Z8 - usable video modes for long recordings

I some times need to record live performances. Usually around 1,5 hours long.

4k RAW or non-oversampled H265 is not an option, as oversampled (or 8k) is just that much better.

So, I measured wattage consumption in modes that are relevant to me, and threw in 4k120 for good measure. All in N-LOG:

N-RAW Normal Quality | H265 Oversampled

H265 4k60…….13.1W
H265 4k120…..13.0W
N-RAW 8k60….12.6W
H265 8k30…….12.1W
H265 8k25…….11.2W
N-RAW 8k30……9.4W
H265 4k30………9.1W
N-RAW 8k25……8.9W
H265 4k25………8.5W

Probably not an overly precise measurement, but it seems to give a good relative indication. In my experience, 8k30 is the limit for N-RAW, and 4k30 for H265. Unless you're in a pretty cold place

Trazan said:

I some times need to record live performances. Usually around 1,5 hours long.

4k RAW or non-oversampled H265 is not an option, as oversampled (or 8k) is just that much better.

So, I measured wattage consumption in modes that are relevant to me, and threw in 4k120 for good measure. All in N-LOG:

N-RAW Normal Quality | H265 Oversampled

H265 4k60…….13.1W
H265 4k120…..13.0W
N-RAW 8k60….12.6W
H265 8k30…….12.1W
H265 8k25…….11.2W
N-RAW 8k30……9.4W
H265 4k30………9.1W
N-RAW 8k25……8.9W
H265 4k25………8.5W

Probably not an overly precise measurement, but it seems to give a good relative indication. In my experience, 8k30 is the limit for N-RAW, and 4k30 for H265. Unless you're in a pretty cold place

Click to expand...

Hi Trazan - I'm not sure what you are trying to show with Wattages.

However for long sustained recordings It sounds like you need to look at the CFE-B card you are using and do not write vid to the SD card.

I use a combination of Delkin Black 650GB, Prograde Cobalt 600GB now Iridium 800GB, RED 2TB, Sabrent Rocket CFX Pro 2TB. Since I bought my main cards manufacturers like ProGrade with its Digital Iridium 4.0 CFExpressB 1.6TB Memory Card (which held a sustained write speed average of 1650MB/s throughout the transfer which is well above the minimum standard of 400MB/s.) and Transcend and Wise entered the market with winning offerings.

The SSD review is one of the better sites to look at - here are 2 charts (ignore the highlighting) --





--
areallygrumpyoldsod
Nikon and Hasselblad shooter -- wildlife and and --
https://www.andymillerphoto.co.uk/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajm057/
I do not respond to PMs or messages via my website

areallygrumpyoldsod said:

Hi Trazan - I'm not sure what you are trying to show with Wattages.

However for long sustained recordings It sounds like you need to look at the CFE-B card you are using and do not write vid to the SD card.

I use a combination of Delkin Black 650GB, Prograde Cobalt 600GB now Iridium 800GB, RED 2TB, Sabrent Rocket CFX Pro 2TB. Since I bought my main cards manufacturers like ProGrade with its Digital Iridium 4.0 CFExpressB 1.6TB Memory Card (which held a sustained write speed average of 1650MB/s throughout the transfer which is well above the minimum standard of 400MB/s.) and Transcend and Wise entered the market with winning offerings.

The SSD review is one of the better sites to look at - here are 2 charts (ignore the highlighting) --

Click to expand...

Wattage indicates heavier processing/power needs, which obviously heats the camera. And since I could record for just as long in 8k RAW (1800 Mbps) as I could with 4k H265 (200 Mbps) before the camera shut down, I'd assume that this processing contributes more to the heat than Mbps written to the card. Ultimately, it's the "Hot Camera" that shuts it down. At least in my case.

Has anyone recorded for a couple of hours straight with oversampled 4k60 on a Z8?

I'm not sure hot camera means hot camera. The warnings are related to card temp I think. Outside the fact a hot card will be hot to the touch at high enough temps the thing will likely fail.

Newer better cards run cooler.

Trazan said:

Ultimately, it's the "Hot Camera" that shuts it down. At least in my case.

Click to expand...

There are two warnings that can be ignored (Hot Card and Hot Camera). But yes ultimately the camera will shut down to protect itself.

Remember to set the Auto Temperature Cut Off to "HIGH"

Trazan said:

Has anyone recorded for a couple of hours straight with oversampled 4k60 on a Z8?

Click to expand...

Lots of vids on YouTube "nikon Z8 video heat test" -- Most folk tested at 8.3k N-log N-RAW HQ 60p - which places maximum stress on the camera.

Note CARD FULL and in other tests when the battery dies. So plan to change both card and battery. The camera runs much cooler if powered using external USB-C battery and the rear LCD screen is moved away from the back of the camera. Auto Temperature Cut Off to "HIGH"

PP review : "Nikon Z8: Overheating

There are conflicting reports on the web about the overheating, or lack thereof when shooting demanding video on the Z8. From our testing we found the Z8 to manage heat very well. Pushing the camera to its limit, we shot 40 minutes of 8K 60p video in N-RAW. Although this caused the camera to finally shut down, it’s important to keep this result in context. 40 minutes of recording in this mode took up almost 2 terabytes of storage and in practical terms, would rarely be pushed this far.

A record mode that would be used more often is oversampled 4K 60p. In this very high quality mode the camera shut down at 35 minutes. This is an acceptable result but I can see some users wanting to push further, so the Nikon Z9 would be a better choice in this regard.

Using 4K 60p in the sub-sampled mode, however, went a full hour without any overheating warning at all; a good result if you’re willing to sacrifice a bit of image quality. {Confirmed in my own tests}

Now if you are recording in any mode below 60p, whether it be 8K or 4K, you basically won’t get overheating warnings, even after a full hour. Overall, the Z8 handles overheating very well in video mode, and although the Z9 body absolutely disperses heat better, the Z8 is still a solid choice for serious video work."

Not sure I have seen a 4k 60fps n-log N-RAW Standard Quality - which is the format/codex I would use - do not oversample and do not use HQ unless you need to - both drive heat/data.

See Matt Irwin, who is very reliable. His results include the very data heavy ProRes 422 HQ 10-bit indicated in Matt's test.


From Matt Irwin

Ricci Talks


from Ricci

Gerald Undone - very detailed and good advice.

My testing - using Z8 in half cage, with 28-135 PV and Delkin Power 650GB CFE-B card, LCD moved away from rear, External Power delivery, 4k 60fps n-log N-RAW Standard Quality. Auto Temperature Cut Off to "HIGH":

~1:00 hour:mins of recording in 20 deg C -- first hot card warning (1 hr left on the card)

~ 1:15 hour:mins no further issues

Further testing results will be posted in subsequent posts.

--
areallygrumpyoldsod
Nikon and Hasselblad shooter -- wildlife and and --
https://www.andymillerphoto.co.uk/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajm057/
I do not respond to PMs or messages via my website

NickZ2016 said:

I'm not sure hot camera means hot camera. The warnings are related to card temp I think. Outside the fact a hot card will be hot to the touch at high enough temps the thing will likely fail.

Newer better cards run cooler.

Click to expand...

"Hot Card" is for the card, and the three stages of thermometer icons are for the camera. Shutdown happens when the camera gets too hot, not the card. But a hot card contributes to the heating of the body, obviously.

My recording duration testing

Using Z8 in half cage/L-bracket, with Z 28-135 PV Lens and Delkin Power 4.0 1TB CFE-B card, LCD moved away from rear, external Power delivery, Auto Temperature Cut Off to "HIGH". MC-N10 Remote Grip attached.

Recording 4k 60fps n-log N-RAW Standard Quality and AF-F with limited focus changes:

~ 1:00 hour:mins of recording in 20 deg C -- first hot card warning

~ 1:50 hour:mins no further issues

~ 2:04:52 sec hour:mins:Sec recording limit stopped the recording - 815.83 GB on card.

No RED warning - No Camera Shut Down

Next - allow camera to cool for 10 mins (just stop recording but leave camera turned on) and replace card with a fresh Delkin Black 650GB CFE-B card - quick format card and commence recording:

~ 0:12 hour:mins of recording in 20 deg C -- first hot card warning

~ 1:30 hour:mins no further issues - I stopped recording with 04:18 mins:sec space remaining on card - 587.46 GB file on card. Then ran another recording until card full. 0:04:18 Hr:min:sec 28.19 GB -- I do not like hitting full card wither a very long recording. It is good policy to break a shoot up into segments/individual files.

~ No X:xx hour:mins RED warning - No ~ X:xx hour:mins Camera Shut Down

Total over 3 hours 30 mins of 4k 60fps n-log N-RAW Standard Quality.

Notes -- the Delkin Power 1TB card is a more affordable v.large mid/high quality card, but a far way from the top performer.

--
areallygrumpyoldsod
Nikon and Hasselblad shooter -- wildlife and and --
https://www.andymillerphoto.co.uk/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajm057/
I do not respond to PMs or messages via my website

4k60 N-RAW is no problem, as it is not oversampled and requires little processing. I do not like the loss of quality in that mode, though. Moiré and lack of sharpness etc.

I tested a couple of modes today:

H265 Oversampled 4k60
Data rate: 340 Mbps, power consumption 13 W:

After 15 min: Hot Card warning
After 16 min: Yellow thermometer
After 20 min: Red thermometer
After 25 min: Red thermometer + “HIGH”
After 47 min: Camera shutdown due to high temperature

N-RAW Normal Quality 8.3k25
Data rate: 1480 Mbps, power consumption 9 W:

After 42 min: Hot Card warning
No further warnings until the recording stopped after 90 min due to full card.

If I should conclude, it seems to me that neither of these data rates are taxing on the CF card, but that the heat comes from camera processing. So, rather than just blaming your card, be very aware of power consumption in the various modes :-D

Trazan said:

4k60 N-RAW is no problem, as it is not oversampled and requires little processing. I do not like the loss of quality in that mode, though. Moiré and lack of sharpness etc.

I tested a couple of modes today:

H265 Oversampled 4k60
Data rate: 340 Mbps, power consumption 13 W:

After 15 min: Hot Card warning
After 16 min: Yellow thermometer
After 20 min: Red thermometer
After 25 min: Red thermometer + “HIGH”
After 47 min: Camera shutdown due to high temperature

Click to expand...

Oversampled effectively uses the same data as 8k, just downsamples in the write, hence lower heat in the card.

Oversampling was enabled in my tests.

Trazan said:

N-RAW Normal Quality 8.3k25
Data rate: 1480 Mbps, power consumption 9 W:

After 42 min: Hot Card warning
No further warnings until the recording stopped after 90 min due to full card.

Click to expand...

As previous -- please look again at the cards you are using -- I ran the same test with 4k N-Raw SDR and had the same result -- hit the 2hr 5min time limit before the card was full.

CRITICAL in my view to pull power from a source that is not the battery. I will run further tests to provide data.

I ran a test just using Camera Battery power and achieve 1hr 32min 16 seconds record time before the battery was dry/empty. Again no issues with overheating.

Trazan said:

If I should conclude, it seems to me that neither of these data rates are taxing on the CF card, but that the heat comes from camera processing. So, rather than just blaming your card, be very aware of power consumption in the various modes :-D

Click to expand...

--
areallygrumpyoldsod
Nikon and Hasselblad shooter -- wildlife and and --
https://www.andymillerphoto.co.uk/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajm057/
I do not respond to PMs or messages via my website

My point being, 8k N-RAW is considerably more taxing on the card than the H265, yet it's the H265 that heats things up. The card is not the problem in this case.

Add DX mode with HR zoom, and things can get really hot, even without recording

areallygrumpyoldsod said:

Oversampling was enabled in my tests.

Click to expand...

There is no oversampling in 4k60 N-RAW though.

In my testing, Z8, Delkin Black 325GB card, inside normal room temp, 4K, the battery died after 55 min. That was a fully charged OEM battery that came with the camera. The card was pretty warm, but no overheat warning was seen.

Trazan said:

If I should conclude, it seems to me that neither of these data rates are taxing on the CF card, but that the heat comes from camera processing. So, rather than just blaming your card, be very aware of power consumption in the various modes :-D

Click to expand...

In my testing, Z8 4K 265, normal room temp, with Sandisk card, the card overheated and shut the camera down at 26 minutes.

Same test with Delkin Black, the card did not overheat, but the battery ran down at the 55min point. The battery was fully charged OEM battery that came with the camera.