Nikon Z9 v4.0 - The BEST Keeps Getting Better!

Firmware 4.0 clearly differentiates the Z9 from the Z8 - and leaves the competition for dead!

[peterlawson]

Love seeing your devotion to the channel, Matt. Glad to see you smiling, and giving us the details. I'm one of those Sony folk, but still watching, coz, you. Cheers.

[wagz]

Wasn't it just a few years ago that Nikon was left for dead? Not only are they not dead, they have regained the throne with their dominant mirrorless line up. All hail the king!

[charlestemkin]

Matt, hope things go well.

Because most of the commentary on Firmware 4.0 seems to have been centered on the auto capture feature, I wanted to call attention to a change that is more significant to my photography, namely the operation of the autofocus. While each of the previous firmware upgrades has made some improvement to autofocus, I believe that Firmware 4.0's is by far the most significant. I tend to shoot a lot of small birds in noisy backgrounds and low light. Admittedly this is a challenging situation for autofocus. Up till now, I have most frequently have had to use the single-spot, no-subject-detection option, because that was the only one that actually worked. With 4.0, I am now seeing the autofocus system reliably use subject detection in this situation and focus on the birds' eyes. It is very impressive. I think that subjection detection now gives a higher percentage of perfectly focused shots than the single-spot approach. In fact, I am going to have to rethink (yet again) how I purpose the various function buttons. It is a nice problem to have.

[mattgranger]

Please note - I quoted Nikon USA saying that Autocapture was coming to the Z8 - they have since removed that from the press release and video promotions. So it's uncertain if or when the Z8 will see any of these updates.

[juergenwittsiepe]

Matt, I think it is not correct with the precapture as you mentioned it: You can use this function now for 300 seconds (and before 30 seconds), but it gives you only the maximum of 1 second (as it was before) of recordings before you pressed the release button. That is how I understand the new function. So you can now keep your finger on the half pressed release button for up to 300 seconds.

[LesDaviesclixxphotography]

Had this camera for 4 months and was so pleased . Now with 4.0 I’m blown away! Keep making the films they are really help-full

[SabbaLinga]

Matt thank you so much for all the amazing Nikon Videos, you are awesome

[stevemuzak]

It’s not about megapixels its all about processing power. This is the most important thing in digital cameras. I’m glad that you talk about it.

[philipculbertson]

Absolutely love my Z9. The only gripe I had was not having Exposure Delay. Yes it is a little thing but it drove me to use a self-timer and with that you have the annoying flashing green light that can't be turned off. The 4.0 firmware gave me back the Exposure Delay and that in itself made me happy. It truly is a remarkable camera.

[peterschatz]

Hi Matt. All the best for your family! Thanks for the video - for some seconds I thought there is a left-handed version of the Z9 now - got totally confused with the mirror image :-).

[jacquesvandenberghe]

thanks for this Matt! enjoy your family, they are more important than even every Nikon!

[JohnWilliams-fcxi]

You are a work horse! - thanks for making the effort while also doing family stuff - for my type of shooting the AutoCapture will be helpful - haven't had time to test the improved AF, but if effective will be welcomed for low light fast moving subjects. Clearly the hardware in the z9 is really providing lots of Firmware bonuses. Thanks

[drcruelty]

Nikon sure is on top of their game with firmware updates for the mirrorless line. Not just fixing stuff, but even adding new features. I could see this as increasing customer loyalty and perhaps even getting new models to market faster as they release with the main features but secondary ones they never announced come later to both new and existing customers.

[mm]

Brilliant idea shooting mirrorless but with a mirror

[boostedmaniac]

Great video on the new features of the Z9. You’re a true professional Matt. I don’t think I could talk to myself standing in the mirror as well as you.

[mattgranger]

LINKS All courses on sale!
Use code family2 to get 20% off

[novatech-lcfm]

Thats awesome Matt....so happy that Nikon has given us better support from the community Nikon

[DarrellYoung]

The 300 seconds of precapture does not give you 300 seconds to precapture images. That is still limited to 1 second. The 300 seconds is the timeout before precapture shuts itself down. The timeout used to be 30 seconds. Check page 9 of the supplementary guide.

[guyyowell]

Great video Matt! Hope your Dad is doing better! Family time is most important!

[linzdoctor]

I shoot sports with a Sony A1 and I'm buying a Z9 next month! I can definitely use the Auto Capture Featrure not having to worry about using pocket wizards is going to be so nice!