4K and Atomos
Learn from Tony Trent, what products Atomos carries that are 4K or serve 4K, and why they are a necessity for production pros.
Everything is 4K-focused right now. What’s really going on now from your perspective with all the latest tech and its adoption?
4K is certainly grabbing the headlines at the moment, but in terms of adoption 4K is not yet ready for mass consumption. There are the high end production houses who have the need for 4K and then a steadily growing early adopter group who either love the idea of experimenting with the higher resolution or those who want to future proof themselves for the coming years while they are upgrading now.
What products do you carry that are 4K or serve 4K? What makes them a necessity for production pros?
All of our All-in-one Monitor Recorder Playback Edit decks play a role in the new 4K world.
The obvious product to discuss is the Shogun (http://www.atomos.com/shogun/) which was announced at NAB in conjunction with Sony’s launch of their new 4K A7s. This product becomes a necessity with cameras like the A7s that do not have on board 4K recording and at the same time need a higher resolution monitor to ensure correct focus, exposure, colour etc is assured.
Outside of our 4K recorder our HD All in one devices such as the Ninja 2, Ninja Blade and Samurai Blade are an excellent Proxy recording solution with 4K main cameras offering Timecode and Start/Stop trigger to make synchronising or conforming with the 4K footage after editing very easy.
The obvious product to discuss is the Shogun (http://www.atomos.com/shogun/) which was announced at NAB in conjunction with Sony’s launch of their new 4K A7s. This product becomes a necessity with cameras like the A7s that do not have on board 4K recording and at the same time need a higher resolution monitor to ensure correct focus, exposure, colour etc is assured.
Outside of our 4K recorder our HD All in one devices such as the Ninja 2, Ninja Blade and Samurai Blade are an excellent Proxy recording solution with 4K main cameras offering Timecode and Start/Stop trigger to make synchronising or conforming with the 4K footage after editing very easy.
How soon should we expect a movement towards 6K, 8K, and so on?
The speed of change is dictated by the speed consumers change over and adopt 4K TV displays and of course the demand for the 4K content to match. If the demand is there from the end user, the business case is there for manufacturers of recording storage and content distribution to roll out solutions quickly as well.
The move across to HD from SD took 8 years and in my opinion 4K will move twice as quick so potentially another 4 to 5 years of 4K is feasible. The transition to 8K I believe will happen even faster say 3-4 years kicking off in 2017/18
The move across to HD from SD took 8 years and in my opinion 4K will move twice as quick so potentially another 4 to 5 years of 4K is feasible. The transition to 8K I believe will happen even faster say 3-4 years kicking off in 2017/18
What changes in tech have you seen change over the years?
As the resolutions have got higher (HD to 4K) the demands on the workflow have become greater. We’ve seen film makers wanting to get their projects into Apple ProRes as soon into the production timeline as possible, firstly because ProRes is becoming the industry standard and secondly to avoid lengthy transcoding down the track. None of this works without affordable media though and 80% of our customers utilise the HDD recording technology Atomos have to ensure running costs are very low. These trends are the reason we have been able to sell over 45,000 of our all-in-one devices in the last 3 years - because we record directly from the cameras sensor onto HDD or Solid State media in Apple ProRes format
Recently that has also extended to the drone and action camera market as well, which is booming - essentially it was consumer demand that led to the development of our Ninja Star (http://www.atomos.com/ninja-star/), a small and lightweight ProRes recorder to match what we are doing on larger cameras with the Ninja, Samurai and Ronin range
Recently that has also extended to the drone and action camera market as well, which is booming - essentially it was consumer demand that led to the development of our Ninja Star (http://www.atomos.com/ninja-star/), a small and lightweight ProRes recorder to match what we are doing on larger cameras with the Ninja, Samurai and Ronin range
Where can readers go to learn more about Atomos in person (and online)?
We’re a small, friendly crew at Atomos and welcome anyone to catch up with us at any of the shows we are at around the world or conversely reach out to us via our Email Subscription (Storyboard) or Social Media.
Our website will tell you all the specifications you need to know, but for a more engaging experience you should check out an interactive demo of the Atomos Blade series on line (http://www.atomos.com/atom-os5/). You’ll see just how easy it is to access all of our features
Our website will tell you all the specifications you need to know, but for a more engaging experience you should check out an interactive demo of the Atomos Blade series on line (http://www.atomos.com/atom-os5/). You’ll see just how easy it is to access all of our features
