SmallHD 502 or Atomos Shogun Inferno?????

Kendrick Gray · January 9, 2017

I currently own a Sony FS5 and in 2 years I plan to upgrade to something more cinema like I suppose. Either that or a higher end Sony camera. Im in a in monitor dilemma.

Between the two in the title, I want something that will last me through this camera to the next. The FS5 produces XAVC which I'm ok with quality wise. I usually transcode to prores to edit. But sometimes I find transcoding annoying. If I were to deal with that at least I'd have a nice monitor that allows me to use luts etc.

With the Inferno I have the option for raw,prores,and dnxhd. Now... Do higher end cameras these days have options like this? Is it typical most of the time? If I were to upgrade to a camera that has these options the Inferno would be a waste of money. Or do money with reds, arris etc still use recorders?

Frank Hegyi · January 9, 2017

The camera manufacturers are starting to include better recording formats in camera, so the external recorders will become less necessary as time goes on.

Christopher Santucci · January 10, 2017

The camera manufacturers are starting to include better recording formats in camera, so the external recorders will become less necessary as time goes on.

Definitely seems to be where it's headed but not all cameras will afford one the ability to write Prores, Cineform, or Avid codecs in camera. Also, it makes more sense to own a monitor with recording capability. My Ninja Assassin has a great screen.

Kendrick Gray · January 10, 2017

How good are the Atomos screens vs the SmallHD screens?

Edited January 10, 2017 by Kendrick Gray

Frank Hegyi · January 10, 2017

Definitely seems to be where it's headed but not all cameras will afford one the ability to write Prores, Cineform, or Avid codecs in camera. Also, it makes more sense to own a monitor with recording capability. My Ninja Assassin has a great screen.

The extra recorder can definitely come in handy sometimes.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Frank Hegyi

AJ Young · January 11, 2017

I recommend the 502; it'll last for a very long time and is an excellent operating monitor. Higher end cameras like the Red, ARRI, etc don't really need external recorders at all.

It's hard for a lower end recorder like Atmos to keep up with the new licenses for RAW recording of newer cameras through the years and I wouldn't be surprised if a new Sony or Canon camera comes out with an improved RAW external that requires an entirely new license that may not be applicable to the Atmos Inferno.

You're better off renting a recorder for specific projects and purchasing a 502 monitor for all of your projects.

Kendrick Gray · January 11, 2017

This makes my choice even harder.

Phil Rhodes · January 11, 2017

Both companies do good work. SmallHD's stuff is probably more heavily built and their software is very good. The Shogun Inferno has a lot of features.

I see quite a lot of different cameras week by week and I find it is very useful to have a recorder around because it tends to unify their output. If you get something that will record SDI and HDMI and some media for it, you more or less never have to worry about having a thousand types of flash card or reading a dozen different file formats.

Raw and other tricks, such as off-speed shooting, can be sticking points. The Shogun Inferno hardware has a lot more capability than the current firmware makes active and it remains to be seen how well this will be exploited by future releases. If the company does well here they could achieve some of the same success as Convergent Design have, who make a lot of money on their recorders not because there's anything spectacular about the device, but because the firmware is super-comprehensive.

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Albion Hockney · January 11, 2017

the inferno is 7" which is a lot different than a 5" monitor on a fs5 it will be very large for shoulder operating.

I can't comment on the display quality of the inferno - the 502 I can say is pretty good - I never used a DP7 which people said was better or as good as the tv logic...I don't find that to be true of the 502. I always find the TV logic to look more accurate. I'd be very surprised if the inferno was any better a screen accuracy wise then the small HD though

The inferno is also way brighter and does HDR - the small HD needs a hoodman and even then in bright daylight you really need a viewfinder.

and then do you need a recorder or not - I'd start there and make that decision first.

Recorders and Monitors just happen to be the same product these days ...but it's totally separate items really. It's very hard to judge which way cameras will go in the future likely there will be a lot of different options still and you may or may not wind up with a camera that does pro res or something easy to edit. Unless you know exactly your next camera now I wouldn't even try to guess.

Kendrick Gray · January 11, 2017

Thats the thing... Camera technology changes. Not sure if future cameras will have that option. As time passes I guess it will become more clear to me.