So, Nikon has launched the first camera in its Z Cinema line in the shape of the Nikon ZR, and make no mistake, it's making some statement, packing the moviemaking expertise of Red (the high-end video company it recently acquired) with Nikon's cutting-edge camera tech and the sublime optical performance of the Z mount, all at a price that severely undercuts the competition from Canon and Sony. It's going to do very well indeed.
But while it may be the first Z Cinema-branded camera and is certainly Nikon's first full-frame camera aimed, first and foremost, at videographers, it's not the first videocentric interchangeable lens camera that Nikon has created: that honor goes to the Nikon Z30.
Launched in August 2022, it arrived just shy of three years later than the camera it was based on, the Nikon Z50. It lopped off the viewfinder and pop-up flash, swapped the flip-down rear screen for one that swings out at the side, and came out with a lower price tag, but that was pretty much it. It was promoted as a vlogging camera, but its control system was very similar to the Z50 stills camera. And while it was cheaper, it wasn't that much cheaper… it felt as if you were getting a lot less camera for your money, and one with tech that was a little past its sell-by date.
I reckon it's time that Nikon had a second stab at a smaller, DX-sensor vlogging-friendly successor to the Z30, based on Red know-how. Nikon has proven with the Z50 II that if it endows a smaller-sensor camera with its top-end processor, then it can do anything (pretty much) that the top-of-the-range Z9 and Z8 can do, certainly in terms of autofocus and subject-tracking capability.
Sure, it would have to be 4K (if it used the same 20.9MP sensor), but that's all most of us really need. And it already has the perfect vlogging lens waiting for it, the Nikon Z DX 12-28mm f/3.5-5.6 PZ VR, which comes complete with Power Zoom.
So, upgrade the chip to the Expeed 7, revamp the controls to a videocentric layout, and pop in those brilliant Red video codecs for that wonderful filmic look straight out of camera, and Nikon would be onto a winner, I'm sure.
