Nikon’s Z7 and Z6 debut full-frame mirrorless cameras boast of very good hardware but there were a few important features which were still missing, the biggest one being Eye autofocus or Eye AF. This is a very useful feature, popularised by Sony’s mirrorless cameras, which keeps the subject’s eyes in focus for better looking portraits. Nikon officially stated on February that its working on an update for both cameras which will be coming in May. Well, the company has delivered on its promise as the update is now live and free to download for the Z7 and Z6.
The firmware version 2.0 adds eye-detection AF which is said to be able to continuously track the eyes, even as your subject moves. This works for both single-shot autofocus as well as continuous autofocus. Nikon says it’s also able to recognise the eyes of multiple people and lets you choose which person and eye to focus on. Like Sony’s system, Nikon claims that its Eye AF stays locked on the subjects eye even when the subjects face is partially or temporarily obstructed.
Other than Eye AF, the new firmware is said to improve autofocus performance in low-light. Nikon claims faster and more accurate focusing indoors and at night portraits. Auto exposure (AE) also works for continuous shooting in H+ (extended) mode. This means, AE will now track any changes in every frame in the burst sequence.
If you have a Nikon Z7 or Z6, you can head to this link to download the firmware. All you need to do is copy the firmware in the root of the XQD card and install it from the cameras ‘Firmware Update’ menu. Interestingly, there’s no mention of RAW video output support for CFexpress memory cards yet in this firmware. These were two features were were also being working on, but perhaps we could see them in another update in the future.
