Full Frame has become the hottest arena of competition in the last year, but most of the activity has frankly been well beyond anything the indie filmmaker can event afford to rent. Of course, we've been shooting full frame video for a decade with the Canon 5D starting way back with the Mark II, but that camera platform only got 4K relatively late to the game and still only allows 1080p out with the 5D Mark IV. This has lead to a lot of excitement that you can get full frame, 4K out of the Nikon D850, but you still needed an external platform to capture it to. The HDMI-based Ninja Flamefrom Atomos was a great fit, so much that Nikon and Atomos have teamed up to release a kit combining the two to make for one-stop shopping for filmmakers.
Credit: Nikon Atomos
The Nikon D850 body on its own is $3295.00. The Atomos Ninja Flame is $795. The kit comes with 20mm 1.8, 35mm 1.8, and 85mm 1.8 lenses that go for $796.25,$526.75 and $476.95. All of which totals $5889.95. The filmmakers kit rolls it together for $5496.95—nearly $400 off—so almost throwing in the 85mm lens for free.
Interestingly, the photos show extra batteries and wireless microphones (the ME-W1 Wireless Microphone), which would be a great addition to the kit, but they are not officially listed as being included. Whether they are or not, it's a great all-in-one package to get set up and ready to capture 4K, ProRes or DNx footage straight out of the gate, with audio recording being a bonus on top of that if it's included. One pleasant overlap is that the Ninja Flame uses a red bumper, as does Nikon, creating an integrated visual overlap, which we're pretty sure is just a happy accident.
You hear that Canon? The D850 has always been knocking at your door, but this is the knock getting much louder. You listening?
The Nikon D850 Filmmaker's Kit is available now.
Tech Specs
Nikon D850
- 45.7MP FX-Format BSI CMOS Sensor
- EXPEED 5 Image Processor
- 3.2" 2.36m-Dot Tilting Touchscreen LCD
- 4K UHD Video Recording at 30 fps
- Multi-CAM 20K 153-Point AF System
- Native ISO: 64-25600,Extended: 32-102400
- 7 fps Shooting for 51 Frames with AE/AF
- 8K Time-Lapse, Negative Digitizer Mode
- 180k-Pixel RGB Sensor, Focus Shift Mode
- SnapBridge Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
Atomos Ninja Flame
- 7" 1920 x 1200 10-bit 325 PPI Monitor with HDR Technology
- Brightness: 1500 nits
- More rugged design
- Records 4K up to 30p, 1080p up to 120fps
- 10-bit DNxHD (from LB to HQX) and ProRes Codecs (LT to HQ)
- Uses non-proprietary media, can take SSDs or HDDs using Atomos custom housing
- Audio: 2ch balanced XLR analog in/out, 48V Phantom Mic Power
- Power input moved to rear, New D-Tap to DC cable
- Dual battery design allows hot-swapping, NP series batteries, 10 - 24W operating power
- Battery Life: 5200mAh - up to 1.5hrs (monitor & record 4K), 7800mAh - up to 2.2hrs (monitor & record 4K)
- 10-bit processing — 1.07 billion colors vs. 16.7 million of traditional 8-bit panels
- 1 x HDMI 1.4b Input and 1 x HDMI 1.4b Output
- 1 x Genlock
- Weight with batteries and media: 1094g / 38.6oz
