Nikon Z6II + Atomos Ninja V. Is shooting 10-bit N-Log worth the hassle? 

The 8 bit looks really good. Nikon’s colors are excellent. The 10 bit does look better. The dynamic range and tonal gradations are easier on the eyes and look closer to real life, bring you into the footage a little more in most of the comparisons.

I noticed in 100% of shots with strong lighting that the 8 Bit was overblown in the white areas, and the 10 bit retained definition without getting overblown.

First of all - thanks for making this video. From a creator to a creator - it is a lot of work. Big thanks - I have been looking exactly for a non-scientific video on this topic. Second - I'm watching on a 5k monitor and actually prefer the 8-bit look for indoor. The 10-bit outdoor looks closer to Canon and Fuji. For the real estate shots, I don't think 99% of clients will be able to tell the difference (nor they care) about the 8-bit vs 10-bit. It's only people like you and I who are more curious about this topic. So.....in conclusion... time to process the videos and data storage for me "for now" is more on an 8-bit side. Again - thanks for taking the time to make the video comparison. Btw, I shot the Z6II on my channel and so far happy with what comes out of the Z6II.

Yes, the 10-bit N-log has a better dynamic range, BUT instead of complicating my life as a videographer, I simply put a polarizing filter on the lens. Gone are the clipped highlights and I'm even rewarded with rich colors and beautiful, warm skin tones in Portrait Mode. On a bright, sunny day, with Active D-Lighting set on Normal, I get almost no shadows in the eye sockets (otherwise I just switch the setting to High). (Video-) I know that grading and change of look is almost impossible with 8-bit files but I don't need it - colors are great right out of the camera.

(Apologies for the music playing into the conclusions for about 5 seconds - MY BAD)

The shot inside the room with windows in the background really shows off the difference with the dynamic range, you can see the background with no clipping on the 10-bit. My personal experience is that dynamic range is the most important factor in making footage look cinematic. I am sure when you get more practice color grading a flat profile that you will enjoy it more. For wedding photography you will have more options in creating different looks without the footage breaking up on you.

Great video man! If I could just make a suggestion, be careful with the music when you're doing voiceover. In the last chapter of this video it is very difficult to hear what you're saying with the music being so loud in comparison. That said, it was nice to see your take on 10bit. Thanks!

Great video, man! I can definitely see the differences in the highlights. There wasn't enough evidence to speak for the dark spectrum but I'm sure it will be very similar. This is exactly the kind of content I look for on RU-vid when I'm in the market for something! Thanks for sharing brother. Great work!

Absolutely awesome video! As a nikon shooter myself, your video makes me want to try using my z7 for video

Wow I’m actually loving the nlog footage and It’s mainly the dynamic range difference. You are retaining the highlight detail whereas the 8bit clips every time

Yes, I can. 10 bit is way better imo. It seems to have far more dynamic range. Good video!

I always thought 10bit nlog is more about colors, not DR, but looks that i could be wrong

Most of the content we agonize over is consumed on an iPhone.

Wow. That was enough to convince me that the 10 bit is worth it for what I want. The difference in the talking head segment between 8 and 10 bit was surprisingly significant to my eyes. Thanks for the video.

This was a great contribution to Z filmmakers, thank you. I'd be curious to see the (possibly negligible) differences if you shoot 4k 8bit delivered in HD vs HD 10bit N-log. Overall the 8bit footage looked great, a bit more rosy a hue to the highlights and skin tones but not unpleasant. In fact its something that could easily be gently adjusted in post without the footage falling apart I would guess. Did you modify the Flat Picture control or use Active D-Lighting at any point in 8bit? Thanks again.

I think being able to do 4k30 (4k/60 for z6 ii) with ProRes Raw with Atomos is enough of a reason for me. But Nikon's color science is fantastic, reasoned i switched from Sony Fx3 to Nikon Z6 (- sounds like a downgrade, I know.. and it's a z6, that I got, not even a z6 ii).. I don't think client would know or "know" to know the difference because they know your work and your work speaks for itself. But if you were to give them two versions (i am not sure if you had done this), and ask them which one they would like the most, or looks better to them.. I think the answer might surprise ya. (or might not).. But seeing both comparing side by side, yes there is obvious differences - in control lighting scenario (indoor)-the difference seems insignificant (I would probably like the 8 bit better from just the look of it), but Outdoor, the 10bit with Atomos appears to be more confident and higher quality, more professional footage IMHO. Great Review btw! Just subscribed!

Nice comparison and makes the differences clear. Would a test with less light be interesting to see the 10-bit capabilities?

Great video !! Thanks for sharing…

Thanks for the video man! I think it really highlighted the strengths of N-log. The 8-bit is solid and extremely usable but it was only comparable to N-log in favorable lighting conditions. The N-log will always be better in situations with big dynamic ranges, which is was designed for. I think your video also addresses a good question on data management, and choosing the right tool for the job. Side note, I thought the N-log was better for the wood in your room. The 8-bit was too red for me.

I have the first Z6 and if I recall, internal recordings are downsampled from 6K while externally it's just a direct 4K feed. I noticed that when it comes to noise, the internal footage is a bit less noisy cause of this. Is the Z6II doing the same thing? Or did they figure out how to downsample the external footage from 6K?

Bonjour, Thank you for your feedback very interesting. Have remarked that the switch on/OFF is very hard to turn to ON position compared to ON position ? Thank you

Can I ask for your real estate shots (parallax over couch), was that gimbal or slider being used? Pretty smooth if it's handheld

I doubt if 10 bit has a role in my future. Took first videos of a neighbour’s child getting a swimming lesson with basic Z6ii and no colour grading. It was excellent. Beginner’s luck? It will be a long time before I feel limited, I believe. Still, the Ninja sure is a nice bit of kit!

Hi. 2 years on, i've accidentally discovered this video. Thank you for making it. Do you still shoot with the Nikon z6ii?

Hey Darrin, I have the same set up as you, and recently upgraded my z6ii to prores raw. Seemed like a good idea. Those files are great, but huge and most of the time unnecessary. Tried selecting ProRes 422, for smaller files, and my Ninja won't allow me to record in 422, wants me to stick to raw. I'm not a massive techy, wondered if you had experienced similar? Dumbass from the UK. Nice vids mate. Thanks

Very informative

Hopefully Nikon will let Z6ii use 10bit internal just like Z9🙃

Nice test. Due to the file size this would not be worth it for me who is a pure hobbyist. 8 bit is not that bad for some random travel clips or family gathering clips. For pros 10 bit makes sense, if you can take advantage of it.

8 but colours are warmer … I mean it can be graded … but for 8 bit … I think it’s great… lovely video

I noticed better dynamic range for sure on the 10-bit as expected. The color grading adjustments you can push them further. But the question remained, is it worth it all the xtra work and HD space? My opinion would be depending on the project and the client.

Would love to see the client photos!

If you shot continuously for an hour. What how big are your file sizes? over a TB?

I’ve been struggling with Nikons 10bit n-log. Any real estate stuff I’ve done the grain in the shadows has been unusable. Found that you need to overexpose by 2 stops with any indoor footage. Had to buy Neat De-Noise plugin to try to fix a lot of footage I couldn’t retake. Overall haven’t been very happy with the 10-bit n-log and have gone back to 8-bit flat for most of my footage. It looks good outside as you can work with bringing the highlights in the sky to get richer sky’s and shadows but indoor it doesn’t seem to be with the risk of crazy noise in the shadows if the lighting isn’t perfect.

Are you lowering the contrast in the flat profile settings and are you using active delighting? Or are you just using a flat profile with no additional settings?

Trying to decide if the atmos ninja v is worth getting to use with my Nikon z6 for RE videos. What do you think the biggest difference has been for you using the ninja?

Seems like a middle ground for easy grading could be to shoot Flat-Profile external in 10bit on the Ninja, and just avoid N-log if not needed.

the most benefit of Z6ii with Ninja V is shooting beyond 30min. I shoot a lot of conferences and the speakers all like to talk more than 30 mins

I got the z6ii for photography. I use my fuji xh2 for video and an A7iv (i dont own the A7iv its acwork thing). But I've been testing flat profile (adjusted with contrast, sharpness, and sat all the way down). I like the results, but to really push color grading, I wish log was available internal. Not a big deal for me. I bought this for its low light and speed for photo work.

Hello from Panama, since youtube only broadcast up to 8 - bit is not possible to really watch the difference. Of course 10-bit is better, you can down it to 8 but you cannot get 8 up to 10. I own a Nikon Z 6, I heard about Z6 II or Z7 are not as good like Z6 form filming. May you comment ?

new to video, but the 10 bit does look a little better in some scenes. thanks for the video, I also have the Nikon Z6II.

Z6 shooting real estate videographer here. I came super close to buying blackmagics version last month. So I watched with interest. Yep I think I prefer the 8 bit colour too. Hey I'm curious: z62 has dx crop in 4k 60 doesn't it? But those shots you did internally looked pretty wide. What lens are you using?

Very interesting… the only question I have is IF you are shooting 4K or 1080p ? I bought into the whole Filmmaker’s Kit when the Z6 came out (waiting a year for the ProRes update) and shot thru the Ninja… but Apple never supported this profile so I played Nlog and/or used the Sony CIN profile (since Sony still makes the video chip for Nikon) and tried Color Grading in FCPX… Eh!?! Since I am ONLY working under studio LED lighting - I am not seeing a significant difference between my (flat) 1080p and the “bitage” I shot at 4K ProRes RAW and spent hours tweaking… to look as good as my 1080p !?!?!! 🤨 I have even converted my ProRes RAW into Blackmagic’s Log and messed around a bit with Da Vinci’s far more powerful Color Grading interface/training support but 3Xs more “bitage” clogging up my NAS… 🤬 I’m gonna a try your Log profile and see how it looks… I’m just curious if I will still have the latitude to adjust 1080p (which gives me back 120 for more natural slow-mo) still need to shoot 4K ? Thanx to anyone who can comment! 😉

Nice 20mm lens you have!

I feel it looks like comparing jpgs and raws files

Hey by any chance are you able to get the 60fps on the z6 I to Work with the ninja ?

make custom more flat profile for your 8bit

colors of the 8 bit look nicer, the 10bit has better high light recovery for sure

10bit wins in the comparison shots. Nice work.

I really like the focus help with Ninja V. Yes the z6 has the same feature, but it is nicer on the Ninja V. I really do not like the amount of storage you need to work with the Ninja V. My work is basically just social media and for my church. Nothing super high end.

I'd say the 10 bit looks more professional

This is all based on how you treat each one in post. For the money and storage considerations AND the most important, what is the actually project, the key element is the project itself is not comparing so the point is moot. Once the project is being played the 8 bit is fine. It's up the the choice of lens and shooter to determine the outcome, not the bit rate. If the budget is bigger and more at stake and specs matter, then fine. But if the budget is limited, why bother? That's the real answer to the choice.

Interesting……I’ve been shooting my whole life, 35+ years, and now recently diving into youtubes. I’m curious about my 🇨🇦ZED😜6ii potential so I’m here. I’ll probably never get this deep into the camera’s potential but my whole 1st thought as soon as I clicked is……where’s the 2160. Why only 1080? Ive been a heavy utub consumer for years and 1080 always looks fuzzy, no pop, now that 2160 is more common place. Am I a consumer minority? Don’t pple want higher rez? Or is it all phone consumption and 1080 is good enough? (not by my mid 40s eyes lol) I’ve been creating at 2160 as much as possible, is it a waste? Is this all just personal creative preference?

Hi man, thanks for the video. I'm praying I'm wrong but I'm 99% sure we cannot shoot 10 bit when recording in 60 fps, it's limited to 8 bit internal. When connected to the Ninja V, it assumes we're recording in 30 fps. I am hoping it is possible to be able to gain access to 10 bit 60 fps 4k via a firmware update (anyone know if this is possible?). Curious, did you record at 60fps 4k into the Ninja and slow it to 24fps in post? If yes, then that would be WOW!. With all that said, I am very pleased with 8 bit. I've done color grading and you have a lot of freedom when filming properly exposed in a flat profile and assuming you aren't going for an extreme cold grade (say Matrix look perhaps). With all that said, I think the Ninja V is ABSOLUTELY worth it, for access to an external hard drive, larger monitor, 10 bit, and false color monitoring.

can you shoot 4k 60fps N log

The dynamic range is waaaaay better on the 10-bit

Yea, 10bit has better highlights. Beautiful house by the way.

Can you folks tell the difference?

I own a Z6, but with the 20 videos I shot during my two years of owning it. I can’t justify the cost of half of my cameras worth to film in 10 bit. Everybody watches videos on smartphones anyway.

That desk fan looks insufficient.

nice vedio

IMO Music too loud compared to your voice

The colors weren’t matched well

My video's never look this good :(

test 2 , 10 bit more details, test 5 10 bit obvious better colours

Mejor Sony a6400 sin necesidad de 🥷.

To be honest like a lot of videos done with the Ninja V and the Z cameras the colour grading is not good in my opinion it has a green'ish tint, skin tones are pretty bad not accurate to how the skin looks I know that not even close. The 8bit looks better, skin tones are better and there's more sharpness to the whole video images. I have seen a few 10bit videos done with the Z6 and Z6II with the Ninja V that haven't been colour graded the people have just used 10bit 422 Pro Res and have turned log off as far as I can remember and those videos look excellent. I would guess and say if you're a top professional at colour grading then the videos can look good, if you're not one of the best at colour grading then it's best to turn off log. I would say there asre very few RU-vidrs who seems to be absolute masters at colour grading and the rest that try and colour grade nearly all seem to make the cameras and external recorder look poor quality. Sorry. Here's one video that shows excellent colour grading and general editing as it's amazing image quality and sharp too : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-szxGtenTbdc.html and in this video the guy did no colour grading he just used the Nikon Log to Rec 709 LUT : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-A9hGBd3rJzg.html

Ill probably use it in my non payin client. Oh wait, they all are my fam so they dont pay me any. Lol Seriously, my dark side will make me use 10bit

What I’ve found out recently is that the Nikon lut is absolutely TERRIBLE when compared to Sony or Canon

The N-log looks lifeless, looks to have a smoky green color cast, lacking midtone contrast, lacking punch and has much added noise from the high ISO... Looks like all negatives and no benifits.

You could've got to the point a lot earlier. You kept repeating the same questions in different modulations again and again! Kind of frustrating listening to it. No offence intended.

Very interesting… the only question I have is IF you are shooting 4K or 1080p ? I bought into the whole Filmmaker’s Kit when the Z6 came out (waiting a year for the ProRes update) and shot thru the Ninja… but Apple never supported this profile so I played Nlog and/or used the Sony CIN profile (since Sony still makes the video chip for Nikon) and tried Color Grading in FCPX… Eh!?! Since I am ONLY working under studio LED lighting - I am not seeing a significant difference between my (flat) 1080p and the “bitage” I shot at 4K ProRes RAW and spent hours tweaking… to look as good as my 1080p !?!?!! 🤨 I have even converted my ProRes RAW into Blackmagic’s Log and messed around a bit with Da Vinci’s far more powerful Color Grading interface/training support but 3Xs more “bitage” clogging up my NAS… 🤬 I’m gonna a try your Log profile and see how it looks… I’m just curious if I will still have the latitude to adjust 1080p (which gives me back 120 for more natural slow-mo) still need to shoot 4K ? Thanx to anyone who can comment! 😉