C100: Atomos Ninja Blade vs Black Magic Video Assist

M

michasacuer

Active member
Hi! I have a questin. Im looking for good 5inch monitor to my Canon C100 Mark I.

Im thinking about two products, Ninja Blade and BM Video Assists. Which one have better sharpnes and will be better to judging focus? I know, Ninja Blade is 720p, BM is 1080p. Ofc, i thinking more about Video Assists, but i have option to buy used Atomos in good condition.

Is it true, that BM cant record 25psf throught the HDMI from C100? How is looking workflow with file like that? Recorder recording 1080/50i and i need to set it to progressive in my NLE? Or is it record 1080/25i and workflow is identical to AVCHD files straight from SD cards from camera? Is Atomos recording 25psf correctly?

I need external monitor with good resolution. I dont thinking about colors, but have an external recorder in this price is good option :)

Thanks for help

Best regards.
 
I don't have any experience with the Black Magic, but I have plenty of experience with the Blade, and I can say it is a great match to any C100. The colors are much more accurate to what you'll see on your computer monitor, especially on the MK1 with it's blue tinted built-in LCD. And you can record with much less compression than the internal AVCHD. How much that will actually improve your image? Your mileage may vary.
 
michasacuer said:
Thanks! How about judging focus on Blade monitor?
Click to expand...

I've been shooting with the Blade for two years. I find the screen okay for judging focus. It's not really the resolution that I think it needs more of, it's the brightness. 720 vs 1080 on a 5" screen is negligible. In direct sunlight, you MUST have a good sunshade or you won't be able to see anything. I believe I saw that the Blade screen is about 400-450 nits of brightness whereas the screen on the Shogun Inferno is about 1500 nits, I have heard you can see it in direct sunlight with no hood. That's bright! I use the 5" Hoodman for the RED LCD screen and it works okay, I wish it was a couple of inches deeper but at least it covers the bottom of the screen as well as the top, unlike the useless Atomos sunshade. The Blade is one of the best pieces of video gear I have ever owned, it's been a rock and I have shot with mine a lot, all over the world. Be careful with HDMI, try to build in as much strain relief as possible on both the camera and the Blade side, the connection will loosen up with usage. SDI with BNCs is much better but the C100s don't have SDI so you work with what you have. Everyone bags on Atomos support but I had my Blade in the Sahara in May, shooting in 130F temps for two weeks. It got so hot that it actually melted the screen on my Blade (it still worked but the left side one day when it was really hot, just turned into a yellow smudge). When I got back from Morocco, I contacted Atomos, they had me send it in to their repair facility and they put in a new screen for free under warranty, which they totally didn't have to do since I kind of abused it by shooting in ridiculous temperatures. They were slow to respond and communication did not fly fast between us but in the end, my Blade is like new and I abused it. Atomos is a good company.
 
Thanks for the second post for me! :) of course, I can record 25psf in atomos by HDMI? Black Magic can't do that ( recording always 50i)?
 
Wasn't there a problem with the black magic doing the pulldown vs the Blade? I remember reading that years ago.
 
Not sure Mischa, I've never shot in PAL with it but what you wrote sounds correct. I know when I shoot 23.98, the Blade records at 23.98 with a little yellow "3:2" lit up on the screen. I recall reading that too Oliver.
 
That is the reason I went with the Blade or the video assist. The blade is great just battery life is bad. But if you cater for this you be fine. I can notice the difference from arched 24mbps
 
The Blade is a great product and a great match for the C100. I prefer using it for outputting to Prores vs the internal AVCHD, but even if I didn't, I'd still use the Blade as a video assist.
 
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