Atomos Shogun OOBE

I bought a Sony alpha 7S a while back to do some 4K synthetic slit scan  work. The a7S won’t record 4K without an external recorder. There weren’t any low-priced ones around. Sony said they’d have one RSN (that’s a technical acronym used in the high-tech business; it means Real Soon Now). I waited, and no Sony recorder.

Finally, in October, I ordered an Atomos Shogun recorder. It, too, was available RSN, but at least B&H would take my order.

Last week, after some shipping SNAFUs at B&H, I had the recorder in my hand. Nice packaging. Nice hefty box suitable for carrying the recorder, spare batteries and disks, and plenty of accessories. But I was missing a cable.

It came Friday. I inserted a 480 GB SanDisk SSD in an Atomos carrier, and a charged battery into the recorder. I plugged in both ends of my new HDMI cable. I turned on the camera. I pressed the power button on the recorder. It went down…

…and stayed down.

The recorder is now a lightweight doorstop. It’s a little big for a paper weight.

I’ve contacted Atomos support. I’ll let you all know what happens.

Update: after 48 hours, they asked for proof of purchase and shipping address.

Update: after 63 hours, they issued a RMA. They didn’t ask for a credit card number, so apparently they don’t ship the replacement unit until they’ve got their mitts on the broken one.

Update: after three days, I shipped the recorder to Atomos, UPS 2nd day air. $145, with insurance and packing.

Update: after seven days, the unit was delivered to Atomos, and they responded in an email: “Atomos customer service center has received your RMA Shogun for repair. Please allow for one to two days for diagnosis and repair.”

Update: after 9 days, I got this message from Atomos: “Your Shogun has been repaired or replaced, tested and updated to the latest firmware. It is being returned via USPS 2-Day Priority Mail. ”

Update: after 12 days, I received a new (not a repaired) Shogun. It  has the LCD cover plastic that comes with a new one that says to be sure to update your firmware, despite what Atomos said in the paragraph just above this one. The packing slip has a line labeled “Assessment”. It says “Confirmed button issue.”