Nikon is not posting a download today. The company is developing firmware version 2.00 for the Nikon ZR, the full-frame Z CINEMA body that shipped in October 2025. Three features are on the 2.00 list. Nikon says that update is scheduled for release sometime in 2026 — no month, no build number you can install this afternoon.
A second, separate firmware track is also in the works: open-gate recording and an anamorphic desqueeze display. Those are aimed at 2027, not at 2.00. RED is updating RED CONTROL and RED CONTROL PRO so the apps can remote the ZR.
What firmware 2.00 is supposed to add
Nikon USA’s September 8 notice names three items, all still “planned”:
- Log3G10 and REDWideGamutRGB in H.265. Nikon’s pitch is compact files with more grading latitude — RED’s log curve and gamut on a compressed codec, not only on R3D NE.
- Selectable [High ISO NR] during H.265 Log recording. A level control, not an on/off afterthought, so noise reduction can follow the grade instead of flattening it.
- Focus peaking while recording R3D NE. R3D NE is the RAW codec Nikon built for RED color science on Nikon bodies. Peaking during that record mode is the practical focus aid that was missing from the list.
Nikon’s usual disclaimer is attached: specifications and release dates can change. Treat the three bullets as the development brief, not a changelog you can check against a camera tonight. The public ZR firmware on Nikon’s download center is still C:Ver.1.11, dated March 17, 2026.
The 2027 features are the bigger ones — and they are not in 2.00
Open gate and anamorphic desqueeze are the two requests that keep coming up around a sensor that already records 6K. Nikon is explicit that those are additional firmware in development, “with the goal of incorporating them in ZR firmware in 2027.” That split matters. If you bought a ZR waiting for open gate, 2.00 is not that update.
It also fits the quieter 2026 calendar we already covered: bodies, lenses, and firmware sliding toward 2027. Today’s cinema-glass notice — nine NIKKOR Z CINEMA T1.9 VV primes in development — is the same kind of paper: official, incomplete, and not a ship date.
RED’s apps, not a new camera
The same note says RED is updating RED CONTROL and RED CONTROL PRO for ZR remote control. No version numbers and no date. Nikon restates that R3D NE is the RAW format developed for Nikon cameras to carry RED cinema color science.
The ZR itself is unchanged on paper: full-frame Z CINEMA body, launched last October. Firmware 2.00 is a codec-and-monitoring pass. The framing tools people have been asking for are on the 2027 side of the sentence.
Via Nikon USA’s firmware 2.00 development notice. ZR product page: imaging.nikon.com. Original launch: Nikon ZR at $2,199.