Tipster Dizzy-Rule has brought to our attention a picture of the Nikon Z9 with the Blackmagic external recorder spotted on Nikon India’s official website. This is the first time the Z9 is attached to the Video Assist. Hence, most probably the Z9 will be capable of shooting BRAW as well, as its third flavor of RAW codec.
Nikon Z9: 3 flavors of RAW video
The Nikon Z9 is capable of shooting a confirmed two RAW codecs: ProRes RAW and N-RAW. According to Nikon, on a future firmware update (in 2022), the 8K recording options will be extended, offering 12-bit RAW 8K/60p in-camera: N-RAW (Nikon’s original RAW video format), and ProRes RAW HQ (in case of RED Digital Cinema will allow it). As for the N-RAW, it will be licensed by a company called intoPIX. If so, this new RAW titled TICO-RAW promises to reduce the bitrate of RAW video by a factor of 10 without impairing the quality. Hence, the N-RAW might be Z9’s secret weapon for video capturing. The guys at intoPIX say that their solutions open the way to new imaging workflows and new devices, reducing costs in HD, 4K, or even 8K, replacing uncompressed video, and always preserving the lowest latency with the highest quality. As stated by Nikon: “The new RAW format retains the same high image quality, dynamic range, and flexibility as conventional RAW files with approximately 1/3 smaller file size to speed up your workflow”. It’s important to emphasize that all is planned to be done internally. Moreover, according to a piece of new evidence, there’s a good chance that the Z9 will be capable of shooting a third RAW, which is Blackmagic RAW (BRAW).
Z9+ Blackmagic Video Assist spotted on Nikon India
Until this time, there’s no info regarding Nikon Z9 and BRAW. However, Reddit user Dizzy-Rule wrote on our forum about a picture that shows the Blackmagic Video Assist attached on the Z9 in Nikon India official website. Hence, there’s a solid probability that the Z9 will be capable of outputting BRAW via the Blackmagic recorder, just like the Z 6/Z 6II and Z 7/Z 7II. However, on the Z6 and Z7 you need to ship your camera to Nikon, and pay $200 for the privilege of capturing BRAW from the Video Assist. We’ll have to wait and see how it’s done in the Z9. Nevertheless, it is a piece of good news as the BRAW works flawlessly on DaVinci Resolve. To sum it up, if I’m not mistaken, the Niko Z9 is the first camera that will allow using 3 types of RAW codecs in that way (ProRes RAW + N-RAW internally, and BRAW).
Product List
Here’re the products mentioned in the article, and the links to purchase them from authorized dealers.
- Nikon Z9 Mirrorless Camera
- Blackmagic Design Video Assist 7″ 12G-SDI/HDMI HDR
Doesn’t the Sigma fp shoot 3 types already? CDNG, Pro-res Raw and Braw?
Thank you. I meant 2 RAW codecs internally. Changed the article a bit. Thx, Yossy