It is 2025, do we have better news to process Nikon NRAW files directly in FCP or are we still dragging our feet on this?
Yes, yes, DaVinci can do it but it breaks the workflow. No one likes this and why would Apple want their customers to add another atrociously pedantic step using a competitor's software into the workflow? What happened to the slick UI and usability which Apple is famous for ?
Nikon / RED have recently released an update to their SDK which enables N-Raw decoding in other apps. So other developers can now more easily incorporate N-Raw decoding (sorry about the terminology, it’s not my area of expertise). News is that Adobe are going to incorporate N-Raw decoding into Premiere this year. So now would be the time to add one’s voice to this for FCP. I’ll do that myself as well although I actually prefer to grade in Resolve for its superior grading tools and edit in FCP. That said, it would be good to have the option to do it all in FCP.
The latest beta version of the free REDCINE app (link below) can now decode N-Raw and export as ProRes for import into FCP so that is a good alternative to Resolve right now and it gives good results. It’s a bit slower than Resolve but has a couple of advantages: it exposes a lot more metadata and you can export in 8K (not possible for the free version of Resolve).
I have no problem with Nikon Z9 RAW in FCP (10.4.10!) I actually have no problems with ANY log/raw footage, PLUS:
No LUTs. No Color Board.
Just a couple of easy to use effects.
There's still a minor learning curve (how to avoid blowing out highlights or crushing shadows), but *every* clip is treated in the same way whether RAW/Log or normal.
[Right click and Open Image in New Tab to see at full size]
(this one wasn't a "great" shot to begin with - the highlights are relatively blown out, even for RAW. Some masking required. You can't escape "bad exposures" no matter what you shoot in.)
[Wish I could have found more, better examples... not much "out there" for Nikon RAW.]
It's really not an issue Apple should have to deal with. These images can be dealt with without any "RAW decoding".
Not possible as he is using FCP 10.4.10. The minimum specs for Color Finale Transcoder are FCP 10.7 or newer.
Z63_1020.NEV.mov
It would not open in Quicktime Player so — I converted the file in the Finder (right click > Services > Encode Selected Video File - I'm still in Mojave: 10.14.6) to 1080p h.264/AAC. It loaded into FCPX just fine and looks like this:
I don't have much to go on other than the colorchecker which is supposed to have a black body. Not sure what the background is supposed to be (some kind of "blackboard"?). One effect (usually I use two — one for "cleaning" and one for "balancing").
I have not gone through the trouble of color matching the swatches (usually handled with my color balancing effect), I figured this was close enough to make the point. I compared it to:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/gegAAOSwOzxkXPTh/s-l1600.webp
Yes sure. I started learning it when Nikon announced the Z9 and that Resolve would be the only app for N-Raw decoding on Mac. I learnt a lot about the Color page from the BMD training but stopped there. FCP is a far superior editor in my opinion: way more intuitive and much faster. So I grade my footage in Resolve and edit in FCP. So it would be good to have the ability in FCP and I’ve just sent feedback to the link provided my Meg The Dog. Here’s hoping.
I think you are confusing N-Raw with N-Log. The issue is that FCP can’t decode (debayer) N-Raw files. It’s not about log as such. Other codecs that can be shot in N-Log are: ProRes, ProRes Raw and H.265.
Currently there are three apps for Mac that can debayer N-Raw as far as I know: DaVinci Resolve (free and Studio), Assimilate PlayPro Studio and REDCINE-X (recent with latest beta only)
If you want an example N-Raw file to test I’m happy to provide one.
fox_m wrote:
I have no problem with Nikon Z9 RAW in FCP (10.4.10!) I actually have no problems with ANY log/raw footage, PLUS:
[Wish I could have found more, better examples... not much "out there" for Nikon RAW.]
It's really not an issue Apple should have to deal with. These images can be dealt with without any "RAW decoding".
Just to clarify a bit further. It is currently not possible in any version of FCP to debayer N-Raw. As N-Raw was only introduced in 2022, it would be remarkable if an older version could actually debayer N-Raw as it requires very specific code to do this which is not implemented even in the current version. There is a Color Finale plug-in that can do this but, having tried the trial version out of curiosity, I was not impressed at all by the speed or the workflow. Similarly for Blackmagic's BRAW - it can't be debayered natively in FCP but there is a plug-in that can be used if one wishes to invest in that. Personally I find that DaVInci Resolve does an excellent job debayering N-Raw.
Nikon uses the term Tone Mode to describe the two (or in one case three) different modes that can be used with the various codecs available in the Z9, Z8 and Z6III, currently the only Nikon cameras that can record internal raw video. For the two raw codecs (N-Raw and ProRes Raw) and for ProRes, the tone mode can be either SDR or N-Log. H.265 has these two modes as well as HLG mode.
The SDR mode is designed to give out of the box footage that shouldn't require a lot of post-processing but it can have disadvantages in terms of image quality, particularly for ProRes and H.265. The N-Log mode gives a typical flat profile and provides the best quality but requires more post-processing.
The key point here is that N-Raw is not the same as N-Log which is simply one of the two flavours of N-Raw, the other being what NIkon terms SDR mode. Both require debayering in an app that can do that. Currently FCP can't.
Can you supply a screenshot of an N-Raw frame of reasonably high definition that hasn't been debayered? Can a non-debayered clip be encoded to something FCP can import?
Finding Nikon based examples has been harder than for pretty much any of the other brands out there.
It's not possible to do a screenshot of a file before debayering as it doesn't exist as a visual entity.
Here's a WeTransfer link where you can download a small NRaw test file plus a H.265 version of the same exported from Resolve. I made this a few days ago for a noise test in low light but it is a reasonable example of a high ISO (6400) N-Raw file. You would need to use Resolve (version 17.4 or higher I think) or the latest REDCINE-X beta to decode the raw file assuming they would work on your Mac. The file extension for N-Raw is NEV.
I just realised the H.265 in the first ling was decoded to HDR PQ. The second link is a Rec709 version. The raw file does not have a color space.
The issue in the OP is that FCP cannot even recognize NRAW files and there is no way to import NRAW files into FCP.
It sounded like you found a way to do that. Can you please reveal the steps to achieve that?
I think he must have found a log file (ProRes or H.265). It is simply not possible to import N-Raw into FCP except with the Color Finale transcoder but I found that very slow and the workflow was far from ideal. If you want to transcode N-Raw and don’t want to use Resolve for whatever reason, check out the free REDCINE-X Pro latest beta.
I'm talking about bypassing transcoding *for* FCP altogether and just get the N-Raw into any format (the easiest) FCP *will* import. All I want is one frame of what N-Raw looks like straight out of the camera to see if my technique will make all the transcoders you mentioned unnecessary.
That is not the raw file, it's a decoded H.265 (HEVC) file. The raw file is the bigger one with the .NEV file extension. You won't be able to open it in FCP.
This has become really confused. I've removed all the files and have just re-uploaded the raw file on its own: NRAW.NEV. The OP believes that you are able to perform magic. If you can open that raw file by encoding in the Finder, they can start a religion in your name.
The clip is part of a noise test. The black area is a monitor which is great for showing up shadow noise but entirely irrelevant here.
New link to NRaw file only.
Looks like the moderator has removed the link but it should be in the notification email. Bedtime for me now.
[Edited by Moderator]
Wait, if you asked QuickTime to recode it to h.264/AAC, aren't you asking the coder to map an NRaw (superwide raw encoding) into a much smaller h.264/AAC ?
You have lost all the juice of the NRAW and downgraded it.
I'm not entirely sure if I see your point.
I have no need for the footage other than to illustrate a point... and no. Can you tell the difference between the actual NRAW file and its transcoded version? Also, consider the fact that I couldn't see it at all without transcoding it.
My point is, generally: No LUTs needed. Color board can be avoided. Less work. Less time spent adjusting video for use.
Nikon NRAW video files in FCP
