The Nikon ZR will get surprisingly near an actual RED digicam (for lots much less cash)

For those who shoot video professionally, there’s a very good likelihood you’ve salivated over a RED digicam sooner or later. RED has lengthy been one of many high selections for big-budget productions, providing a mix of picture high quality and adaptability that’s unmatched by most client cameras. They’re additionally wildly costly, topping out at round $45,000 on the high-end, placing them far out of attain for many on a regular basis initiatives. However now, Nikon is promising to take probably the most distinctive a part of RED — the file format that powers its unbelievable imagery — and provide it at a fraction of the worth.

The $2,200 Nikon ZR is filled with options tailor-made to video shooters. It has an enormous and shiny touchscreen, the flexibility to report audio with an unmatched degree of dynamic vary, and sufficient sensor-level picture stabilization to skip a gimbal for lots of duties. However its most notable characteristic is its means to shoot a model of RED’s R3D file format. It’s a cut-down variant referred to as R3D NE that’s particularly designed to be used on Nikon cameras. It’s not as highly effective, compressing some knowledge {that a} devoted RED doesn’t. However for folks prepared to cope with the constraints, entry to RED’s colour pipeline and distinct spotlight rolloff is wildly compelling.

That is the primary digicam Nikon has made with RED since buying the corporate in 2024, and if the 2 manufacturers had been hoping to show some heads, I’d say they delivered. The query now’s: simply how shut does it get to an actual RED?

Rather less R3D, so much much less cash

R3D is a video format referred to as compressed RAW, which shops nearly the whole lot the sensor collects as metadata whereas nonetheless sustaining a manageable file dimension. This implies settings like white stability, ISO, gamma, and colour house might be modified in submit with successfully no loss in high quality. That is each helpful for making robust inventive selections after you shoot, or for saving your footage when circumstances aren’t perfect. I’ve robust recollections of filming smartphone hands-on movies in horrible lighting circumstances a few years in the past, simply to see my (now) Waveform Podcast cohost Marques Brownlee publish a wonderfully corrected model of the identical scene after taking pictures on a RED digicam. Put merely, R3D is a cheat code.

The R3D NE format that the Nikon ZR helps is sadly not the identical R3D that devoted RED cameras use, however a modified 12-bit variant (down from the extra detailed 16-bit model on RED’s higher-end cameras) constructed round Nikon’s sensor and processor structure. It is because the ZR makes use of the identical 24.5 megapixel partially stacked sensor because the Nikon Z6III, not RED’s personal sensor and specialised chip for compression acceleration. In follow, this implies R3D NE is extra just like Nikon’s N-RAW file format from a compression standpoint, and it’s positively extra taxing on my pc than RED’s conventional R3D information. At 6k 24p, the ZR’s R3D NE information can spin up my followers whereas enhancing, whereas R3D information I shot on a RED V-Raptor at 8k 24p lower like butter.

That stated, the R3D NE information from the Nikon ZR look extraordinarily just like the R3D information from the RED V-Raptor. R3D NE nonetheless makes use of the long-lasting colour pipeline, IPP2, that’s been on RED’s personal cameras since 2017, providing extraordinarily clean spotlight rolloff, nice colour, and an nearly film-like tonal response. In comparison with commonplace R3D information, the ZR’s R3D NE information look nearly an identical, save for a slight inexperienced solid, almost definitely brought on by the totally different colour response from Nikon’s Expeed sensor.

One main distinction between the 2 cameras is how they deal with ISO and noise. On a RED, ISO is just metadata that tells this system what number of stops brighter or darker to show the picture, however doesn’t truly bake in analog amplification on the time of seize. This implies so long as you defend the highlights whereas taking pictures, you may change the ISO in submit with minimal adjustments to noise or dynamic vary.

On the ZR, altering the ISO straight adjustments noise and clipping, as a result of R3D NE bakes in sensor achieve earlier than compression. This implies altering the ISO in submit on the ZR will rapidly present increasingly more noise. Nikon tries to get round this by forcing you to shoot at one in every of its two native ISOs — both 800 or 6400 when recording R3D NE. This leads to a clear picture, nevertheless it will get noisy if you should make critical publicity changes in submit. The picture appears nice in the event you management your publicity with an ND filter or your aperture, however you positively have much less publicity management than you’ll with a devoted RED.

Even with the constraints, it’s unbelievable simply how a lot of RED’s energy Nikon has introduced right down to this far cheaper digicam. For those who’ve all the time needed entry to RED’s colour science and picture traits, the ZR will get you many of the manner there. The bounds actually come right down to your means to show your scene accurately whereas taking pictures. You’ll nonetheless have the flexibility to radically alter issues like white stability and colour house after the very fact. Nonetheless, in the event you mess up publicity, you’ll have extra hassle simply saving your picture than you’ll with a devoted RED.

The alternative of RED {hardware}

One other huge motive folks need RED cameras is their modularity. RED’s cameras begin with simply the “mind,” an enormous field with a picture sensor, processor, and a complete lot of inputs you can plug issues into. The cameras are so stripped again, and so designed round modularity, that they want a wide range of extra equipment like a monitor and deal with simply to be usable.

On this metric, Nikon has gone within the whole other way. The ZR is virtually the alternative of a RED digicam — one thing that has so many options inbuilt you can shoot high-quality footage with almost zero add-ons.

The primary instance of that is the ZR’s 1,000-nit, 4-inch absolutely articulating touchscreen, which virtually removes the necessity for an extra monitor. The touchscreen articulates 180-degrees and appears nice exterior, although in case you have one thing plugged into the mic jack you’ll have hassle articulating all of it the way in which round. Sadly, the ZR doesn’t provide RED’s well-known “Visitors Gentle” and “Aim Put up” onscreen publicity instruments, that are useful for ensuring you don’t clip your picture — one thing much more necessary on the ZR than a conventional RED — nevertheless it’s tremendous sharp at 3.07 million dots and helps DCI-P3 colour for a extra correct illustration of what you’re capturing.

One other one of many ZR’s spectacular built-in options is assist for recording 32-bit FLOAT audio from the interior microphone, digital hotshoe, or mic jack. The ZR is the primary digicam to do that, and truthfully, it is a enormous deal. 32-bit audio may be very troublesome to clip, permitting you to seize a large variance of loudness with out your audio being ruined. Conventional taking pictures setups require a separate audio recorder to report 32-bit FLOAT, and the flexibility to report it internally can cut back the dimensions of your equipment even additional.

This all exists inside a physique that’s very compact and lightweight, at simply 1.4 kilos. Nikon achieved such a slim and lightweight profile through the use of a fanless design, which is uncommon for such a succesful video-focused digicam. It additionally manages to incorporate 7.5 stops of in-body picture stabilization, which is one thing you received’t get in any of RED’s personal cameras.

The ZR isn’t with out its faults, after all. The tripod thread is simply too near the battery/media storage door, making it troublesome to swap batteries or storage whereas on a tripod. The digicam makes use of Micro HDMI as an alternative of full-size, and a single CF Specific Kind-B slot and micro SD slot make backup recording almost inconceivable in the event you’re taking pictures at top quality. I additionally discovered the joystick to be a bit small and mushy, and there’s a irritating 125-minute cap on recordings that limits the digicam’s use in lengthy interviews.

Nonetheless, on the finish of the day, the Nikon ZR is just about what Nikon promised: a $2,200 ticket to taking pictures RED-like information. It’s an unbelievable worth for prosumer video shooters. Nikon has been outpaced within the video house for a couple of decade now. The ZR is the sort of digicam an organization makes when it’s searching for a comeback.

Images by David Imel