SONY Puts Pressure On The Auto Focus Abilities Of The Nikon Z9II With The Release Of Firmware Version 4.0 For Their A1 II And A9 III Cameras
Nikon D4s and the Nikkor G 85mm f/1.8 Lens
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As I have written before, with the release of the Canon (R1) and SONY’s (A1 II and A9 III) flagship cameras, Nikon now has the receipt they need to make sure the Z9II eclipses both of those competing flagship cameras. This sounds easy enough since they now have the answer as to what specs the Z9II needs to have. But, both SONY and Canon cameras abilities are not static due to the option of firmware updates. And that’s exactly what just happened with both of SONY’s flagship cameras.
And this brings me to the reason for this post. SONY just released version 4.0 (from 3.0) firmware for both the A1 II and A9 III that improves their Real-Time Recognition AF+ abilities. More specifically, the firmware improvements concentrates in 3 key areas:
Precise isolation of an individual in a crowd.
Stable and Consistent tracking.
Tenacious tracking around obstacles.
After viewing the video SONY put out demonstrating these AF improvements, I can say they are impressive. I think they bring SONY AF inline with Canon’s.
To be honest, the focus abilities of Nikon’s flagship cameras (Z8 and Z9) haven't had the best reputation among the 3 competing brands. Nikon continues to consistently come in 3rd place based on antidotal evidence. I think that’s an honest assessment when comparing Nikon to SONY and Canon.
One thing that SONY has demonstrated is that their latest firmware actually improved their AF in a way that Nikon seldom does. If you think about it, Nikon hasn’t really ever released a firmware update that improves their AF. Nikon’s updates have added additional subject recognition options, but none have actually improved their accuracy, subject isolation, actually improved the stickiness of their subject tracking. Heck, I don’t use subject tracking or recognition on paid assignments, it’s just not reliable enough. I have a large headshot assignment coming up and using the Z7II, I will be using focus on they eyes and recompose. I can’t risk getting it wrong while on assignment.
Nikon D7200 with the 18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens.
Let me know in the comments if you have seen the SONY AF video and what your thoughts are (no sign in required to leave a comment).
As I have written before, with the release of the Canon (R1) and SONY’s (A1 II and A9 III) flagship cameras, Nikon now has the receipt they need to make sure the Z9II eclipses both of those competing flagship cameras. This sounds easy enough since they now have the answer as to what specs the Z9II needs to have. But, both SONY and Canon cameras abilities are not static due to the option of firmware updates. And that’s exactly what just happened with both of SONY’s flagship cameras.