MINI TESTS
ATOMOS SUMO19 4K MONITOR/ RECORDER £2382/ $2195 www.atomos.com If you’re aware of the Atomos line of monitor/ recorders, like the Shogun Inferno series, then a good way of thinking of the Sumo is like a giant- sized version. Or as a 19-inch on-set director’s monitor, that also records 4K and Raw in 12-bit and offers live switching. Or perhaps consider it as a genuine HDR monitor for you to grade your footage accurately in post- production. Actually, it’s all three; a multi-use tool that speeds up your workflow and improves your footage. There are lots of on-screen monitoring tools, such as waveform, focus peaking, false colour and vectorscope, to help you gauge your exposure and composition more accurately than on a small screen, and all these are also compatible with the large dynamic range of HDR. Atomos’ own HDR viewing mode can really help in nailing your exposure, especially when shooting in Log. The footage from your camera can often be improved significantly. Many cameras allow you to output a clean HDMI or SDI signal, either in Raw or at a higher bit-rate codec. The Sumo can take this incoming DCI, UHD 4K or HD video and record it in lots of different versions of Apple ProRes or AVID DNxHR to a fast SSD drive. Some cameras can output 12-bit Raw over SDI, for the ultimate flexibility in post-production, and the Sumo can handle this, too. It makes the most of your camera’s capabilities and in specific cases – such as cinema cameras like Canon’s C300 Mark II or Sony FS5, the mirrorless Fuji XT-1 and Panasonic GH5 or DSLR Nikon D850 - you’ll be making the best of the footage the camera can produce. In post, the Sumo can be fully calibrated and its HDR capabilities and 10-bit image processing allow you to make the most subtle of changes, confident in the final result. It can also be calibrated using X-Rite’s popular i1Display Pro to ensure total colour consistency. The Sumo itself is solidly built, with an aluminium alloy chassis that has
RIGHT The Sumo19 has a range of on- screen tools, a slot for an SSD/HDD and a great choice of inputs.
10 mounting points around the top, bottom, and side, a rear panel VESA mount, and a separate small stand. So you can put it on a desk, mount it on a light stand or pretty much any other sort of standard grip. But at 5.6kg/12.3lb without batteries, media or stand, it’s no lightweight and you need not only a substantial stand but a sturdy bag to transport and protect it. There is built-in audio recording with full-size XLR connections, ideal for mirrorless and DSLR users for whom audio can be a headache. There are also speakers for on-set playback and a headphone jack. With such a choice of inputs, the Sumo can record and play back up to four HD video channels live. So you can switch and mix a live recording, and stream or record four HD ISO recordings. On location, the 1200 cd/m² display is very bright, but there is an optional sunhood. There are dual four-pin XLR inputs for power or you can use V-Mount or Gold Mount batteries, or mains. You need to also budget for an SSD to record onto, which can cost from £200/$250 for a 480GB version that’s fast enough for most 4K and Raw applications. Chances are you’ll need more than one hard drive as Raw and higher quality files eat up storage. For example shooting Raw 4K at 30fps at a typical 3Gbps, an hour of shooting would fill 1.5TB of hard drive space. But that’s the price of the ultimate in quality. AD.
SPECIFICATIONS Power: V-Lock/Anton Bauer via XLR terminal, 6.2-16.8VDC Screen: 19in touchscreen, 1920x1200, 1200nit Aspect ratio: 16:9 Colour gamut: Rec.709HDTV with 3D LUT support HDR support: Sony, Canon, Panasonic, Arri, JVC and RED Log, 10-bit Inputs: HDMI, quad link 4x 3G SDI, 12G single link SDI Interfaces: Headphone socket, LANC control Media: 2.5in SSD/ HDD Weight: 5.6kg/ 12.3lbwithout batteriesmedia and stand. Dimensions: 504x310x63mm, 19.8x 12.2x2.5in (without stand)
PROMOVIEMAKER RATING: 8/10 The largest multi-function monitor/ recorder Pros: Can improve your footage, HDR ready Cons: Heavy to use on location
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SPRING 2018 PRO MOVIEMAKER
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