jeff1234 Loc: Kirkland, WA

I have 2 Z9 bodies. I've had an 800 f6.3 for a few months. It was working great. About a week ago, most of the shots I took one day (about 700) were out of focus. This was with a 1.4. I then tested it a number of times with and without the 1.4 with the same results. No trauma that I know of to the lens. Today I microadjusted it with a target on both bodies. Minimal adjustment. I tried it again and things still look awful. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have reloaded setting in the Z9. I disabled the lens I have 2 Z9 bodies. I've had an 800 f6.3 for a few months. It was working great. About a week ago, most of the shots I took one day (about 700) were out of focus. This was with a 1.4. I then tested it a number of times with and without the 1.4 with the same results. No trauma that I know of to the lens. Today I microadjusted it with a target on both bodies. Minimal adjustment. I tried it again and things still look awful. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have reloaded setting in the Z9. I disabled the lens adjustment ring that is set to aperture. The manual focus ring still works. Bad images DSCN previous good images named. Good images first, recent awful images last.

Thanks for any suggestions.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

Have you contemplated sending it and pics to Nikon?

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Call the experts. 1-800-645-6687. Ask for a Nikon tech.

jeff1234 Loc: Kirkland, WA

Thanks but Nikon US won't help because I bought it in Canada and Nikon Canada help doesn't answer calls from the US.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

Hope you got a good deal on it.

jeff1234 Loc: Kirkland, WA

Just what I needed; a non-helpful non-empathetic snarky answer. May you get just as much help in just such such a nasty manner when you need it.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

Snarky? I was being sincere, but apparently you're feeling foolish and lashing out.

Good luck.

jeff1234 Loc: Kirkland, WA

And I would have bought them from B&H but they weren't available.

jeff1234 Loc: Kirkland, WA

No, I wasn't feeling foolish. I was responding to how helpful your answer was to my problem.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

That seems odd. On the information that came with your lens, there must have been warranty information from the country of origin. You could start there. There will be contact information on the warranty slip.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

I'm confused, your last two images appear very sharp to me.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

In the last two images, the owl's eyes look sharp while the feathers are soft. I think this may have more to do with subject/camera movement. I experienced this when shooting people in the rain this past weekend. The man without the umbrella is sharp while other parts of the image are not.

(Download)

nikonbrain Loc: Crystal River Florida

You didn't say if you were using a tripod and what your shutter speed was . if shooting birds in flight it is common practice to shoot no lower than 1/1200 of a sec to 1/2500of a sec with auto ISO and Ff8 to f11 to stop wing tip blur . Like another said the owls eye is sharp but blurry on the wings that is shutter speed .If hand holding you are shooting at over 1000 mm with the 1.4 tele .converter . Tough for most people .Good luck with you rig .

photoman43

We need more information. The Z9 AF settings you used have a huge bearing on the results. Some are biased to focus on the nearest item the lens can lock on to, like a tree leaf or small branch that might be next to the bird or subject.

I would look at your images in NX Studio (free from Nikon) to see where the focus square was and to double check the AF setting.

In future test shootings, tweak the focus manually and see if the focus/sharpness improves on the desired subject. what happens. I do this all the time with my tele lenses on my Z9.

If lack of depth of field is an issue use a smaller aperture like f8 or f11. Make sure you understand how narrow the DOF will be with that lens at the distance you normally shoot. Use a DOF calculator.

Consider getting one or ore of Steve Perry's books on Autofocus settings and/or his Z 9 guide.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Eye focus on the last two images are dead on. The camera functioned correctly. I would suggest shooting flying birds at 1/4000 sec. to freeze wing tips. I see the wing tips not sharp in the last image, that is not out of focus but more likely a result of a slower shutter speed.