I had a near panic yesterday when I thought I had a card fail - turns out it was my card reader - I split my recordings over 16GB cards thinking that It spreads the risk - well it does in terms of the 'whole day' footage but have now realised it's not enough - I would have lost footage of guests arriving at the church and the bride arriving.

I've been put off the FMU128 because of it's price - £700 for 128GB and also been put off the mirroring memory cards because they are almost the same price (£640 for 4 X 32gb) and have a limited life which I'm guessing is shorter than the FMU

Not having a backup though is not an option - when i had my trusty old Z1 I also had a Datavideo DN60 which allowed me to record simultaneous MiniDV an Compact Flash - peace of mind.

So I'm thinking FMU128 vs Atmos Ninja - for convenience I guess the FMU wins but I'm open to suggestions.

Pete

Hi Pete

Ouch they are expensive here ..$400 more than the FMU and that's without a drive!! Even with a drive (240GB) in the USA the Ninja 2 is nearly $900 (plus a small fortune in shipping) and over there the FMU is just over $600.

The FMU still has the edge as far as I'm concerned as it takes power from the camera and records in the same format as the camera and in FX mode 128GB gives you 11 hours of footage backup.

What security do you have with the Ninja ?? If you forget to start it I guess it won't record whereas the FMU will autostart with the camera ..for me there are already things that can fall foul of human error?

Ok, if you are on a Mac I guess the Prores codec is a big advantage BUT how will that affect NLE's like Sony Vegas ..I edit in native AVCHD so will Vegas be able to import ProRes? or do I have to go thru hoops or buy codecs to get it to work?

I would still think that having an integral unit in the camera is a far safer system than an external one and it's still a bit cheaper and really 11 hours is an awful lot of footage!!

Only my 2 cents of course!! I have been shooting on card for 5 years now and probably close to 500 hours and never a card error (touch wood) If you are using decent cards I think you are pretty safe. If you feel wary I still think the FMU is a safer bet unless you are hankering after ProRes.

Chris

You're right Chris - I'm always looking for ways to make life easier on wedding shoots - The FMU will definitely do that. I edit native AVCHD anyway in Premiere Pro.

I've just seen one on Ebay for £379 almost brand new - I might go for it - that's a good price :)

Pete

New from 359 quid inc shipping from

sony fmu - Globalmediapro eShop (http://www.globalmediapro.com/do/search/?setCcy=GBP&q=sony%20fmu)

They are New Zealand based. Have bought numerous items from them over the years no problems. Just make sure you follow their purchase / banking instructions EXACTLY to the letter . I slipped up on one purchase and it took a couple of weeks to sort out my money transfer. All good in the end though.

Chris Young
Sydney

Hello, do you know if the Ninja-1 can be used with the EA50? It has had a big price drop in Spain. Thanks.

Hi Jose

Ninja's are not made for any particular camera at all. As long as the EA-50 can provide the correct input it will work fine.

Pete? That's the move I would make too... it does make more sense than a third party unit with more that can fail. I have bought many items from Global Media and never an issue with them! That includes 7 cameras over the years too. Just bear in mind that depending on your country's tax/import laws those are NOT included in the price so in the UK probably VAT would be added to the price you see on their website!

We are lucky here as we have no sales tax on imported items under $1000 ..I had to pay on my cameras but something like the FMU would be the price you see on the site, plus shipping. However an "almost new" one on eBay is the easiest way ...I should keep an eye out too!!

Chris

I had a near panic yesterday when I thought I had a card fail -


Don't know anything about the Atomos Ninja Peter but I like you, felt a bit more content having a backup recording.
I went for a NanoFlash, I think they are down in price since I bought mine but I think you do need something in the line of backup.

Just picked up a nearly new (only used a few times) FMU128 on Ebay for £400 including shipping - very happy :)

Good call Peter. We are all in the same boat. The price of the FMU from Sony is an outright rip off. They know it, they also know we are over their barrel! I think paying for it is going to be a necessary evil for me too.

Last week I had a hard drive failure on a job. They are Maxtor external drives I record to from my Anycast switcher. Having the SD card back ups recording in the camera saved my bacon!

Many years ago I had two brand new CF cards fail on a still camera job. They were cheap cards I had just bought on sale, I/O Data cards. I have never bought an off brand card since. I was able to recover the images with rescue software but it scared me to death.

I am a big believer in back up systems whenever I can! For the EA50, the FMU is obviously the cleanest way to go.

Steve

Ok, if you are on a Mac I guess the Prores codec is a big advantage BUT how will that affect NLE's like Sony Vegas ..I edit in native AVCHD so will Vegas be able to import ProRes? or do I have to go thru hoops or buy codecs to get it to work?
Chris

Hey Chris, I cut ProRes all the time with Sony Vegas. Install this free codec from Apple: Apple ProRes QuickTime Decoder 1.0 for Windows (http://support.apple.com/downloads/Apple_ProRes_QuickTime_Decoder_1_0_for_Windows)
Install it and drop it into Vegas just like any other supported file.

If you need to encode to ProRes from a PC, check this out: PC Windows ProRes encoder (http://www.cinemartin.com/cinec/)

I just picked up an Atomos Ninja from B&H for only $345...I'm going to try it out tonight with my EA50

Unfortunately the Ninja 2 needs a Timecode from the Cameras HDMI to trigger the recording - and this I suspect is not supported by the Camera, so a major draw back, unfortunate I don't have a Camera to try it!

According to Atomos' website, the EA50 supports start/stop timecode over HDMI

What cameras are supported? | Atomos (http://www.atomos.com/discovery-what-cameras/)

Not sure I will be able to test this since I went the cheap route and got the Ninja 1 but I will give it a shot anyway, who knows lol

So I've been playing with the Ninja since I got home from work...even though the EA50 has a 1080p output option for the HDMI, when this is selected the Ninja reports "No Signal"...so unfortunately it has to be set to 1080i but it's not a big deal because I just reverse telecine the clips with compressor and I get the 24p back...

Please clarify, Paul. What kind of files do you end up with? Is there a 3:2 or 2:2 Pulldown issue?

Steve,

Yes, I believe it is a 2:3 pulldown that's added when I got out from HDMI to the ninja, but its easy enough to fix with Compressor or Magic Bullet Grinder...

I used the following workflow from abelcine:

Simple Workflow for Removing 2:3 Pull Down | CineTechnica (http://blog.abelcine.com/2011/08/19/simple-workflow-for-removing-23-pull-down/)

I believe the newer Ninja 2 or Samurai remove the pulldown on the fly during recording but they cost a lot more. For $345 (with all the necessary accessories included minus a hard drive & HDMI cable) it's still faster than transcoding AVCHD to ProRes IMO. I'm happy with the purchase, I almost sprung for the Blackmagic HyperDeck Shuttle 2 but it is my understanding it has the same pulldown issue and the only added benefit I see with the BMD recorder is uncompressed...but realistically, I don't have the finance/patience to deal with uncompressed video and ProRes HQ perfectly adequate for my needs. The fact that the Ninja also has a monitoring feature built-in as well as the ability to change recording format on the fly (BMD hyperdeck needs to be plugged into a computer to change record format) sealed the deal for me...oh and it can use cheaper traditional spinning HDD as opposed to SSD only with the BMD.

Atomos Ninja 1 is compatible with ea50?
will see difference in picture?
Was it worth the purchase?

Atomos Ninja 1 is compatible with ea50?
will see difference in picture?
Was it worth the purchase?

Hi Serggio,

I had the Ninja 2 and it was compatible withe the EA50 as far as auto start and stop record, but i sold it because i did not see enough difference to justify the extra work of having it. So I sold it. I know you were talking about the Ninja 1, but that is as close as I can come to having an answer.

I recently purchased the Ninja Blade and can confirm that it does work with the EA50's start and stop timecode flag. I shot some beach scenes this past weekend and compared the H.264 and ProRes footage. There is a difference in sharpness, but it is subtle. Here are links to two screen grabs
http://www.leebergermedia.com/Atomos/ProRes.png
http://www.leebergermedia.com/Atomos/AVCHD.png
If you look at the birds and water you can see the subtle difference. Also note the moire pattern in foreground surf. Can't get away from the sensor issues.
Shot with Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 AS IF UMC Lens
The nice thing about having the Ninja Blade is that it gives new life to my EA50 and two older HDV cameras.

I have been using my EA-50U with the Ninja Blade and it triggers start/stop via camera and I have successfully shot 24P,30P or 60P on the EA50 while recording 24P or 30P on the Ninja.

I like it. Before it worked I had to go into the menu on the Sony and change the Ninja setting also because at first it wasn't triggering and on some frame rates was showing "no signal"