Is this Atomos Samurai Blade worth it?

[basil_555]

Hello,

Judging by its look, do you think this Atomos Samurai Blade is a worth buy? It is sold by a rental house and although they say it works perfectly I have suspicions. The BNC connector is somewhat damaged and there are some wearing marks around the screen. Do you think it may be near the end of its life? The ask me $200 for the recorder itself + they include 128Gb SSD free.

Thanks!

 

[NorBro]

It's old technology and not worth it.

If the budget is there, I would spend another $200 or so and invest in a better, more modern recorder.

___

The original VA goes on sale for $300 sometimes: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1578060-REG/blackmagic_design_video_assist_3g_5.html

 

[basil_555]

It's old technology and not worth it.

If the budget is there, I would spend another $200 or so and invest in a better, more modern recorder.

___

The original VA goes on sale for $300 sometimes: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1578060-REG/blackmagic_design_video_assist_3g_5.html

Yes, I know its an old technology. But I have Sony PMW-F3 which would work perfectly with it. The only thing that stops me is how shabby it looks.

Best regards,
Vassiliy

 

[NorBro]

A natural reaction to seeing any hardware with imperfections is thinking its condition is questionable, but you can never tell. It might be perfectly fine or something inside might be popping out of its solder any moment.

Maybe send over an e-mail to Atomos and find out if they still support legacy equipment.

If they do, maybe it's worth the risk to you as they can always fix it if anything.

If they don't and it breaks, no one will likely be able to fix it besides the random oddball engineer genius who researches and sources parts from around the world.

 

[CharlesPapert]

FWIW, I bought a reconditioned Samurai Blade(looked and performed as good as new) direct from Atomos two years ago for $375. If they still have stock, they may even be cheaper now.

 

[cyvideo]

They are old yes but I still use mine on broadcast jobs where they want 1080i. For those jobs or HD 25p jobs it works well. Small built like a rock and has never missed a beat. As Charles says, check out Atomos. The only issue is they won't take the later type 2 caddies. Type 1 caddies are getting harder to find. Later recorders will take both types of caddy.

Chris Young