The Nikon ZR is a particular breed. Providing spectacular video high quality, most likely the most effective in its phase, the ZR manages to accommodate all of it in an impressively compact chassis, in regards to the measurement of compact stills cameras. Should you’re studying this and pondering, “Hmm, that sounds acquainted…” you’re not mistaken. The dream of a compact digicam able to nice high quality is sort of as previous because the medium. One may even stretch this line so far as Oskar Barnack and the invention of the Leica digicam, the Hasselblad 500, and extra. On this article, nonetheless, we’ll focus on some extra modern iterations of this idea.
Whereas the Nikon ZR might not be a fully-fledged cinema digicam, it certainly delivers on the IQ entrance. I cannot dive too deep into the definition of cine cameras nor its specs, however we now have lined this digicam extensively. I invite you to learn my colleague Johnnie’s evaluate and mini-doc of the digicam, as he figures out what this new particular beast is about, in addition to Francesco’s first-look evaluate, and the discuss we had with him at IBC. We, after all, additionally ran it via our lab exams and had a chat with Gunther on his findings. This text, nonetheless, will take a deeper have a look at the latest historical past of the high-end, high-IQ compacts previous the Nikon ZR.
Nikon ZR: Tech specs CAN improve creativity
The dream of capturing beautiful footage on a compact digicam has all the time pushed photographers, filmmakers, engineers, and designers. Be it Henri Cartier-Bresson, Victor Hasselblad, Claudio Miranda, the typical iPhone shooter, or numerous others – it’s all the time there. Compact cameras succesful of top of the range have been all the time a key to the democratization of the medium. Lately, with the numerous development in sensor know-how, the flexibility to seize versatile RAW footage, which can enable our consideration to “stray” away from settings into creativity and storytelling, is the documentarist’s and inventive’s dream.
As a stills photographer, I vividly keep in mind the purpose at which I switched to capturing RAW, by no means worrying about white stability once more. Then got here the change from my trusty-but-demanding Canon 5DS R to the extra forgiving Panasonic LUMIX S1R and its IBIS. The improve to my present FUJIFILM GFX 100s launched me from most dynamic vary and backbone worries. It’s fairly superb how some technical options launch you from technical nervousness and set your creativity free.
Not the primary pocket cinema digicam (pun meant)
The idea of a compact cinema digicam, squeezing numerous high-end options (resembling RAW recording, and so forth.) right into a compact physique, is kind of uncommon, however not new. Blackmagic Design was arguably the primary to set its flag on this peak in 2013, with the Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Digital camera. A tiny, Cinema DNG-capable digicam that gained fairly the cult following.
Blackmagic Design’s basic Pocket Cinema Digital camera. Picture credit score: Blackmagic Design
The BMPCC gained considerably of a cult following, in addition to numerous successors (although none as compact a the unique). Not a basic hybrid digicam, the BMPCC was about as hybrid because the Nikon ZR for its time. It did so within the sense of choosing the overall design of a compact stills digicam over a basic handycam elongated design. Nikon did the identical right here, with a moderately flush, flat, “rangefinder” design over the extra mainstream field design we often see on compact cine cameras.
Giant sensor, small physique
One other distinguished design philosophy utilized by the Nikon ZR is kind of frequent in compact stills cameras. We are able to spot these designs in some fastened lens cameras just like the minimalistic RICOH GR or the late ZEISS ZX1, the maximalist GFX100RF. The latest addition right here is the Sony RX1R III. It’s additionally current within the interchangeable programs. The SIGMA fp L could be the purest type of this design philosophy right here, with the Sony A7CR and the Panasonic S9 as a extra inexpensive possibility.
The defining elements of this style of cameras are primarily based round two non-compromisable pillars: compactness and picture high quality. All the things else is liable to compromise and even arduous cuts. Be it EVF, management factors, thermal administration, and so forth. Because of this I’m omitting cameras just like the FUJIFILM X100 collection, SIGMA BF, Leica Q, and Nikon Z f, that emphasize different factors resembling fashion and workflow over pure IQ and compactness.
Mounted-lens compacts. Picture credit score: Sony, FUJIFILM, Leica
Who’re they for?
One particularly difficult query relating to these cameras is the target market. Most of them aren’t vastly standard. That is comprehensible, for the reason that compactization severely limits some standard and usable options for each hobbyists and professionals. Such compact powerhouses are fairly standard as second cameras, for leisure, walkarounds, location scouting, and typically as crash cams (although the comparatively excessive worth limits this use case). They will also be utilized by those that respect the significance of limitations within the inventive course of, making each bug a function, reworking defects into results. And there are, after all, the documentarists who historically respect stealthy, low-profile imaging instruments, in addition to light-weight gear permitting for straightforward carrying wherever their ft carry them.
Keep compactness even when rigged. Picture credit score: CineD
Is the Nikon ZR a dream come true?
Most of all, the reply to that query is dependent upon the dreamer. However to place it in context – I see the ZR as one of many extra attention-grabbing makes an attempt to create a compact, field-ready, high-quality digicam. When it comes to maximal picture high quality, it punches means over its weight, and whereas it might not be an ideal cine digicam (if in any respect worthy of the “cinema digicam” title), it does one thing that not many others do. The talk in regards to the necessity of RAW video stills lingers, but when any digicam can use it, I imagine the Nikon ZR, with its doco-friendly, stealthy physique, could make nice use of this versatile format.
I imagine its a worthy successor to the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Digital camera, and prefer it, this digicam is held again by some questionable limitations (missing “mid-codec”, micro HDMIm, no 24P, no energetic cooling, and so forth) but it surely does allow a particularly nimble, compact and stealthy package, and may extract spectacular footage from numerous situations by pushing the envelope additional.
Do you utilize compact, excessive IQ cameras for filmmaking or stills? What are your use circumstances and most popular workflows? Tell us within the feedback.
