Nikon Z6 10bit output

I ended up canceling my pre-order for the BMD Pocket 4K and got the Z6 instead, as I already have a PixE 5 Monitor/recorder. The battery is the only limit to video clip length to an external recorder, like when recording to the Ninja or PixE.

This summer, Atomos and Nikon are jointly releasing ProRes Raw on the Z6, recording on the Ninja.
Cheers
 
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Dredging this thread back up...

Anyone have further experience with the Z6 these past months? General or specific impressions/issues?

Per the "wobbling" mentioned earlier up-thread, reminds me of the issues I had with the early-firmware Fuji X-H1: the IBIS was excellent for photography but really couldn't handle the moving image, especially when there was a lot of information, i.e. wider angles, diagonal movement, etc. At the time I decided that the X-H1 wasn't ready for hand-held use. Never had a chance to put it on a gimbal which I would do now. I wonder about the Z6 and a gimbal.
 
I have the Z6 and while I haven't used it on a project yet, I am dubious about two aspects of it. It pretty much requires a Ninja to be useable for video. The native monitoring options are limited, to get the full benefits of the output (10 bit 422), you need to record externally, and SSDs will be better recording media for this camera. The other concern is a double-edged issue for me. The adaptor allows you to utilize any f-mount glass which is one of the main attractions for me as there are some great, inexpensive Nikkor options. The camera has settings you can configure to accommodate the manual aperture glass for exposure, which is nice. However, if you care about AF performance then you will want native glass and it's not as video friendly as I would prefer. The manual focus is fly-by-wire.

So, on a gimbal, this will be okay. You will want a recorder/monitor. The issues are addressable and with the potential of the glass, it makes it worth it to me to invest as I can use the f-mount on rented Reds as well. A set of Ais lenses can be cinematized pretty inexpensively.
 
You are not limited to using only a Ninja recorder, I have used my PixE recorder with the Z6, and it works well. However, for the upcoming Raw recording, you will need the new Ninja recorder.
Cheers
 
It's a shame Video Devices have completely discontinued their PixE range. Anyone know why? Was competition pricing the reason?

Chris Young
 
I guess they were too thinly spread and the competition from the East too high.

Also there is a tautology.. anyone preperaed to pay for SD quality and reliability would never use an external recorder as they would consider the connector too non reliable for professional use.

SD people own cameras with proper internal recording.
 
morgan_moore said:
Also there is a tautology.. anyone preperaed to pay for SD quality and reliability would never use an external recorder as they would consider the connector too non reliable for professional use.
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Sam - two models of the SD PIX have both SDI/HDMI in & out (with conversion)... it's the cheaper H models with only HDMI
 
Interesting. It seems from what I have been reading that the external recorder is needed even without 10-bit 422 in mind as the 8-bit internal really isn't as robust as some (such as a C100's 8-bit or the files from the X-T3).


George Loch said:
I have the Z6 and while I haven't used it on a project yet, I am dubious about two aspects of it. It pretty much requires a Ninja to be useable for video. The native monitoring options are limited, to get the full benefits of the output (10 bit 422), you need to record externally, and SSDs will be better recording media for this camera. The other concern is a double-edged issue for me. The adaptor allows you to utilize any f-mount glass which is one of the main attractions for me as there are some great, inexpensive Nikkor options. The camera has settings you can configure to accommodate the manual aperture glass for exposure, which is nice. However, if you care about AF performance then you will want native glass and it's not as video friendly as I would prefer. The manual focus is fly-by-wire.

So, on a gimbal, this will be okay. You will want a recorder/monitor. The issues are addressable and with the potential of the glass, it makes it worth it to me to invest as I can use the f-mount on rented Reds as well. A set of Ais lenses can be cinematized pretty inexpensively.
Click to expand...
 
Walter Hergt said:
Interesting. It seems from what I have been reading that the external recorder is needed even without 10-bit 422 in mind as the 8-bit internal really isn't as robust as some (such as a C100's 8-bit or the files from the X-T3).
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It's really not great. I just returned mine.

-gl
 
If used with internal recording - I'd choose Fuji X-T3. All the picture quality in Nikon Z6 can only be had using external recorder. But with external recorder this camera is beyond anything mirrorless, imo.
 
Zengze said:
If used with internal recording - I'd choose Fuji X-T3. All the picture quality in Nikon Z6 can only be had using external recorder. But with external recorder this camera is beyond anything mirrorless, imo.
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From what I have seen of the Z6/Ninja combo, it's not blowing me away. Do you have good examples? Devin "Supertramp"s ad for Nikon actually turned me off the camera and it was shot in full 10 bit 4:2:2.

Film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGohH-Dxo2I

BTS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KlN-zwzAkc
 
Haven't seen that one. Ugly colors. We've done tests at our rental. Alexa as a reference. Made a few monitoring LUTs trying to mimic Alexa rec709 response. My experience was I could dial Z6 much closer to my liking compared to other mirrorless cameras, and usually we test all of them, if just for fun. Now Z6 is a camera I'd actually love to use for some solo run & gun projects, but there's one problem - delay over HDMI. 9 frames. Unusable. Approached Nikon, they promised to look into it. Let's hope for an update solving this. In fact I'd probably be able to shoot some side by side of Alexa and Z6. What would you like to see? I feel as if I'm promoting this camera, but it just doesn't get the praise it deserves. But I'm talking about external recording to get 10bit 4:2:2.
 
Zengze said:
Haven't seen that one. Ugly colors. We've done tests at our rental. Alexa as a reference. Made a few monitoring LUTs trying to mimic Alexa rec709 response. My experience was I could dial Z6 much closer to my liking compared to other mirrorless cameras, and usually we test all of them, if just for fun. Now Z6 is a camera I'd actually love to use for some solo run & gun projects, but there's one problem - delay over HDMI. 9 frames. Unusable. Approached Nikon, they promised to look into it. Let's hope for an update solving this. In fact I'd probably be able to shoot some side by side of Alexa and Z6. What would you like to see? I feel as if I'm promoting this camera, but it just doesn't get the praise it deserves. But I'm talking about external recording to get 10bit 4:2:2.
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Trust me. I really wanted to like this camera. The idea of using old Nikkor glass is delightful to me. Buuuuut, that requires a Ninja V with no exception (for monitoring, output, recording space, et more) and even with that external, it's still not stellar from what I have seen. I would love to see some nicely lit and naturally lit talent and if you show me the Alexa to go with it so much the better.

Thanks!

-gl
 
Will try to shoot some side by side footage over the next week. Mixed lighting, etc. No promises though. I rigged it with Ninja V to retain compact form factor. With recent Tilta Nucleus offerings you can have everything included, and still retain it small and lightweight. 58378986_873403569677135_2568575762256887808_n.jpg58378986_873403569677135_2568575762256887808_n.jpg
 
I would have suggested that the Teamsupertramp piece's color was a grading choice - toy/cartoon feel to match the campy, toy car content. How that look basically carries thru the BTS video as well, however, I cannot explain.

It's tough to imagine you cannot get nice colors and a nice grade out of the sensor with that output, but I do not like what I have seen from the 8-bit - crunchy, crushed blacks, over-sharpened - and for a hybrid camera, I don't want to be constrained to external recording only/always.
 
Walter Hergt;1986789422 It's tough to imagine you cannot get nice colors and a nice grade out of the sensor with that output said:
What the 8bit looks like you have very fine control over using the in-camera picture control. Among other settings, you can adjust the gamma curve and you have four parameters that affect "sharpness" you can alter. Importantly, all these adjustments are made from the 12bit sensor information before compression - in principle better than ajusting the look of the 8bit compressed files in post. I agree the Standard profile is way too contrasty and oversharp. But even if you do not want to customize you can use "Natural" or "Flat" profiles, which look nothing like what you describe. Contrast and sharpness have nothing to do with number of bits of course.
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