Nikon Z9 shooters are (very!) mad at Adobe, as it announced that it paused work on adding N-RAW support to its video products, including Premiere Pro. PP users commented they will move to DaVinci Resolve instead.
We would like to let people here know that we have paused work on adding N-RAW support to our video products.
Adobe
Z9 shooters are begging for N-RAW support in Premiere Pro
The thread was initiated on January 2023 on the Adobe Premiere Pro community forum with the request: “Can we please get support for Nikon’s NRAW codec? Resolve and Edius already have it cooked up and ready to go. This reactive rather proactive approach to codec integration is really disappointing. First, it was ProRes RAW (still ongoing issues), and now NRAW. How about Adobe show Nikon shooters a bit of love here?”. This request caused many other requests showing Z9 shooting are begging for N-RAW support ton Premiere Pro. “Every day I learn Resolve just a little bit more. Please support N-RAW soon. The Z9 isn’t ubiquitous, but it is in the hands of a lot of people right now who are loving its video features. N-RAW is now the only format I shoot in, and I absolutely love it. I will leave Adobe if I have to. It has been out for months now and we get nary a peep from Adobe about supporting it, meanwhile, plenty of other programs have supported it for some time now. You’re driving us into the arms of BM and away from Adobe. Get it fixed” said PP users and Z9 shooters. “Nikon isn’t going to get rid of N-Raw at this point. They will settle with Red in some way and it will be here to stay. The Z-9 is a fantastic hybrid camera and will only get better. N-Raw is a very promising codec. I can edit B-Raw, and Prores Raw in the premiere so it seems like this shouldn’t be a big ask. Like everyone else on here if Adobe won’t support it then l will be headed to Davinci also, and from what I’m hearing that may not be a bad thing” said another. There were numerous comments on this asking from Adobe for the N-RAW support on PP.
Adobe’s answer: ‘No.’
In March 2024 (15 months after the N-RAW request) Adobe said ‘No’ by stating: “ We would like to let people here know that we have paused work on adding N-RAW support to our video products. When we have an update to share on potential future support for N-RAW, we will update this thread”. Thus, there’s no N-RAW support on Premiere Pro.
Is it connected to the Nikons’ acquisition?
This is a valid question. If R3D will replace the N-RAW, then the N-RAW will be vanished? As written, the final decision not to support N-RAW on PP was stated days after Nikon announced the acquisition. It’s possible that Adobe recalculated its route regarding the N-RAW, although it was said before the development of support was underway. Does PP have technological limitations to implement support of N-RAW? There are too many questions without a definite answer. However, for sure, N-RAW shooters will have to move from Adobe to another NLE or wait for R3D support on their Z9/Z8.
Product List
Here are the products mentioned in the article, and the links to purchase them from authorized dealers.
- Nikon Z9 Mirrorless Camera