Ever since Nikon’s shock announcement that it was shopping for high-end cinema digicam maker Crimson in March 2024, we’ve been eagerly awaiting to see the result of the collaboration between two of the most important and most revered names in pictures and video. Now we now have the reply: the Nikon ZR… It is the primary digicam within the new Nikon ‘Z Cinema line’, which mixes Nikon’s digicam {hardware} with Crimson’s experience in high-end cinema.
The Nikon ZR is predicated closely on the Nikon Z6 III full-frame digicam, with the identical 24.5Mp full-frame partially stacked sensor and all of the autofocus finery and topic detection talents that we’ve come to anticipate from Nikon Z-series cameras, recognizing and monitoring 9 distinct topic varieties with unerring accuracy. 5-axis In-body picture stabilization permits for as much as 7.5 stops of vibration discount to counter shake, for ultra-smooth handheld video.
Above video: Superior topic recognition and autofocus work hand in hand to make sure that your meant topic stays in focus always
The headline video specs are comparable too – with a most 6K/60p decision and body charge – however with one vital distinction: the inclusion of Crimson Colour Science for the primary time exterior a Crimson-branded digicam (the Nikon ZR is co-branded ’Nikon | Crimson’).
To allow this, Nikon and Crimson have developed a variation of Crimson’s Uncooked video file format, R3D. Fairly than the massive 16-bit recordsdata generated by the absolutely fledged professional-line Crimson video cameras, such because the Crimson Komodo and Raptor, the brand new R3D NE (Nikon Version) codec is a 12-bit Uncooked video format that optimizes the 12-bit output of Nikon’s sensors right into a file that integrates seamlessly with the total R3D codec, enabling videographers to combine and match video shot on all Crimson / Nikon Z Cinema cameras.
Above: Crimson Colour Science permits Customized Management presets to be utilized to video for a cinematic look straight out of digicam
Crimson Colour Science additionally permits 4 cinematic video modes and 9 customized Crimson Image Management presets to provide video with a cinematic feel and appear straight out of the digicam. It is simple to cycle by way of previews of the varied presets in-camera earlier than recording and deciding on the look you need.
The very best high quality 12-bit recordsdata might be recorded as R3D NE, N-Uncooked, and ProRes Uncooked, however the digicam additionally helps 10-bit codecs, together with ProRes 422 HQ, and 8-bit H.265 and H.264, for cases the place lowered file sizes are vital.
Along with 6K 60p Uncooked, the digicam can file 4K 120p Uncooked and Full-HD 240p non-Uncooked video for slo-mo results. Additionally it is able to recording vertical footage, to be used in social media and the like. The digicam can file as much as 125 minutes of video, and impressively that is without having a fan to chill issues down, which not solely means there isn’t any fan noise generated in-body, however permits a weather-sealed design as there isn’t any want for vents, both.
Whereas the brand new digicam homes a lot of the tech of the Z6 III on the within, it’s a really completely different matter on the skin. It has an oblong slab-like look, with no pronounced battery bump and solely the merest trace of a textured grip.
There’s no optical viewfinder, as is par for the course on video-centric cameras, and the complete rear of the digicam is dominated by an enormous 4-inch monitor, which is far bigger than the three.2-inch rear display of the Z6 III and different Nikon cameras.
The massive 4-inch rear monitor just isn’t solely the most important discovered on any digicam in its class, nevertheless it’s additionally the brightest (at 1000 cd/m2), the highest-resolution (3070K-dots), and has the widest coloration house (DCI-P3). It is a full vari-angle display, flipping out to the aspect and rotating up and down for a snug viewing angle, and Nikon says that its measurement and readability imply that no exterior monitor is required, and that the digicam can be utilized as a very standalone system, though it will probably, in fact, even be built-in right into a video rig.
The audio capabilities are additionally a minimize above the competitors, boasting the world’s first in-camera 32-bit float audio. This Uncooked audio format mechanically adjusts for the best peaks with out clipping, and works with the digicam’s three built-in mics, in addition to exterior microphones. OZO audio makes use of the in-camera mic for spatial sound, emulating directional, shotgun, entrance, and rear mics for 3D stereo sound.
Additional enhancing the ZR’s sound capabilities, the Nikon ME-D10 hotshoe-mounted microphone launches alongside the digicam. It makes use of a brand new digital interface built-in into the underside of the hotshoe mount to embed sound into the video footage, with out the necessity for added exterior cables. The microphone’s 77dB signal-to-noise ratio helps reduce sound distortion.
The management format is very completely different from Nikon’s still-oriented cameras, too. A lever sits across the outstanding file button on prime of the digicam, which is used to zoom with suitable energy zoom lenses. There’s additionally a financial institution of three programmable buttons up prime, and a swap for stills-shooting mode; whereas the digicam is closely geared in the direction of video, it stays a really succesful stills digicam, in a position to produce photographs each bit pretty much as good because the Z6 III. Entrance and rear management dials are current and proper, primarily used to regulate aperture and ‘shutter angle’, in addition to choosing choices. The rear of the digicam may be very pared down, with a playback and menu button, plus a mini-joystick for navigation. A single ‘Rec’ button on the entrance of the digicam duplicates the primary prime Rec button, and is positioned for handy entry.
Above video: Full HD has a most body charge of 240p, for recording super-slo-mo footage
The digicam helps twin card slots, with one super-fast CFexpress slot and, in what might come as a shock to many, a microSD slot. That is undoubtedly as a result of house constraints within the slimline digicam physique. It takes the identical Nikon EN-EL15C battery as used within the Z6 III and lots of different full-frame Nikon cameras, though V-Lock batteries can be utilized through an adaptor.
The digicam weighs in at simply 540 grams and is absolutely weather-sealed, in contrast to nearly all of competing videocentric cameras, and that is made potential as a result of its fanless design.
The Nikon ZR is because of go on sale in October 2025, priced at £2,199 (we’ll carry you US and Australian pricing, in addition to pre-order hyperlinks, simply as quickly as we now have them – come again quickly!). That is considerably lower than the Z6 III it’s primarily based on – thanks partly to the dearth of EVF – and may be very aggressively priced towards competitor cameras such because the Sony FX3 and also-just-announced Canon EOS C50.
So the primary Nikon Z Cinema-line digicam appears to be like very promising certainly, with an incredible characteristic set for an especially aggressive value. We can be bringing you our hands-on report imminently – watch this house!