19Apr Atomos Ninja could be a 4 track audio recording solution
One thing I hadn’t realized until I started researching the specs is that the Atomos Ninja 2 allows you to record 4 tracks of audio into the video stream. Two tracks are recorded through the HDMI input from the camera and the other two come from a Stereo 3.5mm jack on the side of the unit. Basically this means you can attach an XLR audio adapter to your camera and an XLR adapter to the Atomos Ninja 2.
The 4 squares under the Headphone symbol give you basic audio level indicators. 1 and 2 indicate the level of the signal coming from the 3.5mm jack on the Ninja, while 3 and 4 give you audio levels coming from the HDMI source. Levels on the HDMI port have to be set at the camera and the Atomos Ninja 2 provides a gain slider for the built in inputs. Four channels of audio is a very nice extra feature to have. That means if I wanted to I could dedicate 3 tracks to wireless mics and a 4th track for the boom mic audio giving me a lot more audio to work with in post. I’m very interested to start testing this out, hopefully the audio input feature is useable on the Ninja 2. I should be able to start testing this thing out next week and hopefully I’ll have some time to get some audio samples. I’ll keep you posted.
April 19th, 2013 at 9:56 pm
Problem is that Atomos stated at NAB that Canon’s 5D3 firmware update did not allow audio over HDMI or that it didnt work properly and that you would NEED to utilize an additional cable to properly send audio to the mini inputs…. not sure if resolved yet
April 19th, 2013 at 10:21 pm
The camera I played with at the booth had proper audio transfer over hdmi, not sure if that’ll will work in the release version. Thanks for the heads up though.
April 20th, 2013 at 4:20 am
What is your opinion on also using the ninja 2 as small monitor for checking focus?
April 20th, 2013 at 7:31 am
I’ve been pulling focus on 5″ 800×480 res screens for the last few years, from what I saw at the booth I don’t think the Ninja 2 will be much different. Plus there is always the focus peaking built into the monitor.
April 20th, 2013 at 8:03 am
Thanx for the info! On the video’s about the ninja 2 I have seen the screen seems low on brightness. Thanx for your informative site, I like reading it!
May 2nd, 2013 at 2:56 am
I have setup my Ninja2 up to record sound with a small microphone so I can use it as a scratch track to help sync it to the other sound recording devices. This works well and no need to connect the cameras audio. With the 5D mk3 not having sound through the HDMI this is a useful solution and helps with the syncing.
August 31st, 2013 at 3:50 pm
Have a Nikon D800 with Beachtek DXA SLR Pro audio adapter. Not sure I understand how to route sound between it and a Nija 2. Could you explain?
Thanks,
Don
August 31st, 2013 at 3:55 pm
The ninja excepts 4 tracks of audio 2 via HDMI and 2 via the 3.5mm input on the monitor. All you have to do is feed one source of audio into the camera and one source of audio into the ninja and you’ll be good to go.
August 31st, 2013 at 4:02 pm
Which source would I use or would it matter?
August 31st, 2013 at 4:50 pm
Which ever source you like.
March 7th, 2014 at 9:56 pm
Would I accomplish this simply by connecting an HDMI cable from the camera to the Ninja?
March 8th, 2014 at 8:27 am
The hdmi to ninja will give you two tracks of audio, you’ll need to use the stereo input for the other two.
January 10th, 2016 at 5:48 pm
I’m using a Nikon D800 with the Atomos Ninja, but the quality is not great and I have a lot of problems with this setup. What is the best way to record wireless audio using the Ninja?