Nikon Zr hybrid photo/video cinema camera
The Nikon ZR is my first mirrorless camera, and it’s been a great introduction to hybrid shooting. It handles both stills and video really well, which makes it perfect for travel and creative projects.
I love the screen — it’s a perfect size and super useful for self-portraits and setting up shots with my wife — and the image quality is sharp and clean. Rolling shutter is something to be mindful of on this. My SB 700 flash works well on it. Being able to adapt my old Nikon F-mount lenses has been a nice way to to get used to the camera. It still requires some deep menu diving and time to set things up. There are some very useful YouTube videos that have been released in the last few weeks by Brandon Talbot. The nikkor 28mm f2.8 is an easy light intro lens for this body.
For video, the ZR produces beautiful footage in many codecs. I’ve even used the Sirui 40mm AF anamorphic lens with good results, though I do wish the camera had built-in anamorphic desqueeze. Anamorphic photography is also fun to mess around with on this.
It’s not without small trade-offs like not having open gate, not including RED traffic lights, but a lot of these aren’t completely necessary. Maybe Nikon will update things later, maybe not. Get the small rig grip if you think it’s hard to hold with bigger lenses. I think it’s great as a compact travel and video camera to make footage look cinematic. Switching to mirrorless from the d850 was easy with this. I still think the d850 is better in many ways for photos but the video footage that I created as a beginner on the ZR looked like a movie after minor editing on da vinci… and it was fun doing it with a small setup.. so for that, Nikon gets five stars.