eatstoomuchjam

Has somebody confirmed that renaming the file works?

https://imaging.nikon.com/imaging/lineup/z_cinema/z_r/ So in 6k at 23.97p, it's 190 megabytes/second which comes to 11.4GB/minute which is about 680GB/hour. If you're used to H.265 (about 340 Mbps), that's huge. If you're comparing it to ProRes 422 HQ, it's... very slightly less (PR HQ is 1540 Mbps for 6K at 2397p on the same camera).

I stand corrected on that - though on most of the sets that I'm on, the sound engineer wants to plug their Tentacle Sync into a port on the camera. I know that Tentacles communicate amongst themselves with Bluetooth, but I'm not aware of them being able to jam to any cameras that way. I'd be delighted to be wrong about that too.

Now we are aligned. The term has become meaningless (or always was meaningless). 😀 About the only real definition could be "a camera used to film something that screens in a cinema" and nowadays, that includes iPhones and GoPros. Heck, a bunch of the best scenes (motorcycle jump, jumping from plane to plane) in the two latest Mission Impossible films were shot on the humble Z Cam E2-F6 and I'm pretty sure it was recording ProRes 422 (HQ?). On the big screen, it played just fine with their Burano/Venice (or whatever it was) that was used as the A Cam. If that $3k camera, released in 2018 can play in a megabudget feature film, just about any camera on the market today can do the same - including your phone. And now that same phone has a dock which will give it things like timecode and the latest version of it can record ProRes RAW internally. Many of us read the news on our cinema camera daily while sitting on the toilet. 😉

If you're upset about hybrid-styled cameras with somewhat awkward ergonomics being called "cinema camera," you must have been frustrated since 2018 or so. https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicpocketcinemacamera I'd be inclined to say that "cinema camera" is just about as meaningless as calling an image "cinematic." It means plenty of different things to different people. "How can you call it a cinema camera when it doesn't even have SDI output?" "That ain't no cinema camera, it has no mounting points on top or the sides!" "Cinema cameras don't have autofocus" "Cinema cameras need to be dedicated to ultimate image quality and it's not a true cinema camera without 16-bit raw." The ZR is obviously not going to be the A camera on a lot of professional shoots. It has no TC, no SDI, bad HDMI, and bad memory card location. On the other hand, it might finally be fulfilling some of the promise of the Komodo - a small, light crash camera that you easily fit in small spaces - or that you can easily throw at an AC/second shooter to go get some b-roll or a second angle handheld or with a light tripod and have it be a good match SOOC for what you're shooting with your Komodo-X or V-Raptor. Lack of a physical shutter lock is a bummer for some crash cam use cases. Sorry it's not for you, regardless! I'd be willing to bet that the next iterations of the Z6/8/9/etc start working in Redcode NE too.

Looks like Chris got his dream fishing trip out of it so he has that going for him. Otherwise, I think the footage from the Eterna looks fine. I'd have graded it differently. Otherwise, it looks generally like a professionally-shot documentary - and given their crew size, that makes some sense. In this case, I'm using "professionally" in the sense of "competent and yet uninspired." As far as Eterna, there really weren't any shots in that documentary that could be said to look different from what would is usually captured on a full-frame camera or even S35. Some of the wide shots had at least a little bit of an epic feel, but it was nothing spectacular. I'm in the "there is no medium format look" camp, but if you're making a puff piece to sell people on a medium format camera, I feel like it might be better to prioritize the sort of epic wides that people associate with medium and large format. Regardless of any technical aspects, story is king. "Chris Niccols, professional camera reviewer, started fly fishing as a form of escapism from fatherhood" does not seem all that compelling to me. The trailer definitely didn't pull me in. It'll probably get some festival play and collect some laurels. They can celebrate that.

To be clear, the OG Komodo was $7k several years ago - but nowadays, it's $3k new (and used, generally around $2,600, but I bet you could find one for $2,300ish if you tried). And people often make it sound like thousands of dollars in accessories are needed, but you could just as easily add about $100 in third-party rig parts and a $200 monitor with SDI inputs and use it. That's close to my setup - though I also have a $400 RVLVR handle that I bought for a different camera originally and a $300ish V-mount plate in my setup. That and the monitor cost a bit more because I have a Pyro 5 on there so that it'll also have wireless transmission. I'd say $3,000 for the body and $3,300 for a minimum reasonable working setup and $4,000 for a full setup, assuming that you don't already have the monitor, etc. Most definitely, but I also say all the time that the $10,000 Ronin 4D 8K is a great camera, but I wouldn't want it as my only camera.

That's about the gist of it. But I'd add that the heavier body is also, from what it seems, a more robust body. Also, less rolling shutter, shutter angle setting, 2 hours vs 30 minutes recording, uncropped 4kp60, much higher resolution on the lcd, headphone port, environmental sealing, and CF express. Also, ability to get an adapter and use Sony lenses for people who have invested in them. On the other hand, S9 can do 3:2 recording if that's a selling point for you. And aside from being lighter, it's noticeably smaller in side-by-size pictures. I'd also add that at least a nubbin of a hand grip is preferable to a completely rounded body for a camera that I'd intend to shoot mostly handheld (making the ZR preferable)

Latest rumor on the pricing was published today - $16,499. I think it's going to be a really hard sell at that price. Red just released a V-Raptor variant with a 40.96mm-wide 8K global sensor for about $15,000 with a global shutter and similar or better dynamic range. For non-tall aspect ratio use cases, the 43.8mm-wide sensor of the Eterna is not really much wider and unless some change was made for Eterna, suffers strong rolling shutter in many modes including the wide DR mode. Though 4:3 open gate is certainly a reason that some people might choose Eterna. Outside of that, for me, at least, I'd almost definitely take 8k with no RS over 4K with strong RS from a sensor that's about 6.5% wider. I think Fuji said that they were trying to price it in an owner-operator tier, but I suspect that rental houses will be the main purchasers and a lot of owner-operators would go V-Raptor (or FX9 / C400 /Burano) in that price range.

One thing that I'm curious about, and I don't think I've seen it in any reviews yet (though admittedly I've only watched like 2) is whether turning off IBIS comes with a physical sensor lock on this camera as it does on some other Nikons. Given that the camera has <10ms of rolling shutter, I'm really strongly considering selling my Z Cam E2-S6G and remaining Z Cam accessories toward it. My main use for that camera is attaching it to my car on bad roads to film the drive. The ZR could be an ideal and much smaller replacement for that sort of thing - but if the sensor floats even with IBIS off, it becomes a terrible choice.

I get what you're saying, but I'd also say that almost none of those cameras are a direct competitor for the ZR - either in size or price. Cameras that I would think of as direct competitors to the ZR would be Panasonic S9 (micro), Sony A7C series (micro), and Sigma fp (micro), or Fuji X-H2S (full-size) - or a used R5 (micro). It's weak, but no weaker than a majority of the cameras in a similar size/price range. I get that, but I'd say that the intersection between "times when a monitor or recorder needs to be attached" and "times when the camera isn't rigged" is a small one. And again, if that's your main use case, you should almost definitely not pick the ZR. Similarly, even more common use cases like "camera is on a tripod and you want to swap the CF card" are weaknesses. Luckily, they're use cases that are well-covered by a bunch of other cameras.

My turn to be nitpicky: Red cameras do offer true open gate. The sensor itself is 17:9. Open gate refers to using the entire sensor to record. Open gate on a Micro 4/3 camera or GFX would be 4:3 aspect ratio. On most mirrorless or DSLR's, it will be 3:2. Open gate and 3:2 get conflated a lot because that's the ratio for the sensors in the cameras that a majority of people have. Micro HDMI sucks really bad. One of the worst connectors I've ever seen. That said, there's also a very nice 4" screen built into the camera and I'd still say that the camera's strength is not in being built out for cinema, but in being small and relatively inexpensive. If you're rigging the camera with a cage, you could use a cable clamp to avoid the connector breaking as soon as somebody breathes near it. If I'm using the camera as a tiny handheld, I'm not connecting an external screen. But definitely, if your use case is to put an external monitor on the camera without a cage, this camera is a terrible choice and you definitely should not buy it. FWIW, the EOS R5 also has a micro HDMI port. I think that was improved in the II, but in a couple of years of owning and casually using the R5 as my small/handheld camera (similar to how I see thie ZR), I don't think it's ever bothered me because I've never connected an external display to it. Anyway, for me, if I were going to rig up a camera, I'd just use an OG Komodo (available used for not much more money than the ZR costs new). I have a pretty nice minimal Komodo rig for handheld and it's pretty light. Still a lot bigger than my R5 which is, in turn, bigger, I think, than the ZR.

Keep in mind that most, if not all of the actual Red cameras from Red don't support redundancy recording. I don't think I ever saw an older one with more than a single Red mag slot. Komodo has a single CFast card. Komodo-X has a single CF Express card. I'm not sure about V-Raptor. As far as open gate, yes, Reds do this, but their sensors are 17:9 so open gate matches that. If they support 3:2 recording, it's by cropping the left and right edges of the frame. I'm not sure if all of their sensors are 17:9, but again, every one that I've seen has been.

I think that's why I like it! I loved the fp because it was so small, but I ended up resenting it because using the best codecs involved adding an external SSD which would end up with a camera that was bigger and more awkward to use than my R5. Internal raw recording and a flippy screen makes this perfect for an everyday carry camera, especially combined with some of the smaller M mount glass (Collapsible 50/2, Elmar 35) and it also should be easier to mount on the inside of a windshield than the R5 since it looks a little less wide.

Thank you! From what I understand, this is how it works for both the types of raw where Resolve has the option. Maybe sometime, I'll play with those suggestions, but it'd still be more work than just clicking a box for supported footage. Though it's not a huge loss since the difference is fairly subtle anyway. Yeah - if the info is there, there's also the option of bringing down the ISO/exposure in the raw tab and then using curves or lift to bring up the exposure in the shadows.

$2,200 at B&H. The memory card placement is definitely funky, and the rumored micro sd second slot is real (why, Nikon, why?), but for me, I think this camera really nails the form factor and the price point. My question will be whether to trade for a new one in October when they ship or wait a bit for the first wave of returns/sales to hit. Even though it uses a lesser Redcode, the size of this camera is a perfect match for Leica M glass and full frame makes it a better match for that glass than my Komodo/Komodo-X. Just wish it had any sort of internal ND to make it easier to use some of my beloved Leica lenses that don't easily take filters (like the 35/3.5). Also, any of the pictures showing it in a full rig sort of boggle my mind. It kind of plays against the strengths of a super tiny raw-shooting video camera with a big, beautiful rotating internal screen.

Official announcement: https://www.nikon.com/company/news/2025/0910_imaging_01.html Redcode NE?

Raw controls, at least for my Ronin 4D 8K are pretty basic compared with some other editors, but the most important stuff is there. I'd like to see black and white point adjustments in the raw tab, but there are other tools that can be used in a node to accomplish similar things. Highlight recovery would be nice too. Maybe more advanced controls will come in subsequent versions.

I'm so happy that I (hopefully) will never need to use Raw Converter again! (Not that it's a bad app, I just want my disk space back)

I don't know about electronically, but the new handle definitely wouldn't be physically compatible with the R5C, given that the top isn't flat and doesn't have 1/4x20 holes to screw it in.

Not really. Blackmagic does not seem to have any interest in supporting BM Raw outside of their own cameras and recorders. ProRes RAW, on the other hand, is now used at least in cameras from Panasonic and DJI, and apparently, their own camera app on iPhone. By that logic, they also shouldn't support Canon raw or Nikon raw since they are also ostensibly competitors. The historical reason was that they didn't support it because they hate Atomos, which I get, and the format was primarily recorded by Atomos recorders. Nowadays, that use case is fading as more vendors record it directly in camera without forcing users to deal with a shitty third party.

I didn't catch it while streaming the Apple keynote earlier, but apparently they mentioned that its ProRes RAW capture (I did hear that and I approve, but I just bought a 16 Pro last year so it'll be at least a couple more years before I get a newer iPhone) would also work in Blackmagic Camera. So at least on the capture side, it seems like their allergy to PRR is fading. IBC starts this week. Dare we hope for an announcement for new input codec support in Resolve? At this point, it seems silly that they would capture it and then refuse to edit it.

I guess I'll be curious to compare it with the OG Komodo. Its dynamic range is really nothing to write home about. It's some of the best DR I've seen from a global sensor, and definitely better than the E2-S6G - but compared with other cameras that I have which do 12-bit raw like the Ronin 4D, it is definitely not better and grading doesn't seem that much smoother either. (Komodo-X is a lot better) Also, a noisy image in raw partly just tells me that the manufacturer isn't baking it in - and I'm pretty OK with that.

Looks like the video got pulled, but NikonRumors summarized some stuff: At $2,100, it's a much, much more interesting option than it was at $2,600.

BTW, @Andrew Reid - which Epic are you selling? There were several (Epic M-X 5K and Epic Dragon 6K in DSMC1 and Epic-W Gemini 5K and Epic Helium 8K in DSMC2 - with monochrome variants of all of the above). If it's a monochrome or maybe a Gemini, let's talk. 😃