The ‘Big N’ has slipped out a snippet of news that you might have missed, what with the fanfare surrounding today’s big news that the Nikon Z5 II has arrived. But if you’re a Nikon videographer, the announcement that Adobe Premiere Pro will finally support the legendary manufacturer’s proprietary N-RAW video format will be the bigger revelation, with planned implementation by the end of this year.
N-RAW’s lack of support via the industry standard editing software has arguably held Nikon’s huge charge into the video sphere over the past few years back a bit, with users forced to use another codec or swap to compatible software such as DaVinci Resolve. And with Nikon’s latest top-tier cameras like the Nikon Z6 III, Nikon Z8, and Nikon Z9, boasting formidable video specs, it’s entirely possible that N-RAW’s compatibility issues have prevented some creatives from introducing these powerful cameras into their video setup.
N-RAW is a 12-bit RAW video codec (which supports Rec. 2020 color gamut) that’s designed to deliver high quality footage, while minimizing file sizes, it’ll deliver smaller file sizes than Nikon users’ other Raw option, Apple ProRes RAW, making it a useful format for videographers who require top-notch video footage and want to save more space. That said, any Raw video file is going to be big, so the vast majority of Nikon videographers will still stick with H.265 (HEVC) or 10-bit ProRes most of the time.
Still, this is a huge deal for Raw video shooters and following Nikon’s much-talked-about acquisition of RED, it’s yet another boost to the ‘Big N’s’ rep as a serious video contender. Nikon has made no secret that RED is the reason why Adobe Premiere Pro N-RAW support will exist, thanks to it gaining access to the cinema camera giant's R3D software development kit.
You might also like...
If you're a Nikon fan, check out the best Nikon cameras. If you're a film fanatic, take a look at the best camera for video. And if you want to get your hands on the best video editing software, look no further!
