n8rv wrote:
Someone posted this comparison video of all the codecs on the ZR today. Pretty interesting and informative:
NRaw looks surprisingly good next to RED. Same lessons we learned from the Z6III - 4k line skipping or downsampling looks really bad, so the best ways to shoot the camera are 6k, or in DX crop mode.
The day I received my ZR camera I went to put in a battery and the door fell off completely. Not usable with no battery door and so definitely not close to being "pro" level in build quality. It is on par with the Nikon Coolpix cameras that have the same problem. Back to shooting video with the Z9.
elkhornsun wrote:
The day I received my ZR camera I went to put in a battery and the door fell off completely. Not usable with no battery door and so definitely not close to being "pro" level in build quality. It is on par with the Nikon Coolpix cameras that have the same problem. Back to shooting video with the Z9.
I saw you posting this elsewhere. I understand the frustration.
The battery door of my ZR is very similar to that of other Nikon bodies such as the Z6III or Z8. Only the Z9 has a different physical configuration.
bernardl wrote:
I saw you posting this elsewhere. I understand the frustration.
The battery door of my ZR is very similar to that of other Nikon bodies such as the Z6III or Z8. Only the Z9 has a different physical configuration.
I guess that none of those are pro level either.
Cheers,
Bernard
The Z8's battery door is removable and in fact needs to be taken off in order to mount the MB-N12 battery grip. I think the door hinge is plastic and could be made more robust. But I'm also sure that spares are available in case one does get lost or broken. I would consider it a potentially weak point of the camera though and once the camera is eventually out of production, spares might run out. I would expect it to be better to have a metal hinge or an otherwise more rugged construction in this case. Of course I don't know if they actually break in use - I don't take my grip off the Z8 all that often to have enough data on that.
ilkka_nissila wrote:
The Z8's battery door is removable and in fact needs to be taken off in order to mount the MB-N12 battery grip. I think the door hinge is plastic and could be made more robust. But I'm also sure that spares are available in case one does get lost or broken. I would consider it a potentially weak point of the camera though and once the camera is eventually out of production, spares might run out. I would expect it to be better to have a metal hinge or an otherwise more rugged construction in this case. Of course I don't know if they actually break in use - I don't take my grip off the Z8 all that often to have enough data on that. ...Show more →
I read somewhere that the battery door on the ZR is also removable and actually must be removed for use with dummy batteries. So yes, same difference.
I’ve been shooting with the Nikon Zr for the past week—first in Dewey Beach, then NYC—and have logged over 1,000 photos and around two hours of video.
Overall, it’s impressive. For video, I have to admit: I really like working with R3D in post. It’s completely changed how I think about exposure and dynamic lighting. I now tend to slightly underexpose, knowing I’ll have plenty of latitude to adjust ISO in post—as long as I avoid clipping on either end when moving between bright and dark scenes. The footage is remarkably clean, and changing ISO from 800 up to 6400 (or lower) carries no noticeable noise penalty when properly exposed.
My biggest complaint so far is Nikon’s waveform—it’s awful. The camera needs a more video-centric approach to exposure tools. (Red stoplights, maybe? You listening, Nikon?)
Autofocus, though, is phenomenal. It absolutely destroys the Canon C80—not even in the same ballpark, league, or planet. Honestly frustrating from Canon.
The real standout is the built-in microphone and 32-bit audio. If you’ve never used 32-bit float before, it’s a total game changer. Pulling a clipped audio file back down to clean, usable sound feels like magic.
I hate to say it, but this camera really shines when shooting in R3D. The H.265 files just aren’t great—they’re not terrible, just uninspiring. People call them “very usable.” Sure—but so is an iPhone. That’s not a compliment.
That said, I’ll happily deal with the massive R3D file sizes because the image quality is exceptional, and the 32-bit audio has already saved me more than once.
If you’re comfortable shooting stills via the LCD and sticking to R3D, it’s an incredible value. I have really enjoyed shooting the LCD at night, during the day, not so much - The size of it though makes up for it.
More to come—I’ll share photos and video samples soon.
RustyRus wrote:
I’ve been shooting with the Nikon Zr for the past week—first in Dewey Beach, then NYC—and have logged over 1,000 photos and around two hours of video.
Overall, it’s impressive. For video, I have to admit: I really like working with R3D in post. It’s completely changed how I think about exposure and dynamic lighting. I now tend to slightly underexpose, knowing I’ll have plenty of latitude to adjust ISO in post—as long as I avoid clipping on either end when moving between bright and dark scenes. The footage is remarkably clean, and changing ISO from 800 up to 6400 (or lower) carries no noticeable noise penalty when properly exposed.
My biggest complaint so far is Nikon’s waveform—it’s awful. The camera needs a more video-centric approach to exposure tools. (Red stoplights, maybe? You listening, Nikon?)
Autofocus, though, is phenomenal. It absolutely destroys the Canon C80—not even in the same ballpark, league, or planet. Honestly frustrating from Canon.
The real standout is the built-in microphone and 32-bit audio. If you’ve never used 32-bit float before, it’s a total game changer. Pulling a clipped audio file back down to clean, usable sound feels like magic.
I hate to say it, but this camera really shines when shooting in R3D. The H.265 files just aren’t great—they’re not terrible, just uninspiring. People call them “very usable.” Sure—but so is an iPhone. That’s not a compliment.
That said, I’ll happily deal with the massive R3D file sizes because the image quality is exceptional, and the 32-bit audio has already saved me more than once.
If you’re comfortable shooting stills via the LCD and sticking to R3D, it’s an incredible value. I have really enjoyed shooting the LCD at night, during the day, not so much - The size of it though makes up for it.
More to come—I’ll share photos and video samples soon. ...Show more →
Thanks for the early report, very encouraging.
I’ll have the opportunity to use mine tomorrow for a quick dance rehearsal tomorrow without having had much opportunities to practise.
Exposure seems to be the key from all recent reports. I intend to shoot in R3D 6K30. I’ll be shooting indoors and have the option to use a variety of lenses opening from f1.2 to f2.8. I’ll probably use the wave form and just pick the lens that can deliver a one stop under exposure of the brightest usable highlights in the scene at ISO800. Does that sound reasonable to you?
bernardl wrote:
Thanks for the early report, very encouraging.
I’ll have the opportunity to use mine tomorrow for a quick dance rehearsal tomorrow without having had much opportunities to practise.
Exposure seems to be the key from all recent reports. I intend to shoot in R3D 6K30. I’ll be shooting indoors and have the option to use a variety of lenses opening from f1.2 to f2.8. I’ll probably use the wave form and just pick the lens that can deliver a one stop under exposure of the brightest usable highlights in the scene at ISO800. Does that sound reasonable to you?
Cheers,
Bernard
I'll let others chime in but from my experience so far, that's probably the best way to go.
I have found the waveform a little cumbersome and not all that useful on its own. It's helped to use it in conjunction with zebras though. Maybe I need to set it to "large". The small waveform on a bottom right corner doesn't give me much to work with.
Still figuring out the best way to expose consistently on this. I've noticed that it's easiest to underexpose, while thinking you have correct exposure. I still absolutely love the 6K R3D footage.
On topic: I ran this little test yesterday, based previously shared info and Nikon charts on R3D dynamic range shifts with ISO values above and below the base. It was fun to see firsthand how dynamic range and noise are affected by ISO variations, especially when changing ISOs in post, but I'd say it's still better to keep it simple, stick to the base ISOs, and expose accordingly.
bernardl wrote:
Thanks for the early report, very encouraging.
I’ll have the opportunity to use mine tomorrow for a quick dance rehearsal tomorrow without having had much opportunities to practise.
Exposure seems to be the key from all recent reports. I intend to shoot in R3D 6K30. I’ll be shooting indoors and have the option to use a variety of lenses opening from f1.2 to f2.8. I’ll probably use the wave form and just pick the lens that can deliver a one stop under exposure of the brightest usable highlights in the scene at ISO800. Does that sound reasonable to you?
Cheers,
Bernard
I agree with the principal of exposing to one stop under clipped highlights. However if R3D is like NRAW, the log gamma curve is simply metadata and can be added in Resolve. For that reason I shoot NRAW in SDR at base ISO and add the NLOG curve in Resolve. In well lit scenes, that allows me to use up to 3 additional stops (more if base ISO is 64) of light without having to sacrifice it to and ND filter.
In the end I used the zebras and things turned out really nice. Unfortunately I am not able to share the footage but it's exactly what I was hoping for.
Btw, is there a good tutorial on how to optimally configure Resolve for the ZR Red raw files (project set up, LUTs,...)? I have come up with something very simple that works, but I am not sure it's optimal. I have searched YouTube but couldn't find anything really perfect.
