Atomos Shinobi Go review: small, light, bright and affordable

At only $249 the Atomos Shinobi Go is likely to be many people’s first experience of a proper monitor with proper exposure tools and there is no shortage of features even at this entry level.

One sign of a mature market is when all the products which manufacturers themselves describe as entry-level start sprouting advanced features. That’s certainly the case with Atomos’ Shinobi Go, which was announced in plenty of time for the NAB show and is now on the market. The feature set which hints strongly that this is a version of the Shinobi II cut down for the market that doesn’t shoot Alexa 65 every day - although the design does raise a few interesting questions about that.

Design details

The device itself is small and light. There’s a chunky border around the display area on the front panel, but let’s remember this is not a cellphone; it needs to be able to support a hood for conditions where the 1500-nit brightness is still not enough, and we don’t want the glass going very close to the edge of the chassis. Some of Atomos’s earlier products had that design and it was too easy to knock a chunk out of the edge of the glass like a dropped phone. There is a slightly raised ridge around the display so that the display face will not contact a flat surface if the monitor is placed face down, though it could be a little deeper.

Happily, there are connectors on only one edge of the device - the headphone and remote control sockets - and only the headphone output will be relevant to most people most of the time (the 2.5mm “remote” socket is used solely for calibration; camera control is something this monitor gives away to the Shinobi II).

Everything else is on the back. USB in its various power-delivery forms has started to emerge as a de facto standard for camera rig power and is supported here. We learn that the expected consumption of the Shinobi Go is “<10W,” which is not huge, but not microscopic - and we wouldn’t expect it to be, given the 1500-nit backlight. All those photons have to be generated somehow.

There is, of course, a Sony NP-F battery plate, marked from 6.2 to 16.8V DC. It should therefore tolerate direct connection to either 2-cell or 4-cell (that is, nominally 7.1 or 14.4V) camera batteries. External power therefore requires either an electronically active USB-C PD cable, or a battery eliminator. Putting most of the I/O on the back keeps the profile down by avoiding chunky, inflexible HDMI cables poking out the side. A screw-down clamp is included to save the HDMI from wear and tear.

Daylight viewability and more

It is very difficult to be specific about the absolute performance of this kind of display. Modern display panels allow monitors like this to be surprisingly accurate, and an eyeball comparison with a reference display looks reasonable. We could put a probe on it, but this is really not attempting to be a precision reference display. In fact, one of the features it loses over the Shinobi II is the onboard calibration; anyone looking to line it up will need to plug in the (optional extra) probe and calibrate with a computer.

Instead, the priority here is usability in variable conditions. The 1500 nit brightness is about daylight viewability, not HDR. It’s a framing and focusing display, not a grading reference monitor, and it does its job admirably. The panel itself is at HD resolution (more being irrelevant on a five-inch device) and supports UHD up to 30 frames, though it overlooks the Shinobi II’s DCI 4K.

Even the slightly spendier Shinobi II lacks SDI. That might come off as an odd choice given the ARRI-specific features, camera control and DCI 4K support which seem to target a specific market segment. The Shinobi Go may be even more specific. We might speculate that this represents a fairly narrow salami-slicing of the market, although that is likely to be welcome among the likely audience - people looking to get a better look at the pictures from their first mirrorless camera. Those are people who will value the option to save a bit on the Shinobi Go over the Shinobi II, or competitors from the likes of Viltrox. SmallHD has nothing in its 5” range until we get up to four or five times the price. 

A good starter

Crucially, the Shinobi Go is likely to be many people’s first experience of a proper monitor with proper exposure tools (there are waveforms in three sizes). The monitor itself seems like a good deal. The only real query arises over the omission of anamorphic desqueeze, which is hardly a rare demand in 2025 even at entry level.

The Shinobi Go is small, light, bright, affordable at $249, and as such is likely to find a home as the enthusiastic new entrant’s first addition to an owner-operated setup. The big question for Atomos, and for its competitors, is where, given such a cornucopia of features even in the most competitive products, we go next.

tl;dr

• The Atomos Shinobi Go, priced at $249, offers advanced features typically expected in higher-end monitors, making it an attractive option for entry-level users seeking proper exposure tools.
• Its compact and lightweight design includes a chunky border for durability, reducing the risk of damage to the display, while essential connectors are strategically placed to maintain a sleek profile.
• With a brightness of 1500 nits, the monitor excels in daylight viewability, making it ideal for framing and focusing, although it lacks onboard calibration and higher resolution options found in the Shinobi II.
• Designed for new mirrorless camera users, the Shinobi Go provides a valuable introduction to professional monitoring without breaking the bank, although it does miss some features like anamorphic desqueeze that many users might expect.