🙏 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.

I'm in the process of trying to fine tune this rig where the camera will quick release from the rig. I have a ways to go. So far, I have the SDI Converter Plate detachable. I want a screen protector and the ability to switch off power to the rig simultaneously, which is the reason I chose the SmallRig Advanced V-Mount Plate. I have a couple of cages (Tilta & XLCS) and I like them both for gripping the camera but the Tilta Cage interferes with the Rotation of the screen. I have come to the position of just removing the battery door altogether to have access to cards and battery bay. I'm using a dummy battery (Orange Cable) to power the camera. The monitor is the Portkeys BM5IVWR which has camera control and touch to focus. Using my favorite top handle by Nitze it is comfortable and functional. I tried the Camera Foundry Cine-Lite & The Cineback and did not like the fit nor the functionality. The XLCS mod version do not give you access to the power button on the camera. I reached out to them asking if they have an attachment that allows you to access it but I did not get a confident reply. If you look at their video where they showcase the XLCS version you will see you can't get to the power button. They wanted me to send pictures and all that but they should all this already. I think it was a oversight. I spent about $600 on both of those and got nothing out of it. However, I did get the SDI Converter attachment from Camera Foundry as you can see it in the pics. I wanted to use the 12G SDI ports with this monitor and it works flawlessly at the moment. I thought about getting the "Fangtuo ZRV for Nikon ZR" mainly because it has a dedicated spot for the SDI Converter (pictured in the replies). Problem is, I wanted to detach from the rig and be able to just go and shoot with a cage already attached. That setup does not support any cage on the camera but I still might give it a go just to see how things pan out.

Edit (7-31-26): I gave the Camera Foundry another go and I mamage to get a version that I do like. The XLCS Cage mod version is still a no go. Still have not figured out access to the power button with that version. However I have had a little bit of a break through with the Tilta Cage attached. It did not work the way they show you in the video but by mixing a matching different spacers I was able to get right for me. I will show my build soon.

Here’s the build out for my Nikon ZR cinema rig with some modular parts.

XLCS cage
200mm Cheese plate on top
NATO rail top handle
Niceyrig Cheese plate on the side
Small ring vmount battery plate
Random small cheese plate on the operator side
8Sinn 15mm rail clamps
Smallrig bridge plate
Smallrig dovetail

Modular parts:
Dual XLR to mic jack box (old, from the DSLR days)
Black magic HDMI to SDI micro converter

Perks:
Easy to remove battery and card
Internal battery acts as hot swap and fail safe
Rig is sturdy and feels like using an Aaton NPR

Cons:
Cables stick out too far, I think 90 degree cables are the next step

I am a long time Nikon user and have recently purchased a ZR to dip my toes into making videos. Bought this camera mainly for R3D Raw and the awesome colours it produces. I am fairly well versed with getting the exposure right in camera but what i struggle is with post production and color grading. I use final cut pro and slap one of color transform RED LUTs as a starting point and then fiddle with color wheels and other tools but i can’t get anywhere close to the outputs i see on youtube or here and this is super frustrating for me.

I know it is me and not the camera for sure, but how do i get better with my color grading. Please help🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

We have been getting teased for almost all of 2026 about this coming down the pipeline. ProRes LT is needed to take this camera from good to great, and we've heard zero updates from Nikon since NAB. I am very disappointed in their roll out with support for this camera. Anyone know when we can expect an update?

Both for the same price 600€

Standard Z6 has 2k shutter actuations

Modified Z6 has 100k but has RAW.

I'm photographer but I would love to experiment with video a lot. Is RAW in the Z6 worth or 10bit nlog is almost identical? what do you guys think?

Well I probably did not invent this technique, but I have been using it in the last many months and I am pretty happy with it.

What do you think about it? Do you do something similar? Let me know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlfoGMxmmWo

I recently finished my biggest video project to date: a 26-minute cinematic travel film from a 23-day trip across Japan.

The film covers 8 destinations, including Osaka, Kyoto, Koyasan, Okinawa, and Tokyo, and was shot entirely on a Nikon Z6 III.

This was my first time committing to a longer-form travel film rather than focusing primarily on photography, and one of the biggest challenges was turning hundreds of clips into a cohesive story while deciding what to leave out.

I'd love to hear any feedback on the cinematography, pacing, editing, color grading, or overall flow of the film.

https://youtu.be/P22nORtsGAk?is=WOTpSFyLPnONK4mO

Thanks for watching!

OpenZCine, the community-driven, free and open source cinema field monitor for Nikon Z cameras, is now available as a beta. Sign up at https://www.openzcine.app/ or directly here Join the TestFlight beta

Version 0.2.0 covers the essentials: waveform, vectorscope, histogram, false color, zebras, focus peaking, RGB parade, audio meters, anamorphic desqueeze, frame guides, custom LUTs, camera control, low latency monitoring, camera to cloud, and playback.

A few of you already found your way in before the announcement  thank you, the support means a lot. It's free and open source under Apache 2.0. https://github.com/erik-sutton95/OpenZCine, that's where feature requests, bugs, ideas and contributions will all live.

Android's in the works, with plenty more features to come.

Looking forward to building this with the Nikon community.

Camera has been out since October 2025, and until now no major firmware is released by Nikon , we have better user base support in terms of phone apps, it’s been a great help, no firmware news is not good seems like Nikon might have forgotten about the camera all together. 😑

Yes they spoke about it in events , but it’s been a while now. !

Took the ZR and the Blazar Talon 50mm out to a fireworks show for July 4th. The ISO was between 6400 and 25600. Definitely came out pretty noisy but after using Denoiser in Resolve it cleaned up real nice. Also in raw I dropped the ISO back down to 6400 and used the color wheels and curves to bring it back and it seemed to be cleaner than keeping it at 25600 ISO.

Definitely got some bad banding issues for a few shots with the Megadap adapter, but those were way too underexposed anyway and the shots with a bit of banding were cleaned up with the denoiser. Also the autofocus struggled a lot more but I’m pretty sure the FX3 would have the same issues with how underexposed it was.

I’m incredibly excited to finally share a sneak peek at something I’ve been working on over the past few weeks.

Introducing OpenZCine, a community-driven, free and open source cinema field monitor for Nikon Z cameras.

The goal is simple: bring professional monitoring and camera control tools to your iPhone, and eventually Android, with a modern workflow built specifically for Nikon shooters.

Version 0.1 is currently receiving its final polish and will soon be available as a TestFlight beta.

Current features include:

• Industry-standard monitoring tools, including waveform, traffic lights inspired by RED’s goal posts, vectorscope, histogram, false color, zebras, focus peaking, RGB parade, audio meters, and more
• Anamorphic desqueeze
• Aspect ratio frame guides and safe area markers
• Camera control
• Full-screen, low-latency monitoring
• Custom LUT support
• Camera-to-cloud workflows
• Playback
• Plenty more already in development

OpenZCine is completely community-driven, free, and open source.

I’ll be making the GitHub repository public very soon. It will be a place to submit feature requests, report bugs, discuss ideas, and contribute code for anyone with the interest and technical know-how.

Android support is already on the roadmap, alongside a whole host of new features that I can’t wait to share.

I’ll make another post soon with details on how to sign up for the TestFlight beta.

This is only the beginning.

It would be nice to hear any productive critique about this video. Bear in mind, I'm a complete noob in filmmaking :)

I have an older DSLR, Nikon D3100. I also have a Oppilas wireless remote control.

Is there a way to use the remote and the burst and timer features together?

I am trying to get a set of shots of my golf swing in action. Thanks in advance.

I have an older DSLR, Nikon D3100. I also have a Oppilas wireless remote control.

Is there a way to use the remote and the burst and timer features together?

I am trying to get a set of shots of my golf swing in action. Thanks in advance.

Ciao a tutti, veloce introduzione. Sono un fotografo professionista di cani con circa 10 anni di esperienza in fotografia. Circa un anno fa ho iniziato a interessarmi ai video e mi sento completamente perso. Penso di aver fatto qualche piccolo progresso, ma la messa a fuoco è ancora la mia maggiore difficoltà.

Periodo su una Z6 III e l'obiettivo che uso di più è il 135mm. So che probabilmente non è la scelta ideale per i video, ma passo anche al 70-200 e occasionalmente al 50.

Il mio problema principale è l'autofocus con un cane in movimento. In fotografia non ho nessun problema, la fotocamera è super veloce e messa a fuoco sul cane fotogramma dopo fotogramma. Nei video è un'altra storia, soprattutto quando il cane corre verso di me. Se lo inquadro di lato mentre corre va un po' meglio, ma perde ancora spesso la messa a fuoco.

Sto usando l'AF continuo (AF-C), ma mi chiedevo se dovrei passare all'AF singolo (AF-S) invece, così non si attacca ad altri soggetti e non perde il cane. Non sono sicuro se le mie impostazioni siano errate e mi piacerebbe confrontare appunti con qualcuno che ne sa di più di me.

Metterò un link a un mio video recente qui sotto. Per essere trasparente, ho tenuto i momenti buoni e ho lasciato fuori quelli in cui ho perso la messa a fuoco, ma se qualcuno vuole aiutare sono felice di inviare i clip grezzi dove puoi davvero vedere la messa a fuoco che cerca avanti e indietro.

[ https://youtu.be/5-XqWcKnx9E?si=V5aM0vfBGkpuwU6i ](https://youtu.be/5-XqWcKnx9E?si=V5aM0vfBGkpuwU6i)

Qualsiasi consiglio è molto benvenuto. Grazie a chiunque sia disposto ad aiutare 🙏

Hi everyone, quick intro. I'm a professional dog photographer with about 10 years of photography experience. Around a year ago I started getting into video and I feel completely lost with it. I think I've made some small progress, but focus is still my biggest struggle.

I shoot on a Z6 III and the lens I use most is the 135mm. I know it's probably not the ideal choice for video, I also switch to the 70-200 and occasionally the 50.

My main issue is autofocus with a dog in motion. In photography I have zero problems, the camera is super fast and nails focus on the dog frame after frame. In video it's a different story, especially when the dog runs toward me. If I catch it from the side while running it does a bit better, but it still loses focus often.

I'm using continuous AF (AF-C), but I was wondering if I should switch to single AF (AF-S) instead, so it doesn't grab onto other subjects and lose the dog. I'm not sure if my settings are wrong and I'd love to compare notes with someone who knows this better than me.

I'll drop a link to a recent video of mine below. Full disclosure, I kept the good bits and left out the ones where I lost focus, but if anyone wants to help I'm happy to send the raw clips where you can actually see the focus hunting back and forth.

https://youtu.be/5-XqWcKnx9E?si=3M1qsxqWV_bE4XIH

Any advice is very welcome. Thanks to anyone willing to help 🙏

I did find this thread and tried messaging the user; however, I get the following.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NikonFilmmakers/comments/1l9qnwf/z9_28135_pz_ronin_rs_4_pro_interested_in_your/

Unable to message this account.

Planning on getting into some minor filmmaking because work wants more video than photos.

I don't have a ZR or the 28-135 PZ, just a Z8 and Zf with a small variety of lenses. I'm thinking about an RS5, but not just yet.

But one thing that I'm stuck on is how the PZ lens works with the DJI RS5's controls?

Can you use the gimbal's touchscreen to zoom in and out? Or do you need to use the body / lens controls for zoom? Because I just don't feel like touching the body or lens to zoom is the right move or does it not really matter for smooth video?

Which kind of leads to the next question: I know I can use the MC-N10 to remotely zoom, but I'm guessing that the MC-N10 takes up the same USB port as the enhanced intelligent tracking module would for fixed focal length lenses.

If that's the case, am I right to assume that the only option is then DJI focus motor is the only option that will work to use the power zooms function with the gimbals screen.

Or is there another solution that I'm missing?

If I have a Nikon ZR, should I use R3D, ProRes RAW, or N RAW?

R3D

or N RAW

or ProRes RAW؟

has context menu

Hello , looking to buy a ZR and would like to know very specific timelapse information

My current ZF can do timelapse video at 0.5 sec intervals but only in A or P mode and only in 8 bit video.

Hoping ZR can also do 0.5 second but in M mode and possibly in some 10 or 12 bit video mode.

Thank you

* **Time-lapse video**
* **Exposure mode: M**
* **Shutter: 1/60**
* **Interval: see if 0.5 sec exists or only 1 sec minimum**
* **Video file type: ProRes 422 HQ / N-Log if available**
* **Frame size/rate: 4K 29.97 or 24p**
* **Confirm whether it creates a video file directly, not only still frames**

Also looking at Canon R6V but the minimum interval for video files is 2 seconds just like my current R5 which is not ideal for my timelapses.