Atomos has announced the latest generation of its hugely successful Ninja line of camera-mounted monitor recorders: Ninja and Ninja Ultra.
The original Ninja rocked the industry when it was introduced in 2010, combining an HD disk recorder with a touchscreen monitor you could hold in your hand.
It captured pristine, uncompressed video direct from the first generation of DSLRs straight onto a removable SSD.
The latest Ninja base model handles video sources up to nine times that resolution, has a five-inch HDR screen, records ProRes RAW, and connects to almost every camera in the world. Little wonder “Atomos” is now in the vocabulary of almost every filmmaker.
A key component of both new Ninja models is the completely overhauled operating system, AtomOS 11.
Cleaner, fresher and faster, thanks to hardware performance optimised for AtomOS 11, it delivers a host of new features too, including EL Zone exposure referenced colourised image, ARRI False Color, and new scheduled playback & recording tools.
Both models sport a distinctive ‘camo’ colour polycarbonate body and now include more codecs as standard: 6K ProRes RAW, ProRes, DNxHD as well as H.265, which was previously available as a paid option.
While the Ninja is targeted primarily at owners of DSLR and mirrorless cameras, Ninja Ultra is built to get the most out of camera-to-cloud technology and leans into cinematic workflows with Atomos Connect.
It can record full-quality files to ProRes RAW up to 4K 60p while at the same time recording HD 60p to H.265 and supports automatic matching filenames, timecode and record from ARRI, Canon and RED cameras. More cameras will be supported very soon.
Ninja Ultra’s new 4K camera to cloud mode lets you record and upload much higher quality bitrate H.265 video with higher framerates. H.265 files are half the size of H.264 media. They’re small enough for camera-to-cloud workflows but more than good enough for immediate use on social media, sports reporting or news gathering.
Adding an Atomos Connect expansion module to either a Ninja or a Ninja Ultra enables Atomos RemoteView – a brand new technology that lets users share live views from their Atomos screen with other Atomos monitors, as well as with iPads, Macs and Apple TVs wirelessly.
Users can monitor what’s happening on-set and look through any connected camera taking the shot, from anywhere in the world. RemoteView is a total game-changer for remote production, offering many new features never seen before.
For Ninja Ultra only, the Atomos Connect module provides a lower latency, higher throughput and more stable connection with Wi-Fi 6E. Once again, Atomos is leading the way by incorporating this cutting-edge Wi-Fi standard into its cloud-enabled products.
Both Ninjas are backwards-compatible with their predecessors, Ninja V and Ninja V+, so all Atomos and third-party accessories can be used with the new products.
“While we continue to innovate, we continue to listen to our customers too,” said Trevor Elbourne, CEO of Atomos. “Ninja remains the go-to ProRes monitor-recorder for individual content creators and freelancers, but with even more functionality.
“If cloud connectivity is not your priority right now, that’s no problem at all – you can just add that option further down the road as your business dictates.”
“Ninja Ultra, on the other hand, has been tuned for cinematic workflows as well as the cloud, although we strongly recommend that it’s paired with the Atomos Connect module to maximize its potential for studios and broadcast facilities.
“The addition of dual recording in 4Kp60 ProRes RAW and H.265 has been the most requested feature since we introduced cloud-enabled products last year.”
