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Nikon Z9 Autofocus AF Settings

Guide For Birds In Flight
January 6, 2022

Your guide to field-tested Nikon Z9 autofocus settings for birds in flight. Having been
in the field multiple times shooting birds in flight I’ve learned a thing or two. It’s early in
my use with the Nikon Z9 but I feel it is worth sharing what I’ve learned so far in hopes
that it will help you to dial things in a little quicker and come away with some killer
birds in-flight images.

For those of you thinking about a gear purchase, please consider using one of my
affiliate links to either B&H or Amazon Canada. I receive a small commission to
support my content creation efforts and there is no extra cost to you.
If you’re interested in receiving more content like this, hit the subscribe button at the
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Thank you for your support.

Nikon Z9 Deep Dive with Matt Granger

Your success with the Nikon Z9 will be directly correlated to how you have it set up.
That’s why I highly recommend Matt Granger’s Nikon Z Camera Expert Setup Guide.
Matt has produced hours and hours of Nikon Z9 content on his YouTube channel. I lost
count of how many hours I spent watching his free content in anticipation of receiving
my Nikon Z9.

I found his content so helpful that I wanted to support his continued efforts by
purchasing his guide. Whether you’re a longtime Nikonian like me or relatively new to
the Nikon mirrorless system you will benefit from Matt’s expert guide. There were so
many nuggets I was not aware of in Matt’s review of the Z9 system.

I watched all of his Nikon Z9 expert video guide content and I can confidently say that if
you follow along with Matt as he dives into the menus and walks you through how to
make all of the customizations and settings changes required, you can head out into
the field knowing your Z9 is perfectly configured.

While the content is not specific to birds in flight, once you know where to access
things and how to customize the camera you can configure your Z9 the way you want
it set up for whatever you’re going to be shooting.

Matt Granger’s Nikon Z Camera Expert Set Up Guide

Nikon Z9 AF Tracking Video
Once you’ve had a chance to read this post, the video below will demonstrate just how
well the Nikon Z9 tracks a bird in flight. I say read the post first so you know what
autofocus setting modes I am recommending and how I have the function buttons set
up on my Nikon Z9. That will allow you to set your Z9 the same way if you wish.

In this demonstration, I will be tracking the Snowy Owl from lift-off and she will be
flying towards the camera until she leaves the frame directly in front of my lens. We will
take a look together to see how many images are tack-sharp on the owl’s eye through
each sequence. The first sequence is in bright sunlight (55 images) and the second
sequence is in low light at sunset. (75 images)

As I review the images, I will also be talking about how I select the one image from a
series of images that I would want to print or include on my website.
Nikon Z9 Birds In Flight Autofocus AF Tracking
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FIRST THINGS FIRST
Menu Settings 

There are three critical pieces to consider if you want to improve your keeper rate for
birds in flight with the Nikon Z9.

The very first thing you need to do is to set the menu settings in your Nikon Z9 so that
they are optimized for birds in flight. I highly recommend that you take the time to
read through the 907 pages of the Nikon Z9 user manual. That exercise definitely
helped me to understand the newly added items within each menu of the Z9.

Being realistic, not everyone has the time or patience to read the manual, it’s a little like
watching paint dry. If that’s you, head on over to my post entitled, “Nikon Z9 | Menu
Settings Guide For Birds In Flight”. This guide will walk you through every menu
item step by step so all you need to do is set your settings the same as mine and you’ll
be ready to go in no time. I do not profess that the way I have my Nikon Z9 is the right
way. These are the settings that I am currently using based on the reading and field
testing that I have done. I have no doubt that my settings will change with further use
of this camera.

Note: Your birds in flight keeper rate are dependent on how you have the menu items
set up on your Nikon Z9 so do spend the time to get your menu items set up properly
for BIF shooting.

A few folks on various forums have indicated that they had wished Nikon had included
a full printed manual with the camera for reference in the field. For those important,
often used, hard to find items I recommend you place them in the My Menu of your
camera so you can easily pull them up when required. For those items that are critical
to your shooting in the moment you’re going to want to set those to the function
buttons. That’s the second critical piece that will contribute to your success with birds
in flight. Let’s take a look at that piece next.

Function Buttons
There are countless ways to customize the Nikon Z9 based on your shooting
preferences. Below is an image depicting how I currently have my function buttons
setup. My primary use case is birds in flight and at rest. My first choice for an AF mode
for birds in flight is wide area large or small with animal eye detection.

Given my primary use case, I wanted to be able to quickly switch to single point for
birds that are static and in busier backgrounds so I could more easily focus on their
eyes. Hence why I set Fn1 and Fn3 to single point AF so I can quickly switch over
whether shooting horizontally or vertically. Currently, you must keep that function
button pressed down to keep single point active.

I would love to have the option to press the Function button once to activate and again
to deactivate it so we do not have to hold down the button. I did put in a
recommendation to Nikon to consider this feature in a future firmware upgrade.

I set Fn2 to 3D tracking with animal eye detect. That is my second favorite AF mode
and it works very well in most situations so I wanted to be able to access it quickly. Fn4
is set to playback images. Years of Nikon conditioning still see me reaching to the top
left for the playback button so I figured why fight it. I just can not get used to having it
on the lower right side. I set pressing down the joystick to resetting my focus point to
the center of the LCD. I’ve always done this with my DSLR’s and it makes it so much
quicker to get back to center when needed.

You have the option to program other buttons along with combining buttons with
command dials however I have opted not to do that yet. I prefer to use the camera
little more in the field and get used to the buttons I have already set. Once those
buttons are intuitive and I have a better feel for the functionality that I am constantly
seeking I will set buttons for those items as well.

Focus Modes
AF-C (continuous AF):

This is the mode you want for birds in flight or moving animals. I leave my camera in
AF-C and never change it. AF-C mode adjusts focus as needed as long as the shutter
button is pressed halfway or if your using back button focus you have the AF-ON
button pressed down. Note: focus-adjustment occurs only if the subject moves closer
to or farther from the camera.

If the subject is moving but only shifts a short distance in a horizontal direction, no
adjustment is needed because the focusing distance remains the same.

Recommendation: In the custom menu setting a Autofocus set a1 AF-C priority

selection to Release. This allows the camera to continue shooting even if the image is
out of focus. This increases the odds of getting that split second wing position you
wish to capture. The better you get at panning and tracking your subjects the more
keepers you’ll get.

SHOOTING TIP #1: If you are not using back button focus I strongly urge you to give it a
try. For a more detailed explanation on why you should consider back button focus
head on over to my post entitled, ” Back Button Focus – They Key To Better Focus
With Your Camera.”

Setting back button focus on the Nikon Z9 is very simple. Go to a6 in the custom
settings menu and select AF-ON only as shown in the image below.
SHOOTING TIP #2: Many wildlife photographers shoot in aperture mode as their go to.
Over the years, I have had great success with shooting in manual mode with Auto ISO

Sensitivity Control turned On. I set the shutter speed and f/stop and let the camera
change the ISO on the fly to provide me with the correct exposure. This works very well
for birds in flight especially when the backgrounds are ever changing from dark to
light. For a detailed explanation with sample wildlife images and to see how high you
can push the ISO on a Nikon Z9 you’ll want to read my post entitled, “Nikon Z9 | High
ISO Field Test”

AF-area mode & AF subject detection

options
This is where the world of choice really begins. The Nikon Z9 has added some new and
exciting AF modes that are fantastic for capturing birds in flight. I’m going to list each
one below, however I have highlighted those that are my go to AF-area modes.

AF Subject Detection Options

The Nikon Z9 has nine subject types including humans, pets, birds, airplanes, trains,
cars, motorbikes and bicycles. When in Auto-Area AF, any of these subjects will
automatically be detected and focused on, without the need to change settings.
With Eye-Detection AF, the camera can detect and focus on a subject’s eye even when

those eyes are smaller or further away.

As a wildlife photographer, I have mine set to animals. I’m not sure if it is any faster to
acquire focus than leaving the setting in auto, but since I never intend to shoot
anything other than wildlife I made it my default setting.

As an aside, I’ve been asked a lot about my image processing workflow, here’s a quick
run down of my steps.

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Step 1 – Use Adobe Camera RAW and Photoshop to correct tone, color, and
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Step 4 – Use Topaz Gigapixel AI to upscale and increase resolution without losing
quality

Go to any of the links above to start a free 30-day trial.

PRO TIP: Purchasing the Image Quality Bundle with all 3 products saves you $$$ and
using coupon code coolwildlife15 saves you 15%. Click on the image below to go
directly to the IQ bundle.

AF-area Modes
Please take note, the birds I shoot are large in size, owls, raptors, ducks, loons, herons
and the like. For those of you who shoot smaller song birds you may find the other

focus modes work better than the recommendations that follow.

Single Point AF

When I am not shooting wildlife on the move this is the AF mode I use most. This is a
great option to focus on the eye of a bird that is perched in a tree or a red squirrel in
this case. This AF mode allows you to place one single AF point on the eye and
maintain that focus point throughout your shooting while half pressing down on the
shutter button or AF-ON for back button shooting. You can use the joystick to quickly
position that focus point over the eye should you need to move it. Exhibit A, the focus
point on this squirrel could be moved one AF point to the right. And yes, of course I did
this for demonstration purposes.:))

Dynamic-area AF
If you’re coming over from a DSLR you’ll be very familiar with Dynamic area. The
biggest change from your DSLR or other Nikon Z mirrorless camera is that you now

have three options within Dynamic-area AF.

You will now see Dynamic-area Small, Medium and Large

In the viewfinder of the Nikon Z9 you’re now going to see nine focus points with a
square around the middle focus point. The camera focuses on the center point
selected by the user but if the selected point loses the subject the camera focuses
based on information from the other surrounding points. Once you are locked on to
your subject the focus points turn green as shown in the crappy photo below.

This is NOT an AF-area mode that I will use in my wildlife photography and so I have
taken them out of the selection menu. The wide area and 3D tracking AF-area modes
are just that good that I no longer have a use for Dynamic-area. Ok, it’s early on in my
testing so if anyone has a difference of opinion please feel free to leave me a comment.

To remove any of the AF-area modes that you do not intend to use go to a8 Limit AF-
area mode selection and uncheck those that you do not intend to use. Now when you
access your AF-area modes those that you unchecked will not appear.
 

***Editors Choice***
Wide-area AF Small and Large

So far in my testing wide-area large has provided me with the best keeper rate for birds
in flight. Both wide-area small and large engage AF subject detection and it works
very, very well. You will see a red box in your EVF at first. Once you press your shutter
halfway down, or the AF-ON button if you are using back button focus, as soon as the
subject is in focus that red box will turn green. If that subject has an eye, a small green
box will highlight the eye.

In your EVF you now have a large box over the subject and a small green box over the
subjects eye. Your goal is to keep the subject within the frame of the larger box and
the camera will maintain focus on the eye. It’s so good, that even if the subjects begins
to leave the larger box the eye detection keeps focus on the eye as long as it can.

Pro Tip: The image below is an an excellent example of just how sticky the AF subject
is. Once I locked on to the female mallard ducks eye that little green box did not let go
even when the male mallard got in tight to her. I believe this is aided by having a3
Focus tracking with lock on set to delayed (5) and subject motion set to Erratic.

Setting this to fast (1) will allow the camera to move from subject to subject more
quickly. This is not a setting that you should set once and never visit again. There will
be times when I want the camera to move from subject to subject and in that case I
will set focus tracking with lock on to fast.

Crazy Good AF Video

Now that you have my recommendation, come back to this video to see just how good
the Nikon Z9 autofocus is. I tracked this female mallard duck through sense branch
cover and the autofocus was glued to her eye without ever loosing focus to the
surrounding branches.
 

**Editors Choice For Runner Up**

3D Tracking

This is my second favorite AF-area mode for birds in flight. You’ll begin with a white
rectangular box in your EVF. That box will turn green once you have locked onto a
subject. As is the case with wide area AF, 3D tracking also engages AF subject
detection. If the autofocus detects an eye that larger box will get smaller and highlight
the eye green once locked on. As long as you have kept pressing your shutter halfway
down, or the AF-ON button if you are using back button focus, the eye will remain in
focus.

That is if you can keep your subject in the frame. It even does a good job when your
subject approaches the outer borders of the frame, so it is forgiving.

I found 3D tracking a little more difficult to lock onto a bird in flight than I did with wide
area AF. However, once the subject is locked on and the eye is detected it is very sticky.
 

Auto-area AF

The Nikon Z9 auto-area AF automatically detects the subject and selects the focus
area. If there are multiple birds in the frame, it will focus on those that are largest and
closest to the camera. I’ve never been a fan of Auto-area AF as it gives all control over
focus to the camera and I’m a bit of a control freak. However, I did want to give it a try
with the new Z9 if nothing else but to report back on how well it did.

I think it might do alright when there was no background and just a bird against the
sky. As you can see from the image below this mode totally missed picking up the
duck and took a stroll over to the background. As you may have guessed, I was less
than impressed and this is not an AF mode that I will be using for birds in flight. I don’t
even see myself using it when the bird is against a plain sky with no background
because wide area large is just has that scenario covered.
 

CONCLUSION
Birds In Flight

My recommendation for shooting larger birds in flight would be to first give wide-area
large AF with animal subject detection tracking enabled. This is the mode that yielded
the best keeper rate for me. I did try wide-area small however for larger birds wide-area
large found the bird quicker in my testing.

In addition, 3D tracking with animal subject detection tracking enabled yielded very
favorable results as well. If you can get an initial lock on the bird the eye detect will
stick like glue provided you can keep the bird in the frame.

I have already made the decision to kick Dynamic-area and Auto-area AF to the curb
for birds in flight. The days of trying to track a bird in flight with single point or
dynamic-area are over. It’s time to turn a little more control over to the camera and rely
on the Z9’s crazy good auto-focus to make a better photographer out of me.
 

Stationary Birds

For birds that are not active such as an owl perched in the tree I recommend you stick
with our old faithful single point AF. Program it to a function button so you can easily
switch to it when a bird in flight finally lands on a nearby perch.

I intentionally did not mention Pinpoint AF as it is stated in the manual as possibly

being slower to focus than single point AF.
 

If you pre-
ordered or
have
received
the Nikon
Z9 then
you’ll
want to
be
thinking
about
what
accessories you need to purchase to make the most of your new camera.

Pro Tip: Do not wait to place your order as many of these products are already on
lengthy back orders due to manufacturing, shipping and chip shortages.

Below are a just a few of the accessories you’ll want to be thinking about for the Nikon
Z9? If you want additional details on these items and why I chose them, head on over
to my post entitled,
 Nikon Z9 | 11 Must Have Accessories For The Z9.

1. FTZII Mount Adapter B&H Price Check 

2. Nikon Z TC-1.4X B&H Price Check Amazon Canada Price Check
3. Nikon Z TC-2.0X Teleconverter B&H Price Check Amazon Canada Price Check
4. Prograde Cobalt 325GB CFexpress For Stills B&H Price Check Amazon Canada Price
Check
5. Angelbird 2TB CFexpress For Video B&H Price Check Amazon Canada Price Check
6. Prograde Dual Slot Card Reader B&H Price Check Amazon Canada Price Check
7. EN-EL18d Spare Battery B&H Price Check Amazon Canada Price Check
8. Small Rig Camera Cage SmallRig Price Check Amazon Canada Price Check
9. Glass Screen and Top LCD Screen Protectors B&H Price Check Amazon Canada Price
Check
10. Lenscoat Rain Cover B&H Price Check Amazon Canada Price Check
11. Rode Videomic Pro External Microphone B&H Price Check Amazon Canada Price
Check
12. PocketWizard Plus IIIe Remotes B&H Price Check Amazon Canada Price Check

Bonus: Nikon Z 100-400mm Replacement Foot B&H Price Check

If you’re interested in receiving more content like this, hit the subscribe button at
the bottom of this page and you’ll receive an email every time there is a new
post. I’ll have a lot more coming your way in the coming weeks.

Thank you so much for supporting my channel.

If you shoot birds in flight or fast action wildlife you’ll want to check out this video on
how to use the Nikon Z9 120 FPS for capturing even more great images.
For those of you interested in shooting video, especially 8K, I have recorded a YouTube
video that shows you how to pull a still image from your video. The results may surprise

you.

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