ahinesdesign wrote:
A bit tangential to the ZR, but it baffles me that manufacturers don’t bring in a few professional videographers that use competitors’ products as consultants. I can’t image the cost of doing so would add much more than a rounding error to the overall development cost…
Without spending touch time on this topic, it baffles me that you assume they didn’t do this. They seeded the Z6III to a bunch of video centric guys/gals who shoot Sony, getting a LOT of feedback in the process, and did the same with the Zr. The result is a camera with clear compromises that convey a subjective design intention. The fact that their intentions don’t line up with your expectations isn’t evidence of a lack of planning. Different priorities. You have a few reviewers who, like you, have noted they feel the design is a strange mashup, and then you’ve got at least one reviewer who “gets it” where Nikon is coming from, the subjective design lines up pretty well with their use case, and can’t hide their genuine enthusiasm. This is clearly a camera that is underspec’d but that can, with a little work, punch up. It’s small, light, easy to use if capturing footage as a soloist is your main goal - great screen, audio and customization possibilities (new hotshoe). If you told me about this camera 3 months ago I would have groaned and rolled my eyes… but now that it exists and I can be shown the whys and hows of a workflow with it, I absolutely get it. IMO it’s clear they’re making a splash into the “content creator” and “photographer turned reluctant videographer” and “wedding videographer” markets, and one or two clever people will shoot shorts and features on it, working with its quirks, in the same way the FX3 was used for The Creator, making use of its weaknesses as strengths. The thing is tiny and cheap but gives you access to R3D and allows integration with that world. All of the “problems” IMO I will predict will prove to be relative non issues after people work with the camera and get acquainted with how it was intended to be used, similar to the Z6III. Again, watch the reviews - feature filmmakers scoff at it; content creators are somewhat giddy about it. It’s a perspective thing. I have a hunch, and I could absolutely be wrong, but my expectation and hope is that a bunch of people will be eating crow about the thermal problems they keep speculating on. And I also assume if and when this camera does well, we will get something closer to what you’ve described, that is: an overspec’d camera that punches down.
Sep 11, 2025 at 04:06 AM
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