Colin, MFloyd, fentriss thank you for your omments.
I wll try to convey my experience I have had with the Z9 the last few days. This is not a review, as my "mileage" in photography does not qualify me as a reviewer. What follows is my impression about the camera.
The subject I have used the Z9 for are birds (and planes). I noticed:
1. As expected, the speed of focus acquisition depends on a number of variables, like light, subject color, distance, what surrounds the subject. I have used auto, so far, for subject recognition. It works fine.
For stationary birds AF areas single point, wide S, M, L were used with no problem. When a small bird is far, better to use single point AF. Also, when the head and eye of the bird are black the focus is on the body
(this happened when I tried to shoot a small bird at some distance, the end result, though, was successful due to the size of the bird). Planes are, almost, instantly recognized and focused upon, even in cloudy skies.
2. BIF: Subject recognition auto. AF area auto or wide L. What I found impressive is the tracking capability of the camera. In a series of about 60 continuous frames only the last 2 were a bit out of focus. Referring to my
pictures below, I was in my car waiting for a bird to appear among some short bushes when the female circus cyaneus flew over me, showing her rear. Focus was fast and the camera never lost it, except at the end. The first and second photos are uncropped. The third and fourth are cropped. The last is uncropped, just to give a measure of distance.
The camera I was using before the Z9 was the D500 and it is a good camera (I am keeping it). But I am beginning to get spoiled using my new toy.
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