Why the Nikon ZR Makes Me Feel Like It's 2007 Again (but without the pain)

By Jacob Schwarz

In 2007, I convinced our university to take a $17,500 bet on a camera nobody had heard of.

The RED One was supposed to change everything. It did, just not in the way we expected. We got 4K resolution years before anyone knew what to do with it. We got R3D files and 4K uploads that took 18 hours to reach YouTube (when they didn’t fail halfway through). We got a front-row seat to the future of digital cinema, paid for with countless all-nighters babysitting render queues and upload bars that seemed to move backward.

However, here’s what most people get wrong about that era: I didn’t fall in love with RED because it was easy. I fell in love with it because it made me a better storyteller.

Every frustration. Every failed upload. Every workflow bottleneck. Every “why won’t this render?” forced me to think differently about my craft. RED didn’t just give me resolution. It gave me a new language for visual storytelling. When I finally owned my own Epic-MX and became one of the first creators to successfully deliver 4K content to YouTube, I realized something: The struggle wasn’t a bug. It was the feature that separated me as a filmmaker from the pack.

Now, 18 years later, I’m more excited about a camera announcement than I’ve been since we unboxed that first RED One.

The Nikon ZR shouldn’t exist, but it does, and it changes everything.

Here’s why this hybrid cinema camera represents the most significant leap forward for RED since Jim Jannard first promised us “4K for $17K,” and why we’ve already secured multiple units for rental at Enigma 3.

The Merger Nobody Saw Coming (And What It Actually Means)

When Nikon acquired RED Digital Cinema in April 2024, the internet had opinions. RED purists worried about dilution. Nikon shooters couldn’t imagine their DSLR company building cinema cameras. Most people assumed this was just corporate consolidation. A big company buying a smaller one, filing the patents away, and moving on.

They were all wrong.

The Nikon-RED merger isn’t about acquisition. It’s about synthesis. Nikon didn’t buy RED to own it. They bought it to complete it.

Think about what RED always excelled at: color science, codec efficiency, and modular design philosophy. Now think about what RED always struggled with: autofocus, mass-market distribution, and hybrid camera versatility (which is what makes the Sony Cinema line great, more on that later).

Nikon brings world-class optics, the Z-mount ecosystem, Expeed processing, and decades of making cameras people actually want to carry. RED brings 15+ stops of dynamic range, R3D RAW recording, and a color pipeline that’s been battle-tested on everything from indie docs to Marvel movies.

The ZR is what happens when those two philosophies stop competing and start collaborating.

What the ZR Actually Delivers (and why it's not just another hybrid)

Let’s cut through the spec sheet and talk about what this camera means: the form factor you wished your cinema camera had

At 1.19 lbs (540g), the ZR weighs less than most mirrorless cameras with a battery grip. It’s 133mm wide; about the size of a Sony FX3 or Canon C70. However, here’s the difference. Inside that compact magnesium body, you’re getting internal 6K/60fps and 4K/120fps recording in RED’s R3D NE codec.

Not external. Not a paid upgrade. Not “coming in a firmware update.”

Internal. R3D. RAW.

If you’ve been in this industry long enough, you know that sentence shouldn’t be possible at this size and price point.

The Specs That Sound Incremental (but aren’t)

• 24.5MP full-frame sensor (same as Z6 III) with 15+ stops of dynamic range

• Expeed 7 processor with AI-driven autofocus (9 subject categories, tracks faces as small as 3% of frame)

• In-body VR stabilization: 7.5 stops of compensation

• Fan-less magnesium body: 125 minutes of continuous recording with passive cooling

• 4-inch, 3.07-million-dot touchscreen (1,000 nits, full DCI-P3 gamut)

• 32-bit float audio recording

• Shutter angle control: 5.6° to 360°

• Records in R3D NE, N-RAW, ProRes RAW, ProRes 422 HQ, H.265, and H.264

But here’s what the spec sheet doesn’t tell you:

This is the first RED camera that doesn’t require you to commit to being a RED shooter. You’re not building a $40K rig. You’re not buying into a closed ecosystem. You’re not explaining to your client why you need two cases of batteries and a dedicated DIT.

You’re picking up a camera that weighs slightly more than a burrito and shooting cinema-grade RAW.

The FX3 proved that filmmakers wanted a compact, versatile form factor. The ZR proves I don’t have to compromise image quality to get it.

Why This Matters for Enigma 3 (and why it should matter to you)

When we decided to bring multiple Nikon ZR cameras into our rental inventory, it wasn’t just about having the latest gear.

It was about democratizing access to cinema-grade imaging.

For years, there’s been a gap between:

• Hybrid cameras (FX3, C70, GH7) with compressed codecs

• Cinema cameras (DSMC3, Alexa Mini, Venice) with RAW workflows

The ZR fills that gap. You can shoot internal R3D RAW without the overhead of a large cinema camera.

This is what I wish had existed in 2007:

• A camera that feels like a mirrorless hybrid

• Records like a cinema camera

• Costs like a prosumer tool

• Fits into any production workflow, from solo documentary shoots to multi-cam commercial productions

What Comes Next

Komodo was RED’s smart skunkworks move. It shipped a lower-cost body, tested new sensor and processing ideas in the wild, then leveled them up into the flagship line. Sony has played this playbook for years. Rapid prototype in hybrid cameras, prove reliability, then promote the wins to Venice and beyond. With Nikon now stewarding RED’s tech, expect that flywheel to spin faster. Innovation will rehearse on the affordable stage, where failure is fixable and iteration is fast. Then it will step up to the big leagues. I’d bet we’ll see more meaningful progress from RED in the next few years than we’ve seen in the last 18.

When those breakthroughs land, Enigma 3 will be ready, bringing the newest tools to your set the moment they’re ready for production.

We have multiple ZR units ready to rent at Enigma 3 right now. Whether you’re a solo creator who’s been waiting for internal RAW at this price point, or a production company looking for a compact cinema camera that integrates seamlessly with your existing workflow, the ZR delivers.

Ready to test the future of cinema-grade imaging?

Because the best camera is the one that doesn’t make you choose between quality and accessibility.

Book Your Nikon ZR Rental Now!

Jacob Schwarz has been pushing the boundaries of digital cinema since convincing his university to buy their first RED One in 2007. As a founder of Enigma 3, he’s committed to making cinema-grade tools accessible to storytellers at every level.