Nikon Zr is coming

[Jahleh]

Finally got ZR yesterday. After changing all the settings like I have them in Z6iii, except Zebras and Vignette for R3D, got to test it a bit too.
1st, the screen is really good, you can change almost everything needed via the touch id and new menus quite quickly and intuitively. Need to figure out still what I need to set on those 4 custom buttons really.

The grip is tiny but feels ok in the hand. Still, with heavier lenses like 1kg 50 f1.2 and 135 f1.8 having the L shaped gage’s bigger grip seems to be a must, as it also has the Arca-swizz base plate for easy tripod use too. 

Quickly tested R3D NE vs NRaw to R3D hack with ISO 800 and 6400, and R3D NE was a bit cleaner in the shadows and seemed to hold the colors better too. 

The Z6iii EVF and all of it’s buttons in muscle memory seems still of course more convenient to use, but there is no going back to timy 3.2” screens after this. In various Panas and Z6iii I almost never used the screen.

Cinema tools has made a false color LUT, propably have to buy and try that too, if setting the zebras to 245 for R3D highlights does not work like zebras at 255 for NRaw.

The build quality seemed robust, but the shutter button needs a bit heavier press. Could not find the focus limiter in the menus either. Hopefully the weather allows to take both ZR and Z6iii outside, and see how the ZR handles, and what the footage looks like.

 

[ND64]

Pixel binned raw 4k120 of ZR has the same amount of details of FX3, if not more, which is a native 4k sensor

 

[ND64]

Didn't know A7siii has this saturation issue

[ND64]

I like this way of marketing to give the camera to youtubers with low number followers and turns out they're talented and need more recognition.

 

[Django]

Yeah good move approaching indie RED shooters rather than your usual hybrid / YT influencer.

Great review with strong footage. More I think of it, ZR is the perfect travel cam, street shooter. 

[zerocool22]

2 hours ago, Django said:

Yeah good move approaching indie RED shooters rather than your usual hybrid / YT influencer.

Great review with strong footage. More I think of it, ZR is the perfect travel cam, street shooter. 

Not for weddings/event videos you think? Looking for a faster setup. 

 

[Django]

1 hour ago, zerocool22 said:

Not for weddings/event videos you think? Looking for a faster setup. 

 

Faster than what? Only downsides for longer shootings I can think of is the r3d code file sizes, h265 is sorta unusable..

[MrSMW]

1 hour ago, zerocool22 said:

Not for weddings/event videos you think? Looking for a faster setup. 

 

I would absolutely use it and as above, it would be my first choice, clean sheet.

The ZR/Nikon probably doesn't quite have the AF of Sony and it might not quite have the IBIS of LUMIX, but we are really beginning to split hairs these days when it comes to spec and performance.

It's compact, has possibly THE best lens selection (IMO, there is no 'possibly' about it, - it just does including near native adaptation of Sony E glass via Megadap) and it's e Shutter only approach on the ZR and Z8 would not be an issue for me as it is with LUMIX where in certain lighting conditions, it's shit (for stills).

Give me a pair of ZR's, a single Z8 and 3 lenses of my choice, 1x monopod and 1x tripod and weddings/events would be a breeze.

No better than my current LUMIX set up, just a sideways one and one I would not hesitate to use.

I could make the same argument for Sony and Canon. It just comes down to personal choice.

[Emanuel]

This camera is OOAK. Period.

- E.

[MrSMW]

48 minutes ago, Emanuel said:

This camera is OOAK. Period.

- E.

In an alleged board meeting, it was suggested but in the end, ZR narrowly got the vote.

[Jahleh]

After shooting with ZR and 135mm F1.8 Plena outside for a few hours in depressing Autumn darkness, and another few inside with 35 1.4 it’s pretty clear the ZR and R3D NE have their perks.

ZR feels quite small and nimble with the 35 1.4, and ok with the Plena without extra L grip.
I can live without Z6iii EVF, barely. Focusing and exposing via ZR display works ok even from 20m away with the Plena at F1.8 during and after sunset.
Exposing via highlights set to 245 work fine, as does the Cinema tools false color LUT. With CT LUT there is no zebras though, only with built in Rec709 LUT.
The Red colors are a bit different (better?) than with NRaw and blue is not over saturated with LEDs.
In low light R3D NE is clearly better than NRaw. With IPP2 pipeline grading is also a bit faster to get better results, both in SDR and HDR in Resolve.

The only big downside is that neither RED Cine X Pro nor Resolve cannot export the trimmed R3D NE clips from the timeline at the moment, probably due to a bug in Red SDK. Resolve just copies the whole clips.
Shooting longer periods from sticks is then a no go atm, unless you compress the raw to H.265 and save that, or edit your project straight from the CFExpress card. Copying whole 2TB to SSD is just stupid, if there is only 100-500GB of footage worth saving.

Hopefully there is an update to Red SDK and the ZR could need a FW update too for some minor bugs and for H.265, which did look softer than Z6iii H.265.