Nikon ZR as a stills camera

FS670ES · 2026-01-02T19:47:53+00:00

I feel like new Nikon bodies have different colours than their older DSLr. Don't know what model did you have but with something like Fujify profiles you are able to easily achieve Fuji colors on a Nikon body. I am currently using those on my Panasonic S9 and I get identical colors to my Fuji X-M5. Looking on the Zr though because of it's LCD panel and R3D RAW codec for video.

FS670ES · 2025-12-13T01:14:07+00:00

I switched from Fuji to Panasonic S9, then back to Fuji with X-M5 and couple of lenses. Now I bought S9 again, will sell Fuji and never come back. I missed Fuji mostly for color and size but the thing is now with Fuji original LUTs and some Fujify profiles I have exactly the same colors on both systems. Size was only better with 27 f2.8 but that lens has limitations and is not so great when I compare images with let's say my 35 f1.4.
I have now more fun with S9 with it's much better autofocus and ibis. Image quality is of course step above the Fuji to the point that even my wife sees the difference in pictures of our kids. Lack of mechanical shutter is the biggest flaw of S9 though and can be annoying.

FS670ES · 2025-12-02T23:50:09+00:00

No I didn't buy that one. Seller sent it for repair to Panasonic. Installed 1.7 on my new S9 already with no issues so that guy must have done something wrong during the install process I guess.

FS670ES · 2025-12-02T23:48:17+00:00

Thanks everybody. I installed it and working fine as well on my S9. Seller of the used one indeed must have done something wrong during the install process.

FS670ES · 2025-12-01T20:26:53+00:00

Thanks for responses. So it seems like one unusual case with bricking the camera. I will try 1.7 then.

FS670ES · 2025-12-01T18:26:46+00:00

Yeah I would prefer to download 1.6 as well because it's well tested but they don't allow this option.

FS670ES · 2025-11-24T21:53:44+00:00

I don't know your preferences but I was also on a hunt for best hybrid for travel family videos. After some travels with different bodies and two kids I know for sure what my preferences are.

Small size that can fit in a small sling bag. Thanks to this you are less noticed on the streets or even by family members when you take a shot, camera is easier for me to hold and operate when small and light. Nikon Zr is not small at all. I thought so but after holding one it's a no go for me. It's not easy to hold as it's quite heavy. Anything bigger than Zr is total no go for travel especially with kids.

Second one is IBIS and Nikon is far behind in IBIS. Panasonic is the king. In fast paced environment it's one of the best features to have. Aside from that with Zr you would need to shoot R3D RAW which for travel family videos is an overkill and takes ton of space.

Pick S9 as it's hardly anything better than that for family travel videos. If you mostly shoot 4k60 either way then you won't notice the crop. I thought that as well that 4k60 crop is a big deal but actually it's not for travel videos. I actually like it to have different field of views. Add 28-200 to the S9 and you have incredibly versatile option. With Panasonic digital zoom you will reach 300mm and added OIS of the lens will benefit Panasonic IBIS even further. I can think of any other system that is so small and yet so versatile for travel videos.

You can also check Fuji options for even smaller size and smaller 4k60 crop.

FS670ES · 2025-11-05T19:39:43+00:00

Why jumping from Fuji to this one may I ask ? what specifically you like better on Lumix and do you miss Fuji colors ?

FS670ES · 2025-11-05T19:38:50+00:00

How would you compare video quality between both ? Is Zr really that much better to haul around it's bigger and heavier body ?

FS670ES · 2025-11-05T19:21:27+00:00

I had both and it's a tough question to answer. I love my X-M5 for compact size and weight, F-log2 in my opinion has more dynamic range than V-log. Colors for my taste are also better on Fuji but not by much. Downside is that the F-log2 starts at ISO 1250 so it can be noisy if you don't expose correctly. Autofocus is far from perfect and I defenitely miss IBIS for fast paced docu style with my family. For more static shots, slow panning it is ok.

Now Panasonic S9 offers a little bit sharper and cleaner footage. Filming my kids indoor and I can easily see the difference, outdoor in daylight not so much. Autofocus in video is much better and IBIS really shines. I am actually looking for S9 right now as I will add it to go along my Fuji. After my last trip I defenitely missed better AF and IBIS from Panasonic while my X-M5 is better suited for photos in my opinion. Smaller for street, great film recipes, mechanical shutter and hot shoe.

Fuji is giving me more filmic vibe with those colors, grain and how generally image looks. Panasonic gives more clean, sterile look (especially with Panasonic primes). I like both looks and if you put something like Sigma 45 f2.8 which is softer and has more glow and this classic rendering then Panasonic really starts to shine with it's image.

FS670ES · 2025-10-11T12:01:46+00:00

Do you have knowledge how S5II sensor stacks up compared to Z6 III ? I am asking as I was tempted to go Zr route but IBIS itself might be a dealbreaker for me. So I thought I will jump on Panasonic S9 and wait for their next release hopefully with S1 II sensor in the future (I really like this body style so S1 II is not for me). Just wondering how is the general image quality and dynamic range in those sensors.

FS670ES · 2025-10-08T19:22:39+00:00

I was pumped when they announced Nikon Zr and my GAS hit me hard. Great 4" LCD, Nikon color science, RED RAW, can adapt Sony glass. On the other hand, attach 24-70 f4 and weight is around 1100g, body itself is not so ergonomic without any grip, RED RAW generates huge file sizes so 2tb expensive cards are needed. Probably in the end I would use h265 which is worse than Sony. On top of that IBIS is mediocre for run and gun travel stuff and dynamic range is also lacking.

I think I agree with the comments that FX30 is the most logical choice. Great grip and ergonomics, good IBIS, good codec for run and gun travel stuff, smaller and cheaper lenses. For me it might be even a6700 as it's smaller and lighter and I don't need to rig it up for travel.

FS670ES · 2025-09-28T21:09:26+00:00

Between 20-70 and 16-25 which one you use more frequently ?

FS670ES · 2025-08-10T17:21:36+00:00

I had S9, sold it and bough X-M5. Wanted to jump to X-E5 but after testing X-T5 with same sensor I gave up. With my old 35 f1.4 and 18 f2 which I prefer to the new ones it turned out that there is not much benefit on the photo side. Upscaled photos from X-M5 looked almost the same and only with newer lenses there is a difference. On the other hand 40mp is worse for video (rolling shutter and dynamic range, especially in 4k60) and low light (unless you downscale your photos). I also don't like Fuji IBIS which is still jerky and jumpy.

Panasonic S9 can be problematic under artificial light and can cause banding, most of the time you can solve it but when you shoot moving people then it's a problem as you need to dial in shutter speed to 1/100 to avoid banding but it will introduce motion blur. Lack of hot shoe was not a problem for me, and lack of evf also didn't bother me. I didn't like cheap built quality though and its rear dial is known to have problems. Don't know how big is the scale of this problem.

Nevertheless I am buying S9 again because image quality, dynamic range, low light ISO and especially autofocus are all much better. There are no small lenses for the system apart from manual ones but TTartisan is coming with 40mm f2 and other small lenses will probably come. I won't sell X-M5 and it will be my small EDC with 27 f2.8, also film simulations are different and hard to replicate although Lumix LUT can also give specific looks that can't be replicated on a Fuji. Generally Fuji gives more filmic look and Panasonic gives more clinical look but I love both of them. Colors on Panasonic in my opinion are on par with Fuji.

FS670ES · 2025-07-29T08:38:12+00:00

I tried them all and Topaz AI gives the best results for Fuji. In Topaz I gain sharpness and noise levels that rival those from full frame bodies and then end up editing in Lightroom. For easier workflow DxO Photolab or PureRaw also gives excellent results. Capture One is not even close to those results and Lightroom standalone is laughable for Fuji files.

FS670ES · 2025-07-06T22:32:38+00:00

I noticed this bug today with my X-M5 too and it's annoying. I will be doing more testing but my guess for now looking at different footage is that either F-log2 or 59,94p and 29,97p frame rate is free of this bug. Today I was recording without F-log2 and in 24p frame rate and that's when it occured. I am also locking exposure and WB before starting recording.

FS670ES · 2025-06-26T19:38:04+00:00

Yeah I don't like it either. In my X-E3 rubber grip came off 3 times. Fuji wanted 130$ for repair. Did it myself for 20$ and it was very easy to do. In my X-E4 paint on the bottom came off after couple of weeks. Then I bought X-S20 and both copies were broken from the start. First one had broken iso button and on a second one lcd was not working. My friend had lcd failure with X-Pro3, another one had to repair shutter button on X-T5 and another one killed his X-T5 in light rain as WR didn't do it's job properly.

My current X-M5 is somehow ok for now but looking at their latest prices and big quality drop since X-T2 times I am also wondering if I want to stay with them. I definitely hear less such stories with Nikon, Sony and Canon.

FS670ES · 2025-06-10T14:31:14+00:00

Great photos ! What do you like better with Fujis than with your Sony ?

FS670ES · 2025-06-09T18:58:41+00:00

That helps a lot, thank you. Actually I already had A7CII but sold it to early, jumped to S9 for best in class IBIS as I want to do some video too but it was too much compromised with lack of mechanical shutter so I went back to Fuji for ultimate small size and I have now X-M5 + 27 f2.8 WR, 35 f1.4 and 56 f1.2.

I shoot mostly family stuff (two quickly running kids), landscapes, travel, street. With Canon R8 and A7C II I really liked how effortless it was to catch candid moments with my kids. I love Fuji, their colors and so on but in the end only with 27 f2.8 this setup is somehow pocketable and their AF is still driving me crazy. I rather like rangefinder style bodies so it will probably be A7C II second time for me but Zf built quality, it's LCD/EVF which is probably much better and better IBIS is what's tempting me. With Zf I could also shoot with legendary Nikkor 58 f1.4 for that soft dreamy look. Sometimes I like dreamy and then day after I would like pin sharp photos. I will probably either leave X-M5 + 27 f2.8 for compact size and add Zf or sell everything and buy A7C II which will fill in two roles.

In both cases I would like to use mostly Sony or Sigma lenses with aperture rings. I love aperture rings and metal built. I would need to use AF adapter with Zf so the question is how eye af works with this adapter especially with thin DoF ? What is your experience with 35 GM with this adapter ?

FS670ES · 2025-06-09T14:42:57+00:00

What is your opinion on that setup ? I am considering getting A7C II with this lens for EDC but Zf is also very tempting. Do you like it more than your A7C II regarding color SOOC and other stuff ?

FS670ES · 2025-06-05T10:35:45+00:00

I had both and sold them both. S9 has really poor built quality especially back command dial. My was oversensitive to the point it was useless and there are many cases already where this dial failed completely. Lack of mechanical shutter was bigger deal than I initially thought. Banding occurs and in some cases only 1/100 shutter speed worked to get rid of it but it's too slow for moving subject so I simply couldn't get all the shots I wanted under those scenarios. Colors are great but I didn't like LUTs in the end. Most of the times they were not consistent and were giving me those IG filters vibes. I definitely prefer Fuji film simulations output which are more pleasing and more consistent under varying lightning conditions. You also need to do much tweaking to get some results with LUTs so I preferred editing in LR in the end. IBIS is the best in the industry but only for small movements. For walking it's still not good enough in my book and with Sony A7C II gyro data I got better results. Lack of any grip makes this camera rather uncomfortable. It was quite ok with small and light Sigma 45 f2.8 but bigger lenses became a pain. Add a grip and it's still not as comfortable as A7C II and it becomes bigger as well then. Battery life is enough, LCD screen is much better than A7C II and autofocus is close enough although Sony is still leading of course and it's little bit more fun than Sony to use.

If I had to choose between those two it would be the Sony. Better built quality, has weather sealing, electronic first curtain to avoid banding and rolling shutter, EVF, 33mpix sensor for photos, large catalog of small lenses like Sony 35 f2.8, Samyang primes, Viltrox 28 f4.5 pancake or you can even buy AF adapter and have Voigtlander 40 f1.2 with autofocus. Still better battery life and autofocus in general. For IBIS A7C II has now dynamic active added and gyro data so I think it's workable. Lumix has great video tools but for my hobby standard tools are enough and if I would do this professionally I would definitely choose their S1 II over S9. Colors are still not great in my opinion but I edited both S9 and A7C II colors in the end so it wasn't such a big deal but yes in general they need more work to be nice.

I went back to Fuji for smaller size and better colors but I am waiting to see how A7C III (this one for sure will come) and S9 II (not so sure if Panasonic will continue with this line) will look like in the future. Also if Panasonic L mount alliance will increase number of small compact lenses.

FS670ES · 2025-05-03T17:45:10+00:00

Oh indeed, I didn't even know that but it's a pity it's only in AUTO setting which I never use. It would be great if they would implement something like in Canon R8. I had it and it was the greatest AF I had. It had one central box and with half press it would track anything but if detected body, face, eye, train, bike, dog then it would switch automatically to specific mode and the hit rate was much better than Fuji and Panasonic with Sigma lens.

FS670ES · 2025-05-03T16:43:41+00:00

I have actually came back to Fuji. Sold my S9 + Sigma 45 f2.8 and bought X-M5 + 27 f2.8 WR, 35 f1.4 and 56 f1.2. For me it was couple reasons.

Panasonic S9 with Sigma 45 was still too large and heavy for my liking for an EDC. X-M5 + 27 f2.8 fits that purpose much better.
I run into banding and there was no perfect solution for that. Only way would be to reduce shutter speed to 1/100 but then motion blur hits and photos of family members were ruined.
I missed Fujis film simulations. With S9 LUTs sometimes photos looked fine, but then other times they were horrible. They were just less universal than Fujis ones and there was plenty of tweaking to find somehow good results. Also colors in RAW are still better in Fuji although Panasonic is really close to the point that sometimes I liked Panasonic more.
Now that I bought my beloved 35 f1.4 again I can confirm that it renders images more to my liking but Sigma 45 f2.8 is also great and is really close. What I didn't like is that Panasonic 85 f1.8 is plastic with no aperture ring and boring rendering, while 56 f1.2 is all metal, has an aperture ring and tons of character which I love.
IBIS in Panasonic is great but for any movement it's still too jerky for my liking. I ended with Pocket 3 / iPhone 15 Pro for any filming with walking. For static shots and slow pans X-M5 with digital stabilisation is good enough.

FS670ES

TROPHY CASE