Nikon Z9 Auto Capture
Updated 14 Mar 24: Nikon just released firmware v5.0 for the Nikon Z9 which includes significant changes to Auto Capture. See the end of this blog for some thoughts around this update as it does affect some of the original commentary.
The Nikon Z9 is a phenomenal camera, even more so with its frequent firmware iterations. This has basically improved an already great camera significantly over the last few months. Well done to Nikon for continuing to invest in the camera. Long may it continue. One of the features added in firmware v4 was ‘Auto Capture’ (this has also recently been added to the Nikon Z8 in the latest firmware v2).
Auto Capture is an intriguing feature for wildlife. In theory it should have some strong use cases. It allows you to configure the camera with certain ‘capture’ parameters and put it on a tripod and set it to automatically capture images without your presence. Wild animals are naturally skittish and avoid human contact. The idea of being able to set up the camera and leave it to take photos is clearly an interesting one. For example, near a nest or a known animal run. It would allow you to get close with minimal impact on behaviour and without frightening the wildlife.
Over the last week whilst struck down with a persistent cold I decided to test this feature, by setting up the camera near a couple of bird feeders outside my window. Well, how did that work out?
70mm at f/2.8, 1/3200s, ISO 1000. AF Auto Area.
Auto Detect: Motion (speed 3, size 2, directions: all but from below) + Detect (animal, size 2) + Distance (1.4 to 1.8m). Time (3s shooting + 0s wait).
Note that the use of Distance parameter limits close focus to 20x focal length. As a result this image is heavily cropped.
In summary, not without quite a bit of trial and error. It is not the most intuitive feature to configure and the firmware user guide addendum wasn’t entirely helpful. However, with practice and tuning of the settings it started to make sense and some interesting images were captured. There are clearly use cases for wildlife with Auto Capture but don’t think you can turn up somewhere and just get it working beautifully straight away. More of this later …
Head scratching moment number 1: The software implementation of this feature seems a little rushed. To call the user interface a bit clunky is probably an understatement. I can easily think of many straightforward improvements to make the usability of this feature much better. This is something that Nikon hopefully will resolve in future firmware updates. However, when you get used to the idiosyncrasies of the user interface it is relatively straight forward to configure the parameters for shooting. Although, which settings to use for each scenario requires repeated tests and tuning.
105mm at f/3.5, 1/4000s, ISO 400. AF Auto Area.
Auto Detect: Motion (speed 2, size 2, directions: all) + Distance (2.1 to 2.8m). Time (3s shooting + 1s wait).
Note that the use of Distance parameter limits close focus to 20x focal length. As a result this image is heavily cropped.
There are three ways to auto trigger the camera: Motion, Detect and Distance. These three parameters can be combined to define a narrow set of conditions that will trigger the camera to record an image.
Firstly, you set the normal shooting exposure parameters: Shutter, Aperture, ISO. Then select continuous shooting (I settled on 12 fps in my tests). The camera automatically selects AF-C (continuous focus), and you need to select the AF mode. AF mode can be any mode, however, Auto Area or a Wide area (or a large Custom area) seem to fit best.
Thereafter you launch Auto Capture in the Photo Shooting menu (or in the Video menu). This allows you to set the conditions that will fire the camera:
Motion - any detection of motion in the scene, controlled by speed and size of subject, and its direction
Detect – use of Animal detect to trigger the camera based on the size of the subject
Distance – minimum and maximum distance within which the camera will focus and trigger
Time – for how long the camera shoots and then pauses after motion is detected
Area – ability to mask out parts of the frame you do not want the camera to consider.
105mm at f/3.5, 1/4000s, ISO 320. AF Auto Area.
Auto Detect: Motion parameter only (speed 3, size 2, directions: all but from below). Time (3s shooting + 0s wait).
It can make sense to combine more of the above three trigger modes (Motion, Detect, Distance) to narrow down the condition that automatically triggers the camera to avoid too many ‘false positives’. For example, with Motion only, the wind may move branches and leaves around which may trigger the camera. It is easy to fill up the card with endless ‘empty’ images this way. Although, if the background is uniform without distracting or moving features Motion alone can work well as with the Great Spotted Woodpecker above.
Head scratching moment number 2: Initially my instinct was to always use Distance to set a minimum and maximum distance within which the camera would consider triggering. I then combined this with Motion and/or Detect. This made intuitive sense to me, i.e. first limit the Distance parameter to assist the camera’s auto focus as much as possible and avoid the camera triggering at too far a distance or too close. However, when I first put my 800mm lens on the tripod and tried to limit focus to a branch by a bird feeder approximately 8 meters away, the camera refused to focus closer than 16 meters. Hmmm … I then tried a 105mm lens and put it closer to the perch, but again I could not get it to focus close enough for a small bird to fill the frame. Weird … cue a bit of googling. I eventually found out that with the Distance parameter, you can only choose a minimum focus distance of 20x focal length. For example, for the 800mm lens that means the closest it will focus in Auto Capture is at 16m – much further away than that lens’s minimum focus distance. In other words, for small birds, the Distance parameter is not particularly useful unless you want to crop away quite a bit of the image afterwards. The Distance parameter requires much bigger animals to be of use. I initially thought this was a limitation of Auto Capture, but after a bit of testing I realised that I could get closer to smaller birds as long as I did not use the Distance option. So, if you cannot fill the frame sufficiently with your chosen subject at x20 lens focal length then de-select Distance!
105mm at f/3.5, 1/1600s, ISO 5600. AF Auto Area.
Auto Detect: Motion (speed 2, size 2, directions: all) + Detect (animal, size 2). Time (2s shooting + 1s wait).
This Squirrel scared the birds away in the evening gloom. By not using the Distance parameter the camera could focus much closer than 2.1m (x20 focal length)
I ended up successfully using a combination of Motion only or Motion plus Detect. Motion only needs careful tuning of its Speed parameter and the Size parameter to avoid false positives. For example, if there is a moderate breeze and the branches are waving slowly but the speed parameter is set to 3 or more, then it seems to pick up a bird and not shoot empty frames of trees in the background. Ditto the subject Size parameter will need to be experimented with. The manual provides some guidance here, but also look at YouTube videos of real-life examples. In any case this will need tuning depending on your subject and conditions.
Adding Animal Detect to Motion limits the risk of non-animal movement triggering the camera. This option worked well in most cases when I tested this on birds by feeders. In this scenario I typically would choose a Time setting of 2 seconds followed by a Wait of 1 second. This meant that the camera would shoot for 2 seconds once motion was detected and then wait for 1 second before it would await next motion. At 12 fps this gave me 24 frames and a short break (typically the bird would have flown by then) before the camera would attempt to trigger again.
105mm at f/4, 1/3200s, ISO 1600. C1 (large) AF Area.
Auto Detect: Motion parameter only (speed 3, size 1, directions: all but from below). Time (2s shooting + 1s wait).
This camera/tripod position and Auto Capture settings resulted in many ‘false positives’ (i.e. images without birds and only the trees in the background in focus) probably caused by the strong wind and movements in the trees in the background. Adding subject Detection would have helped. Again by not using the Distance parameter the camera could be closer to the action. This is shot at 1.7m subject distance.
Birds in flight proved the trickiest test for Auto Capture. Not only are birds small, but they are fast. By the time the camera had detected a bird and managed to focus, the bird would have flown out of the frame. Auto capturing birds at close distance flying across the frame was very tricky. You need to allow enough space for the camera to have a chance. A bit of cropping in post will be required. By optimising the camera angle vis-à-vis a bird’s flight trajectory helped improve the success rate. For example, pointing the camera into the likely incoming flight path (from a nearby tree to the perch by the feeders) gave the camera more chance of detecting and following the bird towards it and eventually securing focus (typically on the 3rd shot in a 12 fps sequence).
A few other considerations:
With Animal Detect, a cleaner background reduces the chance of the camera falsely detecting an animal / eye. In one sequence I had a lot of shots focused on a piece of tree trunk in the background with a pattern that could be mistaken for a bird.
Needless to say you need the camera on a tripod for Auto Capture. Some form of protection, e.g. a rain cover, is also sensible to protect the camera outdoors.
Also, ensure the battery is full before you commence Auto Capture. With the Z9 I got around 4 hours of Auto Capture activity out of one battery. This varied somewhat depending on the activity. Endless ‘false positive’ image captures will drain the battery faster. (Note the Z8 limit will be much less than 4 hours due to its smaller battery).
Think carefully about the camera settings, as you’re stuck with them during the Auto Capture. When leaving the camera out for several hours on a tripod, Auto-ISO worked well as the weather changed the light, particularly on days when the sun frequently popped in and out of the clouds. A bit of negative EV compensation also helped avoid bright feather blow outs.
I have had a few days of fun testing this new feature. Some days were more successful than others depending on the parameters used … and the cooperation of the birds ;-) I now feel I have a good handle on Auto Capture and I am ready to use it in anger …
105mm at f/3.5, 1/4000s, ISO 280. AF Auto Area.
Auto Detect: Motion (speed 2, size 2, directions: all) + Distance (2.1 to 2.8m). Time (3s shooting + 1s wait).
It is tricky to catch a bird flying fast across the lens. This is heavily cropped. The camera needs space to be able to detect the movement fast enough.
So what are my possible use cases here? Clearly, you cannot leave a Nikon Z9 out in the wild like cheaper trail trap cameras. So, that limits the use somewhat for wildlife. You need to be close by yourself to keep an eye on the camera/tripod setup or ensure the camera is in a safe location and properly protected.
My immediate thoughts are two scenarios:
Bird nests on the property. For example, there is a swallow nest in my garden. Auto Capture could allow me to possibly get some interesting shots of feeding and flights in and out of the nest. Ditto, for other nests.
When I am in a hide, this would allow me to put one camera on a tripod closer to perches / animal activity with a wider lens choice whilst I use a telephoto from the hide. In the past I have done this with remote triggers, but Auto Capture … as long as configured well – will allow me to focus on one camera rather than two.
In any of those scenarios a degree of trial and error will be required to tune the settings. Observing the animal behaviour ahead of setting up Auto Capture will help configure the settings optimally, taking care to note common travel directions, size in frame, speed and how long the animal will linger in the frame. With more use further scenarios will no doubt present themselves.
Enjoy fighting with the user interface ;-) but with patience, preparation and testing I think it can be quite a useful feature for wildlife.
105mm at f/3.5, 1/4000s, ISO 280. AF Auto Area.
Auto Detect: Motion (speed 2, size 2, directions: all) + Distance (2.1 to 2.8m). Time (3s shooting + 1s wait).
Again, a heavy crop due to the use of the Distance parameter. Subject distance here is 2.4m.
Update 14 Mar 24:
I don’t generally go back and re-edit my blogs, but I thought it was worth it for this recent blog entry in view of Nikon’s new firmware 5.0 for the Z9. It is just brilliant to see the frequent significant firmware updates from Nikon and I like to think they read this blog and used it as input to the upgrade, although the timing of this blog entry and the upgrade would strongly suggest not ;-)
Auto Capture received a significant update in fw 5.0. And it directly affects a couple of my comments above in the original review. Firstly, the user interface / usability criticism. Nikon has made some changes which are an improvement, such as how to set Size and Speed, and more importantly the introduction of a timer, which allows you to decide when Auto Capture will kick in and for how long. This is useful for wildlife use cases, as it allows you to prepare the set up without putting the camera immediately in Auto Capture mode. This will help preserve battery power for when it is needed.
My second ‘head scratching’ moment mentioned above related to the Distance parameter. In fw 4.0 it was limited to x20 focal length. This restriction has been fully removed in fw 5.0, which makes this parameter useful again for smaller subjects such as birds. However, it is not straight forward as Nikon state: “We recommend that you configure [Nearest] and [Farthest] within the range of values indicated by the numbers in white. Setting the options to values indicated in yellow may reduce how accurately the camera can detect the distance to the subject.” Hmmm .. what does that mean? In fw5.0 when you set min and max distance, the values now appear on the screen in either yellow or white fonts. After a bit of testing with a couple of lenses I discovered that the minimum (nearest) values are yellow when less than x20 of focal length! So, there clearly was a reason for Nikon’s original decision to limit closest distance to x20 focal length. The question is what do they mean by “may reduce” accuracy? Does it affect the camera’s ability to focus accurately or does it merely mean there is less accuracy in how the camera gauges the limits set (i.e. maybe include a bit of error margin in the distance parameters you set). More testing is required over the next few days …
Finally, the inclusion of Planes to subject Detection types is a bonus, even though it doesn’t really help for wildlife – I would like to see the addition of the Bird type, or maybe Planes would be a good option for birds ;-)