After discovering Atomos back in January of 2013 at the San Francisco Supermeet, I was intrigued by the Ninja-2 especially when I realized a pending firmware update for the 5D Mark III would make it compatible with the Ninja-2.
This portable field recorder and touch-screen monitor, records footage at 10-bit 4:2:2 straight from the camera’s sensor. It can record to Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD editing codecs onto 2.5” computer HDD or SSD drives.
This means good bye to cards forever. Beyond this, it’s full of all the features you would expect from a professional monitor including, peaking, false color and zebra. You can also play back your recording straight out of the Ninja 2 and set in and out points and other meta data as well.
The Ninja-2 features “continuous power”, where recording will continue, unimpeded, when the compact flash card is full. It does so with no signal interruption whatsoever, providing a healthy recording backup.
The Ninja-2 has a compact package, fantastic image quality and recording capabilities. However, as I shoot with the 5D Mark III, it was rather dishearening that this little lifesaver wasn’t compatible as the Mark III does not have a clean signal coming from the HDMI. However, as of April 30, 2013, that barrier is a problem of the past, and now the 5D Mark III is totally compatible with the Ninja-2.
While that is good news alone, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In light of the update, Atomos is turning this into a sort of product reworking, offering a package at a lower price of $695, keeping it in line with the economic viewpoint of HDSLR cameras.
The new package comes with the Ninja-2 unit, a redesigned docking station, battery, AC mains adaptor, a single battery charger and shims for Canon and Nikon batteries. Look for our full review of the Ninja 2 coming soon, and for more information about The Ninja 2 and all of the great products from Atamos, go to their website at www.atomos.com/ninja