Atomos announces Ninja Phone for connecting camera to iPhone for monitoring and recording: Digital Photography Review
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Atomos has announced the Ninja Phone, a monitor and recorder that connects cameras with HDMI out ports to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The unit acts as a ‘co-processor’ to encode a camera’s HDMI signal to 10-bit ProRes or H.265 and send the encoded video to the phone. There is also support for USB-C mic input.A Ninja Phone iPhone app was also announced to control the unit. Through the app, users can control settings and file transfer between the Ninja Phone and their iPhone. The app will also allow for vertical video capture, live streaming and remote file uploading to cloud services. An encoded ProRes file can also be saved locally to the phone as a .mov file, allowing users to build some redundancy into their workflow by having the source camera and iPhone both save the same file.There are some limits, however. Source camera output taps out at 1080/60p, meaning you can’t send a 4K signal from a camera to the Ninja Phone.No plans were shared for bringing the device to Andriod phones or other USB-C iPhones.Atomos’ announcement today spent considerable time gushing about the iPhone 15 Pro/Max display stats (2,000,000:1 contrast ratio and support for Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG). Atomos has said the device leans on Apple’s A17 chip to decode the video feed and display video with no latency, so it’s unclear how dependent the Phone Ninja is on Apple’s tech or if there are technical limits for if/when the Phone Ninja may come to other devices.The Atomos Ninja Phone is expected to ship in June 2024 at an MSRP of $399. The unit will also require a $59 phone case, which Atomos says is needed to “ensure that the locking cable system can be deployed.”
Now your phone can be a Ninja too!
Melbourne, Australia, April 12, 2024 — Atomos announces Ninja Phone, a whisper quiet, 10-bit video co-processor for smart phones and tablets that lets you record from professional HDMI cameras.
The first release of Ninja Phone, demonstrated at NAB 2024 at the Atomos booth (C4931) is designed for iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max and their amazing OLED display. It’s a powerful combination that uses Atomos’ world-beating knowledge of Apple ProRes encoding and Apple’s cutting-edge silicon and screen technology to create the world’s most beautiful, portable, and connected professional monitor-recorder.
Atomos has a proud history of working closely with all leading Japanese camera manufacturers and as you would expect from an Atomos product, the Ninja Phone lets you connect any professional camera with an HDMI output to Apple’s magnificent OLED screen in HDR.
The Ninja Phone encodes the camera’s HDMI signal to ProRes or H.265, both formats at superb 10-bit quality for perfect HDR. The encoded video is sent via Ninja Phone’s USB-C output to the iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max’s USB-C port. The iPhone’s super-advanced A17 system-on-a-chip decodes the pristine camera sensor image to display on the high-resolution iPhone screen.
The display is a massive improvement over typical built-in screens that come with most cameras, boasting a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio and supporting Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG. It can display 11 stops of dynamic range with a peak brightness of 1600 nits, perfect for HDR and outdoor viewing.
The Ninja Phone iPhone app, downloadable from the App Store, controls and coordinates the operation of both the Ninja Phone and the iPhone, making them feel like a single, responsive device. For social media creators who need to shoot in 9:16 portrait mode, the Ninja Phone app adjusts to horizontal or vertical video modes. The Ninja Phone app will run on iOS and iPadOS, and will be downloadable at the time of shipping.
The camera’s output appears on the iPhone screen with zero latency thanks to Atomos’ super-efficient ProRes pipeline – encoding on the Ninja Phone and decoding via Apple’s state of the art iPhone.
We’ve added professional video and cinematic smarts to the world’s most advanced phone, says Atomos CEO and Co-Founder Jeromy Young. Ninja Phone is for the thousands of content creators who capture, store, and share video from their iPhone 15 Pro but aspire to work with professional cameras, lenses, and microphones. At the same time, the Ninja Phone is a perfect tool for longer-form professionals who want to adopt a cloud workflow without a complex and expensive technology footprint.
The ProRes-encoded video can be stored on the phone as a .mov file and/or simultaneously transcoded by the iPhone to 10-bit H.265 for workflows like camera to cloud, or live streaming via the iPhone’s built-in 5G and Wi-Fi 6E connectivity.
The Ninja Phone accommodates external iPhone accessories by integrating a separate USB-C hub to allow necessary professional add-ons like wireless USB-C microphones, for perfectly synchronizing video and audio. Third-party accessories are supported via the Ninja Phone with more added over time.
Powered by standard NP series batteries, a battery eliminator, or a USB-C 5V/3A input, the Ninja Phone charges the iPhone while in use with any of these power sources, ensuring long phone operation can match professional shoots.
Atomos has developed a unique and rugged locking ecosystem to maintain a secure grip on connected HDMI and USB-C cables. With Atomos locking cables, it is the most robust capture cable system available today, although it is fully compatible with standard, non-locking cables.
The iPhone 15 Pro’s enhanced connectivity opens a door for Ninja Phone users to make full use of Atomos’ Cloud Services (ACS). These include super-efficient Camera to Cloud workflows, remote live production, and cloud editing. With ACS, content creators can publish video to social media within minutes, and filmmakers can send their footage to their postproduction team via the cloud for the fastest possible production workflow.
I’m so proud that Atomos is once again teaming up with Apple to unlock video creativity through ProRes, and this time it’s on Apple’s most advanced device ever, the iPhone 15 Pro. I’m especially pleased that this product has no fan and is whisper quiet. Atomos has always had an amazing relationship with Japanese camera manufacturers too, and now the Ninja Phone connects these incredible cameras directly to an iPhone’s storage, monitor and its extraordinary wireless and cell networking,” added Young.
Thanks to the iPhone 15 Pro, this is the first time Ninja users will have access to an OLED monitor screen, which, at 446 PPI, is by far the highest resolution, most capable HDR monitor that’s ever been available to them,” added Young. It’s the perfect partner for many of the new, smaller format mirrorless cameras coming out of Japan, for example Fujifilm’s X100 and G series, Canon’s R5 Series, Sony Alpha Series, Nikon Z series cameras and Panasonics GH and S series.
Remarkably, the Ninja Phone weighs in at just 95gms, and a sprightly 335gms when coupled to an iPhone 15 Pro.
The Ninja Phone will cost USD/EUR 399, excluding local sales taxes, and is expected to begin shipping in June 2024. Customers will also need to choose the case for iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max, not just to protect the phone in normal use, but to ensure that the locking cable system can be deployed. The cases will be available separately at USD/EUR 59 each, also excluding local sales taxes.
In summary, the Ninja Phone is an essential addition to any filmmaker’s toolkit. It combines road-tested Atomos ProRes expertise with an out-of-this-world screen, proven professional monitoring features, and built-in mobile connectivity for collaborative, remote editing.
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