A little over two weeks ago, Atomos unveiled their Flame Series, the first ever 10-bit 4K HDR recording monitors, and now they're ready to ship.
In case you didn't catch our initial coverage, what Atomos has done with the Flame Series is improved upon their already stellar line of recording monitors by including features like a brighter 1500 nit panel, a more rugged design, and AtomHDR, Atomos' proprietary image processing technology that affords users up to 10 stops of luminance detail.
Clearly the most impressive new feature in the Flame Series is the AtomHDR, which essentially "lets you shoot with the high brightness range of your camera’s Log profile while maintaining vibrant true-to-life colors." This means that users can view richer, more dynamic colors on the monitor instead of having to look at flat, washed-out Log images, allowing them to accurately monitor their footage and calculate their exposure correctly.
Aside from that, the Shogun Flame and Ninja Flame are also brighter, have built-in armor protection, and new power management system that charges batteries 3x faster. This not only makes Atomos' Flame Series some of the most technologically advanced monitors on the market today, but also some of the least expensive considering all of the features you're getting.
Technical Specifications
- 1920 x 1200 resolution
- 10-bit FRC monitoring processing
- 1500 cd/m² brightness
- AtomHDR technology displays 10 stops of dynamic range to natively display HDR (log) footage
- Presets for viewing log gamma curves from Sony, Canon, Panasonic, ARRI, RED, and JVC cameras
- High Bright mode for Rec. 709 viewing
- 4K HDMI and 12G-SDI inputs / outputs
- SDI/HDMI cross-conversion
- UHD 4K recording at 24/25/30 fps
- 1080p recording up to 120 fps
- 10-bit 4:2:2 ProRes and DNxHR recording to SSD/HDD media
- 4K raw to ProRes/DNxHR recording over SDI from Sony FS700, Sony FS7, Canon C300 Mark II, and Canon C500
- Dual Sony L-Series battery slots support hot-swappable for continuous power
- Built-in armor with silicone-covered corners
As of right now you can purchase a Shogun Flame for $1700 and pre-order the Ninja Flame for $1300. (The Ninja Flame is listed as "coming soon," even though Atomos says it's now shipping, so it's probably safe to say that its availability not far behind the Shogun.)
Your Comment
23 Comments
-1080p recording up to 120 fps
I can't seem to find a good answer for this, but does that mean High Speed 120fps out of the FS700 would record? The older Shogun's spec's say it's only 120fps output (which no camera does right?) instead of 120fps conformed to 24fps.
April 8, 2016 at 7:12AM
From Atomos' Shogun FAQ- "The FS700 & FS7 will output a buffered 120p at 60p over SDI in video."
April 8, 2016 at 9:50AM, Edited April 8, 9:50AM
Hey Andrew , thanks. What does that mean exactly? What would the file on the Shogun look like?
April 8, 2016 at 10:30AM, Edited April 8, 10:30AM
The camera would capture the footage at 120fps but output it at 60fps. Basically, if you took one second of footage at 120fps, the camera would output that as two seconds of 60fps footage. On the Shogun it should play back at 60fps because it has no way of knowing that it was originally captured at 120fps. You would just re-time it in your NLE to make it play back at whatever frame rate you want.
April 8, 2016 at 11:23AM
Two seconds at 60p or a half second at 60p?
April 8, 2016 at 12:55PM
The camera records those 120 frames into it's memory buffer and then converts them into two seconds of 60fps footage. (2 seconds x 60 frames = 120frames).
April 8, 2016 at 4:11PM
Would it still record ProRes/DNxHR on an FS7 if we do not have the extension?
Everyone refers to RAW to ProRes/DNxHR, what does this mean?
April 8, 2016 at 8:42AM
No, you will need the extension for the FS7. For the FS700 (and soon, the FS5) you can record raw directly from the camera's SDI output.
April 8, 2016 at 9:46AM
Joe, as I understand it captures the Raw uncompressed 12 bit output from the FS700 sensor and converts it to ProRes inside the Shogun.
April 8, 2016 at 10:36AM
He's referring to the FS7, which uses a different method of outputting raw.
April 8, 2016 at 11:24AM, Edited April 8, 11:24AM
Is the flame incorporating a 10 bit panel? 10-Bit processing (FRC) out to an 8-bit panel, is it really HDR?
April 8, 2016 at 1:58PM
It's an 8-bit panel that utilizes FRC. While technically not true 10-bit, you won't be able to tell the difference and it will be more than satisfactory for it's intended purpose. There are very few true 10-bit panels out there. Most, including a lot of high end graphics and color grading monitors, utilize 8-bit panels and FRC.
April 8, 2016 at 4:41PM
Let me re state that- We are beginning to see a lot more true 10-bit displays released but many very high end and capable monitors still use 8-bit panels and FRC.
April 8, 2016 at 6:32PM
Atomos and Red are competing on who has the most "f*cking siiiick bro" name on their s**t
April 8, 2016 at 10:27PM
At IBC I was joking to an Atomos rep: 'you are running out of Japanese worriors'.
He laughed: 'yeah, I know.'
Since bo (weapon stick) isn't cool, it's flame ;-)
April 9, 2016 at 5:18PM
So, if I understand correctly, you can see on this device what no one else will be able to see in their home for several years to come?
I grade my footage by way of a Flanders Scientific monitor but, I'm also looking at a regular ol' Samsung TV connected via HDMI because I thinks that's closer to what most folks will be seeing.
April 9, 2016 at 7:31AM, Edited April 9, 7:31AM
Yes and no. While it's a very bright and "10-bit", it is not a wide gamut display.
April 9, 2016 at 10:58AM
What are the Pros to getting this for the a7sii? Other than the 10-bit 4:2:2 recording. I'd like to take advantage of S-Log3 on the mark 2 but I've read that using S-Log3 on an 8-bit 4:2:0 camera is just overkill.
April 10, 2016 at 8:14AM, Edited April 10, 8:14AM
Hi Josh -- I've been using the Shogun Flame with the A7sii for about a week now. It's been a pleasure to finally be recording a higher bit rate image using s-log 2 & 3, I no longer worry about banding issues which was a constant battle with the internal recording. You're getting a 8 bit 4:2:2 prores file that is ready to throw into your NLE. Big time saver for my work flow.
At the end of the day the biggest pro is the fact that it's a great monitor, you're able to properly expose your image and see a preview of that image. It's also a great screen that you can see in direct sunlight... Highly recommended, although it's a bit tough to swallow the additional expense on a $3,000 camera. It's an investment in your kit that will help you capture great images into the future.
April 10, 2016 at 12:26PM
The A7Sii only outputs at 8-bit. The Flame will record that 8-bit data and add two empty bits to create a 10-bit file but this will not improve the quality of your footage. The main benefit from recording with the Flame is that your footage will have 4:2:2 color sampling (much better for chroma keying and grading in general) and the compression codec will be much higher quality (Intra-frame vs inter-frame and a much higher bit rate)
April 10, 2016 at 12:48PM, Edited April 10, 12:49PM
I'm still not sure how I feel about buying a Ninja Assassin on the day they announced the Flame. I did get a great price so I think I'm okay with it, but it's one of those annoying things in life...
April 15, 2016 at 3:13AM
WTF, NoFilmSchool?
Why do you DISABLE ZOOMING on your mobile site? Why break crucial browser functionality that has been standard for EIGHT YEARS?
April 17, 2016 at 12:12PM
I hope this is only slightly off topic. I just got the Ninja 2. I'm using it with a Nikon D5500. I have two questions.
1. Why does it not allow me to shoot 1080p 24fps? I know I have to set my camera to 1080i. This allows me to cycle through the settings, all of which work, EXCEPT the 23.976 setting. Everything I've read says you can shoot at 24fps. I also have read that Nikon is one of the few cameras that actually outputs 24fps, so...
2. When adjusting exposure should I go by my camera's exposure meter, or the Ninja 2's zebra stripes? If I set perfect exposure with my camera, the Ninja shows zebra stripes all over the place. Thanks for any help you can give me. I'm shocked at how little Ninja 2/Nikon information is out there.
June 7, 2016 at 6:26AM