Z6II.
But I think it’s general. The eyes/head need to cover a certain amount of the sensor. So you still need long lens in general.
George
As I’ve said before, if my D850 wasn’t still so unused, I might have given it a go. I’m not against mirrorless, just against throwing out a nearly new camera 
And I would never dream of using the rear screen for shots like these.
I would say he needs to turn off centre-weighted and learn how to spot meter 
Taking the time to master spot metering, especially on highlights, has totally revolutionise my photography. It’s given me back the same control that I have with my LF cameras and separate spot meter.
But, I want to be totally in control of, not only the focus point, but also the depth of field, which often means focusing part way through an object to get both the front and back sharp.
1 Like
My a6700 has locked onto bird eyes in bushes much to my amazment
How big where the eyes compared to the locking square. I’ve a locking square.
George
Yes there is an area thing but it has happened a lot with how sticky it is and how well it works in darkness. It is a very big difference to earlier generations.
DSLR-development is non existent today.
Another thing Mike is lifting is his problem following a bird in sky. Much easier with modern mirrorless. Also because both the new cameras especially but even lenses have far better image stabilization too but the main reason for that is that there are focusing points all over the sensor surface on modern cameras.
Z8/9 can acheive that at sony level.
Older nikon cameras can’t.
You are in total control when it comes to where you set your focus since it gives a starting point that you always can adjust by overriding it and that is done by putting that area in the center and a half way pressing of the shutter button. Then it locks and you are free to recompose. That is what dynamic focus polnts means.
Depth of field - nothing different there. Aperture mode and chose the aperture you want. Exposure compensation if needed.
Just to be really particular
What I mean is that I want to place the focus point ½ or ⅔ through the main subject, so I can stop down to get the required DoF. Imagine an egg in an egg cup and I want to get both the front and the back of the foot of the egg cup sharp. At the moment, I would measure both distances, calculate the depth and then feed that into TrueDoF-Pro to get the required aperture.
Auto area (people/animal) looks for human or animal faces or in the AF area, which covers 90% of the frame.
George
Compared with LF cameras, which are still available brand new from various new builders. I just can’t find where to insert the SD card to upgrade the firmware 
1 Like
Those AI AF systems are good for : characters, some animals (not all) : they try to focus on eyes if possible; for planes now for nikon : they try to focus on cockpit. That’s it.
They are very efficient for moving subjects, action, etc …
(even if long neck birds seems to still be a bit difficult for them sometime).
When it’s about studio shot (packaging, etc), landscape, etc … : shots where focus point does not rely on recognition of some shape for which AI as been trained, best results are still acheived by photographer himself or with “classic” AF mode (all that is of course avalaible too in last generation cameras).
I will try your four adjustment settings again, later today. To my eyes, which apparently are quite ignorant, ClearView Plus (very little) often seems to improve some of my images.
The other things you wrote I already understood, but I took the photo anyway. I need to stop thinking of my lens as a “telescope”, and accept that all it is doing is “cropping”. Hmm, is a blurry image ever better than no image?
Our plan for Sunday (tomorrow) is to be there at, or before, sunrise.
Nikon suggested AF-C, continuous, and tracking. As long as the back focus button is depressed, the camera is focusing.
According to Nikon and all the reviews, if I change my D780 to “Live View” the camera will do the same things a Nikon Z6 does. …and my friend will be there with his Z8, which I will also check out.
This is almost certainly due to my inexperience at photographing birds, which is mostly non-existent. When I was able to take my time, and practice, eventually I was getting good photos, especially so when I used my friend’s newly purchased 600mm lens, and that wasn’t nearly long enough, as the birds were quite far away.
There’s facts, and there are opinions. Sometimes they are difficult to separate, especially for people trying to do something for the first time - and some people are more artistic than others, and “see” things that aren’t immediately obvious, and may not ever become “obvious”. Then too, there is often a cost to things - as in if I really want a 600mm lens, am I willing to spend a thousand dollars to buy one… and how often will I use it. …and how much would a Z8 cost me?
Perfect. 
[quote=“Joanna, post:260, topic:37104”]
I have mentioned before that you need to use the four fine contrast sliders…
Like this, or much more???
ClearView shows where I set it before, but it is now turned off.
You suggested long ago that I use “Fine Contrast” and not “Microcontrast”.
I should have used a faster shutter speed.
I’m sure that bird was looking right at me, but I wasn’t moving.
[/quote
P.S. - is this a crow, or a pigeon? I think it’s a crow… but…
AFC (continuous) is needed for action and tracking. BButon is a good habit for those shots : you can either track action (keeping it engaged) or focus and recompose for portrait bird (releasing it before recompose).
First don’t forget framing action shot this way does not gives you enough stability.
Second Z6 is not a top action camera and its AF is not the best for bird in flight.
That’s the question. If yes, lens quality comes then.
Agree. That’s the point.
Here’s the crop. Just like @Joanna’s cormorant and others, the results of cropping become a challenge in bird photography.
Even with the bird’s eye focus detection the DOF is critical, as are the environmental factors. This is a 600mm.
It’s unususal to see both species of flamingos interacting, so that’s the “story” for birders such as my wife.
You probably see the difference in perceived sharpness between your two bird photos and your street photo of the motocycle rider.
Here it seems that you have front focus. Focus seems to be in the water before flamingos.
An other long-necked bird AI AF mistake ?
Correct- near the feet and to the left. The eye focus doesn’t always seem consistent, but my most noticeable challenge on the trip was holding the camera steady while others moved around in the safari vehicle (rocking back and forth). I tried to stop down enough for increased DOF to compensate but didn’t get this one. Also OE on the bird’s backs.
My other shot had a bird photobomb - you can see the trace on the right edge of the crop I didn’t crop out.
I liked your photo, so impulsively chose a flamingo to share. My BIF photos of flamingos were all too far away to have “personality”.
1 Like
Confused - what is a “bird photobomb”?
I don´t know really what you mean by that when I think a little extra since the Eye Focus “box” lives an entirely separate life like the face detection squares. It just pops up when the camera manages to set focus and acts like a prefocus. That square is not tied to the focus area square like the one for spot focus.
They overlap only when we override the system and we want the system to lock the tracking on that eye if we want to recompose or so.