Nikon Z9 Sports Photographer Mark Pain Interview (DPReview)

Mark Pain (DPREVIEW) is professional sports photographer. He has been using his Nikon Z9 (Amazon/ B&H/ Adorama) for some time in the UK. He took photos with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 400mm F2.8G ED VR lens and found Nikon Z9 is the most important pro camera for at least a decade. 

Below is the interview:

(What did you expect from Z9?)
I was 99% happy with the system I was using, and I didn’t like the sudden changes in professional cameras, so I didn’t really expect it. However, I was excited about the new AF mode and wanted to see if it was as good as Sony. I wanted to see if Nikon was able to “Nikon” a Sony camera that was still difficult to use.”

(How does the Z9 compare to SLR cameras in terms of performance?)
It’s revolutionary in terms of 3D tracking of face recognition, and it’s a surprising evolution compared to the D5 and D6. It is not suitable for shooting sports, and it is good if there are two or three people on the screen, but it turned out that it is not always reliable when shooting rugby or netball. I don’t think I’ve been able to take more in-focus photos than a single-lens reflex camera. But it’s technically great and will definitely help inexperienced people.”

(Is AF convenient to cover the entire screen of Z9?)
Not really. Because I try to put the subject in the center as much as possible. In sports photography, it is important to choose the right focal length and to fit the subject in the center 2/3 of the frame. In my case, the subject is rarely in the corner of the screen.”

(How easy is it to master Z9? How much did you feel you got used to it?)
It was incredibly fast and much shorter than I expected. The transition from D5 and D6 was minimal and surprisingly easy to use. I got used to the EVF immediately without any problems. I don’t think the EVF is better than the OVF in my work, but the Z9’s EVF is arguably the best I’ve ever used, and it’s been very easy to use in all situations. I was surprised that the EVF was so good and it didn’t bother me. The Z9 is definitely a Nikon camera. High sensitivity is at least as good as D6.”

(The Z9 uses an electronic shutter, but what about banding problems?)
“I shot about 10 times with professional work, but banding was seen in about half of the places (not a big problem). LED board banding is an issue that doesn’t affect 99% of people, but I’ll bring a SLR with the Z9 if I know I have an LED board for a sponsorship shoot. I want the image to look perfect with the sponsor’s logo (on the LED board). I hope that some modifications will be made to the banding.”

(What do you want the Z9 to improve other than banding?)
The Z9 is really nice and overwhelmingly easier to use than the competitors I’ve used so far, but from a professional point of view the file size is too large. As a sports photographer, this number of pixels is not necessary. When I open RAW in Photoshop, it’s 130MB regardless of the compression mode, which is twice the size of the D6 and is painful to process. It’s incredibly nice in other respects and has few drawbacks. I bought a second Z9 and I’m sure I don’t need to buy another camera until they break.

Currently, Nikon Z9 is out of stock in most US stores.

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