Field monitor on a budget

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Fellipe

Active member
I really want to buy the smallhd DP6 but now it's out of my budget.
The main purposes will be checking composition and pulling focus.
Any ideas?

Thanks
 
Fellipe said:
I really want to buy the smallhd DP6 but now it's out of my budget.
The main purposes will be checking composition and pulling focus.
Any ideas?

Thanks
Click to expand...

While still expensive I feel it is reasonable ($549) for the SmallHd Dp4

http://www.smallhd.com/Store/DP4-On-Camera-Field-Monitor

You should really look into it as everyone has been saying it is amazing. Now the lilliput monitors are really just a display to use for framing and just to get a bigger view, but it has none of the options that makes a field monitor useful ( focus assist, false color , Peaking filters , frame guides, etc. etc,)


Save your money and buy something professional. I would use maybe a regular monitor on set just so the producers or whoever can see what Im recording, but for my main use of the camera you simply need a professional tool.
 
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the problem with the dp4 is that I think I won't be able to accurately pull focus with because of the size.
 
the dp6 is larger, has more inputs, is higher resolution. all for only $400 more... i say just save your allowance until you can make up the difference.

and i have to ask. if an additional $400 is going to break your budget, do you really NEED one in the first place?
 
it really depends on how you like to work.

i think that the dp6 is probably a better monitor. and as an owner of their dp1, im a big fan of smallHD's products.

but the flexibility of having loop-through on ALL the inputs would probably make the marshall the better choice for me. BUT thats only because i often send picture both to me and to my clients on a second monitor. and my smallhd dp1 doesnt pass anything through. so i have to send cable from camera first to my panasonic 1710. then loop through back to my dp1. which is no big deal. it just doubles my long cable requirement

if youre just using it for your own viewing. or only with hdmi. id go with the small hd
 
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I've got the little Marshall and it's dynamite (SmallHD was well out of stock when I bought it).

Cons for the Marshall: AA batteries. But, it's crisp enough to focus, and has blue-only for calibrating. It has 1:1 which helps setting static focus or marking points with a camera that puts out true HD via HDMI. And peaking, etc.

Peaking's pretty useless with a DSLR - the aliasing makes the peaking filter think everything's in focus (at least on the marshall). Give it a try - even wildly out of focus stuff shows up as in focus if it's contrasty enough.

I could see the Lilliput being useful on a crane or rig; but I had a cheaper monitor and you absolutely could not rely on it for exposure - viewing angle was too narrow and no way to calibrate it. The Marshall and the SmallHD both have pro level viewing angles. Save your $$, knowing your monitor is decently calibrated (via bars & blue only) is pretty priceless.
 
The Lilliputs just aren't any good for pulling focus, fine fore framing and crane work but that's it.

I went over to SmallHD and never looked back, course I got a DP1x package for $400 (with moulded foam hardcase, 2 x Batteries, Sunhood, Screen Protectors etc) so I'm laughing on that one.
 
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