got a bird in the clear without distractions to conclude while on monopod. I was sitting in one place. Will share photos soon.

You can enlarge pictures to check details.

To avoid flooding the group, ook screenshots of photos in NX studio, and imported them to Lightroom and created a collage. You can zoom in photos to see where focus is landing. Both left and right side of head. All photos taken with AF-C, Auto area -AF. F/6.3, f/7.1 to f/8, -0.7 EV. Few of them with head detection and many with eye detection. I was sitting at about 20 to 25 ft distance and used a monopod. Z9 + Z600 PF

How to address it in field

using more depth of field like f/7.1 to f/8 to account for focus inaccuracies. This approach won’t work when light is bad or the background is closer.

Please note this can occur with other birds as well. So we have be conscious in field

Scaly breasted Munia pictures. Shot on 20 May 2024

Focus wandering with Auto Area AF in near ideal conditions. Was on Monopod early in the morning with decent lighting. its surprising to see focus wandering without major head movement of bird.

Z9 ( firmware 5.0)+ Z 600 PF , 600 mm Focal length, FX mode, VR sports mode,

Auto Area AF , Matrix Metering, White balance Natural light auto.

Below are screenshots of pictures in NX Studio.

First picture ( Z91_6929) shows the overall background. Taken at 6:43:003, shows birds in focus.

Second picture ( Z91_6929) onwards, zoomed to 100% to show where autofocus landed. Second picture auto focus is correct as the bird head is in focus.

Third picture Z91_6930 – focus wandered to flowers on stalks without any major head movement of the bird.

Last picture Z91_6936 at 6:43:01:27 where the bird is in focus.

Each picture observes the time at which it was taken starting at 6:43:00:61.

Focus aberrations are observed at micro seconds in burst.

File Info 1

File: Z91_6929.NEF

Date Created: 2024/05/20 06:43:00

Date Modified: 2024/05/20 06:43:00

File Size: 56.0 MB

Image Size: L (8256 x 5504), FX

File Info 2

Date Shot: 2024/05/20 06:43:00.37

Time Zone and Date: UTC+5:30, DST:ON

Image Quality: Lossless Compressed RAW (14-bit)

Tone Mode: SDR

Artist: NAVEEN KUMAR

Copyright: NAVEEN KUMAR

Image Comment: NAVEEN KUMAR

Camera Info

Device: Nikon Z 9

Lens: NIKKOR Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S

Focal Length: 600mm

Focus Mode: AF-C

AF-Area Mode: Auto-area AF

VR: ON (SPORT)

AF Fine Tune: ON(0)

Exposure

Aperture: f/6.3

Shutter Speed: 1/2000s (Electronic Shutter)

Exposure Mode: Manual

Exposure Comp.: 0EV

Exposure Tuning:

Metering: Matrix

ISO Sensitivity: Auto (ISO 5600)

Flash

Device:

Image Settings

White Balance: Natural light auto, 0, 0 (4810K)

Color Space: sRGB

High ISO NR: ON (High), Type A

Long Exposure NR: OFF

Active D-Lighting: Auto

Vignette Control: Normal

Auto Distortion Control: ON

Diffraction Compensation: ON

Skin softening: OFF

Portrait impression balance: Mode1,Hue 0.0,Brightness 0.0

Picture Control

Picture Control: Horshack ShadowHi02

Base: [NL] NEUTRAL

Effect Level:

Quick Sharp: -

Sharpening: +2.00

Mid-Range Sharpening: +1.00

Clarity: 0.00

Contrast: Custom Curve

Brightness: Custom Curve

Saturation: 0.00

Hue: 0.00

Filter Effects:

Toning:

Location Info

Latitude:

Longitude:

Altitude:

Altitude Reference:

Heading:

UTC:

Map Datum:

Focus Wandering on Black winged stilt

Autofocus issues faced with Animal Photography

Focussing issues with elephants

Sharing series of elephants from Bandipur from 25 to 27th Dec 2024.

Subject detection for the entire trip was set to Animal. Was shooting from a Safari jeep, camera rested on bean bag.

On 25th Dec - In evening light

—--------------------------------------

Eye is in shadows - Wide -S, tried moving focus point to eye but was not sticking instead head being detected. EXIF and other details in the picture.

When the elephant was looking little sideways.

When elephant is looking straight

We moved lot closer to elephant

Tried Auto Area - AF

Tried with Wide-Large

Tried Auto Area AF when elephant is in good light and in DX mode.

Tried WC1(1*1) - Positiioned on eyes and took few shots.

Finally when light is good on eye.. Detected the eye with WIde - L

On 26th Sept

—----------

Morning in good light with WC1(1*1)

Early morning Light on head is not good - Auto Area AF

Went back to WC1(1*1)

In the evening.. Light was falling onto elephant

With DX mode

Tried getting multiple elephants in focus

Not sure where focus landed as thai shot is in burst

With Wide-Small DX mode

With WC1(1*1)

Auto Area-AF not sure where focus landed as these are in burst

In water with WC1(1*1)

Summary of observations

—----------------

Few structural aspects of elephants make subject detection extremely hard ( refer to zoomed in eye photo of elephant below)

Elephant Eye is darker ( more black) than its head

Skin Folds around eye socket

Most of the times, Hair on elephant eyelid cover the eye

Size of eye in relation to subject. Even when elephant is near, eye is small

Eyelids cover the small eye when looked down for grazing. So it's even harder.

If the elephant eye is in the shadows, contrast is not sufficient for the eye to be detected. In such a situation we expect the head to be detected but that itself was not being detected for some reason.

Esp Auto-Area AF to be avoided when shooting elephants.Tried many times with DX mode and Auto-Area AF but its not helping to detect body/head/eyes. Tried in good light but it's simply not reliable.

Even Wide-Large mostly stuck to the body or head of elephants most of the time. Eye of the elephant was not detected.

Even Wide-Small didn't help at all with subject detection.

Best is to keep a watch on how subject detection is happening or not happening and switch to smallest auto focus area possible and try with WC1(1*1) and place the focus point closer to the eye and take shots. Or if you’ve sufficient depth of field, use wide-large and take shots by keeping focus point on the body, entire elephant will be in focus.

In general, Auto-Area AF for mammals is a bit of hit and miss, it's inconsistent. Try smallest area like Wide-Small or Wide-Large or WC1(1*1) for better subject detection

Autofocus not working well for Tigers Z8

Subject is stationary, sitting in the open with decent light conditions.

Problem:

Subject here in the frame is stationary, there is no clutter in the foreground or around the subject. Autofocus failed to acquire eye and kept shuffling between the head, nose and around the eye.

Autofocus on mammals specifically on tigers has been a constant challenge with Z8.

I usually start with the Wide L and then keep cycling till I get the precise focus area

with eye tracking but still acquiring the correct focus has been a constant challenge.

In the below screenshot:

From the sequence it is seen that the camera has struggled to get autofocus on the eye. Only 3 frames from the second row where the camera has acquired the eye but still the focus is not exactly on the eye.

To get precision I even tried shifting to the crop mode but still the struggle pertained.

Camera settings

Camera : Nikon Z

Firmware Version :

Lens : Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S

Focal Length : 400mm

Focus Mode : AF-C

AF-Area Mode : Wide-Area AF (L) to Wide-Area AF (S)

VR : ON (SPORT)

Aperture : f/2.8

Shutter speed : 1/500 s

Exposure Mode : Manual

Exposure Comp : -0.3 EV

Metering : Matrix

ISO Sensitivity : Auto (ISO 2800)

2. Subject is in a cluttered habitat and then it moves into an open area

Screenshot 1:

Problem:

Subject here in the frame is stationary, there is some clutter in the foreground and around the subject. Autofocus failed to acquire the eye except for a couple of frames where the camera could get focus near/ on the eye.

I was shifting between Wide-Area AF (S) and finally could acquire the eye focus in 3D tracking.

But the subject being stationary, 3D tracking was erratic and shifted between the entire face or torso or below the eye on the cheek or finally on the eye.

In the below screenshot:

Sequence shows different movements of the autofocus from around the eye till the entire face. Only 3-4 frames have acquired the eye but still the focus is not exactly on the eye.

The problem prevailed even after shifting to crop mode with the TC on.

Screenshot 2:

Problem:

Subject here in the frame is moving, there is no clutter in the foreground and around the subject. Autofocus failed to acquire the eye and was erratic shifting to twigs and body.

Autofocus area was set to Wide-Area AF (S) but was erratic.

Expectation was autofocus to stick to the subject when the subject is moving but here it is clearly seen in some frames where the camera did not capture the subject and moved to the twigs.

In the below screenshot:

Sequence shows different movements of the autofocus from around the eye till the entire face and some frames on the body. None of the frames have acquired the eye.

TC was not used in this case as I wanted to capture the subject with habitat.

Camera settings - for set 1

Camera : Nikon Z

Firmware Version :

Lens : Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S

Focal Length : 400mm

Focus Mode : AF-C

AF-Area Mode : Wide-Area AF (S) to 3D tracking

VR : ON (SPORT)

Aperture : f/4

Shutter speed : 1/500 s

Exposure Mode : Manual

Exposure Comp : -0.3 EV

Metering : Matrix

ISO Sensitivity : Auto (ISO 800)

Camera settings - for set 2

Camera : Nikon Z

Firmware Version :

Lens : Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S

Focal Length : 400mm

Focus Mode : AF-C

AF-Area Mode : Wide-Area AF (S)

VR : ON (SPORT)

Aperture : f/4

Shutter speed : 1/500 s

Exposure Mode : Manual

Exposure Comp : -0.3 EV

Metering : Matrix

ISO Sensitivity : Auto (ISO 280)

On/Off switch problem

Dr Kalyan

Two days before I leave for Kenya, have this problem, although I have switched off the camera

the Camera does not switch off, sometimes it switches off after a minute, I also hear strange sounds

Naveen

Doc, remove batteries and check. Looks like on/ off button is not getting positioned properly.

Some dirt might have got in. So keep camera upside down and tap it gently and use rocket blower on sides of groove.

Read some where it’s a time tested switch been in use since D1 days. Though rare, could be a defective switch. Or might have become stiff. If you got Nikon Service center close by please get it fixed.

YVS Prasad sir

reload the firmware...can get rid of these problems

Naveen

Given my experience of reloading firmware, better not doing it at this juncture. Appears as hardware issue not an inconsistent software

Dr Kalyan

Mild corrosion under the switch. Must be due to sweat. Cleaned it for now, kept under observation.

If you zoom the pic you can see the green deposits. Around that switch strip.

Photo Jumping with VR in normal setting

—----------------------------------------------------------

15 Nov 2025

In Shyam Hirurkar’s Z8 Camera with 500 PF lens, upon shutter release the photo frame was jumping in the view finder and monitor. It was jumping consistently after each photo and was disturbing the bursts. When checked for focus, focus was shifting away from eyes.. Tried multiple settings but no use.

Jeyaram mentioned it might be due to Vibration Reduction settings - as it was set to Normal, once set to Sport - this jump disappeared.

This is a documented issue ( link given below)

Normal VR mode: This mode prioritizes the VR system's maximum correction range. Between shots, the lens elements re-center to provide full flexibility for stabilization. This is what causes the viewfinder image to jump, especially during bursts.

The VR in Nikon cameras reset itself to neutral after each shot. That is what you see.

When you have both VR in lens and IBIS in body activated, the movement of the lens elements and the IBIS unit, can end up in weird alignment to each other, so by resetting itself to a neutral position, the system makes it easier for itself to function on the next shot.

Nikon hold a patent on recentering the lens element before the image is recorded. Supposedly results in a better image. The more stable you are the less the image will jump.

WIth DSLR's the recentering is hidden in the viewfinder blackout, but ML cameras like the Z8 have no blackout.

https://bcgforums.com/threads/z8-with-vr-normal-on-shows-on-display-and-the-viewfinder-stutters-on-first-shot-in-the-burst.31110/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Nikon/comments/1lm8b0i/new_z_40045_focusframe_jumps_after_shutter/

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/threads/question-image-jumping-with-vr-do-you-see-this-on-z-lenses.4737662/

ikon claim their VR is more advanced than other systems

Nikon VR is different - because it resets the VR group in the optical centre of the lens just before the image is taken.

This enables maximum VR travel in every direction while the image is being taken - to help achieve maximum VR shake reduction.

With other systems if IS or whatever it is called starts off centre, then the maximum amount of IS correction is likely to be reduced by the equivalent of the offset starting point.

Generally photographers coming to Nikon seem to regard Nikon VR as more effective than with their previous system.

The trade off is a perceived jump - particularly visible with black-out free cameras such as the Z8 and 9 - masked by viewfinder black-out with earlier ML bodies or DSLR's.

Nikon first drew attention to the issue as far as I know over 22 years ago with extended guidance for their original 80-400 VR lens - in June 2001

Nikon advised if precise framing was needed use a tripod with VR off. This can still be relevant in 2023.

Way back then the 80-400 had a second VR Mode 2 with VR operating only while the shutter button was fully depressed - with less VR ability.

Sport mode on several more recent lenses (as you have discovered) has less "jump" than VR mode - though with lower VR ability.

I find the amount of "jump" depends partly on how steady the camera is held - and tends to be greater with longer focal lengths.

A likely reason for more "jump" with longer focal lengths is the VR unit has to move a distinctly greater distances to achieve up to perhaps 5.5 stops VR - particularly in the 400-800mm focal length range - than the IBIS up to 5.5 stops with the 24-70 f4 at 70mm.

The design and engineering intention is present in longer focal length Z lenses.

I often use sport mode VR.

--

Leonard Shepherd

In lots of ways good photography is similar to learning to play a piano - it takes practice to develop skill in either activity.

Pied Kingfisher not being detected

Naveen

Finally figured out today why the camera is getting fooled with subject detection of pied kingfishers after 3 years. When the z9 camera was released, a Srilankan photographer maintained a list of birds for which subject detection was working and problematic.

Patterns on the head make it hard for the camera to detect. This morning, I got a bird in the clear without distractions to conclude while on monopod. I was sitting in one place. Will share photos soon.

You can enlarge pictures to check details.

To avoid flooding the group, ook screenshots of photos in NX studio, and imported them to Lightroom and created a collage. You can zoom in photos to see where focus is landing. Both left and right side of head. All photos taken with AF-C, Auto area -AF. F/6.3, f/7.1 to f/8, -0.7 EV. Few of them with head detection and many with eye detection. I was sitting at about 20 to 25 ft distance and used a monopod. Z9 + Z600 PF

How to address it in field

using more depth of field like f/7.1 to f/8 to account for focus inaccuracies. This approach won’t work when light is bad or the background is closer.

Sudhir Paul

I noticed all the focus squares were Red in your collage above. Do they turn another colour, like green, when focus is acquired?

Naveen

They turn green in camera but NX studio paints them in red color. Have to check the settings of the NX studio. Just checked that it is not possible to change focus box Color display in NX studio.

Sudhir Paul

So the only way then would be to look at the raw images in the viewfinder / Rear LCD to ascertain focus acquisition

Please note this can occur with other bids as well. So we have be conscious in field

Right way to Auto Focus and Autofocus workflow

Naveen

—------

Good morning, it’s a brand new day. So let’s start with hope and positivity.

sharing a few things on autofocus performance on Z9/Z8. Sometimes discussion in a forum in the flow of a thread appears as bashing, hopeless etc or we’re critiquing excessively.

Following are working for me, quite well.

1. Auto area -AF and subject detection birds, works well for 75 to 80% of my regular shooting of birds. Use your favourite area and your experience should be similar barring +|- some percentage.

2. ⁠with slight help from photographer - change area mode, move focus point and use manual focus ring etc we can easily get good photos upto 90 to 95% of scenarios.

3. ⁠Manual focus ring rotation and single point area is a sure shot way to get shots in tricky situations. Requires a bit of practice and needs appropriate lens handling as the focus ring is not at the same position on all lenses. Develop muscle memory for your favourite lenses.

4. ⁠practice af- overrides and handoffs and good panning technique for tracking birds in flight or action.

5. using f/8 where possible ( subject to background distance is more and in good light etc), helps to get sharp photos even when the focus point wanders. This increases keepers at the cost of bokeh, soft fall off at edges, low iso etc . F/8 is an issue as we shoot wide open with big glass. My favourite 600 PF wide opens at f6.3 so not an issue. So find an appropriate stop down that works for you.

6. don’t go by focus point box painting on a photo in the monitor or in NX studio. Focus box painting is not always accurate. If you got a sharp photo, keep it, don’t bother about the focus box display.

7. to check where you’re locking focus, set zoom 100% to a button like lens function button. This is possible if the subject is cooperative. or with practice you can check easily.

8. in a burst, just lock focus before shooting. don’t bother even if the focus lock is lost, camera recovers and catches up, so you get more keepers. Is there a chance to lose a prize photo. Yes, but Burst happens fast, don’t bother.

9. be aware where focus lock is getting acquired and react instantly, cameras needs help from us.

10. Not shot lot of Mammals, however, require a little more closer monitoring of focus lock than birds and react appropriately.

11. ⁠there are techniques like focus Limiter on lens and focus recall to a distance, focusing on contrasty areas etc to help us.

12. After each photo, go back to your default settings, focus the camera at minimum focus distance. Trick is to keep the camera ready for the next shot.

13. Practice above techniques. No point in looking at what the next photographer does.

Above has been documented on google drive.

Does z9/Z8 need to improve autofocus performance, yes undoubtedly.

Can we get good tack sharp photos, in the meantime ? Yes, requires little more monitoring and help from us.

With above you get about 95 to 98% or even up to 99% keeper rate. Enjoy your camera and shooting.

Jeyaram

Well summarised @⁨Naveen Kumar S⁩. I have few points to add to this. I will work on it and share it across.

I have been using Z9 for almost a year now. I have been travelling extensively and used the camera under different conditions for bird photography. There are moments I have missed because I couldn’t grab the initial focus either I was slow or the camera struggled to grab focus. This problem exists in all mirrorless cameras and not specific to Z9. I can’t think of missing any shots because of subject detection/tracking issues. There were frustrating moments but was always able to switch to alternate options quickly and get the shots. Overall no regrets and enjoying every moment with the 600 TC lens. It has been a game changer in my bird photography journey

Naveen

—-

hank you Jeyaram. Agree. For me also it’s true, missed more number of shots due to dialling wrong settings or my reaction being slow than due to camera failing at a critical moment on me. Having said there were few frustrating moments from time to time. By and large been able to overcome issues. Little faster initial focus aquisition and stickier one helps a lot.

600 PF is such a fantastic walk around lens for me during my morning walks.

Been documenting issues that I came across so that it helps our members.

Look forward to your inputs/ updates.

Jeyaram

—----------

Here is my overall workflow for auto focus for bird photography. Every photo opportunity is unique and there is always something to learn. I keep refining it as and when I face new challenges/mistakes. Please review and let me know your thoughts and feedback

1. Getting initial focus faster is critical for BiF and when shooting skulkers. I have missed many shots as I wasn’t fast enough and when birds don’t give us much time. I remember one of the mentors telling me that we should be prepared to take a picture within a second once we see a bird.

2. Find the subject through the viewfinder. Longer the focal length, the harder it is to locate the subject through the viewfinder. If we have to search for the subject through the viewfinder we have lost the subject/moment.

Look at the subject and lift the lens to the eye without moving your head or eye. That way you are always aligned to your subject and when you have a lens on the eye, it is pointed to the subject. This takes some practice but works well.

Video from Steve on this topic here https://youtu.be/frLDd1_TO0o?feature=shared

3. Set focus to something closer to where the subject is expected. Auto focus is faster when the lens is already at focus distance closer to the subject. Either use manual focus or focus on something that is in similar focus distance

4. Be prepared to get back to the same focus distance quickly. Many times auto focus misses the subject and jumps to the background. This happens a lot when shooting small birds or birds in flight. It is very painful to bring the focus back on the subject and precious time is lost refocusing. Following techniques can come handy

1. After setting the initial focus distance, save focus position. When focus has shifted to background recall focus position. Program appropriate buttons in the lens and camera to save and recall focus position. This is the fastest method to regain focus. This is useful not only in hides but also comes handy in trail birding

2. Note down the focus distance (camera generally displays the focus distance if not visible; a gentle twist of the manual focus ring shows the distance). Use a manual focus ring to bring back to a similar distance. This method could be time consuming particularly when the subject is very close and focus has gone to the background. In 600 TC lens, it takes more than 2 turns of the manual focus ring to bring focus to closer to minimum focus distance and takes longer

3. Use a focus range limiter in the lens to restrict the focus range. The problem with this approach is that we tend to forget about the setting and later get frustrated when the camera doesn’t focus on the subject

5. Use the most appropriate AF-area mode for the given scenario. My philosophy is to use the largest AF area for a given scenario

1. When using larger AF-area (Wide L or Auto or C2 programmed to 19x11), the camera favours anything that is closer and in the centre. If the subject small or there is lot clutter/distractions, camera is likely to miss the subject

2. When using a smaller AF-area mode (like 3D, Wide S, Single Point, C1 - 1x1) if the auto focus area is not accurately placed, it jumps to the background. But will come handy when shooting subjects through bushes

6. Pre-visualise the frame and position the auto focus area where the subject’s eye is likely to be positioned. Except 3D and Auto, all other autofocus area modes track the subject only around the AF area and not the entire frame. Positioning the auto focus area appropriately helps getting the desired composition in camera

7. Quickly determine if the subject detection/tracking is working reliably for the subject that is being photographed. Prior knowledge/experience also comes handy. Be prepared to switch to alternate methods if not reliable. For example if the auto focus is not identifying the subject and jumping nearby objects, switch to a smaller AF area. If the subject detection/tracking is not reliable, turn off subject tracking and/or using single point autofocus. When autofocus is not reliable use aperture that is one stop smaller than normal to get additional DoF to negate any focus error

8. When shooting through foreground elements none of the autofocus methods work. Use full manual focus in such cases. Have focus peaking display enabled. This helps visualise the focus area. Also do not use shutter release focus and use BBAF for such scenarios

9. Once initial focus is achieved and subject tracking is reliable, it is better to handoff autofocus to either Auto or 3D as both of these modes can track the subject's entire frame. This helps recomposing the frame, skittish birds moving around and most importantly BiF

10. Always track the subject during the entire time. Keep the focus engaged most of the time

11. Take small bursts of shots at the right moment even for static subjects. This helps getting better head turn/eye contact and more interesting moments

Sudhir Paul

I use a similar process but all have Bird Eye detection ON:

Wide Area L on shutter button, used to acquire general focus of subject area

Then I hand it off to AF-ON button which is set to 3D

(This combo works 90% of the time in the typical north-east cluttered conditions, portraits and BIF)

So far no issue other an occasional struggle with :

multiple birds and/or

low subject contrast in fading light and/or

clutter both in front of or behind the subject in windy conditions

If above fails, I switch Single Point with Bird-eye detection which is set-up as C2 with 1x1 square

And Single Point fails when the bird/subject is extremely far away and smaller than the 1x1 square And ofcourse memory recall for hides, works like a charm

My Focus button options are based on

Wide Area L - Nikon claims this is the fastest subject acquisition mode; besides - having this on the trigger wakes the camera up, gentle initial tap on the shutter button works best

3D - works best from moving from wing to eye of a flying bird for example

C2 1x1 - helps specially with long necked birds via focus and recompose route

Swapnil

—------

1.⁠ ⁠3D on display button

2.⁠ ⁠Bird eye tracking on af-on

3.⁠ ⁠Small rectangle with af -on in fn1 button

Jeyaram

In this image if I had used auto the focus jumped to the flower. I avoided the flower and placed the AF area to the left of the flower. Whenever the hummingbird flew in, subject detection kicks in and grabs it

https://www.instagram.com/p/DB-YOBmTeG-/?igsh=MXUxbGkwZ2hiMXl1

Arun

—-----

I use 3D 95% of times and C1 customised for BIF. The small periods of time where AF struggles, a nudge to focus ring quickens the acquisition. I have both z8 and z9 and AF on both I have found it similar.

Overall I am happy with the AF system as compared to my DSLR (D500 and D800). But yeh dil mange more.

Jeyaram

—---

No system is perfect. I have used both Sony and Nikon. Though Sony is better with respect auto focus but it also struggles on certain scenarios.

It is important to understand when the system doesn’t work and switch to traditional focus methods to get the prize catch

My default AF-area mode in general is C2 (I programmed to 19x11) and I use C1 (1x1) when shooting in Himalayas where generally birds are in clutter. I use handoff to Auto many times after grabbing initial focus. Manual focus and focus save/recall comes handy for grabbing initial focus

Naveen

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For me, 75 to 80% been using auto Arrea-AF mode. It works well for my regular walks, when it doesn’t work using other areas or turn focus ring and it works well.

About 10% of time it’s inconsistent. thing is we don’t know when it’s inconsistent. So always keeps you on toes. Need close observation. These 5 to 10% take away joy of rest 90 to 95% of shooting. That’s the main issue more than usefulness of it.

Jeyaram

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When the subject tracking is erratic, I switch to traditional single point focus or turn off subject detection.

In my experience with Z9, subject tracking is mostly reliable for birds and I resort to traditional methods very occasionally.

If I have to turn off subject tracking most of the time, there is not much value in using mirrorless

Naveen

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That’s correct. Or we can choose it switch it off at the best.

In slightly less than ideal conditions ( or at times ideal as well), Nikon z9/z8 subject detection is inconsistent at the best and unreliable at its worst.

Doesn’t mean it’s not useful because it hallucinates. Requires closer supervision and more work from photographers ( human in the loop) to get very good shots.

@⁨Swapnil Bhoskar Met At Karnala Samadhan’s Hide⁩ doesn’t use subject detection, he uses dynamic area modes.

Jeyaram

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AFAIK, we don’t have control once subject detection and tracking takes over.

Subject detection and tracking is same for all AF areas with subject tracking. The only difference is AF areas guide the camera on where look for the subject and area within to track

observed that AF was sticky on Egrets today when they are side facing.

I also noticed that the subject detection isn’t great with some of the Owls. I noticed the issue first in Koyna with all 3 Scops owls (Oriental, Pallid and Indian). I thought it was due to night and light wasn’t sufficient. However, I noticed issue again yesterday with Spotted Owlet. I resorted to single point that doesn’t have subject tracking

Arun

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Well said

I do not use Cycle AF but have trained my thumb to use BBF (3D); Disp (Single Point without any Bird or animal Assist) and Joystick (Custom Large for BIF). All three being in the thumb area gives me great ability to get focus.

While Sony and Canon are better - unfortunately for most of us Nikon is the only camera we have so we have to get the skills better and use the numerous buttons on our bodies for programing various AF modes and also use in the field for muscle memory. Keep practising the use of buttons or AF cycle mode if that is what you are comfortable with.

I personally do not believe given the hardware in the current generation Z8/9 lenses we will get any major firmware updates for AF assist. If it was possible Nikon would have already released it and bridged the gap with Sony/ Canon.

Troubleshooting common issues on Z9/Z8 cameras

Top 12 Nikon Mirrorless Problems & Solutions: Troubleshooting Z-Series Cameras by Steve Perry

02:02 My camera is only shooting JPEGs

03:20 My rear LCD won't turn on

08:11 My grid overlay isn't showing up

10:54 My histogram isn't showing up

14:33 I'm missing the Manual Focus Ring In AF Mode option

16:20 My camera hesitates when I take a photo

17:19My AF point jumps when I switch orientations

20:25 My shutter speed is weirdly precise and uses decimals

21:02 My viewfinder blacks out when I'm shooting

24:26 I'm missing some AF areas

26:31 My programmed buttons don't work

29:14 My Control Ring isn't doing what I programmed it for

Common Camera Problems | Thom Hogan

• Picture doesn’t display in the monitor or viewfinder. Check Limit monitor mode in the picture below.. Cycle through the button on left side of viewfinder.

.

• Vertical shooting not happening – Check position of Lock switch. Check lock setting - unlock

shutter release on vertical orientation This button position gives a lot of grief in field.

• Focus not happening. AF-F doesn’t allow us to choose focus points through joy stick. So choose Area focus like a single point and press Ok to center the focus point. Its important to know where the focus point is in the frame.

• Camera freezes/hangs sometimes esp with FTZ adapter. Restart the camera. If this issue

happens repeatedly, check lens back plate tautness or clean contacts lens, FTZ adapter and

Camera.

• Shooting at fps 20 uncompressed raw gives only 4 seconds of buffer. Shooting at fps 12 to 15

gives a longer buffer up to 1000 photos.

• Camera is not focusing on bird at close distance. Check your lens for the focus limiter setting. Pls set it to FULL.

• Histograms are not showing up in the viewfinder or monitor. Check d10 view mode -> show effect of settings-> always and d11 – OFF.

From Forum: My 600mm F4 is not focusing. I was randomly clicking the buttons on lens ans trying to understand how it works. I’m not sure if that’s the reason. Any idea what has gone wrong ?

FYI - There is no issue with the body as i have paired it with another lens and checked. I also checked this lens on D850 and it didn’t work there.

Sometimes the lens autofocus motor doesn’t park properly. So try to fix it.

Accidentally turned on the manual focus switch on the lens ?’’

Memory recall was set to AF-L 🙈

From Forum: My daughter comes around and very calmly takes off lens cap. Viola lenses work magically. Lens cap fell down in the dark so she fixed it in the car while I was holding the camera.

From Forum: Camera doesn't shoot photos?

Check if it's in Video mode? Check lever behind behind shutter release

Check if the camera is on timer ?

Check if camera has memory card

From Forum:

Z9 freezes while shooting.

Raghu Iyer

Few probabilities as per my limited knowledge which contributed to this issue to many of my known:

1. Excessive or inappropriate use of TC or third party lens (recommended proper clean up of lens contact post usage and not letting the tc’s be in camera body for longer time)

2. Incorrect firmware upgrade ( recommended upgrading firmware through storage device)

3. Not using recommended storage/ Card (recommended 1600+ speed)

4. Due to fog/dust/moisture: recommend using dry cabinets and proper cleaning of gear after trips

In 1 odd case the body was faulty as well, but that’s exceptional

I faced shutter freeze / locking issues with Z9 a couple of times. One was as recent as last week, where after a burst of shots, the shutter button would stop working. I had to switch off the camera, remove the battery and reinsert. Then it would work fine.

Hot card issues noted with Z8.

In both, the cards used are Prograde Cobalt!

For the Z9 freezing up suddenly in field, here is what I found:

1. After a firmware update, the chances of Z9 freezing is higher. Though reduced a lot with the recent updates. please take a back up of your settings and do a reset and import back your settings. I usually save all my settings to an old XQD card from my D500 days.

2. ⁠please do not delete your images while reviewing and shooting on the field. There is something going on with the CFExpress cards (I see this more often with my ProGrade and haven’t been able to reproduce this with AngelBird). My hypothesis is that if you delete images while reviewing the card perhaps tries to reorganise the file system and eventually screws it up and the camera freezes.

Thank you for sharing this. I did delete a few images while in the field when using the Z9. I guess your second point explains why the Z9 shutter froze. Let me revert if I see the issue persists.

Good morning @Radhakrishnan Rajagopalan Z9 Group sir you were mentioning running into issues with Z9 camera freeze when photos were deleted in camera and operating it. You were able to reproduce the error.

Was checking out do’s and don’ts of memory card usage. Checked various articles on delkin, prograde etc. Few pointers that came out, still not 100% sure

1. Most probably issues lies with the card reader. Best is to use a reader and card from the same manufacturer for whatever worth it is.

2. ⁠format card in camera before usage. Instead of delete, or quick format, once the card fills up, do a full format and use it. Been doing full format very rarely only when firmware changed.

3. Checked multiple articles that were published in the last 10 years. Almost all of them recommended not deleting files one by one in the field. Issues are related to FAT messing up, life reduction etc. It's almost 2024 these file formats and file controller softwares have been there for a while. So you expect a lot more robustness.

That’s what Nasim says in his article as well. He says it’s a myth why we can’t delete files in camera. Just scroll down to section 8. How to properly use and care for memory cards.

https://photographylife.com/understanding-memory-cards#how-to-properly-use-and-care-for-memory-cards

Given Z9 is the first flagship camera to use CF express B format from Nikon stable ( though it’s 2+ years old now ) with multiple firmwares patching software, I am wondering about bugs creeping in. So does it make sense to be cautious for a while and not delete files in the field on camera, till we see evidence to the contrary? We may be propagating a myth that Nasim calls out.

Will keep checking out.

No camera is perfect as with the laptops and electronics. The best of the best freezes occasionally(the usual ctrl-alt-del fix should suffice 😊). I think with the rapid advancement in technologies such as CFExpress there is usually a combination effect of where things can go wrong and it is often hard to predict. With iterations they usually get fixed. Have seen similar behaviour with my friends equipment that are different brands as well. Took 5-6 years of advancement and stabilisation with the DSLRs. It’s a cycle

From Nikon Manual - https://onlinemanual.nikonimglib.com/z9/en/16_troubleshooting_02.html

Solutions to some common issues are listed below.

Battery/Display

Shooting

Playback

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi (Wireless Networks)

Miscellaneous

Battery/Display

Shooting

Playback

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi (Wireless Networks)

Miscellaneous