Ninja - shipping this week

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.

Training Course Notes: Tapeless - Compact Flash Media

The Canon XF300 and XF305 record to compact flash cards. This tapeless workflow worries some people. But it shouldn’t. Yes, you will see some horror stories on forums telling tales of lost data. But, tape had its problems too. So here is a guide to working tapeless without tears.

Wide Angle Lens Attachment For XF300 and XF305

Century, part of Schneider Optics, has released a new HD Wide Angle lens attachment for the popular Canon XF300 and XF305 camcorders.

The new WA-8XLC-XF Wide Angle Converter attaches directly to the front of the camcorder's built-in 18x zoom lens to increase viewing coverage by 20%. Recent approval from the BBC for HD broadcast production has increased demand for the XF300/XF305, but at 29.3mm (35mm lens equivalent) at its widest, it doesn't have a particularly wide-angle lens.

Canon XF105 shifts axis to 3D

Canon will show its new XF100 and XF105 cameras, plus the recently announced XA10 (making its European debut) at BVE next week.

The XF105 is particularly interesting for its innovative 3D-friendly features, and a pair of them will be shown in the new Genus Hurricane rig designed by cameraman, Alister Chapman.

Canon XF305 and XF105 Review

Canon XF305

To kick start this new blog here's the review I wrote for a the Guild Of TV Cameramen's magazine, Zerb....

2010 was a good year for Canon watching. At Broadcast Video Expo 2010 there were more Canon DSLR cameras in the exhibition hall than traditional camcorders.