Two Things - Nikon Z mount option and HDRx in DSMC3

[Zack Birlew]

Hi, sorry if this has been asked before but has there been any word on making Nikon Z mount versions of Komodo, V-Raptor, and future DSMC3 cameras? Secondly, has there been any updates with HDRx with Komodo or V-Raptor for HDRx or has it possibly been dropped?

While Canon RF mount is useful as a mirrorless mount in its own right, with Nikon Z I can not only use Nikon Z lenses which have some very interesting third-party options but I can also use a simple adapter to use my existing Sony E lenses and adapters without having to double dip on especially expensive custom made odd vintage lens adapters.

 

[Phil Holland]

Personal take here and a fairly informed perspective when it comes to the camera world.

RED native Nikon Z-Mount? Extremely unlikely and that would be understatement. Nikon makes banging and awesome cameras and even decent glass, but their market share and market share in the industry as a whole is not in the same realm as Canon or Sony. Also, several manufacturers who tap into Sony sensors as their main imagers have something in common pertaining to lens compatibility or not. That's mostly theory though. But it's likely why you can use Sony lenses on Nikon and not the other way around.

Nikon however is entering the video space more aggressively as of late. If that can gain a lot, and I mean a lot of traction, there might be broader support.

Another thing to note, all of these recent mounts are proprietary protocols and general tech. All of which are licensed for a fee and such.

Z-Mount does benefit from having the shallowest flange focal distance of modern mirrorless mounts at 16mm (Canon RF = 20mm, L-Mount also 20mm, Sony E-Mount 18mm). This does make it potentially the most adaptable mount, but that gets tight with adapters for a few mm difference.

A hotter take is also the focus on how it pertains to motion shooting and lens design as well. Both Canon and Sony have very, very deep pockets and R&D in this realm for their respective native mounts. If you're bored one evening, taking a look at the profits of all 3 of this public companies (or not profits) tells you a story that's been going on for a long while now.


My more expansive perspective on this is the native mirrorless glass is cool, some great lenses and tapping into the AF performance of each system. However, ALL of these mounts are adaptable to things like EF, R, FD, F, M, and like a total of 70 mounts or whatever. Focus on the usefulness of that. More or less the new mirrorless mounts, much like yesteryears last round of film SLRs and DSLRs are designed to keep you out of one system or another. Canon could mount Nikon glass, not the other way around, but AF wasn't exactly a thing achievable with their glass.

Of interest in modern times, Arri's more recent LPL does indeed share the same FFD of Canon EF at 44mm.

Years back I posted here regarding some of the reasons to focus on shallower FFD glass from a manufacturing level. Keys to smaller lenses, higher quality wide angle glass, and more compact and faster lenses exist when you start getting closer to the image plane. It also is less expensive for the manufactures as a whole as well due to complexity and cost in design as well as less materials needed.


HDRx. Haven't heard a word. Remember HDRx will "halve" your frame rates and potentially double your data rate. Don't think Komodo as it exists today is in the prime category of that being useful, 6K 20fps and all. But Raptor perhaps. However, I will say these newer cameras have more DR where you want it. Don't know if there's much focus on it these days.

Why I do think it's still a useful feature however is indeed still for Timelapse shooting. This is pretty much the only way I practically used it on DSMC and DSMC2 bodies. That's where that tech shows it's strength and frame rate isn't exactly the "focus" if you catch my drift. Would be spicy actually for a 3 frame bracket, I suggested that at some point, but again, pretty niche use case. Also coding and all that to support it.

Another personal take. DSMC3 is really, really new. Komodo has been around for a year, Raptor just cracked through it's egg. RED's been 100% trying to simplify the cameras in comparison to the depth of DSMC2 while still providing the expected functionality. I have a small list I will fight with my fists to get implemented before HDRx *cough* GIOSCOPE. HDRx is more "that'd be nice".

 

[Zack Birlew]

Well, I guess it will have to depend on the Z9 and further Z cameras down the line but I think there's some good potential. As for HDRx, that's a terribly missed opportunity! If all it took was one more generation to get the frame rate/motion issues figured out then it would have been a great asset for making really high dynamic range imagery and just exposure adjustments in general. Oh well, hopefully it all gets molded into the images as-is with the dynamic range numbers like you said but I can see that having working HDR video could be a major leap forward, even better would be to have the camera record multiple exposure values at once in high/mid/low fashion. For now I guess high speed frame rates and size won out but I wouldn't mind if RED busted out a literally bigger camera option for firm A-cam use that perhaps has all the extra processing for things like full on HDR video.