C100: New Atomos Ninja Blade With HDMI

One thing I did consider was that the Ninja Blade cant record a 4K signal. We all know this is the direction all cameras are going so not being able to move this to a 4K camera in the near future is a bummer. (GH4?) Now if Atomos can unleash 4K in the Ninja Blade and Samurai Blade that would be cool!
 
MattDavis said:
Odyssey 7Q at £2K - If I still had an FS700, a shoo-in. But it's all about quite a lot of stuff that the C100 cannot do. And it's big and full of 'stuff'. Not the sort of thing you can pop on top of a C100.

So, for the Ninja Blade, I read the press release on the way to the UK's BVE show on Tuesday, got a great demo from Robbie on the Atomos booth, bought one straight away, used today on a 5 hour preso (though I'm waiting for Spider).

Hey... It's a Ninja - works great with Canon. It's a Blade - great calibrated screen. As such, it is so much smaller and lighter than my Pix 220, it will fit in the C100 box as a constant companion. Works well with all those little pancake NP-F batteries accumulated by buying Sony camcorders.

The single thing is that I'm tired of the C100 internal LCD panel's out-of-whack representation of what it sees which doesn't just scare clients, it scares me. Of course, the better audio meters will please the Sound Guy, 422 can be nice in strong theatrical lighitng and the robust codec will help. Now the testing starts, long recording, 25pfs, NTSC framerates, etc.

But also looking forward to metadata from the recorder that actually makes the trip to FCPX (unlike much other metadata it seems).

If I owned a Ninja 2, would I upgrade? Hmm, tough call. It's a very nice screen. I'd buy a cheaper Ninja 2 for second and third camera - everything is interchangeable. I've been dithering for so long on a Samurai Blade with H2S, lucked out that Atomos got there first.
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Ah I want one too for my 1D C, just checked CVP website, Ninja Blade not showing up at all, weird that CVP usually list new products very swiftly.
 
I've had a samurai blade for 2 month now, and recently for a doc I've been shooting about 15 long interview (2 or 3 hours)....I had absolutely no issue at all with the blade..and the screen is very nice.
The last OS with the ability to show a rec 709 picture while shooting c-log is very useful when setting up the lights (I find the view assist in the C100 way too contrasty).

So, perfect to me ! Would absolutely buy the ninja blade if I hadn't this one already.
 
krick said:
Drew and Eric, didn't you guys had the same problems i had with the ninja 2 where the unit would drop frames during a long recording like an interview?
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Yes my Ninja 2 had a "skippy" or "glitch" issue when recording a clip but it would keep recording, creating 2 clips instead of one. It happened more frequently with a cheap HDMi cable.
 
Erik Naso said:
I don't intend in using it all the time but the monitor is really good and need that feature almost more than the recorder so it has a dual purpose that the Ninja 2 did not. As you know that monitor wasnt very good.
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I'm thinking the same, although I'd be more tempted by a SmallHD AC7 for motoring purposes, as the recording feature isn't something I need - it was one of the main reasons I sold my Ninja 2 - the ProRes was great but my projects quadrupled in size! Maybe if Atomos released a 6 or 7" recorder at not much more cost I might be tempted... :)
 
MattDavis said:
If I owned a Ninja 2, would I upgrade? Hmm, tough call. It's a very nice screen. I'd buy a cheaper Ninja 2 for second and third camera - everything is interchangeable. I've been dithering for so long on a Samurai Blade with H2S, lucked out that Atomos got there first.
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Hi Matt,
Can you confirm that the Ninja Blade screen is better or worse or no better than the C100 LCD in terms of critical focus? Is it sharper? Is the peaking feature good?

I looked at a Samurai Blade about a year ago at a broadcast show but it was attached to a small Sony camcorder so I couldn't compare to the C100 lcd.

thanks.
 
If the screen is the same as the samurai blade, I'll say it's much better. very sharp.
The peaking feature is good but I prefer the one on my C100, so I use the blade more without peaking, just for light/color checking.

Also, when I bought the samurai blade I discovered my C100 LCD wasn't color accurate at all : it has a blue/cold tint.

After several comparison with different monitors I found the samurai blade is pretty color accurate, and I didn't buy the spyder for color calibrating it
 
Curnsie said:
Hi Matt,
Can you confirm that the Ninja Blade screen is better or worse or no better than the C100 LCD in terms of critical focus? Is it sharper? Is the peaking feature good?
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Here's quite possibly the worst photo I've done, but briefly - warts and all...

ninjac100comparison.jpg

Even from this dreadful photo, you can see that:

1) The Ninja Blade screen is warmer - actually neutral. Better accuracy at portraying what the camera is actually seeing

2) The Ninja Blade screen is brighter. Quite a bit brighter. Very usefully brighter. I can see more shadow there too, which compares very well with the footage.

As for the focus aids, Peaking works. It's slightly more selective than the C100's default settings, a little more discrete - probably because the individual pixels are smaller. Note that there's no zoom-to-focus on the Ninja Blade so the LCD panel and EVF aren't completely redundant! I think the two are going to be great to work together - internal LCD panel for magnified mode, Ninja Blade as 'the whole view'.

NinjaBladePeaking.jpg

The False Colour exposure suits me, as does the great WFM which is nicer than the little built-in one.

It's more fussy than the PIX 220 was over cables. It really didn't like the long one I've habitually used for the AC7 either. The short Apple HDMI cable was an instant hit, so they've bonded for life.

VERY happy with that Ninja Blade screen. It's not going to replace the AC7, but the AC7 can be more of a Director's monitor. It's great to have the two. And as it's so much lighter and smaller than the Pix (batts last forever too), it's going to get far more use. Have to find a better way of mounting it though. LOL

BTW - I'd like to point out that I'm hand-holding that combo in the right hand and trying to photo it with a DSLR in my left hand. I should have done better but I'm supposed to be editing today, rather than play with toys. Even so... another picture...

NinjaBladePeaking2.jpg
 
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MattDavis said:
2) The Ninja Blade screen is brighter. Quite a bit brighter. Very usefully brighter.
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Is that with your C100 LCD set to "Normal" or "Bright"?
I have a Ninja 2 but have been shooting outdoors a lot, it's not bright enough, but the C100 LCD set to Bright is better.
 
It's with Normal - the 'Bright' mode looks, well, yeah, brigher, but it brings the blacks up too much for me. If it's that bright, I use the EVF.

The difference is in the fact that we're comparing LCD with IPS that seems a lot closer to OLED than it does to the conventional LCD that Canon use. So when I say that the Ninja Blade is brighter, I mean that there's a lot better contrast, dynamic range, what you will. How about 'less murky'? :-)
 
Thank you Matt.

I'm torn between the AC7 and the Ninja Blade. I've learned to live with AVCHD footage so for me I'm not sure having the ProRes recording option is necessary though it would be nice to have that option. My main need is a better monitoring method that is light weight so I feel the 7" AC7 would be better than 5" Ninja. Decisions, decisions...
 
Curnsie said:
Thank you Matt.

I'm torn between the AC7 and the Ninja Blade. I've learned to live with AVCHD footage so for me I'm not sure having the ProRes recording option is necessary though it would be nice to have that option. My main need is a better monitoring method that is light weight so I feel the 7" AC7 would be better than 5" Ninja. Decisions, decisions...
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Better monitoring? then go for TV-Logic VFM-058, 5.5inch 1080p screen. no competitors for now.
 
BTW - one thing I've noticed (I should be editing!) is that the Ninja Blade image is shifted 2 pixels to the left when compared frame-accurately with the internal AVCHD recording. There's a corresponding black line down the right hand edge.

I'm guessing this is just an early bird 'snag' that will get fixed in the next firmware update - or is this an Atomos 'feature'?

AVCHD (check out the crud in the top right of the WFM)
C100-IntAVCHD.jpg


And the ProRes from the Ninja (black line)
C100-NinjaBlade.jpg
 
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MattDavis said:
BTW - one thing I've noticed (I should be editing!) is that the Ninja Blade image is shifted 2 pixels to the left when compared frame-accurately with the internal AVCHD recording. There's a corresponding black line down the right hand edge.

I'm guessing this is just an early bird 'snag' that will get fixed in the next firmware update - or is this an Atomos 'feature'?
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Yikes! That's not good at all!
 
marvinhello said:
Better monitoring? then go for TV-Logic VFM-058, 5.5inch 1080p screen. no competitors for now.
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Do you mean on account of the resolution? Or something else?

I'd take a 7" 720p any day over a high res 5.5" monitor. It probably depends on how you set your monitor up though... For me at least, the increased surface area of the AC7 is much more important than a high dpi. They are the same 1280x800 resolution, so the DP6 is higher dpi, while the AC7 is bigger, obviously.
 
AndreeOnline said:
Well, +1

But it'll get fixed in firmware. Hopefully sooner than later...
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+1

Matt, I have one of these Marshall 7'' monitor: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._Electronics_V_LCD70MD_7_High_Brightness.html

And I really love it. Do you have a similar monitor by any chance? How does the blade compare to it do you think?

I am tempted to sell the Marshall and get a blade, or maybe even keep the 7'' for directors and clients.

I checked out Marketed but here is what I found: Item ATO-NINJA-BLADE is expected to be available for shipment on 3/7/2014.

Now, when you use the HDMI out of the ninja, do all the overlays from the ninja goes to the next display?

Thanks!
 
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I have a SmallHD AC7. I simply love the image quality for being what the camera sees, and the size is big enough to be impressive without being too big to take with you. However, I'd never 'run around' with it, and quite frankly, it's at its best on an Arri Magic Arm or handed over to the client/Director.

I've not been able to do side-by-side yet (and sorry for the awful pics before, but I'm officially supposed to be editing) - but I'll wager that it's pretty darn close to the AC7. I did the 'magic tour of the garden' (including my tax-deductable chickens) testing things out, and whilst it may not be bright enough for Mr Turner it's a combo that is going to work in my Semi Run & Gun workflow.

The Ninja Blade is going to live with the C100 because I can trust it whilst lighting, and I can do that 'flip the screen forwards' thing so I can light interviews by myself. It's the little things...

But the bottom line is that I have an AC7, the Ninja Blade doesn't replace it but it's going to get more use. I would want both, but I'd go for the Ninja first and the AC7 second.

Finally, sorry to go on and on with the zeal of the newly converted, but the shot marking and XML export is simply excellent. We need shot splitting , but an NP-F970 powered the Ninja all afternoon which means we can break the back of interviews (with shot splitting - please, Atomos!) before we get to FCPX. It's one of the first times that I've got useful metadata into the system.
 
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