Cineroid EVF came! Initial thoughts with GH2.

I just got word that they are going to start shipping them with a mini hdmi cable with 2x 90 degree ends- that should help a lot.

Also I said before that you can't exit the menus easily, I was wrong- if you press any function button on the other side, it takes you out of the menus. My bad, the manual isn't out yet!

If you think it's expensive, consider that the Sony color viewfinder is over $8k:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/621418-REG/Sony_HDVFC30WR_2_7_HD_Color_Viewfinder.html

This thing is a tremendous value in sight of that at 10x cheaper ($799)
 
Hello Hunter.
Thank you for purchasing the EVF from Hot Rod and for sharing your experience on this forum.
It may not be the perfect product (but what is?) but we do feel we have created a good tool for filmmakers to use for them to create their images.

If I may, I'd like to address what you don't like about the EVF that you listed.
1. Battery - In our early prototypes, the battery was coming off rather too easily so we tried to remedy that. I think we did too good of a job, actually. There isn't a release...you just have to grab both sides of the battery near the connection point and pull it out. We are looking into a better solution. :)
2. Exiting from menu - Whenever you are in the menu or submenu, push any of the buttons on the left side of the EVF (PK, F1, F2, SA) and the cursor will immediately jump to the "exit" of that (sub)menu.
3. Magnification - noted.
4. HDMI cables - we have right angle mini-to-mini HDMI cables that should alleviate much of the issues with cables protruding out and getting in the way.

Again, thank you for taking the time to review and share your findings, good and bad. We hope to make the best product for its cost for filmmakers.

EDIT: just saw your last posts answering the issues after I posted. :)

hunter richards said:
Played with it more yesterday, the colors seem accurate to what the files look like on a computer. But there is full rgb color adjustment in the cineroid's menu's so you could really dial it in. The hdmi in and out are both mini sized, so it comes with a mini to mini cable. I kind of wish there was full size on the viewfinder but I guess they wanted it to be as small as possible.

What I like the most so far:

Peaking:
You can set either red or white peaking, as well as dial in the threshold of the effect. Really works great it's easy to see focus. Also you toggle it with a little button of the side of the evf.

1:1 zoom.
This will really come in handy, if your doing a long take like an interview- you would be able to pop in while recording and double check focus. You can also set what button you want to do it as well as choose toggle or press and hold. Nice

Weight:
This thing is super light and pretty small. It would be great to use handheld on a red instead of the old big heavy evf.

Eyereleif:
The diopter is super comfortable on your eye and doesn't leave you feeling strained or having blurred vision.

What I'm not liking the most:

The battery doesn't seem to have a release making it hard to take off (maybe this is a somewhat good thing?)

When going in the menus, there isn't a fast way to get out- you have to scroll and click exit on every page

Resolution is good, but the magnification could have been backed off just a bit, you can start to see the pixel structure

Mini hdmi cable, I'm really hoping someone comes out with small coiled hdmi cables, with strait and stiff cables it seems more likely that you would break off a connector.


I still need to test battery life and I'm waiting on a new long noga arm to see how it works for an real shoulder rig set up. So far, there are some things I would have done differently, but as far as price and value- this thing is worth it.
Click to expand...
 
Hello Cineroid...

whats your name? Its great when a representative of a company is available to answer questions and receive feedback.

I have a queston actually. I am looking to purchase an EVF for use on the AF100 and F3. What mounting points/types are available on the Cineroid?
 
Yeah, it's weird that I'm responding to "Cineroid..."
My name is Joseph and I'm happy to be a part of this filmmaking community.

At this time, the only options that we are offering are a mini-ballhead shoe mount and an articulating arm on the shoe mount, both of which are absolutely useless for your application.
I do know of third parties that are developing mounts for the EVF and I'm sure we'll hear of those when they are out. And we are also working on mounting solutions as well.
Right now, however, your best bet is probably a Noga Arm or the 16x9 Cine Arms...unless somebody else out there has a better solution for these cameras??

TimurCivan said:
Hello Cineroid...

whats your name? Its great when a representative of a company is available to answer questions and receive feedback.

I have a queston actually. I am looking to purchase an EVF for use on the AF100 and F3. What mounting points/types are available on the Cineroid?
Click to expand...
 
Thank you Joseph.

I think a Noga arm would be fine by me. So you are saying there is a 1/4" threaded hole somewhere on the body?
 
Joseph, within what time frame do you think your described improvements will happen?
Things like cable you can change at once, but what about the battery release and the magnification?
Thanks Benn
 
benn said:
Joseph, within what time frame do you think your described improvements will happen?
Things like cable you can change at once, but what about the battery release and the magnification?
Thanks Benn
Click to expand...

Hello Benn.
Thank you for your interest in the EVF. To be honest, we don't have a time frame just yet. Hunter has mentioned that he feels the magnification can be a bit less that for others it may just be right. I did take note of his thoughts on it and we are looking at this but honestly, it's not a big dot on our radar just yet. And the battery release is a bit of a pain but I did discover an easier way of releasing the battery. However, we are also looking into this but I do not have a timeframe for you at this moment. Once I have more information on these and other things, I will post it on dvxuser. Thanks again.
 
Joseph, one other question... What will happen, when I put a 1080P (I see only the legitimation for 1080i) signal in the cineroid EVF?
Thanks benn
 
EDIT: yeah i stumbled across this guy a few weeks ago before it was available. hows the headphone audio on it? that was a huge selling point for me.
 
If anyone is the LA area has a Cineroid, I would be interested in testing it on my AF100. A Cineroid rep had one at the EVS demo this past week, and the EVF would only work when the AF100's signal was downrezzed to standard def. This was blamed on the AF100 unit being an unfinished demo, but I will need to test it out for myself before ordering one.
 
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