With the Panasonic GH5 Imminent, Atomos Announce the Ninja Inferno as the Ultimate Companion

With reports that Panasonic have already begun to ship the hotly anticipated GH5, it seems Atomos have perfectly timed the announcement of their latest external monitor-recorder, the Ninja Inferno, due to ship March 31st. With 4:2:2 10-bit recording in 4k 60p and HD 120p, is this the ultimate companion for videographers awaiting their GH5 pre-order to arrive?

The Ninja Inferno will become the world's first external monitor-recorder to accept 4k DCI signals from cameras like the GH5, recorded in ProRes or DNxHR and displayed on a 7" 10-bit HDR touch screen LCD with 1500nits of brightness. You'll get the typical rugged, high quality build you'd expect from an Atomos monitor-recorder made from ABS Polycarbonate. Also expect to see the usual features you'd expect in a premium external monitor-recorder such as focus peaking, zebra patterns, vectorscopes, false color and anamorphic desqueeze.

The official announcement lays claim to including the "simplest, most cost effective and technically superior HDR workflow." XLR input audio recording capabilities are also covered with the ability to monitor and record up to 8 channels of embedded HDMI 2.0 24bit digital audio.

It is compatible with NP-F series batteries, with two bays for hot-swapping and records onto 2.5" SSD drives, both of which are not included in the box. But you will get a travel case and a Master Caddy for the SSD drives. The Ninja Inferno will be priced at $995 which represents excellent value for a 4k 60p external monitor-recorder. As a comparison, the only other Atomos monitor that has 4k 60p recording is the Shogun Inferno which currently retails at $1795.

The Panasonic GH5 is likely to be a videographer fan favorite with it's internal 4k 10-bit 4:2:2 recording, but this will only be up to 30p. To enable 50/60p 10-bit 4:2:2 recording at 4k an external monitor with these capabilities is needed, and the Atomos Ninja Inferno will fill this gap nicely. Even with its internal 10-bit 4:2:2 recording, many videographers will simply prefer to use a large, bright external monitor-recorder for clarity and accuracy.