C100: New Atomos Ninja Blade With HDMI

[bengiles]

Some feedback after a hard day's filming pieces to camera with a presenter today:

There is a visual delay, gut feeling is that it's around a frame. Not a huge problem, but would prefer sub frame latency, of course.

It likes going through batteries - we were running SWIT 8845s on the C100, with the tap feeding the NB. I did have concerns that we'd run out of batteries - despite having 4 of them. Running just the C100, we usually don't go through more than one SWIT 8845 in a day (well maybe one and a bit.)

It's bright and very good for judging focus. It's worth the purchase price just as a monitor, I think - and ProRes originals are a nice bonus.

Ben.

 

[bengiles]

From our shoot today (DoP: Sam Morgan Moore.) I was using the NB to direct from - very clear, you can see how bright it is.

Ben.

 

[maddchase]

I have this as well. If you go full screen with no overlay it goes away. It's a bug.

Okay, that makes me feel better. This was actually a replacement I got from Atomos, ended up having a good experience with their customer service.

 

[marvinhello]

Some feedback after a hard day's filming pieces to camera with a presenter today:

There is a visual delay, gut feeling is that it's around a frame. Not a huge problem, but would prefer sub frame latency, of course.

It likes going through batteries - we were running SWIT 8845s on the C100, with the tap feeding the NB. I did have concerns that we'd run out of batteries - despite having 4 of them. Running just the C100, we usually don't go through more than one SWIT 8845 in a day (well maybe one and a bit.)

It's bright and very good for judging focus. It's worth the purchase price just as a monitor, I think - and ProRes originals are a nice bonus.

Ben.

The delay is from the camera, not from Ninja Blade. Many Canon cameras exhibit this issue, like 7D, 5D3, 1D C

1D C and 5D3 have 4 frames delay from the HDMI output, which can be a huge pain sometimes.

 

[Earthheal]

Any comments on screen quality of the Blade or Ninja 2? I've read elsewhere that the Atomos screens are not as crisp as the Zacuto, as one example of a dedicated "monitor?"

 

[remsyatassi]

Any comments on screen quality of the Blade or Ninja 2? I've read elsewhere that the Atomos screens are not as crisp as the Zacuto, as one example of a dedicated "monitor?"

Not sure what you mean by crisp. NB has a lot more resolution and significantly better color than the ZEVF. The Atomos is a touch screen so it's a bit of glossier finish though.

 

[andykwilkinson]

Been using my Ninja Blade on either my C100 or my PMW-300 this last week (primarily as a second monitor, although it does have a Sandisk Extreme II 240GB SSD in it) and I have to say I'm really loving it. More work with it again tomorrow (on the C100 for a job which involves some green screen stuff).

Size, LCD quality and tools seem to be excellent/very easy to use. So far so good. Glad I waited as I was never impressed with the screen on the Ninja2.

 

[MattDavis]

+1 on Andy's experience - I went with the Pix220 over the Ninja 2 for a number of reasons, screen quality being one of them. NB is almost (ALMOST) on a par with my AC7. I won't ditch the AC7, but I'll be taking the NB on every shoot.

BTW, interesting to hear of 'power hungriness' when Swit battery powers both camera and NB. I have a couple of pancake NP-F570s which weigh nothing, and I'd get a good afternoon out of them, using an NP-F 970 when on a tripod. I wonder if NP-F770 knock-offs on Amazon may get popular all of a sudden.

 

[icicle22]

+1 on Andy's experience - I went with the Pix220 over the Ninja 2 for a number of reasons, screen quality being one of them. NB is almost (ALMOST) on a par with my AC7. I won't ditch the AC7, but I'll be taking the NB on every shoot.

BTW, interesting to hear of 'power hungriness' when Swit battery powers both camera and NB. I have a couple of pancake NP-F570s which weigh nothing, and I'd get a good afternoon out of them, using an NP-F 970 when on a tripod. I wonder if NP-F770 knock-offs on Amazon may get popular all of a sudden.

Are the NP-F570s the smallest battery Sony makes? I'd prefer something a little lighter if I need to pick up a few spares.

 

[MattDavis]

I think there's an NP-F330 and its inevitable knock-offs. I've had the NP-F570s since I bought a couple of Z1s. Or something. But there must be some sort of law of diminishing returns? Half the watt-hourage (sic), but only a third off the weight and bulk?

 

[liondor1969]

I feel like a zacuto or small hd dp4 to come to NAB with a new EVF - this two models are quite old and which have not been replaced for a long time

 

[rgdfilms]

How are people using this thing if we're still getting the black lines when using the C100? That bug seems huge to me. My Ninja Blade is about to arrive but I'm contemplating just keeping the Ninja2 because of this very reason. Is there a fix yet? Workaround?

 

[Joe Stas]

Thinking of upgrading my N2 for the Blade - seems like a great choice.

 

[Nate Haustein]

How are people using this thing if we're still getting the black lines when using the C100? That bug seems huge to me. My Ninja Blade is about to arrive but I'm contemplating just keeping the Ninja2 because of this very reason. Is there a fix yet? Workaround?

Atomos told me to record in 60i and deinterlace in post for the meantime. Or zoom in like 0.25% - doesn't seem like a big deal.

 

[chappelldigital]

I would think it is a pretty big deal.
If I shoot a full concert and upload 40gigs to the client to edit, but then have to explain "oh my recorder is weird, so your editor has to go over every edit, and scale it 0.25%" - would make me sound like a pretty poor choice to hire again.

From what anyone can read in this thread, it has a great screen, but its clearly not a product that was made to work properly with the C100, and if it was, they didn't do it. I would never buy an external record that had some 'weird bug' to deal with - at any price.
Hopefully it will be an easy firmware fix, but in it's current form, its not an option to consider as a recorder for the C100.

 

[sebben]

Exactly right.

 

[MattDavis]

+1, ChappelDigital - it is totally a big deal.

You have to do the same sort of silly stuff as the AVCHD PsF - manually set your 50i or 60i recording to 25p/29.97p. And if you shot 24p, LOL - you're So Out Of Luck. Re-encode via your chosen encoder to remove the pulldown. On every shot. Lovely.

I hear this problem does NOT occur on Ninjas and Samurais, only on the Blade models (yes, Samurai Blades do this too according to users who contacted me).

So, we have to apply pressure on Atomos to fix this. It is not good. The workaround is just that, and not a good one in professional workflows. And 'scale'? NOOOO! Whimper, nooo! This is not a solution, it is a bit of gaffer tape and cardboard. It would make a laughing stock of the Atomos proposition.

Having said that, the screen quality of the NB over the C100, and the extra dynamics in the colour, really do make the NB a must have, but that's *assuming* Atomos fix this issue. If they don't? Maybe the Odyssey or a new Pix after NAB.

 

[mhood]

Having said that, the screen quality of the NB over the C100, and the extra dynamics in the colour, really do make the NB a must have, but that's *assuming* Atomos fix this issue. If they don't? Maybe the Odyssey or a new Pix after NAB.

Please don't underestimate the number of folks who are following this thread for news about the "fix".

 

[MattDavis]

Funnily enough, yes - just checked the SoundDevices.com website for any news on the Pix 220. They have new firmware available:

http://www.sounddevices.com/download/pix-firmware/

BTW, thanks SoundDevices - I really appreciate the email you didn't send me. After enquiring about compatibility with Canon devices to your customer services and technical support departments, it's nice to find out that you've started to look at this because I went back to your website and searched, rather than your timely and thoughtful insight to your existing customer base. Just sayin' :smile:

 

[greenheron]

Back to the original thread about the Ninja Blade. If there are problems in the recording of the recorder then the recorder is not functional until there is a fix, period. If people are paying you for work then you have to supply completely functioning equipment. I guess for those working on their own projects who don't mind wasting their time on post fixes this is a workaround. It is not a workaround for paid professionals. The problem is the response from Atomos. Many time these fixes seem to take forever to address.