Atomos just unlocked the full potential of the Shogun 7

The much awaited new firmware that unlocks the full potential of Atomos' Shogun 7 monitor/recorder has just been released.

The Atomos Shogun 7 was the first monitor/recorder from the company that features true HDR monitoring. This is made possible by the display's clever backlight system, which splits the monitoring area up into 360 zones, allowing the backlight to be much more finely controlled, or even switched off, so that the deepest blacks and shadows can be replicated. Sheer brightness alone doesn't make a display HDR capable. This new system, combined with the monitors high brightness capabilities allows it to show a much wider dynamic range than one that uses a traditional backlight system. This was impressive enough on its release, at which time it could achieve a peak brightness of 1500 nits. Pretty bright... Except that Atomos was holding back a little, possibly while more testing was being done.

But now we have the fruits of that short wait, and the company has just released AtomosOS V10.3, which takes the peak brightness capability of the Shogun 7 all the way up to a pretty astounding 3000 nits. For users who take the monitor outside a lot, it would seem logical that the increased brightness would offer a large benefit. However this isn't quite the case and Atomos recommends using the 'Daylight' 1500 nit mode on the monitor for Rec.709 or 'native' viewing in such situations. So while the 3000 nit capability of the monitor allows it to show much more dynamic range, it does not necesserily correlate with better daylight viewing.

The new firmware also unlocks 2kp240 DCI/HD for Sony and Panasonic RAW, as well as Dolby Vision Playout, which lets the Shogun 7 output Dolby Vision throughput to compatible monitors and televisions.

Atomos really does seem to have claimed the position as one of the most innovative companies for such products, and now I guess the wait is on for a Ninja V+ which uses the same backlight technology. I think we all know such a device is coming, but just when is anybody's guess!

Download the new Shogun 7 firmware here.

Note: This article has been updated with new information regarding daylight viewing capability.