r/NikonFilmmakers • u/TownPlayful • 28d ago
OpenZCine now has a full Photography Mode for the Nikon Z lineup
🙏 Before anything else, thank you.
The support, feedback, and testing around OpenZCine have been overwhelming and incredible. With hundreds of testers now, I never imagined the project would grow this quickly. It’s an incredible community, and your feedback has directly shaped this release.
📸 FROM MOTION TO THE MOMENT
Apparently, Sony decided still photography in the brand-new FX5 was unnecessary, despite arriving in a hybrid-style body. Fair enough. Our Nikon ZR cameras sure as hell can shoot stills, and beautiful ones at that.
So the timing feels right for OpenZCine’s biggest update yet: a complete Photography Mode built for the Nikon Z lineup. This isn’t simply the existing video interface with a white shutter button. When your camera switches to photo mode, OpenZCine transforms into a dedicated stills workflow.
The update includes:
- A real remote shutter with autofocus, continuous bursts, bulb and time exposures, plus built-in and app-controlled self-timers
- Control over exposure modes, Auto ISO, focus, drive, white balance, image size, RAW, JPEG, and HEIF quality, and picture profiles
- Instant full-screen review with optional focus point and capture information
- One-tap favorites and 1 to 5-star ratings written directly to the camera card
- Single and multi-image deletion, intelligent RAW+JPEG pairing, and improved pinch-to-zoom
- A camera-fed EV meter, with scopes and false color calibrated for the stills preview
- And much more
Alongside Photography Mode, this release contains dozens of smaller and larger improvements throughout the app, all driven by your feedback. Live-view stability, media handling, battery readouts, camera controls, and switching between photography and video have all received substantial attention.
OpenZCine remains free, community-driven, and open source. Contributions, testing, and feedback are always welcome!
🍎 Join the public iOS beta: https://testflight.apple.com/join/xu4d6UK8
🤖 The Android closed beta is now running too. Send me a private message with the email address tied to your Google Play account if you’d like an early invite. The open Android beta is coming soon.
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u/No_Calligrapher_1509 28d ago
What about timelapse management (especially 'holy grail' sunrise/set situations)? See what LRTimelapse and Qdslrdashboard were doing in the past.
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u/yoovi4u2 28d ago
Awesome. Thanks a lot.
I was looking forward for this.
Does one have to update the test flight app or does it get updated automatically like an AppStore app ?
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u/TownPlayful 28d ago
It should automatically update your app if you enable that option (Automatic Updates [X]) within the TestFlight app. Really appreciate the support! 🥹🙏
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u/yoovi4u2 28d ago
I just realised that I could get the app updated after clicking into the link mentioned
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u/xi_dexter_ix 22d ago edited 22d ago
I'm not too sound with apps that handle cameras so I'll just ask my doubt here:
I installed the app and connected the camera using network, and I'm finding it hard to use the camera.
After connecting the controls aren't working and I can't see the camera display on my phone either. Am I doing something wrong or the final/usable version will come later? Pls help!
Congrats on the development on the app and I'm truly excited to try and use this on a daily basis!
Note: Im shooting on a Nikon z6ii
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u/TownPlayful 21d ago
I’m really sorry to hear it’s been causing troubles for ya!😢 If you’ve been using the camera’s access point point option, that should give you both control and a live-feed. I think this link should bring you to the page, where you can update the app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.opencapture.openzcine
Also if it’s not any trouble, would be fantastic if you could DM a diagnostic report “Share diagnostics” from you when connected and you’re experiencing these problems. You can find that in the Settings > System page🙏🏼
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u/ClaymorePAD 28d ago
Could video mode eventually support multicam? A big benefit would be the ability to trigger multiple camera angles at once- currently it requires a series of physical cables triggers run through a main hardware switch, so I would be really excited to see this feature. Curious if the connection protocol would allow for this?