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

Should you shoot video professionally, there’s a superb likelihood you’ve salivated over a RED digicam in some unspecified time in the future. RED has lengthy been one of many prime selections for big-budget productions, providing a mix of picture high quality and adaptability that’s unequalled by most shopper 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 unimaginable imagery — and supply it at a fraction of the worth.

The $2,200 Nikon ZR is stuffed with options tailor-made to video shooters. It has an enormous and brilliant 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 function 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 information {that a} devoted RED doesn’t. However for folks keen to take care of the restrictions, entry to RED’s coloration 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 have been hoping to show some heads, I’d say they delivered. The query now could be: simply how shut does it get to an actual RED?

Rather less R3D, loads 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 steadiness, ISO, gamma, and coloration house will be modified in publish with successfully no loss in high quality. That is each helpful for making sturdy inventive selections after you shoot, or for saving your footage when situations aren’t supreme. I’ve sturdy reminiscences of filming smartphone hands-on movies in horrible lighting situations a few years in the past, simply to see my (now) Waveform Podcast cohost Marques Brownlee publish a superbly corrected model of the identical scene after capturing 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 apply, this implies R3D NE is extra much like Nikon’s N-RAW file format from a compression standpoint, and it’s positively extra taxing on my laptop 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 reduce like butter.

That stated, the R3D NE information from the Nikon ZR look extraordinarily much like the R3D information from the RED V-Raptor. R3D NE nonetheless makes use of the long-lasting coloration pipeline, IPP2, that’s been on RED’s personal cameras since 2017, providing extraordinarily clean spotlight rolloff, nice coloration, and an nearly film-like tonal response. In comparison with customary R3D information, the ZR’s R3D NE information look nearly similar, save for a slight inexperienced forged, almost certainly brought on by the completely different coloration 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 solely 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 shield the highlights whereas capturing, you’ll be able to change the ISO in publish with minimal adjustments to noise or dynamic vary.

On the ZR, altering the ISO immediately adjustments noise and clipping, as a result of R3D NE bakes in sensor achieve earlier than compression. This implies altering the ISO in publish on the ZR will shortly present increasingly noise. Nikon tries to get round this by forcing you to shoot at considered one of its two native ISOs — both 800 or 6400 when recording R3D NE. This ends in a clear picture, but it surely will get noisy if you’ll want to make severe publicity changes in publish. The picture appears nice if you happen to 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 restrictions, it’s implausible simply how a lot of RED’s energy Nikon has introduced right down to this far cheaper digicam. Should you’ve at all times needed entry to RED’s coloration science and picture traits, the ZR will get you a lot of the means there. The boundaries actually come right down to your means to show your scene accurately whereas capturing. You’ll nonetheless have the flexibility to radically regulate issues like white steadiness and coloration house after the actual fact. Nonetheless, if you happen to 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 massive purpose folks need RED cameras is their modularity. RED’s cameras begin with simply the “mind,” an enormous field with a picture sensor, processor, and an entire lot of inputs that you would be able to plug issues into. The cameras are so stripped again, and so designed round modularity, that they want quite a lot of extra equipment like a monitor and deal with simply to be usable.

On this metric, Nikon has gone within the complete other way. The ZR is virtually the other of a RED digicam — one thing that has so many options in-built that you would be able to shoot high-quality footage with practically zero add-ons.

The primary instance of that is the ZR’s 1,000-nit, 4-inch totally articulating touchscreen, which virtually removes the necessity for an extra monitor. The touchscreen articulates 180-degrees and appears nice outdoors, although if in case you have one thing plugged into the mic jack you’ll have hassle articulating all of it the best way round. Sadly, the ZR doesn’t supply RED’s well-known “Site visitors Mild” and “Objective Publish” onscreen publicity instruments, that are useful for ensuring you don’t clip your picture — one thing much more necessary on the ZR than a standard RED — but it surely’s tremendous sharp at 3.07 million dots and helps DCI-P3 coloration for a extra correct illustration of what you’re capturing.

One other one of many ZR’s spectacular built-in options is help for recording 32-bit FLOAT audio from the inner microphone, digital hotshoe, or mic jack. The ZR is the primary digicam to do that, and truthfully, it is a big deal. 32-bit audio may be very tough to clip, permitting you to seize a large variance of loudness with out your audio being ruined. Conventional capturing 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 by utilizing 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 shouldn’t be with out its faults, after all. The tripod thread is just too near the battery/media storage door, making it tough to swap batteries or storage whereas on a tripod. The digicam makes use of Micro HDMI as a substitute of full-size, and a single CF Categorical Sort-B slot and micro SD slot make backup recording practically unattainable if you happen to’re capturing at prime 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 capturing RED-like information. It’s an unimaginable 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 in search of a comeback.

Images by David Imel