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Best Recording Monitor under $1000: Atomos reacts to the BM Video Assist?


andrgl
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  • 4 weeks later...
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I was sold on at least waiting for the BM, but I'm having second thoughts. My client is requiring 422 HQ, so even 128 GB SD cards aren't going to go very far. One SSD drive would be cheaper than about two 128 GB SD cards. So I'm weighing on if I should wait and rent for my shoot coming up soon (production company is going to reimburse). Or go ahead and buy an Atomos, and they will reimburse the amount that renting it would have cost. 

I'm having trouble finding the Ninja 2 or Ninja Blade at the lowered price points that were posted. Is that for the barebones one that is going to be released? If so, what are the important parts that are missing from the barebones one versus the kit? Thanks! 

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I was sold on at least waiting for the BM, but I'm having second thoughts. My client is requiring 422 HQ, so even 128 GB SD cards aren't going to go very far. One SSD drive would be cheaper than about two 128 GB SD cards. So I'm weighing on if I should wait and rent for my shoot coming up soon (production company is going to reimburse). Or go ahead and buy an Atomos, and they will reimburse the amount that renting it would have cost. 

I'm having trouble finding the Ninja 2 or Ninja Blade at the lowered price points that were posted. Is that for the barebones one that is going to be released? If so, what are the important parts that are missing from the barebones one versus the kit? Thanks! 

​Which camera are you using? I was stoked on using the BM monitor as a ProRes recorder for my C100 but found out it doesn't convert 60i to 24p.

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  • 4 months later...

Dug up this thread by chance. So how does the math figure out in favour for or against the BMD Video Assist now the Samurai / Ninja Blade has fallen to 495 and the Ninja 2 is only 295!! :-o

Well the blackmagic screen is still higher resolution.  We will have to see what kind of quality it is when it hits the market.

Honestly until someone does a review on a retail sample there is no way to know.

The blackmagic solution doesn't make you choose between HDMI and SDI.  The wild card is exposure aids.  I have seen no mention of RGB parade, false color, nor vectorscope with the BM product.  But they are known to release major firmware updates for years after launch.  Honestly I am rooting for Blackmagic because it is good to have competition.  I have no doubt the Atomos prices you are seeing are due at least in part to BM applying some pressure.  Even if Atomos is a slightly better value, not saying it is, I would still give my money to BM.

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Something I've done numerous times and no one has ever noticed. Convert your native files to ProRes in post and deliver them.

sure, as someone that comes from an audio background, I can tell you for a fact that this sort of lossy upsampling happens on an hourly basis - sometimes through ignorance, other times, because people know that know one will ever know... because they couldn't.

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Guest Ebrahim Saadawi

Waaaaait for itt, 

Waaaaaaait for ittt,

I don't even remember I ordered the BMVA if I didn't get reminded by these threads. 

If I don't make it to the day it arrives, I am sure my son grandson will review it for you so no worries =)

 

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I had a look on the Video Assist at IBC and it was AWFULL. I really wanted to like it, but the Panel is bad. It was connected to a ursa mini and the same camera was connected to a bigger screen, so you could see there was nothing wrong with the camera.

Sounds disappointing. Any chance you got to play and check the menu/features or ask what the monitoring functions entail?

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Guest Ebrahim Saadawi

 

(5 days ago) BM Rep Tim: "2 weeks?"

That's in blackmagic's own time zone.

I had a look on the Video Assist at IBC and it was AWFULL. I really wanted to like it, but the Panel is bad. It was connected to a ursa mini and the same camera was connected to a bigger screen, so you could see there was nothing wrong with the camera.

That's not cool..

Why bad exactly?

The resolution and brightness I am told are excellent so I assume it's super reflective? This is the one element I fear, to be as reflective as say the blackmagic 2.5K 5'' panel, which was a mirror even inside so practically unusable unless in a pitch black room.

Hope this one isn't the same or else I'd be better off with a ninja 2, with the lower res panel but 100% usable for seeing under any light, and 200$ less now.

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  • Super Members

...reflective as say the blackmagic 2.5K 5'' panel, which was a mirror even inside so practically unusable unless in a pitch black room.

 

I have used it plenty in bright light with no "need" for darkness or an external monitor. Its not great but imo not any worse than any dslr or mirrorless.

Personally I dont see a point in buying an external monitor that doesnt have a loupe or some sort of hood. Like for example a used Alphatron.

Otherwise I might as well use the onboard monitior. 

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Guest Ebrahim Saadawi

I have used it plenty in bright light 

really? you could see what's on the screen? without shading the specific area with both your hands? :d perhaps sunny middle east is a different definition of ''bright light''

Anyway I am sure I can buy/make a hood for the VA if it's reflective. 5" is pretty standard so that's a plus.

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Guest Ebrahim Saadawi

color representation 

So it's only colours we're talking about not resolution/clarity, brightness, contrast etc?

If colours, do they look shifted to a particular tone vs the camera reference monitor? De-saturated/washed out? Edge-pixelated? 

(BTW I never intended to use the VA for an accurate monitor of colours, just focusing and framing and monitoring and of course recording - for reference look at the ninja 2 panel, oh lord, but still does its intended purposes)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I was excited. Because it's just the right size and interface it seemed. They were a little hazy about the features, so I wasn't sure what to expect from it as a monitor... but now it seems to lack decent monitoring functionality. And someone that had a hands-on experience the actual quality of the device, well, display, is below expectations. So... yes, as a recorder, if the specs checks of all the boxes for you... go get it. But now I'm hardly excited for it anymore. My idea was to use it in combination with the BMMCC (because it lacks viewfinder/display) like so:

tumblr_inline_nmsz8kgcAU1rj3z3j_400.jpg

But not so sure now. Atomos devices might make a little more sense. Just wished they made the Ninja Assassin 5". But I guess there's the PIX-E5(H) for that.

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In the price range it's appealing regardless of the quality of the monitor - it records 10bit @ 60p and downscales 4K, neither of which can be done by any of the Ninjas. I prefer the idea of SD cards and already have the appropriate fast ones for my BMPCC. I can't believe the screen will be completely useless considering its on the URSA Mini. If it has good peaking and histogram that would make screen quality a moot point for me anyway (and I'm 100% convinced it will have these - you can't really call it a video assist if it doesn't have peaking!). Besides I'd be using it with V-Log on the GH4 - so if it doesn't have LUT support, judging the image by eye alone would be a bit pointless anyway.

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