Nikon Z6 III - Low Light Performance (With Canon R5C / Fuji X-H2S / Blackmagic 6K FF Comparison)

[@HVRIS]

Thank you for including the XH2s in this comparison 👊

[@Josh_Sattin]

You're welcome. Thanks for watching!

[@arantesFilms]

I think XH2s performs better than Nikon till 8000 iso. Colors are more pleasing

[@nigerian-nightmare]

​@@arantesFilmsxh2s is a great camera both in noise and dynamic range. Much better camera than z6iii if you ask me but some people seem to overlook it because it has crop sensor. It can also shoot black magic RAW with video assist.

[@jessejayphotography]

@@nigerian-nightmareI agree. For a S35 sensor it punches above its weight in DR and latitude with pleasing noise pattern.

[@dennisvisualske]

we love you because you show us what is hidden

[@Josh_Sattin]

Thank you so much!

[@gnkstudios6138]

Nikon needs to make a NLog2 asap. NLog is the strangest log I’ve ever worked with. It heavily favors low ISO and it works best in the shadows which is very foreign to other systems. ADVICE TO ALL NEW NIKON SHOOTERS. Never ever over expose Nlog. Trust your waveform. I know my Z8 gets you nearly 2-3 stops in the shadows. Certainly in lower ISO values.

[@russellwright9961]

Thanks for your insight!

[@waynerm002]

Good advice. A lot of Sony shooter (myself included) have been used to this method for recording SLog and it's like a default, so we may expect this on Nikon as well. I've experimented with the Z8 shooting 8.3K NRAW NLog in Program and Manual, Program tends to push the ISO up higher but the image comes out good, so I tend to follow the waveform and tweak to match in Manual mode when (night situations) I can. I have even been able to clean up noise very well in Davinci Resolve, for most people, shooting in SDR will be fine, NLOG for some tweaks and RAW for even greater grading.

[@danielvilliers612]

@@waynerm002 Yep the Nikon log format is a bit contrasty as the first Canon one was. It makes their dynamic rnge look bad as they crush the shadows to eliminate noise. The CineD lab test of the z9 is quite revealing, while the z9 scored quite bad in the Xyla/Imatest test, it was at the time the best Sony based sensor camera in the real life latitude test with between 8 and 9 stops. Until the Burano, which again scored poorly on the synthethic Xyla/Imatest test, but reached 10 Stops of latitude, being first camera to reach the classic Alexa Alev sensor.

[@andrewmason8691]

I really appreciate your videos, Josh. They are objective and fair, and I always come away more informed.

[@Josh_Sattin]

Thank you for the kind words. I appreciate you watching!

[@fwfeo]

Great comparison Josh! If you get your hand on a Canon R6 mk2, Sony A7iv or Panasonic S5 ii for a comparison against Nikon Z6iii, that would be fantastic as they're competing in the same category and class! Today's comparison was two cinema cameras vs two hybrid ones. X-H2S is also a direct hybrid competitor for Nikon Z6iii. You have the best comparisons! Keep up the amazing work brother! ❤

[@marlomtube]

true

[@Josh_Sattin]

Thank you so much. Unfortunately I don't have access to many cameras.

[@Madeira_photographer]

What about flickering in Nikon? Did you find solution? 🙏🏻

[@BrandonTalbot]

As always great job with the testing man.

[@Josh_Sattin]

Thanks Brandon!

[@loudandclearmedia]

The XH2S is a little weapon.

[@morganmiller7777]

But why, when the Zf and z6ii perform better with stills, high iso, and aren’t much heavier? Fuji colors and lenses, ok, I understand this. Nikon is way better for adapting glass though, just so much more flexible and system all the way around. Zf is the way to go

[@Willymaze]

I really like your videos and how throughout you are. I would love to see a camera comparison between all the Nikons that you have recently reviewed. As a Z8 owner, I would love to know how they perform against each other, and try to decide between a Zf and a Z6 III.

[@Josh_Sattin]

Unfortunately I do not have the Z8 or Zf as they were loaners.

[@blakeanncook7375]

Thanks, Josh! Was considering the z6iii, but think I will hang on to my s1h. Use it with video assist - which seems to produce good images. Just not sure Nikon, despite the internal raw, is an upgrade at this point. Had the bmcc 6k ff for a while, but struggled with the from factor. Oh well. Maybe the Pyxis at some point. Great work, as usual!

[@Josh_Sattin]

You're welcome. Thanks for watching!

[@randallbrander8157]

Great Video as always. People are asking me about the less stops of Dynamic Range of the Z6III. Tony Chelsea did a video on this. I did a test walking around inside in the dark and I thought it did well. I even did a candle light test. It did well. Now Nikon does do a HLG ISO 400 as a minimun same as Zf. I thought the Z6III was a (BSI) Partial Stack Sensor not CMOS at 10:25 time? Will rewatch your Dynamic Range test. I got the R5C, Z6III and Love them Both! Cheers!

[@brandonklemets2958]

Stacked sensors are technically also BSI sensors. Stacked is the next technological advancement in BSI sensors and the consumer lingo has not adapted yet. This is why the fully stacked Z8 sensor performs better than the Z6III even though people have this misconception that non-stacked BSI sensors are better at low light than stacked sensors.

[@randallbrander8157]

@@brandonklemets2958 That is what I thought but I have seen that it is a CMOS Sensor that is stacked. So where did they get there info. I have tried searching on Nikon website which I cannot find any info so now I am going to try Ricci who works for Nikon in England. Cheers!

[@morganmiller7777]

@@brandonklemets2958too many filter stacks-lowers detail at higher ISO-dump the AA filter Nikon. Or, give the option to add AA filter in menu.

[@ПазарджикЯбълките]

that x-h2s tho... the sad part is, it will kick ass in the DR test as well, even with the smaller sensor.. Z6III is fantastick non the less, and gives me high hopes for the future of Nikon!

[@charlieparis3454]

I would love to see a general performance comparison of these, not just for specific elements. It would be interesting to see how different the Blackmagic is to the Z6iii and is it worth getting one or the other

[@UraFlight]

Fuji colours and performance looks best for me. Thank you for the test 😊

[@PraveenKumar-fs6of]

Doing great work . keep it up bro 👍🫶

[@Josh_Sattin]

Thanks. Will do!

[@AlexMcDougallPhotography]

Hi, which of these would be best for wildlife photography?

[@outdoorsinontario3037]

Thank you! I do a lot of night filming and film the sky , for doing my own filming for others I need to be able to put on heavy Color grades that won’t break the image. Would you suggest this Nikon over the Sony a7 mark 4? I only need 4K but someday might want 6k, but the low light stuff is more important to me than the other stuff. Usually 24fps just because of the extra light with it, being able to lower the shutter by a fraction. Anyways, do you think this is a better option? I have e mount (Sony) lenses so I am a but frustrated if I’d have to switch but I would sell them to get something gr8 and start fresh. What do you think?

[@giuliomalloni3975]

So basically with the Nikon you don’t have dual native iso. You can choose whatever iso you feel comfortable with (of course below a certain level) without caring of dynamic range ?

[@victorlim5077]

Great video. Pretty good performance for a high speed video centric Z6iii. I think once the prices drop in time, this will be a great hybrid camera.

[@Josh_Sattin]

Thank you!

[@rubelukeable]

Referring to what you said at 10:32 regarding the Z6III not having a BSI sensor. A stacked sensor is the next technological level and surpasses a BSI. You get all the advantages of BSI plus the faster speed. By definition, stacked means BSI. In the early days the wiring that took the charge off of the photodiode was on top of the light sensing layering, meaning it blocked some of the light hitting the photodiode. BSI reversed that and moved the wiring to behind the photo sensitive layer but makes it more expensive to produce. A stacked sensor adds additional layers where the processing and DRAM are part of the sensor itself to move data off faster. These wouldn't be possible if they were placed in front of the photodiode. Thanks for the comparison

[@Josh_Sattin]

You're welcome. I haven't seen Nikon state BSI on their website for the Z6III where as they do for the Z8 and Z9. Maybe because it is a partially stacked sensor this changes things.

[@rubelukeable]

@@Josh_Sattin B&H previously stated that the Z8/9 were BSI SENSORS, but now just state CMOS in their SPECS section. Nikon just states Stacked CMOS. I was really curious since I’m torn between the Z8 and Z6 3. I’m more on the photography side and seldom do video. What do you advise?

[@Josh_Sattin]

I don't do much photography so unfortunately I can't really give recommendations on that. I'm sure there are other channels that cover that.

[@DownstreamV]

Thanks for the video. What would you say the two best iso (low and high) are for this camera ?

[@Josh_Sattin]

You’re welcome. Please watch the entire video. I talk about the base ISOs.

[@DownstreamV]

Got it thanks

[@matteout_woodworking]

I like how they(nikon) packed this camera with features that most people love. It does seem the weak point is the dynamic range of the sensor. I don't know if this type of sensor is a first but I would expect better performance in the future.

[@cy9nvs]

I wonder how the Z8 compares. I don't really do video and my knowledge on that is very limited, but the DR is nearly identical from ISO 800 onward, and as a wildlife shooter, I've never felt like the DR on my Z8 is an issue. From a photographers' standpoint, I feel like this whole discussion is blown way out of proportion. Nobody cared about the Z9 being worse than the Z7 II in this regard, now it's suddenly a huge deal. Anyway, thanks for testing and sharing the results, very interesting.

[@Josh_Sattin]

You're welcome. Thanks for watching!

[@CMVFactory]

Thank you for the helpful video. I'm very interested because I heard that the Z6 III shoots built-in RAW. I tested it at Nikon Shop. It's strange to bring it to Da Vinci. Nikon RAW seemed to have LOG applied, but it was released when I selected Clip. Is this a feature of Nikon RAW? I think the DR is lower than the XH2S, is that correct? Would you recommend someone who shoots the ProRes HQ on the XH2S to switch to this camera? Depending on personal preference, Nikon RAW seems to be more difficult to adjust color than XH2S. The LCD is large and has a nice waveform. I'm not sure yet. The reason why NRAW is a bit heavy on the computer, and surprisingly, is because of the Viltrox 27mm 1.2 lens. I really like this lens. I also tested Nikon's new 35mm 1.8 lens, but that lens had no features other than the aperture. Please give us a lot of good videos. Oh, for reference, how does Nikon's RAW compare to R5's RAW? I shot a feature film and did color grading with the R5, but it was so hard I thought I was going to die haha. That's why I switched to Fuji. I don't think Canon's RAW is good unless it has a video sensor. Thank you for reading the long comment.

[@Josh_Sattin]

You're welcome. Yes, NLOG is applied in your NLE when you bring the NRAW footage in. I haven't tested and compared the dynamic range of the X-H2S and Z6III. I compared Z6III NRAW vs R5C RAW ST in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3eZfYudm6qEoq8 You can see my full playlist of Nikon videos here: kzbin.info/aero/PLOcCMZeEA6tpF-RtpVGNnsKhzfuaBsWcr

[@autoexoticswestcoast]

Waiting on Nikon to give an NLOG2 and firmware update to somewhat fix (if possible) that magenta/green shift and flickering you see in NRAW 5000 ISO, especially shooting in NLOG.

[@peterra2532]

When you shoot in log or raw, shoot only with base iso (800 an 6400)…never in 5000iso

[@autoexoticswestcoast]

@@peterra2532 - But what if you are in Auto and the camera cycles through the ISOs, hits 5000 and then 6400... that footage cant be smoothed out.

[@maxpovey6877]

Where did you get the info that this isn't a BSI sensor, everywhere I've looked says this is. Plus all Nikon sensors are made by Sony and I'm not sure they even make non BSI sensors of this size anymore

[@Josh_Sattin]

"24.5MP Partially-Stacked CMOS Sensor" www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1834803-REG/nikon_z6_iii_mirrorless_camera.html "At the heart of the Z6III is a partially-stacked 24.5MP CMOS sensor and EXPEED 7 processor" www.nikonusa.com/p/z6iii/1890?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjws560BhCuARIsAHMqE0G6jmQ6p50SYpGFeSbfvvEmOenpg25Gx93UV355kj4ZA7j46Mtc7h8aAklFEALw_wcB

[@maxpovey6877]

@@Josh_Sattin This has made me less sure but if you look at their listing for their stacked sensors in the z8/9 they also don't mention it as BSI, I think because having a stacked sensor necessitates BSI. I'm not sure whether this is the same for the Z6 where partially stacked also implies BSI so they don't mention it, or of its front side illuminated. BTW thanks for the vid its great to see testing like this

[@Josh_Sattin]

You're welcome. From what I have noticed over the past few years testing and reviewing cameras, if it is BSI it will say it in the specs and marketing material. For example the Sony A1, Canon R3 and Nikon Z8/Z9 have stacked BSI sensors. I don't see any mention of BSI on the Nikon Z6III pages.

[@Philly2tall]

@@maxpovey6877 This is my understanding of a stack sensors being BSI by default. Not sure if changes with being partially stacked, but I doubt it.

[@waynerm002]

It is a partially stacked BSI CMOS sensor. CMOS is the basic design of modern sensors, moving away from CCD, BSI CMOS technology is an improvement over the base design, next comes the Stacked (and partially stacked) BSI CMOS design and the top performer the Global Shutter which moves from fast scanning speed of Stacked design to instantaneous readout.

[@The_M_and_R]

Just like to know your experience with heating/overheating profile in Z6iii ( sorry if i've missed in any of your earlier videos)

[@Josh_Sattin]

I haven't tested this yet, but I plan to.

[@Ehsan-Yousaf]

Please compare the nikon z6iii with sony a7iv

[@Josh_Sattin]

Unfortunately I do not have an A7IV.

[@fabiofilipeazevedo3840]

Is the shadow flickering a issue in the z6iii?

[@Josh_Sattin]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3eZfYudm6qEoq8

[@Fastball3267]

fuji noise looks amazing

[@alwinbenjamin]

👏🏻

[@malekith13]

Hi, i have a little question about the Z6III, i saw it have hi-rez zoom, 1,4 time in 4K and 2 time in 1080p but is there some restriction about the framerate to use it ? or is it available in every framerate as long as you aren't in crop mod ?

[@Josh_Sattin]

Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to test that stuff out yet.

[@waynerm002]

Check out the Z6 III technical guide on Nikon's website, it provides the information you are looking for.

[@KarlGutowski]

Fuji noise is very monochromatic. It's evident when you try to reduce noise in Resolve and notice minimal chroma reduction. It's the most pleasant, very filmic grain out of all the camera brands.

[@JLTPhotog]

"I can only own so many cameras..." Thats when I new he was not a "true" photographer. 🤣. Kidding of course. Thanks for the content and comparison. Own a z6i and even that camera is really impressive at high ISO.

[@johannesimmonen2125]

What about Sony fx3 compared to these?

[@Josh_Sattin]

Unfortunately I don’t have a FX3.

[@johannesimmonen2125]

@@Josh_Sattin you made some comparison earlier about it and fx30

[@Josh_Sattin]

@@johannesimmonen2125 I haven’t had the FX3 or FX30 at the same time as having a Nikon camera.

[@Blazerrrrrrrrr]

wtf is up with that noise in such low iso? I have an original S5 and was thinking of jumping to this Nikon

[@asafoadjei1]

Fujilfilm when are you going to fix your autofocus for the last. FUJI has everything except autofocus and they dont seem to care. Always releasing half baked cameras.

[@peterra2532]

In photo, the DR of the xh2s is worse than the z6iii, in video if you film in h265, the f-log 2 is better...but if you film in raw on the z6iii. you will be able to have the same flat curve as the f-log2 and even better. The advantage of the xh2s is over anamorphic and open gate...the z6iii has the FF look, the possibility of filming in APSC if you want, better AF and the 6k60 raw internally

[@astromoosie]

@@peterra2532I don’t know why Nikon hasn’t released an open gate feature for their z8/z6iii. Do you think it has the hardware capabilities?

[@peterra2532]

@@astromoosie I don’t know why too…I don’t think it is because of hardware capabilities as z8 and z6iii as better hardware than s5ii (which also offer open gate too)…

[@marin_real_estate_photography]

Darn, low light is something I have to deal with a lot, since I shoot a lot if real estate videos. Seems like the noise performance and dynamic range of my Panasonic S5 in CROP mode at 4K 60fps is as good or better than the full frame modes on the Z6 III.

[@m0nztam0nk]

Did we watch the same video tho? He, as a channel seems very critical of the z6iii, but if you pay close attention, esp. in RAW the z63 with its second iso basically beats every other cam, especially when yoh look at the detail of his beard, he praises the canon (because the noise on his charts looks better) while missing that the detail in his hairs and beard has gone… Tbh tho, its splitting hairs. To me, coming from Sony a7s3, the biggest upgrade is internal raw, especially in low and mixed light the colour reproduction is far superior, but i have to do the Noise Reduction in post. I much prefer my colourful nighttime Results form the z6iii to the iso 12800 cleansmeared a7s3 that had almost no colour differentiation left… But im now clearly biased towards Nikon as internal 4k60 raw is such a gamechanger for me, that ofc. im not objective either.

[@Josh_Sattin]

FYI, I manually focus on the chart and sometimes I am not sitting in exactly the same spot as I am doing these tests myself and have to get up to change the camera settings. The focus might be a bit off on my face. That's why I use the chart to determine noise and sharpness. I include myself in there so that you can keep an eye on skin tones. Thanks for watching!

[@truthkeeperfilms]

Wow, Z6 III is just an overall beast.

[@morganmiller7777]

To Keep the AA filter, or not have the option to go without, is just stupid. Love Nikon..but…

[@marlomtube]

whi? nikon ;(

[@alphaandomega2709]

Hard pass on the Nikon Z6iii