Ikan V-8000HD monitor: BEST on-camera HD monitor for under $2k!!!

wgzn

wgzn

Veteran
ok i finally received my ikanv8000HD last night. ive had a couple hours to play with it this morning and here are my conclusions:

here is a link to a pile of pictures. keep in mind the medium res jpegs dont fully do the monitor justice:

http://understandinc.com/samples/v8000HD/

things i LOVE:
- IMAGE QUALITY is superb - you can finally FOCUS your HVX!!!
(or other HD camera)
- weight. VERY light weight, but still feels solid
- uses sony L-series batteries (cheap and long lasting)
- doesnt waste time with things like TV tuner or audio features
- $795 price!!!

things i dont love:
- doesnt have the image flip options its cheaper predecessors had. so you 35mm adapter folks will have to get some kind of mount to flip it. ross grasse at ikan showed me his zacuto "zamerican" mount with two micromounts and that baby was awesome! very easilly adjusted and solid a brick S#!THOUSE - best $200 and change you'll ever spend!
- color reproduction seems a bit innacurate. HOWEVER, i am by no means a :color pro" AND i havent really played fully with the color settings, so it is reasonably likely that this complaint can be largely remedied
- IM BEING VERY NIT-PICKY here, but i dont like the fact that all the controls light up when power is attached, yet its not actually turned on.

things i HATE:
- the MENU! terrible and inconsistent. dontget me wrong, everything works ok. its just that the functions arent consistent from one to another. some places you can hold the arrow buttons down and they repeat other places (like color temp) you have to hit the button over and over for each degree of change - TEDIOUS! and when you are changing the blue setting on color temp the "highlight" state of the menu is the exact color as the readout so you cant see anything at all. this actually made me laugh

CONCLUSION:
considering that it's nearest competitor is give or take 2x the price (and is heavy as hell) i think this is by far the best on-camera HD monitor that youre going to find.

BUY IT!
one set of pics from the above gallery link
massguit.jpg
 
Nice image on that screen, dude. 795 as well. I'd say it's at a very nice price point.

How did you get yours so early?

On the adapter flip deal: might not have to do that soon. Redrock's image flipping mechanism is hitting the site soon enough. It'll be a choice on whether you can stand to loose that light and keep your screen mounted properly, or flip the screen for a bit less and deal with it.
 
ikan is located here in houston where i live. im a fairly frequent customer of their retail division (microsearch.com) - i was in one day on another errand, saw the prototype and begged to give them money on the spot for one of the first ones off the truck.
 
you are the man wgzn. these pics are awesome.:beer:

i really like how clear that thing looks, even through the low quality jpeg pics.

i have a question though.

can this be mounted on the camera or does it have to go on a seperate tripod or something?

does it have anything on it that will let you mount it upside down?
 
it has the typical threaded hole in the bootom and will mount on any standard fitting and i forgot to mention that yes, it does come with a swivel shoe mount for attaching to a camera.

shoe.JPG


like i said originally if you want to mount it upside down, you'll need some kind of articulatiing arm like the ones from manfrotto, zacuto, etc...
 
Looking promising- I'd still like to see a side by side with the Marshall. I didn't notice a different using the varizoom swit monitor until I had the Marshall along side it, then the difference became very clear - litterally.

Thanks for the review and the pictures! :)
 
jdajda said:
This looks amazing - and cheap! Anyone know where I can go ahead and order / pre-order one?
Click to expand...

I'd prefer a good review on focus, colors, etc. before I plunk down any dollars.
 
Other than inputs and price, what is the difference between the V8000HD and the V8000W? Both seem to have high res LCDS.. I'm leaning towards the V8000W because it's cheaper plus I could attach it to my Macbook Pro and use it as a second monitor for editing HD on the road. I'll buy a component to VGA adapter for when I use it with my HVX for video and it still comes out cheaper than the V8000HD with the component to VGA.... This should work, shouldn't it? Comments appreciated..
 
well..... look at it in comparison, in person, to a MArshall, Panasonic monitor, then descide if it sthe best under 2K$.

In all things video, you get what you pay for.
 
David S. said:
I'd prefer a good review on focus, colors, etc. before I plunk down any dollars.
Click to expand...
I dont know after reading this and Brian's review in another thread I'm pretty much sold. Focus seems to be good enough for HD, and its lightweight and half the price of the marshall - at that point I dont care if its black and white! Dont suppose this monitor does zebras and markers? Now that would be fantastic.
 
thanks alot for the review and pics! I can already tell this will be good enough for what I need. Now the big question is how long will it last?
 
come on. you can count the windings on the lower freaking guitar strings. anyone more picky than that is just being PAID to be picky... let's be realistic. anyone who needs res better than that is too busy (and wealthy) to be posting here... and doesnt care how expensive his monitor is...

?
 
Last edited:
abstractheory, the thing that seperates the 8000hd and the 8000w is the internal scaler. you are NOT going to see this same VIDEO/CAMERA resolution with the 8000w.

just a nature of the beast - horses for courses kind of deal. nothing can be everything to everyone
 
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