Atomos is now shipping its Ninja, a portable touch screen HD recorder, monitor and playback device that captures video direct to Apple ProRes from any camera with an HDMI output onto removable 2.5in hard disks.
Ninja eliminates the need for capture cards and wasted time logging and capturing by avoiding the lossy, time-consuming capture to edit process. It avoids compression needed to squeeze HD onto in-camera flash storage like P2, SxS and SDHC by providing limitless and cheap storage through the use of abundant removable 2-1/2in laptop hard disks.
Ninja includes all accessories in one case including batteries, chargers, disk caddies and a PC/Mac docking station. It banishes worries about battery life with “looping,” hot-swappable batteries.
It offers a high-quality editing codec at the camera — in the field. It can recycle older cameras with obsolete tape and compression technology and updates them with a modern, high-quality file-based workflow. Inside Ninja’s compact design is a hardware implementation of the Apples ProRes codec — Apple’s professional compression system that’s designed to leave final images looking as good as when they first hit the camera’s sensor.
Acquire video from the camera via FireWire 800, USB 2 and 3 and e-SATA interfaces to Ninja. Apple ProRes works natively with Final Cut Pro and on any computer with the ProRes codec installed. Ninja is simple to use, with a no-nonsense, intuitive touch screen that doubles as a viewfinder and playback monitor.