Can I record FHD Video Externally from a Canon 5D Mark II to an Atomos Ninja V?
- Matt W.
- Sep 1, 2022
- 2 min read
No*.
That seems like a simple question, and Atomos clearly doesn't support the Canon 5D Mark II in the compatibility list, however my Canon M6 Mark II does not work with the Atomos Ninja V according to the same list, yet that camera has no problems (well, you can't autofocus and record in 4k 24fps, but you can if you use 30fps). Who knew? So, there you go. The 5D Mark II is a very popular used camera and still excels when used for photography. It has been used effectively for video, but not with a Ninja V.
"But man, I saw a video" - No, no you didn't; that was an Atomos Ninja 2. The Ninja V won't even display an image. If it does, it flickers only momentarily.
I was hoping that would work as it would make the Ninja work across all of my Canon cameras. Oh well, maybe we need to add a Ninja 2 to the mix.
The R6 works great, but why wouldn't it!
...days have passed...
We now have an Atomos Ninja 2, and an additional Canon legacy DSLR (Rebel T3i/600D). They both work with the Atomos Ninja II. They don't do real autofocus in video anyway, and the way you get a clean HDMI output is to install Magic Lantern, turn off global draw options, turn off autofocus, and make sure you're in live view mode. Then, you can do 1080 24p with the 3:2 pulldown option. Don't worry, you don't need to know what 3:2 pulldown means, it is one of three obvious options in the video input.
The only way I can record at the highest possible resolution on the 5D with real MLV RAW is to use the internal card, using a high speed compact flash card, and the real trick - make sure that MLV Audio is at 44.1 kHz, not 48 kHz. That will give you the framerate you need on the 5D II. I don't have the right UHS-I V30 card for the T3i to get basically a similar result, but I guess I can report on that later. Word to the wise, the Atomos Ninja 2 requires line level inputs. As an aside, I was unable to make a Rode Videomicro work with the mic input on my Ninja V. I feel like that should work, and will have to look into that.
* I would bet you could use some device as an intermediary between the 5DII and the Ninja V that can convert the 1080i 59.xFPS video into something the Ninja V will handle as an input. I don't know of a device that can do this, though unsurprisingly, I bet I have it. The HDMI out from my Ninja 2 will probably work as an HDMI in to my Ninja V.