Atomos Ninja Phone: Turn Your iPhone into a Monitor / ProRes Recorder

In his PetaPixel blog post, Jaron Schneider introduces Atomos's latest innovation, the Ninja Phone, designed to enhance iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max devices for professional video recording. Atomos recently unveiled the Ninja Phone, a revolutionary 10-bit video co-processor enabling filmmakers to monitor and record professional HDMI camera footage directly on their iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max smartphones. This innovative device merges Atomos's ProRes encoding expertise with Apple's cutting-edge hardware, notably the iPhone's OLED display, to deliver exceptional video quality in a portable package.

The Ninja Phone encodes HDMI signals from cameras to ProRes or H.265 formats at 10-bit quality, ideal for HDR applications. This content is then transmitted to the iPhone via USB-C, leveraging the phone's powerful A17 chip for decoding and display. Atomos emphasizes the Ninja Phone's superiority over traditional camera screens, boasting features like a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG support, as well as 11 stops of dynamic range and a peak brightness of 1,600 nits.

Key to the system is the Atomos Ninja Phone app, which integrates seamlessly with the iPhone, offering control and coordination between the devices. The app adapts effortlessly to portrait or landscape shooting modes, catering to social media creators. Additionally, the Ninja Phone supports external accessories like wireless microphones via a built-in USB-C hub.

Despite its impressive capabilities, the Ninja Phone is limited to recording at 1080p Full HD to optimize latency and data rates. This trade-off ensures optimal performance for professional workflows, including camera-to-cloud operations and live streaming via the iPhone's 5G and Wi-Fi 6E connectivity.

Atomos's Ninja Phone represents a groundbreaking advancement for content creators seeking professional-grade monitoring and recording capabilities on their smartphones, underscoring the convergence of filmmaking and mobile technology.

Read the full blog post by Jaron Schneider for PetaPixel HERE