Need to find a sufficient monitor

K

KOHR

Well-known member
Hi everyone! Recently I decided to purchase a 35 mm setup for my HV20 (see below). Essentially, I went through my budget, and found that I only have about $300 left for the monitor. What I'm wondering is, is HD necessary for pulling focus, would a SD monitor be better than trying to do it on the LCD screen? I have heard that people have learned to focus with 35mm adapters using only peaking and the LCD screen. Is this possible? If not, it would be quite sad for me to have to not be able to get any of this new equipment due to the failure of one item. Thanks very much!

Okay, so I've been talking it over with my partners in crime, and we've been thinking that maybe I could just use a DVX100a instead. I'm wondering which one would look better, the HV20 with its beautiful HD but lack of manual control, or the DVX100 with its famous SD and copious amount of manual control. I have experience with prosumer cameras such as the DVX, so take into account I understand how to control both cameras. Which one would, in the end, produce a higher quality (not necessarily resolution) image for short films and some low-budget commercials. Thanks all!
 
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At least the built in LCD screen offers the focus assist. Any NTSC monitor won't even give you that. Sorry but you REALLY need a good HD monitor with a 35mm adapter. Without one, the majority of your shots will be soft because an NTSC monitor just does not show enough resolution to tell when something is in focus. Adding a 35mm adapter is just making it that much more difficult to focus.

I to am going through the same thing. For sitdown interviews and tabletop, I have a great 17" Sony HD LCD that does a pretty nice job but for location work, the cheapest are the Ikan, Marshall and a few others. Then, in the mid range you have the LSDesgn.com Carrion A, then you have the top of the line Nebtek and Panasonic. And don't forget, besides the monitor itself, you will need a mount and a battery system too although the Carrion and Nebtek can be purchased with battery plates that will accept your HVX batteries.

Start whipping out the credit card because you really need a real monitor, especially with a 35mm adapter.

Dan
 
Kohr, The world of monitors doesn’t have to suck big time, try this monitor on this thread since its in your price range, and Im thinking you missed this thread in your search. http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=103949

I think this outweighs everything in the ” bang-for-the-buck” category. I got one and highly recommend it. Cost me $185.00 on ebay, flipped it with a noga arm, plugged in a 12v. and the rca, and was good to go. The model to get is the Lilliput 6-9GL-70NP/C. It’s the “non-touch screen" --touch screens soften the image.

found it again here, I think this is the same seller I got it from http://cgi.ebay.com/LILLIPUT-7-TFT-...ryZ67771QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem
 
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I agree, you will definitely need an external monitor at some point. My initial shots with the HV20 and 35mm adapter were very soft even when I thought they were in focus using the built-in peaking and focus assist functions.

I definitely plan to buy an external HD monitor however, I've been using Adobe's OnLocation CS3 as a solution in the interim. It works pretty well on my 15.4" laptop and includes some other recording and monitoring goodies I've found to be useful:

1) Color and blue bars for calibrating the brightness, contrast, chroma and phase of the monitor
2) User-configurable letterbox ratios, zebras, grid-lines, split-screen and safe areas
3) Multiple zoom and 1:1 pixel options
4) Various vector and waveform monitors to help set exposure and white balance
5) Various audio monitors to help set audio levels
6) Shot timer and clock
7) Direct to disk recording (very nice!)

The only drawback I've encountered is a certain amount of latency which can make it slightly distracting in some cases and downright unusable in other cases such as pulling focus during fast action shots. In the latter instance, I've found the shot clock to be useful for timing the scenes during blocking rehearsals to establish specific focus points for hitting the action marks.

The pros for a dedicated external HD monitor are easier setup and teardown, lighter weight and the real big benefit -- no latency...

OnLocation costs $799 as a standalone app and may sound pricey, but you do get a lot for the money and it's still cheaper than most HD monitors provided you already have a laptop with decent specifications and can live with some latency.

For me, it was a no-brainer because the program is included as part of the CS3 Production Premium suite which I already owned.

Adobe has a 30-day trial you can download but that version only supports SD(DV). The full version supports HD(HDV).

Cheers,
 
One of the big drawbacks of many of the 1/3" cameras is their servo-focus systems and lack of focus marks on the lens. I thought one of the big pluses of 35mm adapters was that they allow you to go back to the professional focusing method, which is by measuring the subject distance and then matching the lens setting on the barrel. Also makes rack focus shots and action shots much easier. Is there some reason you can't do this with a 35mm adapter?
When you have a choice, measuring is by far the better method. So don't buy an HD monitor, buy a $5 tape measure.
 
Danv:

I agree, if you are making films. But what about tracking moving talent while shooting alone for a doc? I do this kind of stuff all of the time and measuring is definitely not possible in these situations.

Dan
 
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Wow, thanks everyone for your quick replies! I think the tape measuring system is the way I'll have to go for now (along with whatever focus assist and peaking I ca do with the camera itself). Besides that, I'll just save for a monitor and hopefully pick one up in the next couple months. I'll be using the 35mm primarily for my short films and some commercials (for the most part, they'll end up being exported SD probably). I hadn't thought of the tape measure idea though... that sounds like a great (but more painstaking) way of fixing this issue for the time being! However, I will HAVE to get an HD monitor soon. I've been looking around, and I'll probably pick up a Ikan V8000 HD with noga arm pretty soon. Thanks for all your help and quick responses!
 
puredrifting said:
Danv:

I agree, if you are making films. But what about tracking moving talent while shooting alone for a doc? I do this kind of stuff all of the time and measuring is definitely not possile in these situations.

Dan
Click to expand...

In most shooting scenarios, you only have to worry about critical focus to maybe 15-feet. With practice, you can learn to judge a person's distance from 1 to 15 feet within 6". This will keep you in focus for all but the shallowest DOF conditions. Remember that DOF becomes shallower as the focus distance decreases--which is in our favor, because it gets easier to judge distance the closer someone is.
Of course there's the issue of framing while trying to keep track of focusing too, but it can be done, if you have an LC monitor that you can position so that the lens marks are in your field of vision. Then you frame mainly by watching the edges of the image, and roll focus with one finger. Helps a lot if you can get/afford a follow focus with a big knob with markings.
If this sounds hard, remember that the alternative--autofocus or using a monitor, will inevitably result in some shots where the focus is searching. If you judge the distance a bit incorrectly in a shot, it may come out soft, but at least it won't call attention to itself they way a searching-focus shot does.
And certainly there will be instances where it just won't work well!
 
danv said:
I thought one of the big pluses of 35mm adapters was that they allow you to go back to the professional focusing method, which is by measuring the subject distance and then matching the lens setting on the barrel. Also makes rack focus shots and action shots much easier. Is there some reason you can't do this with a 35mm adapter?
Click to expand...

If you're shooting cine lenses with accurate markings, this is true. However, most newer still lenses have rather tiny and useless distance scales. I'm sure this is because most still shooters use AF, and even those who focus manually are doing it visually through the view finder.

If you're gong to do this with still lenses, you're going to have to calibrate and mark your lens barrel, which you should be doing anyway if you're going old-school.
 
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