We met up with Atomos CEO Jeromy Young at BVE2011 last week to find out what's happening with the Ninja. Well, it is ready and shipping this week.
If you haven't heard of the Ninja...it's a portable field recorder which plugs into a camera's HDMI socket. One of the main reasons for using it is to bypass the cameras usual compression system and record at a higher bit rate, using Apple's ProRes codec. It records onto notebook hard disk drives (HDD) or solid state drives (SSD) - which should also allow you to record for longer. You can read up on all the Ninja's specs on the Atomos site.
We recorded Jeromy demonstrating all the controls and menu items. The interface is very clean and simple. The Ninja comes with batteries, battery charger, caddies for the drive, docking station and cables in a sturdy carry case. There's plenty of information in our video.
If you haven't heard of the Ninja...it's a portable field recorder which plugs into a camera's HDMI socket. One of the main reasons for using it is to bypass the cameras usual compression system and record at a higher bit rate, using Apple's ProRes codec. It records onto notebook hard disk drives (HDD) or solid state drives (SSD) - which should also allow you to record for longer. You can read up on all the Ninja's specs on the Atomos site.
We recorded Jeromy demonstrating all the controls and menu items. The interface is very clean and simple. The Ninja comes with batteries, battery charger, caddies for the drive, docking station and cables in a sturdy carry case. There's plenty of information in our video.
Unfortunately they discovered there is a problem using the Ninja with Canon DSLRs - you can find out more on our tech blog. But, it worked fine with my XF305.
Jeromy did announce that there will be an HD-SDI version launched around April - it will be called the Samurai.
[UPDATE: For the latest on the Ninja see: Atomos Ninja bug slips ship date]
[UPDATE: For the latest on the Ninja see: Atomos Ninja bug slips ship date]
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The main shot was recorded on the Canon XF305 and the cutaways were done with my little Panasonic TM700. Having two cameras always makes these types of video much easier to edit.
I had terrible trouble getting a good white balance as they had sodium lights on in the exhibition hall. He was wearing a white shirt, but it looks pink. Sadly, my FCP colour correction skills are not brilliant. Maybe it is time to get some Color training.
I've also realised I need a new tripod as my lovely Miller tripod isn't too happy with the extra weight of the XF305.
Christina Fox