dragon49

I'm sure this is a "beginner" question, but other than experience with point and shoot cameras, I'm a beginner.  

Currently, my main camera is a P1000.  I'm very happy with it, but there is one thing I can't stand about the camera:
 

I use it mostly for bird pictures, and was (prior to the purchase), and am aware of the awful auto-focus system.
 

If the camera does not sense an object is sufficiently in focus, it will refuse to take photos.  In these instances, depressing the shutter button does nothing at all.  I often use the camera for ID shots/proof of rare birds and am OK with out of focus photos.  In many of these instances, I can see enough detail in the viewfinder, and am confident the resultant image or images would be enough to ID the bird.  In any event, even if the shots would be unrecognizable, I still can't stand the fact that the camera sometimes refuses to take photos.

I'm assuming the auto-focus systems on the Z8 and Z9 are orders of magnitude better than the P1000, and this issue will therefore come up much less frequently, however, I need to ask:

Will the Z8 and Z9 take photos even if not in focus?



 

This is the original, uncropped image.

Taken with my P1000 at max zoom - 3000mm.

Let's assume the individual was 52 inches, or 132.08 centimeters tall, and 9.3 inches or 23.622 centimeters wide.  

Can somebody do the "simple" trig that I am unable to perform and let me know approximately how far away that bird was from me when I took the shot?
 

 608806029.jpg   140.67KB   14 downloads

All my photos always have the correct time.  Why are the videos incorrectly time-stamped four hours early?

Here is the main Reddit thread:

https://www.reddit.c...rking_with_the/

Google searches on the subject bring up the situation on other webpages as well.  Looks like a firmware update disabled the non-OEM batteries, as one of the comments near the top describes a third-party-battery that used to work but is now blocked with an LCD warning.  Many Z8 users with third-party batteries inserted receive the LCD warning, "This battery is unable to provide data to the camera and cannot be used.  For safety, chose a battery designed for use in this camera."  Ironically, the battery is able to provide enough data to the camera to display the error message, and was good enough to power it enough to take photos and videos before Nikon bricked it.

I'm extremely happy with my third-party "knockoff" En-El20 batteries for My P1000.  The disheartening news is now making me sure to NEVER upgrade the firmware on my camera.  I just downloaded the current, latest, (V 1.6) firmware and made a few backups, to cover the event that Nikon gets really scummy and has Snapbridge on my iPhone trick me into upgrading the firmware, or otherwise has the software or some other sneaky OTA trick upgrade it against my will and brick my perfectly safe and perfectly working batteries.

What's going here?  Is this really, really a safety/overheating issue, where OEM batteries are safe, and third-party ones are not, or is this an unethical, disgusting money grab?  One can buy the OEM from Nikonusa for $72.95:

https://www.nikonusa...on-battery.html

Or from B&H for $69.00
 

https://www.bhphotov...on_battery.html
 

Or they can get a two pack (same capacity) from Amazon for between $26.63:

https://www.amazon.c...01M27X25G/HJ1ZQ

and $42.42:

https://www.amazon.c.../dp/B08KSHD5X9/


 

I'm aware that after a format, the first 100Nikon folder will only hold 999 photos, then a 101Nikon folder is created, and then so on.  Today, I had a problem with the behavior of this system.  I've had it once or twice before.  I took fewer than 1,000 photos, however, at some point the numbering was reset to DSCN0001 and so on, then at some point, a second 101NIkon folder was created, however, the filenames were reset again, so when I copied the contents of the second folder to the same PC folder that had the contents of the first folder, it was a pain to rename things and keep everything organized.  

I always format the card after I have all my photos transferred and backed up.  What the heck went wrong, and how can I prevent it from happening in the future?