Atomos Ninja 2 Nauticam

The Ninja bypasses the image degrading compression used by on-camera flash storage, capturing image data directly from the camera’s sensor and recording it in Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD formats to inexpensive 2.5″ hard disks or SSD.  In addition to being a high quality recorder, Ninja is also an external monitor with exposure and focus confirmation tools.  Atomos recently reduced the price of Ninja2 to $699, providing a 4.3″ external monitor and high quality recorder at an attractive price point.

The Nauticam NA-Ninja2 utilizes touch screen controls for key Ninja functions, including focus peaking, adjustable zebra, false colour twin mode, blue-only exposure check.  The Ninja housing is connected to the camera via Nauticam’s HDMI cable system that uses genuine HDMI connectors with proper shielding and strain reliefs.

The Ninja-2 works with a long list of current cameras, from the GoPro to the Canon C300 and the RED Epic. Examples of cameras with Nauticam housings that support the NA-NINJA2 include the Panasonic GH3, the Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Nikon D7100, Nikon D600, Nikon D800, and RED Digital Cinema System. The Canon 5D Mark III has a recent firmware upgrade that allows for clean HDMI output and features a HDMI start capture flag. The 5DIII can record to the Ninja and internal SD/CF cards simultaneously.

Workflow with the 220mb/s 4:2:2 output (either Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD format) is easy, saves transcoding time, and provides more headroom for post processing. With a simple adapter, the 2.5″ SSD’s can be plugged directly into a computer using USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt. The Apple ProRes files can be dropped directly into non-linear editors like Adobe Premiere CC or Apple Final Cut Pro X with no transcoding required.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS