GH4 Best 5-7" monitor for under $300?

I also wanted to go the 5.6" route for size and weight reasons but even the highest end 5.6" monitors sacrifice quality. They tend to be 6 bit panels with lower brightness and contrast levels. I'm a bit more concerned about quality and accuracy then size and weight and have shifted my view back to going with a 7" monitor. I finally feel like I have a solid setup for a 7" monitor with my Honu cage and a l bracket to mount the monitor to. A freak storm wouldn't even be able to detach this monitor from my camera now.

Yep, I am hoping that the new 5.6" monitor might get an improved panel like the 7" when released in a few weeks. Saying that, the Feelworld 7" monitor is only 10mm wider and packs a 7" screen for less money. If it had a mounting thread on the side of it I would try one out in a heartbeat but on my shoulder rig, I'm not keen on mounting from the bottom. I also really like the remote on the Musthd to give 1:1 focus assist without your hand having to leave the grip. How is the accuracy of the Feelworld red peaking function?
 
How is the accuracy of the Feelworld red peaking function?

From what I can tell it looks to be bang on.

i.e. I manually focus in 1:1 pixel mode, then turn on the red peaking and only the focused edges are bright red. Or I can do it the other way, where I first focus with the red peaking then switch to 1:1 pixel mode and I see that the red edges are dead sharp.
 
From what I can tell it looks to be bang on.

i.e. I manually focus in 1:1 pixel mode, then turn on the red peaking and only the focused edges are bright red. Or I can do it the other way, where I first focus with the red peaking then switch to 1:1 pixel mode and I see that the red edges are dead sharp.

Thanks Dingo,

In a previous post you said comparing the image quality to the marshal, the feelworld would be a 70 and the Musthd an 80. Where do you feel the Feelworld is lacking compared to the Musthd to give it ten less points? Sharpness, colour accuracy, brightness, etc?
 
Where do you feel the Feelworld is lacking compared to the Musthd to give it ten less points? Sharpness, colour accuracy, brightness, etc?

The main thing for me is the weak contrast control. It works fine to get a "normal" image out of it, but if I want to raise or lower the contrast to enhance my viewing image you can't do much.

To get good color with both the MustHD and the FeelWorld monitors I had to modify a custom user profile to match the OLED of my GH4, and both monitors could produce a very good match. It was slightly easier to match the color with the MustHD monitor, but the difference was not huge.

Both monitors could produce a bright and sharp image, and I quite liked being able to apply a tiny bit of sharpening to the image with each monitor, something that my Marshall lacks. ( this little extra made the image from MustHD and FeelWorld monitors appear a tiny bit crisper than the Marshall )

With the Marshall you're getting even better color with more image controls ( except for the sharpening ), a Waveform Display, and an audio metering display. The Marshall also has the best build quality of the three, with the MustHD coming second, and the FeelWorld coming last. But both of the lower cost monitors feel like they should last quite a while if you take care of them. ( the overall quality is a huge jump over my old Lilliput monitor that had bad color and was not very well made )
 
I just did a weigh in for each of the 7 inch monitors with their battery plate but no battery installed...

FeelWorld FW759 : 292 grams

Marshall V-LCD70MD : 535 grams

MustHD M701 : 689 grams

MustHD M701 with Fold-up Sun-shade : 874 grams
 
The Feelworld FW759 monitor arrived today, and I am shocked at how fast it got here. 8 days to go from China to Toronto, Canada on $5 worth of shipping. Amazing.

...So how does it compare ?

It's really good. For a 7 inch 1280x800 pixel IPS monitor that cost me $130 US to buy, the image is outstanding.

If I were to rate the image from my $800 Marshall V-LCD70MD monitor as 100, I would rate the $370 US MustHD M701 monitor as 80, and the $130 US Feelworld FW759 monitor as 70.

From my quick test I could find one small issue with the FeelWorld monitor...

- The contrast image control does almost nothing to the image, so I have it set to 10 which is close to it's lowest setting, but even at this low setting the contrast of the image looks "normal".


PROs and CONs for the FeelWorld FW759 monitor

PROs

- Sharp and bright image
- Very good image quality ( outstanding considering the low price )
- Has a sharpness control ( the MustHD has it too, but not my Marshall, I like the image best with sharpness at 10 )
- Very fast to sync with my GH4 camera ( much faster than the MustHD monitor, and maybe faster than the Marshall )
- Excellent RED focus-peaking ( very easy to tell what's in focus )
- Four function buttons on the front face ( easy to turn functions on or off with a few taps )
- Easy to navigate menu functions ( limited features, but they function quite well )
- Very compact and light weight
- Fantastic value for the low price ( eBay link to where I purchased mine below )

CONs
- Very limited image contrast control ( not a huge deal, but I wish it was more effective )

Here's where I bought my monitor...

stockinau (2753) : Feelworld FW759 7'' 1280x800 HD IPS Monitor

So you are saying you don't really notice the 6 bit vs 8 bit color difference between the monitors?
 
I just did a weigh in for each of the 7 inch monitors with their battery plate but no battery installed...

FeelWorld FW759 : 292 grams

Marshall V-LCD70MD : 535 grams

MustHD M701 : 689 grams

MustHD M701 with Fold-up Sun-shade : 874 grams

One other question. With the MustHD one of the features I love the most is the instant switch to 1:1 pixel mode and back again. On my older Lilliput the screen would turn blue for four or five seconds during the switch which was very annoying. How fast is the FeelWorld switch? This is kind of an important feature to have for me and having the monitor switch back and forth instantly is a huge benefit.
 
So you are saying you don't really notice the 6 bit vs 8 bit color difference between the monitors?

Not really. The Marshall has more sophisticated color controls and maybe the LCD panel itself has inherently better color, but when they are all properly tuned the color each monitor produces is very close.
 
With the MustHD one of the features I love the most is the instant switch to 1:1 pixel mode and back again.

All three monitors switch in and out of 1:1 pixel mode very fast, almost instantaneously. The difference is that there is a blue flash when switching modes with the FeelWorld monitor, a black flash when switching modes with the Marshall, and no flash when switching between modes with the MustHD.
 
All three monitors switch in and out of 1:1 pixel mode very fast, almost instantaneously. The difference is that there is a blue flash when switching modes with the FeelWorld monitor, a black flash when switching modes with the Marshall, and no flash when switching between modes with the MustHD.

Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it.
 
I finally figured out that there is an almost undocumented speaker volume control that sorts out the audio squeal issue, so other than a weak contrast control this is a killer little monitor. I would have no problems using this monitor for paid work.

Where?

EDIT: Nevermind, found it. Press the < or > buttons.
 
Last edited:
Just got mine in and it's exactly what I was wanting. It's not reference quality for colors or shadows, but it's a perfectly lightweight framing reference when I'm handheld with my rig. Here it is on my Ginirig Advanced Extreme 17 with the GH4 and Sigma 18-35.

toKbb2k.jpg
cN61b2R.jpg


The hotshoe mount is of better quality than I expected. The HDMI locking mechanism is of worse quality than I expected. Also, maybe it's just me or it's the the quality downgrade outputting 4K to 1080p over HDMI, but the GH4 focus peaking is a little more scatterbrained, and the monitor's focus peaking is just OK (goes from not much red noise to a lot of red noise to let you know what's in focus).

I did confirm that it works with all modes, even C4K in 24 Hz, no issues staying active while recording. In 59.94 Hz mode, I scrolled through 4K 30p to 4K 24p to FHD 60p 200mbps to FHD 30p 50mbps to FHD 100mbps VFR and they all displayed and recorded fine.
 
The main thing for me is the weak contrast control. It works fine to get a "normal" image out of it, but if I want to raise or lower the contrast to enhance my viewing image you can't do much.

To get good color with both the MustHD and the FeelWorld monitors I had to modify a custom user profile to match the OLED of my GH4, and both monitors could produce a very good match. It was slightly easier to match the color with the MustHD monitor, but the difference was not huge.

Both monitors could produce a bright and sharp image, and I quite liked being able to apply a tiny bit of sharpening to the image with each monitor, something that my Marshall lacks. ( this little extra made the image from MustHD and FeelWorld monitors appear a tiny bit crisper than the Marshall )

With the Marshall you're getting even better color with more image controls ( except for the sharpening ), a Waveform Display, and an audio metering display. The Marshall also has the best build quality of the three, with the MustHD coming second, and the FeelWorld coming last. But both of the lower cost monitors feel like they should last quite a while if you take care of them. ( the overall quality is a huge jump over my old Lilliput monitor that had bad color and was not very well made )

What settings are you using with your Feelworld for an accurate-ish image?
 
What settings are you using with your Feelworld for an accurate-ish image?

I am matching everything to my GH4 LCD, which appears to be the most accurate display I own, it even beats my $800 Marshall.

Here are my Feelworld settings...

Pic Mode : User
Brightness : 57
Contrast : 0
Saturation : 50
Sharpness : 10
Color Temp : User
Red : 128
Green : 128
Blue : 115
Tint : 50
 
I had a shoot this week where the background of the set was long gradations of grey and my Feelworld FW759 monitor was banding all over the place while my MustHD and my Marshall remained completely smooth. I strongly suspect that the Feelworld FW759 is a 6-bit panel while the other two are 8-bit. It's a little disappointing to see this, but for the low price I can't complain.
 
I had a shoot this week where the background of the set was long gradations of grey and my Feelworld FW759 monitor was banding all over the place while my MustHD and my Marshall remained completely smooth. I strongly suspect that the Feelworld FW759 is a 6-bit panel while the other two are 8-bit. It's a little disappointing to see this, but for the low price I can't complain.

It is well known that the FeelWorld is 6 bit. A few people on this thread have even received a response from the company that it is in fact a 6 bit panel. The MustHD mentions in many places on their website that their panel is 8bit. Not the end of the world but it can make a difference.
 
Hey guys, after a couple more weeks how is the feelworld working out? I'm looking for a monitor to mount on a gimbal. This looks nice and light and I think that as long as I can frame and focus thats all I would need. Do you think it'd be a good fit for that purpose?
 
Back
Top