C100: Atomos Ninja 2 w/C100 - problems?

I bought the Apple thin HDMI and I have not had a single hiccup. I mount the ninja to the top of the camera or the handle and then wrap the extra slack of the HDMI cable around the handle.
 
I think that many of these issues come from cable strain on the HDMI cable. I have gone strickly with thin HDMI cables (Apple and Hyperthin) and they work much better. Also remember that the 23.98p setting requires movement to engage the drop down setting. If you are stationary for a long period or stop the camera or go into media mode you need to check and make sure you are still in 23.98P or you might be recording 60i. This is just part of the workflow if you want to use the recorder. Which I do need to speed workflow in editing.

I am hoping my new Mac and updated ediing software will allow me to shoot more in AVCHD as this does free up the camera for better ergonomics when shooting docs. For studio and commercial production I dont mind using the recorder and backing up with the cards.
 
greenheron said:
I am hoping my new Mac and updated ediing software will allow me to shoot more in AVCHD as this does free up the camera for better ergonomics when shooting docs. For studio and commercial production I dont mind using the recorder and backing up with the cards.
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...a couple of the reasons I sold my Ninja 2. I found my Mac Pro could handle AVCHD very well and the C100 is less cumbersome. I have also gone from 100-200gb prores projects to 40-50gb using AVCHD therefore saving hard drive space.
 
greenheron said:
I think that many of these issues come from cable strain on the HDMI cable. I have gone strickly with thin HDMI cables (Apple and Hyperthin) and they work much better. Also remember that the 23.98p setting requires movement to engage the drop down setting. If you are stationary for a long period or stop the camera or go into media mode you need to check and make sure you are still in 23.98P or you might be recording 60i. This is just part of the workflow if you want to use the recorder. Which I do need to speed workflow in editing.

I am hoping my new Mac and updated ediing software will allow me to shoot more in AVCHD as this does free up the camera for better ergonomics when shooting docs. For studio and commercial production I dont mind using the recorder and backing up with the cards.
Click to expand...

I have used both the Apple thin HDMI cable and heavy duty cables with the camera on a tripod and experienced issues. In most cases I am shooting 24P and relying on the Ninja to detect and remove pulldown. When a glitch occurs, it typically stops recording and I see a still image on the Ninja2. I have to exit the recording mode and when I get kicked back to the main screen, the monitor and record button are greyed out, so I have to perform the 3:2 pulldown sync to even begin recording again. The issue is that something, interrupts the flow of data to the recorder. I am thinking out loud here but I have not had any of these issues when shooting in 30PF mode. Coincidence??
 
Curnsie said:
...a couple of the reasons I sold my Ninja 2. I found my Mac Pro could handle AVCHD very well and the C100 is less cumbersome. I have also gone from 100-200gb prores projects to 40-50gb using AVCHD therefore saving hard drive space.
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The workflow that is working for me at this point with AVCHD files is using Avid. I AMA the files and then transcode the needed files to Avid DNXHD. The reason that I am doing this is that Avid transcodes the files very quickly with the new system and hard drive space is not an issue for me these days. 8TB drives are affordable for me. I can do anything to the DNXHD files and they hold up fine, with no sluggishness in editing.

The only time I use the Ninja 2 is when I need to turn over Prores files quickly to the producer or another editor. Saves work for the producer/editor. This only works well when I am NOT in a run/gun environment. For broadcast I try to shoot to the Ninja2 to have a better master file (and backup to AVCHD) but to be honest I have seen little difference in the material. The Ninja 2 is a great little device in a controlled environment, but not so much when you are running around by yourself.

Oh, and when I need to record to broadcast level files and need to run/gun with a small package I rent a C300 with the C100 as 2nd camera. In fact my whole system now is rent C300 for high end work and use the C100 (A Cam or B Cam) and 5D III (timelapse and stills). All my Lenses work with this system and I am comfortable with the Canon system throughout.
 
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greenheron said:
...but to be honest I have seen little difference in the material. The Ninja 2 is a great little device in a controlled environment, but not so much when you are running around by yourself.
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You summed up my experience perfectly. :)
 
Long time user of C100 / Ninja 2 here never had a problem until yesterday. I cant reformat the drive and the touch screen is proving way too problematic on set taking up precious time :(
 
I've had similar problems with my ninja2/c100 combo, unfortunately. The problem got better when I updated my firmware, but it still seems to crop up quite a bit. For instance, when filming a 1-2 hour interview, I seem to get a frozen screen at least once each interview. So then I have to shut everything down, and start again, and it breaks the flow. I'm shooting 23.98 and using the Ninja to record DNxHD145 files that I can consolidate in Avid.

Love the Quicktime files it produces, and love no transcoding. I need the Ninja for broadcast specs.
So I do the same double-recording to SD cards.
Sure wish I didn't have to.
 
Just finished a doco on the Gibb River Road in Northern Australia. 12,000kms in 24 days, blankets of thick red dust, scrambling up cliff faces, river crossings, hanging out the side of helicopters and 4x4's, chasing dingoes in the bush, crocodiles in the rivers, barra fishing, the list goes on. The C100 paired with the Ninja 2 did not miss a beat and performed like a dream. My only problem was once after climbing for 1/2 an hour up a range in the Kimberley's I must have inadvertently hit 50i on the Ninja screen and for about 5 minutes I was recording 25p out of the C100 into the Ninja 2 that was recording 50i and even then I was able to save the footage.

Always, always recorded to dual internal cards as a safety measure, the peace of mind was appreciated. The dust was incredible but did not cause one problem other than the fact that all my hardware, cases etc are coated in a fine red hue. I could not recommend the C100 and Ninja 2 more and totally disagree that you need a controlled environment to operate. You don't.
 
Great report Plexi Head. Hope you get everything cleaned up soon ;) When can we see your doco?

I also agree that you don't always need to be in a controlled environment, having lugged around much larger & heavier gear in the past, the C100+Ninja2 is still positively a dream, with a few caveats ;)

OTOH, I also agree that it's not the most balanced combo to use hand held, so I understand those who love run & gun not liking it so much....
 
The fact that one person can have problems with the C100 Ninja 2 combo on a tripod in the studio and another has no issue climbing rivers and mountains with the same combo says much about the inconsistent issues that are reported with this combination. Much I suspect is operator error. Some is due to the dropdown issues with 23.98p needing motion before locking up. Some is due to the fragile nature of the HDMI connector. All I know is that I will never rely on an HDMI connection no matter where I am. It is not a reliable connection for run and gun situations. So no matter if you had no issues with the combo, I do not feel comfortable working on paid jobs for a client relying on this combination of equipment. i.e. Ninja 2 recorder and HDMI connections to camera and recorder.
 
I spent 2 weeks shooting stock footage with my C100 Ninja 2 combo with no problems. Then skippy the kangaroo appeared, broken clips now and again, thankfully never during an interview on other jobs. I put it down to the hdmi cable getting 'worn out' with constant bending, wrapping, plugging and unplugging etc. Tbh I didn't notice the skippys at first as I was handing the footage over to an editor so perhaps it was there from day one.
 
Well it all worked out for me this morning but initially I had issues during an interview I was filming. 3 times while setting up, I noticed that my record button was greyed out. I was shooting 30psf so there was no 3:2 pulldown issues to deal with. I quickly realized it had nothing to do with the HDMI cable, but the SSD that was in the Ninja2 had vanished. Each time I removed it and reinserted and it worked. I ran some diagnostics on the SSD with my laptop real quickly and it seemed to be okay and was not reporting errors.

The final time this happened I noticed that as I went to touch the Ninja2 to change a setting, a small static shock occurred from my finger to the Ninja2. The SSD promptly disappeared. It immediately returned after ejecting and re-inserting. I suddenly recalled a similar type of incident that occurred in mid December that I might be able to attribute to static. I touched my tripod and had a small static shock and the Ninja froze up then but since it was 24P I had to redo the cadence. I also had to reboot to get it to work but I am thinking that perhaps the SSD was missing so the record option was greyed out. I dunno.

The remainder of the shoot went without incident but I was starting and stopping the camera via a control-L controller so I didn't really have to touch anything either.

I can say in the 20 years I've been using video equipment I have never had any issues caused by static electricity before. It almost seems that the Ninja2 is super sensitive. My Atomos Samurai worked like a tank and never had these types of issues. A result of HD-SDI vs. HDMI or just a better build??? I dunno.

I thought this would be of interest to those following this thread.

Thanks.
 
a marriage with issues.

a marriage with issues.

Hey everyone. I just wanted to to chime in and mention that I too have had issues with my Ninja 2. At first all was groovy when I shot a full day (hours of interviews) and everything worked a charm but then on the second day (interviews and broll) I had the ninja give me the jumping kangaroo icon and then stop completely. It happened about 3 times over the course of an hour. I even changed the HDMI cable to a much larger one and still had an issue.

I did notice that the ninja 2 was pretty hot to the touch when recording for the long periods of time.... so i wonder if temperature has had something to do with it since it didnt start acting up until about halfway through the day. *shrug*

For me this is a big disappointment. I dont mind the AVCHD but I often work with folks who grade their footage pretty deep so the prores option is great for them. I knew what i was getting myself into with the c100 but I really was hoping it wouldn't be too finicky. :cry:

Ill be shooting a music video within the next few weeks so i hope to give the ninja another try.
 
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