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The Nikon Z6 Now Runs Circles Around Panasonic, But It’s Not as Fast as Sony

Chris Gampat
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02/21/2020
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Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Nikon Z6 Animal AF test 3

Last Updated on 02/21/2020 by Mark Beckenbach

With the latest firmware update for the Nikon Z6, it’s finally starting to perform like a serious camera.

As much as Nikon sometimes strikes me as a company that’s lost its way, I have to give them credit for the latest firmware update. Firmware 3.0 for the Nikon Z6 doesn’t only greatly enhance the speed of the camera, it also gives it the much anticipated Animal AF detection system. Photographers who buy the camera will be happy to know it works with dogs. In fact, we tested it with the Nikon 24mm f1.8 Z series lens and were pretty surprised by how it performed. Though the surprise comes with mostly good news to spread, it’s still not perfect and Nikon has some work left to do.

So, in quick summation, here’s what happened:

  • The Nikon Z6 acquired focus very quickly on Kodak the dog
  • It caught his eye
  • It recognized that he’s a dog
  • It successfully and quickly tracked him as I moved from left to right
  • It did pretty badly as he moved closer to the camera to grab a treat from me
  • When the Nikon Z6 tracked him moving from side to side, it wasn’t always doing so accurately

We’ve got a few good things with firmware 3.0 and things that still need to be fixed. But, what’s more important is that the Nikon Z6 is now not the camera with some of the slowest autofocusing in the Mirrorless world. (That prize goes to the entire L mount alliance still.) I tested it alongside the Panasonic S1 and the Panasonic struggled like the little camera that couldn’t. That’s super disappointing for such an expensive system and one with such stellar lenses. Despite this, Nikon needs to pick up the pace on autofocus tracking accuracy. I found the same problem with the 85mm f1.8 Z when I tried to photograph a model walking towards me a while ago.

Would I buy a Nikon Z6? Still, I really wouldn’t. They’re lightweight, weather-sealed, and have small lenses, but why would I when Sony delivers everything I’d want or need even better with more lenses? And why wouldn’t I go for Canon that has better lenses overall and far better autofocus? Or, why not go for Fujifilm that has an incredibly unique image quality and the size advantage? Sure, Nikon has better bodies than Canon and Fujifilm in some ways. But in 2020, I’m not buying into a camera system for just the bodies. The idea of buying a camera has to be tossed out the window; you buy into a system, and everything has to work. It’s the reason why people adore Apple and Google products so much.

28mm Animal autofocus canon eye fujifilm nikon nikon z6 panasonic tracking
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.