Nikon Z6 Test Video: Snowy Owl At PISP

Stopped by Presque Isle just before sunset today to catch a glimpse of this beautiful snowy owl. This video is a test of the Nikon Z6 N-log 10bit 4:2:2 output to an Atomos Ninja V. Lens used is a Tamron 150-600mm.

If you plan on traveling out to Presque Isle to see the snowy owls yourself, please remember to be respectful of nature and keep your distance! Bring binoculars or a spotting scope.

Test Notes

I did run into some challenges after reviewing this footage. Nikon doesn’t have an official N-Log to Rec709 LUT yet, so color grading is in a bit of a wild-west state. I ended up grading the footage using Filmconvert and an EVA1 profile. I’m not sure where the optimal exposure is for Nikon N-log, and I think I underexposed this footage substantially (to be fair, it was also sunset with a 600mm lens at f/6.3, not the best lighting). Notes for the future include making sure there is enough light for the subjects, testing different exposures for N-log, researching N-log color grading, and testing out different lens stabilization and in-body stabilization settings. As you can see in the third clip there is some strange warping in high-contrast areas, I believe this might be from the in-body image stabilization or it is just an artifact of the 200% crop in post.