Low Light Autofocus TECHNIQUE With the NIKON Z6 

In this video I discuss my go to technique for auto focus with the Nikon Z6 in low lit venues. Hope this helps! - Will

I've been looking at this on the Z6ii where the problem persists. It's the 'pulsing' of the AF-On button which genuinely helps quite a bit. A useful tip.

I shoot a lot of downhill mountain biking and the dynamic area af is 🔥🔥🔥 I had a d810 before my z6 and my hit rate is so much higher with this camera. Thanks for the great videos 👊

Hi Will, Merry Christmas! Yeah, I agree: pressing the AF button continuously in AFC is the key.

Finally my z6 has arrived! (usa to argentina) And i felt that i've already know a lot of the camera. And that's thank to you! Yesterday i had my first job with the z6 and it works great. Just difficult to work with the flash, because the EVF change when i put a flash in the hot shoe. Maybe you could make a video talking about that! Cheers! 😁

Thanks Will. Another good tip. I’ve been using your previous method with focus peaking / manual confirmation with AF-C just yesterday, a lot of keepers. All the best to you and Sarah for happy holidays and looking forward to the new year and more of your valuable content. Regards, Paul.

Just watched this video as I prepare to shoot a surprise proposal tonight in low light on Z6. Ive never understood the focusing issues on this camera and now I know why, I was using this technique just out of habit from my Panasonic days. I’ve had good success in the autofocus department

Great tip! Yesterday I was using my z6 85/1.8 S lens but using wide on a low light birthday party. It kind of obligated me to focus manually which made it enjoyable and less dependable on auto focus, it was like driving a stick shift Porsche, you are in control of your “beast”. I’ll use your tip this Christmas for another low light opportunity - thanks!

Yup,dynamic is the best in lowlight. My Z6 can lock on stuff my D5 hunts in lowlight.

Wow! so much better than what I was using - thanks!

Thanks!

Exactly the same technique I use on my D750 - I aim for the collar area where there is usually some contrast - then I engage and then I only need a slight recompose - all done in a nano-second.

Merry Christmas Hart family! Best wishes this week to you Will, Sara, and your two wonderful children for a safe, happy, and very Merry Christmas!! Awesome Will, another great video with a great Z series tip. These videos are more helpful than you can imagine my friend. They really help people like me who are not pros or who haven't been in photography for years and years to better figure out and understand our cameras. I see you have your Glock shirt on today. I need to get you a Smith & Wesson shirt to wear for these videos! Thanks again Will for another great Z series camera scoop brother!

I have experienced the same problem with focus in low light in eye focusing mode. Didn't work with keeping the AF-ON button down all the time, but got much better result with pressing the AF-ON button several times. Good to have this confirmed by you! I will keep on focusing on this method! :)

Dynamic AF is only available in AF-C mode, for anyone looking for it.

Thanks for sharing your technique! I just wish the dynamic area box would turn green to let you know it locked on. Maybe on the Z8?

Don't wanna write a long story Will but I did a 50th bday last weekend. Used my D610 and my z6 for the event and the low light focusing on a D610 was a struggle for sure. My z6 is so much better in low light and I didn't even use the Dynamic AF but I'm gonna try that next week when I'm doing another 50th bday event. Thanks so much my friend.

I guess I never had a problem with AF in low light with the Z6 but see that I naturally gravitated to AF D Area and engaged BBF the instant the shot was to be taken and it almost always works, a lot better than any DSLR I have used in low light. The first activation locks for a short time almost flawlessly. I will often shoot in clubs with terrible lighting or drama theaters with dim moody lighting and have been very happy with that process. I never got into the habit of keeping the AF-On button down to track unless very good light.A recent video testing Canon's new firmware against Sony vs the Z7 by Matt Granger surprised me, in low light the Z7 had a higher hit rate than either but overall the new Canon EOS R firmware did well. The Nikon z did better than he assumed due to all the hype about Sony so repeated the tests and the Z returned the best hit rate. That corresponds to my experience. the 2.20 firmware locks on better than my friend's a73 consistently in the same dim events. One weakness, both Canon and Sony eye tracking had a higher hit rate than Nikon when the subject had glasses. There are a lot of RU-vid channels I deleted or blocked simply because they routinely bashed Nikon on AF as poor because after thousands of low light club, theater, jazz clubs, and higher AF accuracy than I ever had since AF was invented(60 years of photography ). IF you are not getting amazing photos with your Z6/7, it is not the camera. It is not the lenses but it could be lighting or lack of it but most probably it is the operator or concept. To recap in a short summery: AF D Area will lock up in less than 1/2 second in poor light but often loses the peak focus a second later. So press AF-On at the moment or instant before releasing the shutter and there are very good odds the focus was locked very quickly and becomes less reliable the longer you wait to trigger the release. In good light, the AF will track all day, a non-issue but Z6 shooters usually bought the Z6 for low light because that is where it shines.

Haha haha always funny to hear english talking folks trying to pronounce my name.....Just think about french fries and your done....great video as always dude.!!!

Hi mate , this tips any good for street photography at low light time, I'm always using wide area and missing to many shoots

Excellent and very useful advice. Do you have smart tips for Face-AF too?

Hmm, I just did my first event with Z6ii in very low light, and OMG was it a disaster compared to my good old D750. It kept hunting and hunting and missing about 60% of of the time. I was generally on the Small Area with People Detection, but even when it was correctly identifying the eye, it would not focus on it. And it was SO SLOW, granted I was using the FTZ adapter with a Tamron 24-70 lens, but that lens works great on D750. I was shocked about how difficult it was, people kept having to wait for it to focus. I wish I could use the red beam lazer thing with it, but I guess that doesn't work with mirrorless. I'd hate to have to rig up some DIY modeling light. I was using it with a Godox 200 Pro barebulb with a dome on it, unfortunately that particular combination doesn't get a modeling light.

Ok, what is stopping my z50 from going into auto ISO? Yesterday I was in manual at ISO 100 used the popup. Worked fine. Today I changed to dynamic as you suggested. Changed ISO sensitivity to on set max ISO to 512k, and tried to set the auto as above 100. Message says “can not set with current settings or in camera current state”. What am I missing?

Hey will! I watch every one of your videos. Please, does this technique work with the d750? I can't afford the upgrade to Z6 yet; I'll upgrade next year. For the mean time, can this technique work with the d750? 🙏

I really struggle with focusing on my black cat and her black kitten, it often focuses on their white whiskers and I can hardly focus on their face. Also when they are moving, the autofocus and object tracking are just nonexistent. Any tips or that is it for Z 6 and no hope? Are the other Nikon cameras better regarding this?

Do you still use dymanic auto area af mode or have you found a better mode in light of the latest firmware update?

Great tip. Thank you. I wish you posted it before I shot my company's Christmas event :) Was shooting in Dynamic area as well. Camera gave me about 60 keepers :) Marry Christmas and Happy New Year.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-slIozdjYigc.html Kiddo take a look at this video, it relates to Sony but Nikon Mirrorless may be similar. Because Mirrorless have live view there is a little trick especially if you are stopped down. Turning live view off or setting the focus mode to AF-S allows the lens to open up momentarily for focus, I don't know how Nikon works but it may be similar

Really helpful, thanks. I was stumbling into the technique a bit by accident but not so clearly defined as you’ve made it. Thanks for taking the time for more AF advice. In the meantime, enjoy the holidays and best for the new year.

William, tell me plz. Do assist lamp from speedlight works with single point mode AF?

Thanks for the tip! Which camera do you use to shoot this video?

Hi Will. I don't remember if I pointed this out before, but Jim Kasson on DPreview forums has compiled a list of Z series tips at : www.dpreview.com/forums/post/62021699 . Jim is kind of a legend on DPreview for being meticulous and perceptive. Not sure if this has any tips you might not have already noticed but I think it's worth a review. Thanks for your great work! Art

I’m new to the channel. Have had the Z6 for about six months and sometimes the AF is a real pain in the butt. Sometimes it seems no matter what I do, I just can’t get the shot. Had it in dynamic AF shooting 3 people and one would always be out of focus. Never had this issue with my old D300. I have always liked the Nikons but the Z6 is driving me nuts and I’m ready to jump ship.

You have just succesfully helped me make my mind up to move to Sony. Thank you

Nice shirt!! 👍

don't turn low light AF on in the autofocus setings?

Thanks for all the useful videos. Love the Z system. Made a small donation today, Merry Christmas

Thanks for another great tip..

thank you for the tips. Cool t-shirt by the way

Thanks for the advices!!! I will definitely try them out this Christmas.... Enjoy Christmas .....

Hey man, I really appreciate the info, I have a question about the recalls of the z6 a few months ago, have you had any issue with this?

If you "keep reengaging," why not shoot single focus? I mean, what do you gain by reengaging continuous focus? Single focus by definition "reengages" every time. (FWIW, I also shoot single point, as well, 95% of the time, I guess the opposite of your practice.)

Hello from Russia! Thank U for the great videos!

Thank you for all your tips. It's very inspiring. Happy holidays to you and your family.

IDK if I'd use dynamic area AF. Less precise than single-point. My workaround is to increase my ISO and drop my shutter speed temporarily to a point where the camera CAN lock focus, and then re-adjust my settings back to what I wanted. This works probably 80-90% of the time. However, with the latest firmware updates, I don't think this is as big of an issue because the cameras (especially the version II cameras) can focus in very low light--including the Z5 post firmware update, which out of the box, was horrible (with 1.0 or 1.01 firmware).

Hi. Great video. I agree 100% I shoot concerts and I always re-engage the focus back button. Always. All the time. But for me, the Dynamic AF area is something new. I've shot with the D810, D800 and D750 before, but never used anything else than single point AF in AF-C. Can you say a bit more about how the dynamic af area works. Can I trust it "100%". Feel confortable using single point af. Thanks again and Merry Christmas everybody.

Great Informative video, still wondering if the Z50 is capable of Commander mode with SB-700 or SB-500? Happy Holidays to you and your family!!!!

Merry Christmas to you will and all subscribers and watchers on here.

Superb video as ever sir. Do you mean the GodoxV860? Are you in Manual mode? What metering do you use please? Matrix or spot? Thank you Tony

Hey, you’re a Glock boy too :O) Seriously now, I really enjoy your channel, actually it’s the only one I never miss, good job man!

Thanks for sharing! Extremely helpful

Insane tips! I shoot in a local bar without a flashlight so it has been a nightmare getting shots in focus. I have been following you for some time but I just subscribed! Happy Holidays and keep up the good work!

Thank you!!!!!

Thank you so much for your priceless tipps and advices. I’m happy with my Z6, it works perfectly for me and with your tipps I could get additional performance out if it. Have a merry christmas dear Will and happy holidays with your beloved people. Cheers and best regards from Germany. Stefan

Killing it with these tips man. Used them last night at Six Flags while shooting family pics. They turned out great. Thanks and keep it up.

Just switched over to 76 from 850&750. The change is astounding. These videos are helpful so far, keep it up I like the tangible conversational approach that you provide :)

Wow, thanks for the tip. I always thought the camera would gain focus when just keeping the AF button pressed. Since it’s set to continuous I assumed this would guarantee best results. But had so many issues with that, never thought of trying to simply reengage AF on. It’s kind of counterintuitive, but I’ll definitely give it a shot. Thanks again, Will!

Hi Will, a good way of getting more confidence in your shots in critical light situations might also be the focus peaking indication. I am using that a lot when manually focusing. You can find this function in customs setting menu d10. Happy Holidays! Cheers Klaus

Hey man. Wondering if you’ve noticed the z6 messing with the close focus distance? Got my 600mm f4 back from repair and couldn’t wait to try with the z6 but it wouldn’t focus close enough but it was fine with the d500. I know the 600 will exaggerate anything like this but wondered if you or anyone else had noticed this.

Wow, these are always so helpful! Thank You

Again, very helpful! Thank you. Merry Christmas to you and Sarah.

Thank you for all the superb video’s. Merry Christmas 🎄🎉🎁🎅

Can you show us a visual example of what you were talking about?

Thanks Will for this technique, i'm gonna try it soon! As for my experience, i'm using AF-S 95% of the time because i felt like is more accurate (coming from Nikon DSLRs where flash beam af is a must). Sometimes the box of single point focus is too big for my needs and focuses on the background and pin point is very slow to move and that's why i never used dynamic area. Also, i think sometimes AF-S is better because it bumps the brightness of the EVF and then it focuses better. Another tip from my experience is to use DJ beams in advantage. I find out that with mirrorless the autofocus is not working good when you are facing the lights (as backlight), you need to stay aside and use that lighted side to focus properly. Also, if you can appreciate the distance and use wide focal range, you can use manual focus. I do this all the time, for example when throwing in the air the celebrated person. Focus peeking is very nice but if the camera cannot autofocus on something, neither the focus peeking detects well.

This technique works with my D7200 too

I did a couple of portrait shoots in dim lighting with flash and used single point and eye af and had almost no pictures in focus. It was just frustrating. Gonna try this! Thanks for finding these things out for us. Can you link the discord?

So tempted to pick up a D810. Do you have any experience using the D810 vs the Z6, and what are your thoughts?

Very nice. My main problem is, that I have found no simple way to switch from auto AF area (eye detect,...) to a manual override (1 click of a button would be great).

Wow! Thank you so much for this tip. A game changer for me :)

first 😎

Shall I use the same low light focusing technique with my Z50 in low light?

What are you doing?! People don’t care about technique,they want auto,auto everything 😀