Conservation Mag
conservationmag.org › home › photography › reviewing the nikon z8: a bird & wildlife photographer's journey from dslr to mirrorless
Reviewing the Nikon Z8: A Bird & Wildlife Photographer's Journey from DSLR to Mirrorless
December 5, 2025 - The Nikon Z8 is designed to appeal ... and bird photography, thanks to its fast and accurate autofocus, high-speed continuous shooting, and high-resolution video capabilities....
Heiko's Blog
heiko-sieger.info › home › recent posts › nikon z8 bird detection
Nikon Z8 Bird Detection - Heiko's Blog
September 27, 2024 - Last Saturday I got a chance to quickly try out Nikon’s new firmware 2.0 release for the Nikon Z8 mirrorless camera. I was anticipating this firmware upgrade since the firmware upgrade to the Nikon Z9 flagship camera. The following are my first impressions of the new bird detection feature in the Nikon Z8 and how it can help capture sharp, in-focus photos of birds.
Z8 bird photography help!
This looks like it's in good focus. It looks like the lighting is just really flat and backlit, which usually means more noise. Try again on a day with better light. Wildlife is tough. You can have the perfect skills, kit, and be present but still go home with absolutely no usable pictures. More on reddit.com
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November 2, 2024Nikon Z8 settings for bird pics | DPReview Forums
One weekend is not long enough ... is excellent: https://bcgwebstore.com/product/the-ultimate-nikon-z9-setup-shooting-guide-for-wildlife-photography/ ... I use my Z8 and 180-600 almost exclusively for birds.... More on dpreview.com
Z8 & Z9 My BEST Bird-In-Flight AF Settings
Looking for the best bird-in-flight (BIF) autofocus settings for your Nikon Z8 or Z9? Don't worry, you know I got your back! In this video, we'll cover all the best AF settings for your Z8 or Z9. We'll look at relevant menu settings, I'll show you how to get the most from subject detection... More on bcgforums.com
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March 6, 2024IMO the Z8 bird detection is only worth it for BIF. Whats your experience?
Dunno man, even I had a hard time finding the bird, and I knew there was a bird in there somewhere. More on reddit.com
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May 8, 2025Videos
06:41
Is the Nikon Z8 and Z6 III Autofocus Up to the Task for Wildlife ...
14:52
How to Setup Your Nikon Z8 for Wildlife Photography - YouTube
Nikon Z8 for Wildlife: Is It REALLY That Good?
4 Months of Wildlife Photography using Nikon Z8 + Z 100 ...
Nikon Z8 Autofocus Settings For Small Bird Photography ...
18:49
My settings for the Nikon Z8 to photograph birds - YouTube
Oxbow Photography
oxbowphoto.com › articles › nikon-z8-wildlife-review
Nikon Z8 with the 800 Z VR S - a Wildlife Photographer’s Review — Oxbow Photography
November 19, 2023 - Overall, I think that the Z8 (and Z9) have excellent autofocus, as long at it is set up correctly and intuitively to the user. Whereas Canon and Sony’s autofocus seem to work intuitively for most users out-of-the box, Nikon users will find that a little fine-tuning in the settings will be required before getting optimal results for their shooting situation. A big bird against a sky background is not generally a challenging subject for a camera, but the fact that it so effortlessly nails the eye focus was noticeable, even during flight and with a bird with such a wide wingspan is impressive.
The Luminary Diary
theluminarydiary.com › home › blog › nikon z8 – a long(ish)-term review from a wildlife photographer’s perspective
Nikon Z8 - A Long-term Field Review from a Wildlife Photographer
March 28, 2025 - Having used this camera under a variety of field and lighting conditions, and with a number of different subjects, I can safely say that the Z8 can keep pace with my needs. Initially, I played around with Wide-Area AF, but with the firmware update that added Bird-eye AF, Auto-Area AF’s become my go-to mode for bird photography. Once the camera acquires focus on the subject’s eye, I tend to switch to 3D AF for compositional purposes. Brood parasitism in Jungle Babblers and Pied Cuckoos. (Nikon Z8, SS – 1/1250s, ISO – 1250, f/4 @ 500mm)
Tonywhitehead
tonywhitehead.com › home › blog › my nikon z8/z9 autofocus settings for bird photography
My Nikon Z8/Z9 Autofocus Settings for Bird Photography - WildLight Photography
March 31, 2024 - Wide area-C2 covers a a band across the centre of the frame and is useful for smoothly flying birds or birds on water ... joystick set so that a press of this accesses single point focus and AF-on. This lets me pick focus on a small subject in dense habitat. To be fair I need this less and less as the focus algorithm has got better to the point that Wide area – small does a much better job at this than it used to. Joystick centre button set to AF-on and single point focus to pick out a small subject in a busy environment. Nikon Z8 and Z9
Reddit
reddit.com › r/nikon_zseries › z8 bird photography help!
r/nikon_Zseries on Reddit: Z8 bird photography help!
November 2, 2024 -
So I recently picked up a Z8 with the 180-600mm lens coming from using a Sony a7riii. I shoot birds/wildlife and I’m really struggling to get good shots. Some of the things I’ve noticed are lots of noise and lack of detail. Today I was out shooting birds in flight, the conditions weren’t great, it was a bit overcast, so I had the ISO up to 2500. That would have been fine with my Sony but these pics look pretty meh - noise and lack of detail. Everything I’m reading is telling me that this is a great wildlife camera so I’m guessing this is a me problem. Any advice regarding the overall setup or possible things I might be overlooking regarding camera setup would be greatly appreciated
I cropped these in order reduce the size and had to convert the to JPEG to upload them.
Settings on all three are: SS 3200, f/6.3, ISO 2500. Using AF-C with 3D tracking.
Top answer 1 of 5
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This looks like it's in good focus. It looks like the lighting is just really flat and backlit, which usually means more noise. Try again on a day with better light. Wildlife is tough. You can have the perfect skills, kit, and be present but still go home with absolutely no usable pictures.
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Would need to know more. Maybe you have examples? What shooting mode, focus mode? Noise usually is a result of underexposing the shot in my experience
Digital Photography Review
dpreview.com › forums › camera companies › nikon talk › nikon z mirrorless talk
Nikon Z8 settings for bird pics | DPReview Forums
May 6, 2024 - Here's the settings I use: Manual Mode Shutter: 1600-2000 f6.3 (that's wide open on this lens) ISO: auto Focus Mode: AF-C AF-area mode 3D, bird tracking Good luck and have fun! ... The Z8 and Z9 are complex camera bodies and have many options that can be set. One weekend is not long enough to get comfortable with the camera to do a fair comparison (for both the Z8/9 and the OM 1). For wildlife photography, Steve Perry’s book is excellent: https://bcgwebstore.com/product/the-ultimate-nikon-z9-setup-shooting-guide-for-wildlife-photography/
BCG Forums
bcgforums.com › home › discussion forums › general photo discussion
Z8 & Z9 My BEST Bird-In-Flight AF Settings | Backcountry Gallery Photography Forums
March 6, 2024 - Looking for the best bird-in-flight (BIF) autofocus settings for your Nikon Z8 or Z9? Don't worry, you know I got your back! In this video, we'll cover all the best AF settings for your Z8 or Z9. We'll look at relevant menu settings, I'll show you how to get the most from subject detection, we'll discuss AF areas and how to use them - and so much more.
Tonywhitehead
tonywhitehead.com › home › blog › nikon z8 better than z9 for bird photography (again)
Nikon Z8 Better than Z9 for Bird Photography (again) - WildLight Photography
July 17, 2025 - Nikon Z8 Better than Z9 for Bird Photography (again). Firmware version 3.0 adds in-camera focus limiter so Nikon Z8 jumps ahead of the flagship Nikon Z9 for bird photography
Reddit
reddit.com › r/nikon › imo the z8 bird detection is only worth it for bif. whats your experience?
r/Nikon on Reddit: IMO the Z8 bird detection is only worth it for BIF. Whats your experience?
May 8, 2025 -
I have a Z8 for a year now and didn’t find bird af really helpful in the field. Its certainly great for bigger birds flying across the frame and also smaller birds from a hide where theres basically only a stick with the bird in front of a very blown background but there were many very obvious situations where it couldn’t find the bird. Even with a smaller af area. What is your experience? Am i missing a secret setting?
To the picture: how is it possible that the camera doesn’t find the bird? I had way too many situations like this.
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Why does it not find that bird? Because that bird is way far away that I even couldn't tell there was a bird in that picture at first. The bird detect doesn't work well if the bird is very small and only takes up a very small portion of the frame. You need to get closer so the camera can use more than a few pixels worth of sensor space to actually pick out the bird features it's trying to detect.
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you need to get closer!
Nikonimglib
download.nikonimglib.com › archive6 › jsNgx001E7HK063uyaG39rhhoL57 › Z9Z8_TG_Wildlife_(En)01.pdf pdf
Professional © 2024 Nikon Corporation Setting Guide —Wildlife Edition—
Birds in Flight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 · Large Slow-Moving Animals with the Landscape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 ... The camera mainly used for illustrations is a Z 8. ... Choose the lens according to the type of wildlife you will be photographing...
YouTube
youtube.com › watch
Nikon Z8 & Z9: BEST Bird-In-Flight Autofocus Settings - YouTube
Looking for the best bird-in-flight (BIF) autofocus settings for your Nikon Z8 or Z9? Don't worry, you know I got your back!In this video, we'll cover all th...
Published February 14, 2024
Backcountry Gallery
backcountrygallery.com › home › nikon z8 & z9: best bird-in-flight af settings
Nikon Z8 & Z9: BEST Bird-In-Flight AF Settings - Backcountry Gallery
January 8, 2025 - Looking for the best bird-in-flight (BIF) autofocus settings for your Nikon Z8 or Z9? Don’t worry, you know I got your back! In this video, we’ll cover all the best AF settings for your Z8 or Z9. We’ll look at relevant menu settings, I’ll show you how to get the most from subject detection, we’ll […]
The Cotswold Photographer
thecotswoldphotographer.com › home › nikon z › best nikon z8 settings for wildlife photography (my field setup)
Best Nikon Z8 Settings for Wildlife Photography (My Field Setup) - The Cotswold Photographer
March 11, 2026 - The settings below explain not only what I use, but why I use them when photographing wildlife in challenging environments like woodland. This article is based on the Nikon Z8 running firmware version 3.10, which already includes the major autofocus improvements introduced in firmware 3.00. These autofocus settings also work well for bird photography with the Nikon Z8, particularly when photographing small birds in woodland or birds in flight.
Tonywhitehead
tonywhitehead.com › home › blog › why the nikon z8 is a better bird camera than the z9 (for now)
Why the Nikon Z8 is a Better Bird Camera than the Z9 (for now) - WildLight Photography
February 25, 2024 - This makes the Z8 as good as the Z9 at focussing and tracking birds so why do I say it is better? The biggest learing curve I had with the change from the Nikon D500/D850 to the Nikon Z9 was getting to grips with the focus system. While the DSLRs were basically “set and forget”, the Nikon Z9 needs to be adjusted for different shooting scenarios.
Simply Birding
simplybirding.com › home › gear › cameras › nikon z 8
Nikon Z 8 for Bird Enthusiasts: A Comprehensive Review
June 29, 2025 - The Nikon Z 8 boasts a 45.7-megapixel full-frame sensor that promises exceptional detail and clarity—an essential for bird photographers who aim to capture intricate feather patterns or subtle color variations.
Digital Photography Review
dpreview.com › forums › camera companies › nikon talk › nikon z mirrorless talk
Nikon Z8 settings for bird pics: Nikon Z Mirrorless Talk Forum
May 6, 2024 - Here's the settings I use: Manual Mode Shutter: 1600-2000 f6.3 (that's wide open on this lens) ISO: auto Focus Mode: AF-C AF-area mode 3D, bird tracking Good luck and have fun! ... The Z8 and Z9 are complex camera bodies and have many options that can be set. One weekend is not long enough to get comfortable with the camera to do a fair comparison (for both the Z8/9 and the OM 1). For wildlife photography, Steve Perry’s book is excellent: https://bcgwebstore.com/product/the-ultimate-nikon-z9-setup-shooting-guide-for-wildlife-photography/
BirdGuides
birdguides.com › reviews › cameras › nikon-z8-mirrorless-camera
Nikon Z8 mirrorless camera - BirdGuides
January 16, 2025 - A local flock of Waxwings were photographed on a wet day in the middle of Storm Pia. ISO was 2500 to give a shutter speed of 1/500 second and, despite the birds being blown about on the branches, the success rate was very high. I'd read that battery power on the Z8 was disappointing with around ...
Toptog
toptog.co.uk › landscape-photography-blog › nikon-z8-birds-in-flight
Photographing birds in flight with the Nikon Z8.
December 7, 2025 - I’d only got the 100-400mm, and was shooting in DX mode. Not ideal, but it’s all I had. Settings wise I was shooting the birds in flight at 1/2000sec, f / 5.6 with auto ISO set.
Jpolak
jpolak.org › photo › nikon-z8-full-review
Nikon Z8 Full Review | Jason Polak
October 17, 2025 - The Z8 is a pretty capably video camera. It has 10-bit H.265, ProRes, and Nikon Raw formats, and can shoot up to 8k. Although 8K will certainly be welcome for many, its ability to shoot 4K120 is even better for me. Plus, the footage at 4K looks very detailed.