Nikon ZR Camera Settings for Underwater Video [VIDEO]

Featuring Logan Wood

The Nikon ZR is the biggest release from Nikon in 2025 and marks the start of a new line of compact cinema cameras. Logan Wood walks you through setting the Nikon ZR up for underwater shooting, including custom control settings that make using the Nikon ZR in housing easier than ever.

If you're more of a reader, scroll down to view the article version of this video.

 

 

Easily one of the biggest releases from Nikon in 2025 was the ZR. Since many of you have already gotten your Ikelite underwater housings for it, I figured it was a good time to go through how I set the camera up before my first dive, as well as some settings that I changed after a few days of shooting with it.

Now there aren't a ton of physical buttons on this camera, so definitely watch through the entire video so that when you put the camera in your housing, you don't miss access to anything that you're going to need. 

 

Photo Settings

Prevent screen auto rotation. When we're diving we're often in different positions, sometimes upside down, and I don't like when the screen rotates on me. Here's how to change that: hold down the button with the three lines to access the menus. Setup Menu > Auto rotate info display > OFF.

Format time zone and date. Keep your content neatly organized by updating your time zone and date. This can be formatted  in Setup Menu > Time zone and date

Now this is definitely a video-first camera, but you can shoot some stills, so we'll change a few things.

Image quality. By default this is set to JPEG, but I'm going to change it to RAW. If you're interested in quick-sharing options you could choose RAW + JPEG. Here's how to do that: Photo Shooting Menu > Image quality > RAW.

RAW recording. Here we have three options, lossless compression, high efficiency star, and just high efficiency. You can learn more about the differences between these three by clicking the "?" in this menu but essentially high efficiency star and lossless compression basically have no difference in image quality, but lossless will have smaller file sizes so that's what I'll select. Photo Shooting Menu > RAW recording > lossless compression. 

If there's one photo setting we always recommend it's shooting in RAW. This  allows you a lot more creative control during the editing process without degrading the quality of your photo.

 

Video Settings

Before moving on to video, we need to make sure we're in manual mode. Hop back to Photo display > select the 2nd function button > Manual.

Select video file type. Menu > Video Recording Menu > Video file type > You'll see a list of the different codecs, go through each one and adjust > Tone mode > N-log. By default, R3D is already in log3G10. From here, choose which codec you want to shoot in. I'm going to choose R3D RAW since that's the main selling-point of this camera.

Select frame size and frame rate. Here is where you can choose from different resolutions and frame rates with the highest being 6K 60fps (frames per second). You'll notice many are labeled as "FX" but you'll also find "DX", FX indicates full frame so it's going to be using the full size of your sensor while DX is going to give you an APS-C sized crop. I'm going to select the high resolution of 6K and 60fps, here's how to do that: Video Recording Menu > Frame size/frame rate > [FX] 6048x3402; 59.94p.

N-RAW video quality. Here I will select the highest quality for N-RAW. Video Recording Menu > Video quality (N-RAW) > High quality.

Vibration reduction. This is basically your in-body image stabilization and you can choose sport or normal. For this demonstration I will choose sport. Video Recording Menu > Vibration reduction > Sport.

Audio recording. This isn't very useful underwater, unless you can pick up some vocalizations, but if you plan to use this camera topside as well here's how to change that setting. Video Recording Menu > 32-bit float audio recording > ON.

We always recommend recording your underwater footage at 60fps. The movement in your shot will be much sharper and it will allow you to slow down your footage to get a better sense of your subject's movement underwater. 

 

Custom Settings

Custom button for autofocus. I like to assign a custom button for autofocus instead of half-pressing the shutter button (I'll cover how to do that further down in this article). If you prefer to use the half-press shutter button method, skip this step. Custom Settings Menu > Focus > Half-press AF activation > OFF.

Drive mode. I typically leave this on the default setting (5fps in this case), but if you're shooting fast-moving wildlife you can increase it to 7fps on the ZR. To do that: Custom Settings Menu > Shooting/display > CL mode shooting speed > 7 fps.

View mode. This is specifically if you're shooting photos. If you're shooting ambient light I recommend keeping this setting on "show effects" so you can see what the settings are going to look like in your final image. If you're shooting with strobes it would be better to use "adjust for ease of viewing" so that if you're shooting at higher apertures your screen doesn't look black. Custom Settings Menus > View mode > (choose either) Show effects of settings or Adjust for ease of viewing.

Do the LCD screen on your camera ever look dark when shooting with strobes? You may need to fix your View mode setting to Adjust for ease of viewing.

Flash shutter speed. Again, this setting is for photo-only. Unfortunately the highest flash shutter speed that the ZR offers is 1/60 which isn't ideal for flash photography but this is a cinema camera after all. We're going to set this the highest it can go. Custom Settings Menu > Bracketing/flash > Flash shutter speed > 1/60.

Turn off touch controls. Touch controls are not really useful in a housing so it's simpler to turn them off for underwater use. You can turn this off in Controls > Custom controls (shooting) > OFF.

Reverse dial rotation. This is most important when you're using the camera in the housing, it will reverse the dial on the camera but when you turn the dial on the housing it will feel more natural. Set that here: Controls > Reverse dial rotation > select Shutter speed/aperture. 

Release button to use dial. This is another useful tip for shooting in a housing, especially on Nikon cameras. By default you have to hold down a button then turn a dial to change settings. Turning this off for underwater use just makes things a lot faster. Controls > Release button to use dial > OFF.

 

Video i Menu 

Now a lot of these next customizations are up to personal preference, but these are things that I like to have on my i Menu, so use your discretion here.

By default the video i Menu has Set Picture Control, White balance, Frame size/frame rate, MODE, AF area subject detection, Focus mode, Custom controls, ISO, and Destination - I'll leave these all as is. 

I will change Audio input sensitivity to Vibration reduction and Product review mode will be swapped for Zebra pattern. 

Customization of the i Menu is really up to personal preference, but these are the designations I prefer when shooting underwater. 

 

Custom Buttons

Now we can start to change the custom buttons that we have on the camera. 

Fn1 assign AF-ON. I recommend using the first function button for AF-ON. In the above Custom Settings section I decoupled the AF activation from the shutter button and now it's on Fn1, the first function button, so that it can be accessed with my thumb, sort of like back button focus on a normal camera. To do this navigate to from the Custom Settings Menu > Video > Custom controls > Fn1 set to AF-ON. 

Fn2 assign Cycle AF-area mode. Since we already have MODE selected in our i Menu I'm going to assign the second function button to cycle through my AF area modes. While doing this you can deselect any of the AF areas that you may not need. To do this navigate to from the Custom Settings Menu > Video > Custom controls > Fn2 set to Cycle AF-area mode. 

For the third function button (Fn3) I will keep the default Display option.

To avoid any overheating issues while filming it's a good idea to set your Auto temperature cutout to HIGH.

 

Custom Settings Continued

Change shutter mode to shutter angle. This is where having a cinema camera is beneficial because this way we don't have to keep changing our shutter speed any time we change our frame rate, it will always be locked in at 180º (or whatever angle you set it to). To do this navigate to Custom Settings Menu > Video > Shutter mode > select Shutter Angle.

Turn on View assist. Turning on view assist will give you a closer preview to your final product will look like instead of a flat log shot. Custom Settings Menu > Video > View assist > ON.

Load 3D LUTs. If you have 3D LUTs you can load them on Custom Settings Menu > Video > 3D LUT

Change Brightness information display to waveform. This is an easier way of judging exposure when shooting video. Custom Settings Menu > Video > Brightness information display > WFM (waveform).

Change auto temperature cutout to High. I experienced some overheating issues when I had this set to Standard, so hopefully setting this to High will prevent overheating issues with this camera. To do that: navigate out of the Custom Settings Menu and go to Setup Menu > Auto temperature cutout > HIGH.

Overall, I thought the Nikon ZR performed really well on a lot of the default settings, but these are the few things I changed to optimize shooting it in a housing. If you'd like to see a more in-depth review of my experience with the ZR check out my Nikon ZR Underwater Review. If you have any questions, shoot us an email to ikelite@ikelite.com.

Equipment Used

200DL Underwater Housing for Nikon ZR 6K Cinema Camera # 71077

Additional Viewing

Nikon ZR Setting It Up // 200DL Underwater Housing Assembly [VIDEO]

Nikon ZR Underwater Review // 200DL Underwater Housing [VIDEO]

Nikon Custom White Balance for Underwater Photos and Video [VIDEO]

Color Grading // Adding Warmth to an Underwater Video [VIDEO]

Making a High Resolution Still from a Video Clip Using Topaz Photo AI [VIDEO]

 

 

Logan Wood is a published photographer, cinematographer, and Producer at Ikelite. Stemming from a great appreciation for the outdoors and living an active lifestyle, his work focuses on capturing and sharing the natural world through the latest technologies. When not in the studio, Logan can be found cruising on his bike, going to concerts, and researching where to go next. You can see more of his work at loganwood.net and on Instagram @jlowood