Backyard wildlife images with the Nikon Z9

I got my hands on a Nikon Z9 to do more testing with the Nikon 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR Z Nikkor lens. With the Z9, autofocus is very fast and accurate (much faster than my old Z6). More importantly, animal eye-detection makes focusing on wildlife a breeze. You can get my wildlife and bird photography settings for the Z9 and Z8 cameras here.

I chose to leave these images un-cropped so you could get an idea of the framing. All of these subjects were within 5-10m from me. I shot all of them at 600mm and wide-open at f/6.3. Click any image to enlarge it.

One thing I will say about this combo, the Z9 and the 180-600mm have a combined weight of over 7lbs (3,300g). If you’re not using a monopod, hand-holding this lens will get tiresome after awhile. With a the Nikon Z8, you’re still dealing with a 6.3lb kit. (I certainly noticed it, although I was also at 9000′ (2743m) elevation…

Check availability of the Nikon 180-600mm Z Nikkor lens here (doing so helps support this site)