®slightly shrunken version of your subject, flanked by a wave-
form at the bottom, histogram to the right bottom, vectorscope
to the right and audio meters above the vectorscope. This is a
great way to get a quick check of every most commonly used
monitoring feature all at once.
One of the coolest options is that you can adjust the bright-
ness level of the scopes, making the lines thinner or thicker for
checking the resolution of the measurement.
AtomX Sunshade Accessory
With the Shinobi’s 1,000nit screen, if you decide to purchase
it, you’ll also want to purchase the AtomX Sunshade. Buy-
ing it was a bit confusing because the sunshade is marketed
as being only designed for the Ninja V, but, rest assured, it
also fits the Shinobi SDI perfectly. While I bristled at the
price ($90 for a small plastic ring that clamps to the moni-
tor and a small folding sunshade that inserts into grooves
in the ring!), I must say that functionally, it’s easily the best
sunshade I’ve used.
In the bright Florida sun, with the addition of the AtomX
sunshade, I was able to view the monitor, compose and easily
nail focus and exposure. The shade is small and light enough
to not really be a factor as far as weight and size, but its depth
shades the monitor screen an adequate amount to make view-
ing in most circumstances practical.
One advantage of the 1,000 nit screen is that colors are
generally a bit more accurate (super bright monitors typi-
cally compromise color accuracy for
brightness). Additionally, a 1,000 nit
screen uses considerably less energy,
prolonging battery life and shoot-
ing time.
The Bottom Line:
An Exceptional Value
At $499, the Shinobi SDI is an excep-
tional value, and I don’t regret choos-
ing it over any of the other competing
monitors available in the sub-$500
price range.
For me, the Shinobi offers the
simplest and eas-
iest-to-use soft-
ware/interface
of any monitor
on the market
I’ve seen, paired
with proven
reliability and
solid LUT and
HDR support.
Its 1,000 nit rating means that it’s useful for shooting
outdoors on cloudy days or in indirect sunlight sans the
sunshade, but in bright sun, the sunshade is a must. I was
impressed enough with the Shinobi that I bought one, along
with the AtomX sunshade, and have been using it the past
two months in a variety of situations. It’s been a valuable
addition to our camera packages.
The Shinobi SDI will be useful for gimbal shooting,
as well as with almost any camera I rent, borrow or own.
Unlike cameras that seem outdated every few months, I
anticipate that the Shinobi SDI will give me years of useful
performance, and if my experience with it is anything like
the past four years I’ve had with the Ninja Blade, it will
have been a wise investment.
If you need an affordable camera monitor, I strongly rec-
ommend this Atomos monitor. It’s an excellent choice for a
versatile monitor for shooting projects on a tight budget. DPPI’d recommend purchasing the AtomX
Sunshade (above, left), which is a must
with the Shinobi SDI. The screen is visible
outdoors on cloudy days, but in bright,
direct sunlight, the shade helps the image
visibility. In fact, on a recent documentary
shoot for “Year On The Water” (above, right),
a character study about two female athletes,
the hood helped the Shinobi SDI perform
flawlessly on the challenging two-day shoot.