The Atomos Ninja Blade is a welcome and needed addition to the Atomos product-line of ProRes/DNxHD recorders. These are proven to be high quality, reliable and cost effective in terms of purchase price and recording media.
Before the Ninja Blade there was the Samurai Blade, which was announced at NAB 2013. This lifted the potential of these recording devices to a new level, by providing a high quality calibrated screen complete with waveform monitor/vectorscope, peaking, false colour, audio meters and many other useful functions.
The killer feature of the Samurai Blade is the screen – beautiful images which are suitable for really judging the image you’re recording….
…so it is with the Ninja Blade. The Ninja Blade mirrors the Samurai Blade in terms of functionality, with one defining difference, the Ninja Blade is an HDMI only device – while the Samurai Blade is an SDI only device.
The Ninja Blade is HDMI in and out – meaning the product provides for loop-through of the video signal. This can be useful for monitoring/recording on the Ninja Blade while simultaneously sending the video signal over HDMI to another monitor or device.
Similarly, the Samurai Blade provides SDI in and out, thus provides loop-through of the SDI signal.
The Ninja Blade will sell for £599 ex-vat in the UK. This represents tremendous value for money. Not only do you get a first-class 1280× 720, 5 inch monitor, suitable for colour grading on location, you also get a ProRes or DNxHD recorder, with the range of useful functions, already mentioned.
