Nikon D850 vs D9 (Page 4): When first released the z9 came very close (but no cigar) to the tracking ability of the Sony cameras but Nikon just released a software upgrade for the z9...

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

therwol wrote:

I say if you have money to burn, do what you want.... (show quote)

When first released the z9 came very close (but no cigar) to the tracking ability of the Sony cameras but Nikon just released a software upgrade for the z9 that is supposed to make the focus tracking better. As close as it was in the first release, the upgraded version should pull it alongside Sony in that area. In many other aspects, it equals or surpasses other brands of the same professional level. That said unless a person is doing the majority of their photography in wildlife/BIF, I would stay with the D850.

nealbralley Loc: Kansas

At the bottom line, you cannot beat the D850 and D500 with any mirrorless camera. The mirrorless cameras may be lighter, and they may shoot faster, but they aren’t any better at rendering a photo. Mirrorless is more expensive; in the case of Nikon, it is a massive marketing ploy to sell new cameras, new lenses, and entice you to buy a $250 adapter to shoot with your older F-mount lenses. They are different, but they really aren’t any better.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

nealbralley wrote:

At the bottom line, you cannot beat the D850 and D500 with any mirrorless camera. The mirrorless cameras may be lighter, and they may shoot faster, but they aren’t any better at rendering a photo. Mirrorless is more expensive; in the case of Nikon, it is a massive marketing ploy to sell new cameras, new lenses, and entice you to buy a $250 adapter to shoot with your older F-mount lenses. They are different, but they really aren’t any better.

Today, November 6, 2022, nothing could be more wrong.

Mirrorless cameras through and through are miles ahead of DSLRs these days. That goes even for the most affordable mirrorless cameras. It’s night and day, truly.

Whether it makes sense to give up on a brand's last and best DSLR is another discussion entirely.

mikeroetex Loc: Lafayette, LA

nealbralley wrote:

At the bottom line, you cannot beat the D850 and D500 with any mirrorless camera. The mirrorless cameras may be lighter, and they may shoot faster, but they aren’t any better at rendering a photo. Mirrorless is more expensive; in the case of Nikon, it is a massive marketing ploy to sell new cameras, new lenses, and entice you to buy a $250 adapter to shoot with your older F-mount lenses. They are different, but they really aren’t any better.

I would respectfully disagree. How do you render a better or equal photo to one you never took? That's the difference between 10 fps and 30fps. And in focus. If mirrorless is just a massive marketing ploy, then how do you explain Sony, Canon, and Olympus? I hate to tell you this, but all corporations, not just camera companies are about selling new products else they would cease to exist. Seen any buggy whips on the livestock aisle at the general store lately?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

mikeroetex wrote:

I would respectfully disagree. How do you render a better or equal photo to one you never took? That's the difference between 10 fps and 30fps. And in focus. If mirrorless is just a massive marketing ploy, then how do you explain Sony, Canon, and Olympus? I hate to tell you this, but all corporations, not just camera companies are about selling new products else they would cease to exist. Seen any buggy whips on the livestock aisle at the general store lately?

If it were not for "progress" I would still be driving a car where I have to watch and think.
Oh, wait, I am.......

nealbralley Loc: Kansas

The photographic evidence simply isn't there! That is like saying you can grab a modern mirrorless camera and go out-shoot Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Dorothea Lange, Steve McMurry, Garry Winogrand, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, or W. Eugene Smith. They didn't use mirrorless cameras, and at the bottom line, the actual image, not many people shoot better than those folks did. None of these people used mirrorless cameras to capture their most important and renowned images. The camera is pretty much immaterial. It is in whose hands, and in front of whose eye, does the camera and lens rest?

As an owner and user of SLRs, DSLRs, and mirrorless cameras, mirrorless is certainly not better, mirrorless is different. Many a DSLR will take every bit as good, or better of a photograph than any mirrorless camera. I am sure that in the right hands, the opposite can be said. Again, it is the photographer, not the camera that makes the difference. The incremental technological changes are mostly insignificant to the possible outcome of the photograph.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

nealbralley wrote:

The photographic evidence simply isn't there! Tha... (show quote)

Well stated!
Only the tools have changed.

Tony G.

CHG_CANON wrote:

Today, November 6, 2022, nothing could be more wrong.

Mirrorless cameras through and through are miles ahead of DSLRs these days. That goes even for the most affordable mirrorless cameras. It’s night and day, truly.

Whether it makes sense to give up on a brand's last and best DSLR is another discussion entirely.

I agree totaly. One thing everyone seems to forget is the time delay for mirror to go up and the shutter to fire. I found many things that could happen during that time delay that appeared in the photo. Horray for Mirrorless, it captures the instant moment in time!! The Leica (M) way has come to the SL world. :>)

nealbralley Loc: Kansas

You have got that right! The Lag! That would be the lag of the mirrorless camera to wake up and fire.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

nealbralley wrote:

You have got that right! The Lag!

What's a few milliseconds between friends.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Here's my opinion on both the D850 and the Z9. I owned a D850 since they were announced, and sold it early this year. I own 2 copies of the Z9 and I am a Sports and News photographer. IMHO, the D850 is the BEST overall DSLR camera that Nikon ever made! Except for sports which was the perview of the D5/D6! For me, the Z9 is a D6 AND a D850 on steroids, but the D850 was no slouch. I decided to go mirrorless, including lenses, early this year so I (reluctantly) sold my D850. There is NOTHING better than a Z9 combined with a 400/2.8 TC for shooting sports such as Night Football! For those that don't want/need to move to mirrorless, buying a D850 and some used lenses is a great idea as the D850 is on sale right now and will not be available new forever. Best of luck.

TonyBrown

I have a Z9 along with a D850 and a D6. I shoot mainly wildlife and probably use the Z9 90% of the time. The remaining 10% I shoot the D6 and occasionally the D850. If I was shooting landscape the figures would be reversed. The Z9 is a good camera and works well with all my f glass. Particularly the 500 pf and the 600 f4. It took me a long time to go down the mirrorless route, but now I have there’s no turning back in terms of my favourite genre of wildlife photography.

Tony G.

Longshadow wrote:

What's a few milliseconds between friends.

A wink of an Eye

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Tony G. wrote:

A wink of an Eye

mikeroetex Loc: Lafayette, LA

nealbralley wrote:

The photographic evidence simply isn't there! Tha... (show quote)

Nonsense and more drivel. Nobody claims that a mirrorless will turn you into an Ansel Adams. Just makes shooting to a desired result easier. Interesting that you run off a roll call of people who never shot digital, only film. Don't you think any of them would have been delighted to jump at DSLR's? And subsequently mirrorless? Even Clyde Butcher, one of the last living iconic photographers now uses a Fuji GFX and a Sony A7RIV. By the way, I'm pretty sure some of your heroes did indeed shoot with mirrorless cameras. Just not as we know them in the digital age.