Nikon ZR hands-on review: a brilliant 'baby' Red cinema camera at a barely believable price

The Nikon ZR is the first in a line of 'Z Cinema' cameras born from Nikon's acquisition of high-end cinematography company Red. It's based heavily on the Nikon Z6 III stills-oriented camera, but adds Red's renowned 'Color Science' to achieve professional cinema-grade footage for the first time in a consumer-level video-centric camera.

I go into a lot more detail about the technical details of the camera in my 'Introducing the Nikon ZR' news story, but for this hands-on review I am concentrating on my personal experience of using the canera when Nikon gave me a sneak preview in a sound studio, where I got to try out the camera's video (and stills) capabilities for myself, with the help of a drummer and a lot of paint. Here's how I got on…

Nikon ZR: Specifications

Nikon ZR: Price

The Nikon ZR has a launch price of $2,199 / £2,199 / AU$3,499. That's a darn sight cheaper than Red's own Raptor and Komodo line of cameras, which typically have five-figure price tags. It's very well priced compared to its more direct competitors, too. The closest Sony equivalent, the Sony FX3, sells for $4,098 / £3,799 / AU$6,499, while the Canon EOS C50, announced a mere matter of hours before the Nikon ZR, is due to launch at $3,899 / £3,359 / AU$5,899.

It even undercuts the Nikon Z6 III stills camera it is based on, too, in most territories, which currently sells for $2,699 / £2,199 / AU$3,899, with prices typically having fallen since launch.

Nikon ZR: Design & Handling

Those migrating from Nikon's stills mirrorless cameras will be in for something of a shock. The form factor of the ZR is almost entirely rectangular, with no bump to speak of, nor a protruding viewfinder assembly. There's a textured area to provide a bit of grip under the right hand. This is fairly typical of video-centric cameras, which are often designed to be placed in a cage or rig. It's surprisingly light to hold, but I'd certainly want a wrist strap when handholding the camera, just to be sure.

There's no electronic viewfinder, but to make up for this, the rear screen is huge and takes up almost the entire back of the camera. It measures 4 inches diagonally, compared to the 3.2 inches of most other Nikon full-frame Z-series cameras, and is of the vari-angle touchscreen variety. The screen flips out to the side and tilts up and down for a comfortable viewing experience. The screen-facing side can also be tucked against the camera body for protection and to preserve power when being used as part of a setup with an external monitor.

And while the control configuration of Z-mount cameras has been fairly consistent across the range since launch (aside from the odd button swapping places here and there) and had been a natural progression of the control layout from Nikon DSLRs, things are radically different here. Up top, there's a large Record button (also duplicated on the front of the camera), surrounded by a rocker lever for zooming in and out with compatible power zoom lenses.

The traditional front and rear control dials offer a degree of familiarity, but rather than dedicated buttons for things like exposure compensation, ISO, and so on, there's a row of three programmable buttons, simply marked '1', '2', and '3'. Controls on the rear of the camera are even more pared back, limited to a simple joystick for navigation, and a menu and playback button.

It may take some getting used to, but all these design changes suit the camera's main purpose for recording video perfectly; eye-level viewfinders are rarely used for videography (the days of shaky camcorder footage aside). I found it to actually be really convenient to use the touchscreen for changing settings, as there's no need to take your eye from the scene you're recording, and with it being so big and bright, it soon becomes second nature to move between menus and change video looks and the like.

Above: I shot this short video segment with the Nikon ZR and videocentric Z 28-135mm f/4 PZ when Nikon gave me a sneak peek of the camera just before its announcement

Nikon ZR: Performance

The camera uses the same Xpeed 7 processor, 24.5Mp partially stacked sensor, and has the same autofocus, subject-tracking, ISO range and image stablization performance as the Z6 III it's based on. We'll need to put it through our lab tests to confirm all this of course, but control oddities aside, it can be regarded as the same camera as the Z6 III. There's no reason that this camera can't be used to take just as good images as the Z6 III, at least, when it comes to stills shooting.

And while the underlying hardware that powers the video capabilities of the camera is also indistinguishable from the Z6 III, with the same headline 6K 60p max video output, it's the inclusion of Red Color Science that sets the ZR apart. It records 12-bit Raw video in an all-new R3D NE (Nikon Edition) format, which doesn't have the full color depth of Red's 16-bit R3D files, but otherwise mimics the look and feel and offers the same flexibility. In essence, you can freely mix and match footage shot on a ZR with that shot on Red's top-end Komodo and Raptor cameras.

There are also a bunch of Red Picture Controls that apply cinematic looks in-camera, and are useful for those cutting their teeth in the world of video. It's really easy to switch between these using the large monitor to see their effect before you start recording footage.

There is no technical reason that Nikon couldn't bring this Red Color Science to the Nikon Z6 III (or, indeed, other Z-series cameras) as it's firmware rather than hardware dependent, but whether the company actually will is another matter: aside from the time and effort recquired to do this, the big N may well want to keep the Z Cinema line distinct from its stills-oriented Z-series cameras. In short, if you want to shoot the sort of cinematic video that Red's Color Science achieves in an affordable camera, then the ZR is the only way to do it for the foreseeable future.

Recording at 6K, video takes the entire width of the sensor, but this is cropped to a DX format when shooting 4K, thereby applying a 1.5x crop to the focal length of any attached lens, which is useful when you want to get closer to the action, but not so good for expansive wide shots. Full HD can be recorded in both horizontal and vertical formats without changing the orientation of the camera, again with a cropped section of the image sensor.

Whatever resolution you decide to record your footage, its output is in the standard 16:9 aspect ratio used by the cinema industry. However, the sensor has a native 3:2 resolution, so this loses pixels at the top and bottom of the display. Some will be disappointed that it doesn't output 'open gate' video, which is essentially the full sensor data that is cropped in post-production. Perhaps this is something that a future firmware update might address.

The camera has a CFexpress card slot for its primary storage medium, and these fast cards are more than capable of keeping up with anything that the ZR can output. I was a little surprised that its secondary slot is of the microSD variety, which is not nearly as fast. Still, it's good enough for less data-hungry video resolutions, and at least the camera has a second card slot; Nikon has clearly learned a lesson from the backlash over the original Z7 and Z6 Z-series mirrorless cameras, which only sported a single slot.

It's highly unusual for a video camera to run without a fan to keep things cool, but the ZR is indeed fanless. Nikon tells me that this is possible due to the energy-efficient design of the Z-series architecture, which does not produce as much heat as rival systems in the first place, and dissipates it through the camera's magnesium alloy chassis. The camera can record up to 125 minutes of video without a break, although if you're shooting with the standard EN‑EL15c battery, it'll conk out after about 90 minutes or so.

One upshot of this fanless design is that there is no need for vents, and so the camera is properly weather-sealed, just like other Z-series stills cameras. So you can shoot in inclement conditions without (overly) worrying that moisture will find its way inside.

The other big advantage is that there's no fan noise to contend with, which goes a long way to explaining one of the other aspects that sets the ZR apart from its competition: it is the world's first camera to offer 32-bit float audio in-camera. This essentially enables a vast range of sound levels to be recorded, faithfully recreating everything from the quietest whispers to the loudest noises crisply and clearly on one soundtrack without clipping or distortion. The three microphones built into the camera body also enable spatial audio effects, such as sound moving from left to right in sync with the onscreen action.

I also got to try out Nikon's new ME-D10 digital shotgun microphone, developed especially for the ZR. It slips into the hotshoe on top of the camera, but has an inbuilt digital interface on the underside that transfers the 32-bit float audio from the microphone without additonal cables. It's a neat solution, and was used to record my sample drumming video.

Nikon ZR: Verdict

Nikon Z-series cameras have always been capable when it comes to recording video, with the hybrid phase detection AF points built into the sensor combined with advanced subject tracking, enabling them to keep pace with moving subjects for silky smooth footage, and certainly a huge improvement over the video capabilities of DSLRs.

However, their DSLR-like form factors aren't ideal for video production. The design of the Nikon ZR is much more video-friendly, able to work standalone (thanks to its oversized monitor and excellent audio capabilities) or as part of a rig. But it's the Red Color Science that sets this new camera apart from others in the Z-series line. I was really impressed with the built-in Picture Controls developed by Red that gave my footage an instant filmic look, but I will certainly need some proper time with the camera to assess the R3D NE format.

But from what I've seen so far, it looks like the collaboration between Nikon and Red has paid off handsomely, resulting in a brilliantly compact camera that can deliver professional-level video at a price point that us mere mortals can afford.