Marshall With Hvx Battery Mount!!!!!!!!!

I was going to do that but went the Bescor battery route instead, more cables but less weight - the Panny battery would have been conveinent though.. FYI, abelcine has them for 1520
 
I'll be testing the Marshall with the Nebtek battery mount in a week: the order has arrived (the folks at Nebtek were great in organizing it all) but I don't get back for another week.

The extra weight of the battery on my rig concerns me but I reckon if it is really a big issue, I'll put something together with a Panny charger box and charger-to-camera connector so I can use Panny batteries like the Bescor.

M.
 
Hi Guys !
I have the Marshall Monitor with the Nebtek mount, adds a little weight to the back of the monitor but still managable with a Nogo tripod mount. The switch on the side is used for turning on and off the battery; when operating with mains supply the switch does not switch the unit on or off. This is the case with my unit, I would be interested to see if this is the story with yours Malcom. I like the set up and Im looking at investing in the Dolgin four way charger so I dont have to worry about different power options. Just make sure you have a lot of batterys, I used mine on a recent shoot, I was under pressure for time so I didnt take a note of battery use but it seemed to use them up pretty quickly. Will let you know more on this when I take it out next.
 
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I've been running the same set-up, the Marshall with Nebtek Panasonic plate mod, and seem to get about 2.5 hours per battery.
 
RayFrisby said:
Hi Guys !
I have the Marshall Monitor with the Nebtek mount, adds a little weight to the back of the monitor but still managable with a Nogo tripod mount. The switch on the side is used for turning on and off the battery; when operating with mains supply the switch does not switch the unit on or off. This is the case with my unit, I would be interested to see if this is the story with yours Malcom. I like the set up and Im looking at investing in the Dolgin four way charger so I dont have to worry about different power options. Just make sure you have a lot of batterys, I used mine on a recent shoot, I was under pressure for time so I didnt take a note of battery use but it seemed to use them up pretty quickly. Will let you know more on this when I take it out next.
Click to expand...

Hey!

I have the monitor now and have played around with it a little but haven't plugged it into the mains yet. When I get around to it I'll tell you what my battery switch does, but I imagine it will be the same thing your's does - ie nothing...

Two things irk me about the Marshall: I was disappointed with the image - the contrast dial causes hot areas to bloom so much that they drown out adjacent darker pixels, effectively lowering the detail in those areas. If you want to replicate this, try pointing your rig at something with a matrix of very light and less light elements, like a closeup of fabric in sunlight. Then compare the detail perceptible in your hvx viewfinder with the detail perceptible on the Marshall. It is disappointing.

The other thing is that the Nebtek battery mount does not like my Lenmark batteries. Only the Panasonic battery that came with the camera works well with it. With the Lenmarks, there must be some slight structural difference in the connector area because I have to press down on the battery for the connection to be made. Certainly not workable in the field :) Something to be aware of if you have plenty of Lenmarks and were hoping to be able to use them with the Marshall.

I should be ok because I have the one Panny battery plus another on order.
And I agree, the 4 way charger is appealing now that I have four batteries. They take long enough to charge! I'm going to find out from zgc whether they stock the 4 way since I already have an order with them pending.

So mixed feelings on my end with the Marshall. At the end of the day, it fulfils its role which is to act as a focus aid. I agree with others that it only just cuts it for this: it is an improvement over the EVF, no doubt about it, but nowhere near perfect. Also, focus assist doesn't work on the Marshal. It would appear that it is not an on screen display like the other HVX OSDs: it doesn't make it through the component out to the Marshall. Its a shame because for those moments when you do have the luxury of using the Focus Assist, its a pity you have to peer into the viewfinder or have the EVF flipped open just for that. I wonder why Panny engineered it that way...

So to have to spend that much money, and have that much weight added to the rig for a less than perfect solution to a problem that somehow feels like it shouldn't be one in the first place... is less than satisfying. The HVX's form factor leads one to expect that external aids for focusing won't have to be a consideration in the purchaser's budget. I know none of us factored it in to our costing when we were considering this camera before it hit the streets.

I'm not sure what I am missing here in terms of the difficulties of providing a good lcd on the camera with sufficient res for critical focus... is it really such an expensive proposition? More expensive than a 1500 dollar Marshall? I can't bring myself to believe that.
As much as I love all the things this camera does, this is a serious spanner in the works and I'll be reminded of it every time I have to hoist my now-subtantially-heavier rig up to make a shot. Or hoist my now substantially lighter wallet to pay for other gear.

For anyone who is wondering, I wouldn't even consider trying to shoot with the Marshall attached to the camera without some sort of support system like the DVrig pro. Your arm will get the shakes after a few minutes, and will fall off within ten...

M.
 
Malcolm Wright said:
Hey!

The HVX's form factor leads one to expect that external aids for focusing won't have to be a consideration in the purchaser's budget. I know none of us factored it in to our costing when we were considering this camera before it hit the streets.

I'm not sure what I am missing here in terms of the difficulties of providing a good lcd on the camera with sufficient res for critical focus... is it really such an expensive proposition? More expensive than a 1500 dollar Marshall? I can't bring myself to believe that.

M.
Click to expand...

Now you've done it, a swarm of angry HV-200 defenders is now going to descend on you...

I'm a prospective HVX-200 purchaser here. Many if not most have said that the LCD/EVF are not adequate for finding focus without an external monitor, do you concur? I'd like to hear your thoughts. I've had a chance to briefly hold one and check it out and plan to do so at length at a dealer. THe short time that I had it, I immediately reached for the diopter, figuring that it was way out of wack, due to the soft picture I was seeing in the VF. It wasn't the case.

Sharing these concerns on another thread, caused one person to respond with,

"And, I don't know about you, but I don't get a lot of use out of any camera's LCD unless maybe I'm inside -- but if you ar serious about framing, focus, etc., there are certainly better solutions than using a built in LCD."

So, anyone who is serious about their cinematography is supposed to lug around a field monitor or mount the Marshall monitor on top of the camera. Apparently, everyone here is only shooting features (with a crew) with the HVX... and to raise this issue is heresy. Yeah, shoot doc /ENG stlye with an LCD on top- time for a reality check. I'm a Panasonic guy through and through (100 & 100A) and hope to be a HVX owner as well, but the HVX defensiveness is tiresome. This is especially true when folks raise well founded, legitimate issues. It doesn't matter what kind of production your doing- if the camera requires a field monitor to focus, that's a problem.

Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the usability of the LCD/EVF and whether the focus assist is of practical (key word) use in the field. In the mean time maybe someone will come out with a magnifier for the VF.

thanks
 
I was just about to buy that Marshall but this thread stopped me in my tracks. Is it possible you may ahve a defective one? Can ANYONE ELSE chime in on any of these issues?
 
The marshall works ok for me, but spending that much cash on it hurts. I could have bought a HDTV for my living room for that much money!, but the Marshall is for the purpose of making money, and it is a professional piece of gear.
 
Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the usability of the LCD/EVF and whether the focus assist is of practical (key word) use in the field. In the mean time maybe someone will come out with a magnifier for the VF.
Click to expand...

Well the LCD could definitely be better in my view, but the focus assist definitely does help. I've found that if one is careful enough, focus in 720 and 1080 is possible and doable as long as you understand how you should use it. Barry's article was quite helpful in that. I've no problems whatsoever.

Using an external monitor is something worth considering and I'm getting one as soon as I can gather the cash for it, however I want it for compositional and framing needs, because that's where in my view the LCD/EVF fails, it is impossible to review your frame properly without missing out on something and the color rendering is inadequate, a monitor like the marshal will certainly fill up those needs as you're getting better color and a bigger screen to work on your composition.
 
hotchkiss said:
Now you've done it, a swarm of angry HV-200 defenders is now going to descend on you...

I'm a prospective HVX-200 purchaser here. Many if not most have said that the LCD/EVF are not adequate for finding focus without an external monitor, do you concur? I'd like to hear your thoughts. I've had a chance to briefly hold one and check it out and plan to do so at length at a dealer. THe short time that I had it, I immediately reached for the diopter, figuring that it was way out of wack, due to the soft picture I was seeing in the VF. It wasn't the case.

Sharing these concerns on another thread, caused one person to respond with,

"And, I don't know about you, but I don't get a lot of use out of any camera's LCD unless maybe I'm inside -- but if you ar serious about framing, focus, etc., there are certainly better solutions than using a built in LCD."

So, anyone who is serious about their cinematography is supposed to lug around a field monitor or mount the Marshall monitor on top of the camera. Apparently, everyone here is only shooting features (with a crew) with the HVX... and to raise this issue is heresy. Yeah, shoot doc /ENG stlye with an LCD on top- time for a reality check. I'm a Panasonic guy through and through (100 & 100A) and hope to be a HVX owner as well, but the HVX defensiveness is tiresome. This is especially true when folks raise well founded, legitimate issues. It doesn't matter what kind of production your doing- if the camera requires a field monitor to focus, that's a problem.

Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the usability of the LCD/EVF and whether the focus assist is of practical (key word) use in the field. In the mean time maybe someone will come out with a magnifier for the VF.

thanks
Click to expand...

Hey there,

I wouldn't let this issue turn you away from the camera: it has too many good things going for it. Just walk into this purchase knowing where its weaknesses are.
The LCD is useless for critical focus. Focus Assist works very well, but you have to be in a situation where you can afford the time to use it. In a doco/ENG situation, it just won't work for you most of the time.
My best (or should I say worst example) was trying to film an Inland Taipan long before my MArshall came into the picture. The snake didn't give a damn that I couldn't follow focus on it, it moved this way and that, constantly and erratically so that by the time I was following focus on one move, it was already moving the other way. This resulted in a ridiculously high shooting ratio for the sequence, and I'm going to have to go back and reshoot to end up with something adequate.

Like I said, the Marshall is going to solve the problem for you, but it just isn't that good an LCD (unless mine is defective) and although I am glad to finally be able to work properly, the expense leaves a bit of a bitter after taste.

Cheers,
M.
 
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