[0:00] The Nikon ZR is the new camera on the
[0:02] block. And one of its biggest questions
[0:04] is filming an H.265. Is it actually any
[0:07] good or is it one big smudgy old mess?
[0:09] What's up? My name's Royce and welcome
[0:11] to my channel where I talk about all
[0:12] things film and tech. And today, I'm not
[0:14] wasting your time. We're talking about
[0:15] H.265 with a Nikon ZR. Is it good? I say
[0:19] absolutely yes, it is good. I'm not here
[0:21] for the views. I'm not trying to string
[0:23] you along for the whole video. H.265 on
[0:26] the Nikon ZR is good. Do not listen to
[0:28] those initial reviews saying H.265 265
[0:30] is unusable in this camera because it is
[0:32] absolutely not true. As soon as I got
[0:34] this camera, that's the first thing I
[0:36] tested because to me that's what makes
[0:38] the Nikon ZR so important and the price
[0:41] point that it comes in and all the
[0:42] different codecs that it can film in.
[0:44] You can shoot in all the RAWs, you know,
[0:45] or with that H.265 or even H.264, you
[0:48] can get that more compressed image for
[0:50] those smaller file sizes, you know, for
[0:53] projects that aren't as big where you
[0:55] don't need RAW. So, hearing early
[0:56] reviews say H.265 265 was practically
[0:59] unusable or not good to look at. That
[1:02] really hurt because that I feel like was
[1:04] what made this camera so unique. And
[1:06] that's why I'm so glad I didn't listen
[1:07] to those initial reviews. I kind of went
[1:09] with my initial hunch thinking like, you
[1:11] know, I don't believe you and got it
[1:13] anyway. It's not just good, it's really
[1:15] good. I am shooting in H.265 right now
[1:18] in this video. So, you can already tell
[1:21] if you're watching this and you think
[1:22] this looks pretty decent, especially for
[1:23] a YouTube deliverable, then there's your
[1:25] answer. Yes, it's a little bit softer
[1:27] than shooting RAW. Absolutely. Of
[1:28] course, it's going to be. But for what
[1:29] most people are going to use it for,
[1:31] it's perfectly fine. And just to do some
[1:33] further tests, I took my kids to a
[1:34] pumpkin patch. Really harsh lighting,
[1:36] different lighting conditions there. I
[1:38] wanted to see how the footage would hold
[1:39] up in H.265. So, I just want to show you
[1:42] guys that footage. You could judge for
[1:44] yourself. And just so you know, all the
[1:45] footage you're about to see was shot in
[1:47] H.265 10 bit in NLog. And all I did was
[1:50] throw on the red NLOG film by that
[1:53] I downloaded from Nikon. No other grade
[1:56] has been done. Nothing else. I literally
[1:58] threw the L on, put it in my timeline.
[2:00] So, check that out. Let me know what you
[2:02] guys think.
[2:45] And just to compare, I did do a shot one
[2:47] in H.26510 26510 bit and in Red Raw just
[2:50] to kind of see the difference here. And
[2:52] again, honestly, in my opinion, the
[2:55] difference is so negligible, especially
[2:58] in this situation, right? This type of
[2:59] shot, unless it was going to be in a
[3:01] movie or some type of documentary, what
[3:03] have you and RAW, you'd want to go that
[3:05] route. But for me, this is just me
[3:07] documenting my son. It's a really cool
[3:09] moment. H.265 is the way to go. And
[3:12] throwing it up on the internet, you're
[3:13] not going to know the difference. If I
[3:14] told you all these shots were Red Raw,
[3:17] most of you guys would probably believe
[3:18] it. You know, the pixel peepers would
[3:20] probably be able to decipher it, but
[3:22] most people would be like, "Well, this
[3:23] camera looks great. Red Raw. Awesome."
[3:24] Me included, most likely. So, again, in
[3:26] my humble opinion, H.265 is more than
[3:28] usable. It looks freaking great. And the
[3:30] reason why this is a big deal is because
[3:32] of those compression rates and for this
[3:34] camera for being $2,100
[3:37] to have the option to go as high of a
[3:40] bit rate as Red RAW, ProRes RAW, N RAW,
[3:45] all that stuff to make it look as
[3:47] amazing as you can, but then when you
[3:50] just want to dial things down a bit, go
[3:52] to H.265, still get 10 bit so you retain
[3:54] more information for color grading and
[3:56] all that good stuff. It honestly can't
[3:58] be beat. I'm loving this camera, man.
[4:00] The image out of this thing is insane.
[4:02] Going back to those shots at the pumpkin
[4:03] patch with a grade on it, you can get
[4:05] some really cool images without even
[4:07] trying, honestly. Of course, proper
[4:09] exposure, framing your image, all that's
[4:11] important, making stuff look good. But
[4:12] if you know what you're doing, you're
[4:14] good to go. So, if you currently have a
[4:15] ZR and you've been nervous about
[4:16] shooting it, H.265, it's all good.
[4:18] You're still going to get a really good
[4:20] image. If you've been on the fence of
[4:21] getting a ZR, you know, I'm not going to
[4:23] tell you where to put your money, what
[4:25] to invest in. But what I can say is if
[4:27] you're someone like me who is a
[4:30] freelancer and is highly uh dependent or
[4:33] it's important to be able to have
[4:35] different types of filming options
[4:37] within your camera, but for it to still
[4:39] be versatile and convenient, I would
[4:42] highly recommend checking this camera
[4:43] out and consider getting it because you
[4:46] can now with these codecs bump up your
[4:48] line of work depending on what the
[4:50] budget is and what you're working on.
[4:52] Right? If you know the budget's a little
[4:54] bit smaller, the deliverables aren't as
[4:56] crazy, H.265 it all the way. But if
[4:58] you're shooting more of a professional
[5:00] commercial type thing that's going to
[5:01] need that higher quality or the best
[5:03] quality possible, you can bump up to
[5:06] either Red RAW and RAW Pro Red Raw,
[5:08] whatever the RAW offerings you want to
[5:09] do. It gives you that versatility to
[5:11] shoot however you want. So yeah, that's
[5:14] it for this video. Sorry if it was a
[5:15] little bit of a ramble, but if you found
[5:17] this video helpful, please like and
[5:19] subscribe to the channel to see more
[5:20] content like this. And until next time,
[5:22] I'll catch y'all