Thank you for doing that - I'm currently on the fence about getting a Z 8 because of that (right now I have a D500 which focuses and takes a picture even if I don't see anything in the viewfinder). Hope that Nikon takes a note - this should be a native functionality configurable in the menu, not a workaround. Even if there is focus shift with some lenses, changing the setting would mean you're okay with that.
Interesting that if you set the recall shooting function to say, f/0.95, it still works at the respective maximum aperture for lenses with slower maximum apertures (so for all but one).
I'm disappointed they haven't even given us the option to choose how we want the camera to operate like the other manufacturers have. I could've traded potential slight focus shift when focusing wide open but still getting the shot, with having no focus shift but not getting the shoot because it takes forever for the camera to acquire focus. Instead, I had to trade my whole Z setup for the Canon's equivalent.
It would only make sense for video if you pre-focus once before starting the recording, for example on locked-down static shots. Otherwise if you use full-time video AF then the aperture needs to be kept at the video exposure's aperture, which means it's also the aperture the camera must focus at.
That's interesting as are most your Z9/8 observations! Would using AF-S achieve the same result? I do use BBF where setting AF-C even for focusing on static subjects was my main reason for adopting it.
This technique improves AF-S performance as well because AF-S can hunt even with its single acquisition cycle. It some ways it's actually more practicable for AF-S because its subjects are more amenable to releasing focus prior to pressing the shutter, ie less chance of focus changing in the interval between releasing the assigned AF-ON and the shutter button.
Is it possible for Z8 to autofocus at a small aperture in manual control mode? Like f16 or f22. I found it impossible on Z7ii. It will be useful in macro photography.
Unfortunately no. The camera will not stop down beyond f/5.6 for AF in stills mode, even if you use the Recall Shooting Functions technique in this video and set the aperture smaller than f/5.6. However a workaround is to switch to video mode, where the camera always uses the configured aperture- after focusing in video mode you can switch back to stills mode to take your exposure. A little clunky but perhaps usable for your application.
