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USER REVIEW ATOMOS SUMO19
bad take indication, to marking bad audio or overexposure, as well as editors notes, such as Close Up or Wide Shot. Metadata can be exported to FCPX XML files. This all works surprisingly well, and is quick and simple enough that it might actually be practical to use on set – unlike most metadata logging. Playback is as straightforward as hitting the on-screen Play button. The monitor reboots to enter play mode – so there is a slight delay there. You can select the file you wish to view either by using Prev and Next on-screen buttons, or by pulling up a file display window. Various on-screen displays are available – of course there are audio meters, with comprehensive settings for level and audio output, and a headphone/speaker volume slider. The Monitor Assist button calls up options for peaking, zebra, false colour and monochrome, with a focus zoom function also available. This menu also sets all the usual aspect ratio masks – 2.4:1, 2.35:1, 1.85:1 and so on – along with SMPTE action and title safe area markers. There’s even an option for anamorphic de-squeeze, again with all the usual ratios (2x, 1.5x, 1.33x). The button that looks like a vector scope calls up a customisable waveform, parade, and (unsurprisingly) vector scope display overlay. On set or on location, the Sumo19 pretty much encapsulates everything you need for a DOP’s or director’s monitor. I didn’t have a chance to test the calibration of the screen – and it’s not intended to be a ‘Grade 1’ reference monitor – but the quality of the panel, and the various HDR options, allow for pretty accurate exposure checking (you used a light meter first though, right?). The 1200cd/m2 brightness will be welcome outdoors on sunny days (he says, in the gloom of mid-January), and the ease and speed of operation, along with the comprehensive assist features, make it perfect for location work. Recording is simple, with a great range of CODEC support, either as secondary files to those recorded on the camera, or as your master rushes if the camera has limited on-board recording. The Sumo19 might even be a good monitor for a small, offline edit suite, given the competitive price of just under £2000 plus VAT.
USER INTERFACE The user interface consists of status displays for recording format, power, audio, time code and so on, each with a little blue arrow, showing that touching the status will bring up the menu for that feature. There are also a series of colourful buttons along the bottom of the screen for record, play, menu, waveform monitors, graticules and so on. A quick tap in the centre of the screen makes all this distracting clutter disappear, when you want to concentrate on the image. The monitor will record ProRes (LT, 422 and HQ), DNxHD (36, 145, 220 and 220X), or Raw Cinema DNG files. The CODEC menu handily shows the recording time you will get, for ProRes and DNxHD, with the inserted SSD drive. The monitor supports HDR recording, and has a series of display options to map those to the display. It natively understands Canon’s C-Log, Sony S-Log Panasonic, ARRI, JVC, RED, Fuji, Rec. 2100 etc. You can also load up eight custom LUTs, if you have prepared a ‘look’ before the shoot, and it’s possible to burn the LUT into the recorded video should you need to – perhaps to send dailies to a producer. The Sumo19 reads time code from SDI or HDMI (or, indeed, the Sync BNC input can be used for LTC) and recording can be triggered by record start/stop events over both HDMI and SDI. Unsurprisingly, given Atomos’s pedigree, most cameras are supported, but older cameras, that can’t generate record start/stop signals, can be supported by starting recording when the time code starts – obviously that camera time code must be set to Rec Run. When in record, the tally light at the top of the unit flashes red. Recorded file names include shot and take numbers, which can either auto-increment or be changed manually. It’s also possible to add metadata tags to a recording, from good and ON SET OR ON LOCATION, THE SUMO19 PRETTY MUCH ENCAPSULATES EVERYTHING YOU NEED
ABOVE The Sumo19 has a range of on-screen tools, a slot for a SSD/ HDD and a great choice of inputs.
DEFINITION MARCH 2018
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