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Atomos Brings an Upgraded Monitor to the Ninja Blade Recorder

Posted by Brad Spinsby on June 4, 2014

In the fall of 2013 Atomos released the Samurai Blade, an upgrade to their Samurai mobile recording device. Recently, they released the Ninja Blade, an upgrade to the Samurai’s inexpensive brother, the Ninja 2. Where the Samurai Blade sports more options and SDI interfaces, the Ninja Blade utilizes HDMI ports, but at a cost under $1000. If you prefer SDI inputs, the Ninja Blade can be used in conjunction with the Atomos S2H Converter. The Atmos Ninja 2 and Samurai recorders have 800×480 resolution monitors. The Blade series has an upgraded 1280 x 720 resolution utilizing SMPTE Rec 709 color space to make it an excellent production monitor. Both Blade recorders answer the demand for a better, more professional monitor, but with the same functionality as its predecessors.

Atomos continues to have a straightforward interface design. The user doesn’t have to cycle through 10 menus to get the options needed. With the Ninja Blade’s 5” touchscreen monitor the user has a plethora of options: waveform, focus peaking, zebra stripes, vectorscope, and Smartlog. The Smartlog feature allows the user to mark in and out points and add metadata to the clips instantly using provided keywords. You can even test the AtomOS 5 interface from their website. The recorder can output 10 bit, 4:2:2, Apple ProRes files, and up to 220 Mbps Avid DNxHD files. The HDMI port allows the user to sync the trigger and timecode through the monitor, so it works jointly with the camera to make the control of the whole outfit easier. The Blade series also allows for hot-swapping of batteries. Now during those long events you can swap the batteries without fear of losing a section of the event. The Atomos Samurai and Ninja Blade are multifunctional devices that work great for those looking to minimize their package and maximize their budget.

Have you used the Ninja or Samurai Blade and if so, in what location were you filming? What are your thoughts on the interface, recording, or monitor use? Please share with us at our blog, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.