Ninja Blade

Portable HDMI Recorder, Monitor, and Playback Deck

The Ninja Blade is the latest 10-bit HDMI video recorder, monitor, and player from Atomos. With its gorgeous SuperAtom IPS touchscreen, the Ninja Blade has the ability to overlay waveform monitors and a vectorscope, plus it has a plethora of other features that make it a must-have for DSLR videographers.

The Ninja Blade records 10-bit 4:2:2 video at a maximum resolution of 1920×1080 to Apple ProRes 422 or Avid DNxHD onto inexpensive 2.5″ hard disks or solid-state drives.
The monitor and player part of the offering sets the Ninja Blade apart. The 16:9, 5″ reflective screen with a resolution of 1280×720 has been factory-calibrated to the REC 709 HDTV color specification. Its native frame-rate playback is auto-switchable between 48, 50, and 60 Hz. The 325-ppi screen has a maximum viewing angle of 179° at 400nit brightness.

The screen provides especially accurate color evaluation. A resizable Luma overlay, RGB parade, and vectorscope complete the package. Activating the RGB parade across the lower third of the screen is a boon for applying real-time exposure and color adjust-ments when lighting conditions change. The vectorscope functionality allows you to white balance and color match across clips.

Unique to the Ninja Blade is that you can actually color-calibrate its panel with an op-tional, portable colorimeter. This results in a monitor image that you can visually trust to render colors accurately over time. The Ninja Blade also has SmartLog capabilities, allowing you to approve or reject clips and export this metadata as a Final Cut Pro X XML file.

Company: Atomos
Price: $995
Web: www.atomos.com
Rating: 5
Hot: Color management; screen quality; dynamic range; price
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