Tiny Atomos Ninja Star recorder

Atomos has announced a new $295 action camera-sized Apple ProRes Compact Flash recorder, the Ninja Star, at NAB that should be ideal for use on remote-control helicopters or with point-of-view cameras.

“Our customers screamed for a tiny, flash-based Apple ProRes recorder and player for extreme applications, their second location cameras or simply when they already had a monitor,” explained Jeromy Young, CEO and Founder of Atomos. “At $295 with low-cost Gen 1 CFast [solid state memory cards], weighing a mere 100 grams (3.5oz), its price, durability and portability is unmatched – this is one of our best creations yet.”

It has HDMI input, and its small, self-contained size and flexible mounting options should allow users to mount it to just about any PoV set-up, such as all those action cameras that record internally only in MPEG, and offer edit ready recording with Apple ProRes.

The Ninja Star’s slender dimensions are at only 8.75cm (3.5-inches) wide, 5.75cm (2.3-inches) tall and 2cm (0.8-inches) deep, which makes it the world’s smallest ProRes recorder.

It can record in both HD and Apple ProRes to capture 10-bit 4:2:2 images straight from any camera sensor to inexpensive first generation CFast media with up to almost three hours of Apple ProRes HQ (using a 256GB card - it also records ProRes 422 and LT). It also features frame accurate timecode (via HDMI) and Start/Stop Trigger, thanks to co-operation from the leading camera manufacturers (Canon, Sony, Panasonic, Nikon and JVC). Audio can be taken direct from the camera on the two embedded digital channels or an external microphone can be added via the audio line in port for an extra two channels of analogue audio. It also has an HDMI out for use with an external monitor.

The battery is promised to last for about five hours, although it takes only one Sony camera battery instead of the dual battery ports seen on the bigger Ninja and Samurai recorders. One nice touch is that it has a camera record light on the back as well as the front. It will ship late May.

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

By David Fox