Atomos Ninja Star

arum

Hopefully I am not the only one interested in this.

http://www.atomos.com/ninja-star/

From the press release.

The dimensions of the Ninja Star are slender at only 3.5″ wide, 2.3″ tall and 0.8″ deep and it weighs a fraction of a normal recorder at just 100grams (3.5 oz). The Ninja Star can record in both HD and Apple ProRes to capture pristine, 422 10-bit images straight from any camera sensor directly to inexpensive first generation CFast media with up to 3hrs Apple ProRes for $250. It also features Timecode and Start/Stop Trigger along with Audio Line-in.

I am less interested in 4k 8bit 420 in H264 than in 10bit 422 in a codec that keeps more shadow information. I made my mind when I saw this video a while ago.

There's a thread regarding the type of card it uses: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/10110/cfast-storage/p1

Vitaliy_Kiselev

Ze_Cahue

The Ninja GH4 will shine like a Star!!!

arum

Vitaliy_Kiselev

arum

For those wondering about the storage. User @natureflix found this http://www.delock.com/produkte/G_61871/merkmale.html?setLanguage=en We don't know if it will work, but I sure do hope so.

mrbill

We have another thread on the subject of CFast media directly relating to this. I wonder if VK thinks it worth merging them?

Vitaliy_Kiselev

I wonder if VK thinks it worth merging them?

They are about two different things :-)

Vitaliy_Kiselev

arum

First places where I see pre-orders in Europe.

60 dollar over the american price, meaning that there's about 20% VAT and nothing else added.

mrbill

I've posted on the atomos forums enquiring as to the kind of bit rates the star records at - no response at all, which is a bit disappointing as regards the hunt for a media option cheaper than cfast. However, what isn't disappointing is the price, now starting to trickle down via a couple of UK Dealers. At £214 on the CVP website, I think this is a no brainier.

mrbill

Patrick from atomos was kind enough to respond as follows regarding the use of sdxc cards using a cfast to sdxc adaptor:

'cfast can get a little pricey depending on where you pick it up, brands like apacer tend to be better value for money and if you look hard enough you can pick it up relatively cheap

Regarding the cfast to SDHC conversion, for pro-res recording you'd need roughly 80mb a sec write speed throughput, or its possible that frames will be dropped, I know SanDisk Extreme cards are rated up to 90mb a sec but its too early to comment on if this will work in the Star just yet.'

mrbill

Read/write speed tests (using Aja speed utility) using Kingston 64gb class 3 sdxc card in DeLock cfast adapter: Sustained write - 20.9MB/s average. Sustained read - 21MB/s average

This converts to 160Mb/s (please correct me if these sums are wrong). Data rates for ProRes 422 (10bit 422): 25p - 122Mb/s. 29.98 - 147Mb/s. 23.98 - 117Mb/s.

Speeds are a little shy of what would be required for ProRes HQ, but these figures look hopeful for ProRes 422. I have the Sandisk Extreme 95Mb/s card, and a Transcend 128gb class 3 card on the way. When I get a minute, I'll test these to see if there's an improvement over the Kingston.

arum

Thanks, @mrbill, this is very useful information. I notice that both are topping at just below 21MB/s. Could this be a limitation of the reader? Can the reader read sd cards? And if so, would you mind testing the same card and see if it gets the same speeds?

mrbill

Don't have a usb3 sdxc card reader, I'm afraid. The paperwork that came with the Delock adapter said that unit performance would only be limited by the sdxc card itself. Testing the sandisk 95 tomorrow. Should I be expecting 30MB/s from the Kingston?

arum

Check this thread. http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/8688/sdhc-uhs-speed-class-3-cards-for-4k/p1 I have the 16GB U3 Kingston and my sequential write with Crystalmark was almost 46MB and that may be a limitation of my reader, since that's the highest speed it has ever registered. However, I have never tested a sandisk 95, which in the experience of the people I am aware of, is the only card that quite consistently reaches over 80MB.

smokemonk

Is this little gem GH2 compatible?

Brian202020

Does anyone know if this CFast to SD adapter will work with the Ninja Star. I have a ton of fast SDXC cards I'd rather use, so I don't have to buy new media. I emailed Atomos, and they haven't tested it, so they don't know if it'll work or not.

http://www.delock.com/produkte/G_61871/merkmale.html