I've been asked by a few people recently where I got some of my gear, and the answer most of the time is Amazon and to a much lesser extent eBay, but the obvious problem with this is that most places will not ship electronics to New Zealand. This is where YouShop comes in.
Click to visit the YouShop site
In an era where mail is in decline, it's still required when shipping physical items, until teleportation is finally invented, and more often than not the grass is much greener on the other side of the world. Being in such a comparatively small Country, many items are simply not released here and we don't have a saturated market like many other Countries. Sadly this means that some items always seem unobtainable, as either the brand isn't locally known, or our market just too small, or in other cases, as with the Atomos Ninja, local distributors hike up the price to often double the American price and with the exchange rate so good at the moment it simply doesn't make sense.
NZ Post have set up depots in the US and the UK for re-shipping and distribution to New Zealand and having used the service a few times now, it truly is brilliant! The service is called YouShop, and it's free to set up. They'll even go as far as to open your packages and combine the content if it will decrease the shipping costs (if requested).
Cameras and camera gear is now that much easier to obtain, and it would seem worth the wait. Having so far used the US depot for another Kodak Zx5, and now just having used the UK depot for an Atomos Ninja purchased on eBay UK, I find myself looking more at international sites than local sites for sourcing gear or just dreaming of ownership and lamenting my bank account.
It's intelligent solutions like YouShop, that work to make the world a smaller place and dreams of more gear a reality. It's a service really worth considering and definitely using. Considering NZ Post announced last year that the decline in postage is forcing them to make serious changes and reduce delivery services, it's the additional services they provide which will hopefully keep them afloat.
The wonders of ever changing technology see us, as consumers, forever upgrading. But what happens when you're content with some of the technology you already have or own? And worse your initial investment was expensive but the re-sale value is far less than you anticipated resulting in a lower trade in or second hand sale value than you could have dreamed!
This can be said of most household items, and some people insist on having the latest and greatest, but in the world of video production a camera is a constant cost from the onset as all pro and intermediate DV and HDV cameras also require regular servicing and drum alignment. Now I've found lately that Sony are the worst company to deal with for post consumer services, this wasn't always the case, but they've hit a huge downward slide and I'm now at the point where I refuse to deal with them.
At this point you are probably sitting reading your screen wondering what this has to do with you, especially if you aren't in New Zealand, but I haven't actually gotten to my point yet...
I've been keeping an eye on products which aleviate the need for tape media, without having to upgrade or trade in gear. And from all of my research I think I've found the perfect solution which is both inexpensive and cost effective.
Atomos are, as far as I can tell, an Australian/Hong Kong company who have come up with the ultimate solution for mid level videographers using HDV Cameras which support HDMI, and that solution is:
The Ninja is specifically marketed at both SSD, Digital Media and DVTape media consumers as both a complete tape replacement or back up recording medium. Now the unit comes with two drive caddies which do not come with drives so it is recommended that if you're shooting indoors and tripod mounted, you can easily use 2.5" SATA HDD's (no greater than 750gb), but if you're going handheld or potentially going to be knocked or knocking around, it is advised that you use 2.5" SATA SSD/HDD's (but these are still overpriced in the southern hemisphere). Current list of supported drives.
Now, I'm not about to review a product which is currently on my "Next Purchase List", but I will say that this unit should have a remarkable knock on effect for customer and client based videographers especially if there is no longer a requirement to charge for media, and if you're anything like me you refuse to re-use HDV and DV tapes. But not only that, there is no longer a requirement to import footage, which as we all know is a slow process and can only be done in Real time! So not only do you spend an entire day filming, but you spend another day importing the footage. Tape importing is something that is both wearing/damaging to the heads of your deck or camera, if you use your camera as an importation device, but also costing precious time while Final Cut is rendered useless as your tapes import one by one!
Check out this demonstration video (please note this is not my video):
If you're still not sold then I implore you to do the research yourself, personally I'm using a Song V1P HDV camera, as it actually shoots in true progressive and not that retarded Sony interpretation of Progressive, now although my camera is not on the supported camera list, I still think the benefits outweigh the negatives, especially considering the purchase price for The Ninja. However, I discussed this product with the local distributor over two weeks ago now who were going to email me that day and have since sent follow up emails, but I'm still waiting for their response to my request for an RRP, and it would seem I can't order from an international supplier so personally I'm already encountering additional problems and I haven't even used or purchased the product.
The Ninja - Manual - I especially like the anti-bricking on Page 17! Very Cool!
Obviously I am not affiliated with Atomos, unless they want to give me a unit for free, in which case I'd be their dancing monkey boy in the Southern Hemisphere immediately... But remember it's a buyer beware market these days, so always do your research and never trust the first review you stumble upon. There are several video reviews of The Ninja on You Tube as well as benchmark tests and output comparisons. This is more than enough information for anyone to make an informed decision, but based on all the other units I've looked at this one has the most pro's for me and my company.
