Approaching The Scene 263: Nikon Z9 Firmware 4.0 Auto Capture Tips

(LINKS BELOW): Nikon’s Z9 Firmware 4.0 brings Auto Capture to this beast of a camera. During my Glacier National Park workshop last month David Archer found a use for it photographing some of the worlds hardest to capture birds in Glacier N.P. Together we’ll show the results and explain how we set the cameras up to get the best results. This introduction will be of particular interest to bird and wildlife photographers excited to try out this crazy new feature.

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Thanks to everyone for the great questions you are sending in. Keep them coming either in the comments below or by emailing me directly. I hope to see you in the next Office Hours session.

Stay safe and healthy.

LINKED TABLE OF CONTENTS:
00:00 Intro to ATS 263
01:10 Tree swallows are incredibly difficult to photograph without autocapture
02:45 Setting up Auto Capture on the Z9
03:45 Determining and setting Auto Capture distance
05:30 Motion, Detection & Distance parameters
13:35 Setting Speed & Size
14:50 Setting what area of the frame is active or inactive
15:55 Recording, Wait time & Detection settings
17:10 Activating, pausing and stopping Auto Capture
21:00 Auto Capture wrap up

[TiagoCaravana]

As an early adopter of the Z9, this upgrade is like the 2nd time it feels like Nikon gave me a new camera for free. Wouldn't imagine this possibility when I bought the camera. Fantastic!
Thanks for the video Hudson!

[jorsetti]

Thanks Hudson & David for this teaching video on Z9's Auto Capture, Brilliant as always! 🙏

[conchmk]

I have a Z8 and just installed the upgrade that has this feature. This was a great help explaining this feature.

[alfredvitanza]

thank you David for your explanation on the Auto Capture tips--It seems a little complicated for me but I also enjoy your marvelous Bird pics--congrats

[JDLVHIGHROLLER]

Great video! Awesome content. Love David’s work - he is amazingly talented.

[billboswell]

Another very informative video. Thanks guys.

[HillCountryDemo]

Fantastic video Hudson. Thanks to you and David both.

[francolebrino]

Grandiosi! tutti e due Bravi! grazie! Henry.

[CR-hbwu]

Ive used this with hummingbirds, my results varied and now i know why... thank you for the information on distance!

[patrickmolloy]

Excellent ! All I need now is for the Z8 firmware to update to include auto capture. Or get a Z9 !!

[sekaf]

Fabulous tutorial! Please4.0 coming to my new Z8!

[R.Hogarth]

Great video. Both you and David have amazing talent!

That looks like a cool feature but at $5.5k for the Z9 and $15.5k for the Z 600 f/4 TC VR S, Nikon has just created the world's most sophisticated and optically superb "Trail Cam". 😂

All joking aside, there are some Barn Swallows living under the bridge where I photograph Ospreys and although I see them every time I am there, I haven't got a shot of them in the 4 years I have been going there. Like the Swallows you saw, these ones are too small and too fast!

[lindaitken]

It would have been nice if you had mentioned that full Auto Capture functionality was only available with Z mount lenses. Blew several hours trying to figure out why I couldn't set the near and far distances with my 200-500mm F mount lens. I finally found the answer to the problem on Ricci Talks

[terilapetino]

So ask David if when he is shooting near his water feature if the water movement triggers the camera. Great video…this feature has so much potential!

[erichsnijder]

Very good video and expanation.
You take all the time to explain and all the details.

With the newer FW is bird detection a lot beter ???

My respect !!

[cessnafhqf]

Awesome video. My head is working overtime. My big challenge recently has been capturing dragonflies handheld with a 100-400 Nikkor zoom. This might be the way!? I most often do not carry a tripod.

[jimfair]

Hi Hudson and David Archer, I went back in the archives to find this video on auto capture, right off my deck at home I have a palm tree that a pair of woodpeckers have dugout a hole and created a nest and I assumed they’ll be raising some chicks. I want to set up my Z9 with auto capture, based on your experience since making this video, has your setup or settings changed? Did not see any additional videos, but I may have missed it, as always thank you.

[Photographer]

Thanks for that Distance update, real handy. Also, you probably don't think about it but the brand of pants you had on aren't in your store.

[DarrenLloydPDX]

I am gonna figure out how to do this as a remote goal/basket camera.

[m.maclean]

You mentioned an atomos ninja. What does that do? Is it an external SSD? Does the camera still record? Do you have a video of this used with a Z9 and any different features?