New atomos Shinobi video monitor

Yes, the flicker could be as simple as a bad connection, but in this case he said by the end of the day, the monitor wouldn't even turn on. Heat is a good contender. The monitor only draws 7 watts maximum, so I'm wondering about heat being an issue. If this is Atomos' first 1000nit display, maybe that is a contributor.

It's usually the simplest thing that is wrong, so who knows.
 
Dan and Eric and everyone,

With a few more weeks of use, how are your Atomos Shinobi and Portkeys BM-5 monitors holding up?

Still mostly liking them?

Any failures (I'm seeing reports of some people having trouble)?

Anything you REALLY like or REALLY don't like about the monitors?

Thanks!

Jim "needs to buy something next week" Feeley
 
Jim Feeley said:
Dan and Eric and everyone,

With a few more weeks of use, how are your Atomos Shinobi and Portkeys BM-5 monitors holding up?

Still mostly liking them?

Any failures (I'm seeing reports of some people having trouble)?

Anything you REALLY like or REALLY don't like about the monitors?

Thanks!

Jim "needs to buy something next week" Feeley
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Still using the Shinobi weekly, it's been great. No complaints or issues. I wish it would boot and shut off faster, booting takes about 5-8 seconds which seems like an eternity when something is unfolding in front of you live and there is no chance for a re-take.
I've loaded my five most used LUTs into it and when I switch from the XT-3 to the Canon C200, it's a piece of cake to switch between them. Compared to the Atomos menus, the PortKeys menus are really clunky and kind of
unintuitive in comparison. Kind of like Sony FS7 MKII menus versus the Canon C200 menus. Both are functional, but the Sonys are painful while the Canons are simple and kind of a joy to use. But Portkeys has the 2,000 nit screen and it constructed more robustly
if you are going to be tough on it, I would get the Portkeys, the Atomos feels a bit fragile in comparison. If weight is the factor (gimbal), the Shinobi is hard to beat. And with the hood, outside, I'm doing just fine with 1,000 nits. Without the hood wouldn't be fun.
 
Happy to continue sharing my experiences here as I have time - My 2nd Shinobi has been working pretty well since that first shoot day where it stopped powering up. That was the last time I had it out in the heat and sun though, everything since then has been much less intense, both from a weather standpoint and usage standpoint. Just short bursts of shooting in more subdued climates. At one point it started the flickering and tried to tell me there was no input, but a reboot quickly solved that issue. I was checking out some of the reviews on B&H and at least one person was complaining of the same issues I had - that reviewer was blaming his power issues on a faulty power button, which would make sense for me. Same reviewer also mentioned the HDMI port being unable to hold a consistent connection, so maybe there are some QC issues with a batch of Shinobi monitors out there right now.

Anyway, now that I'm home from my road trip, I picked up a BM5. Going to fire them up together and see which one I like better from an image standpoint. On the physical side I like that the Portkeys is a bit smaller, even though it's denser/heavier as another user here mentioned. I can live with the extra few grams as it definitely feels more durable than the Shinobi. Finally, the monitor did not ship with the mounting bracket shown in the picture on B&H's listing. I'm pretty disappointed on that because that mount seemed super convenient for quickly tilting while being used on a gimbal. I'll try to update later after I compare the image to the Shinobi, that's really all I care about when it comes to this decision.
 
Update, now that I've been tinkering with both for an hour: I'm going with the BM5. As soon as I plugged them in, the Shinobi started flickering again. So I'm saying goodbye to Atomos for now. As for image comparison, Portkeys is definitely way brighter, as it should be, doesn't seem like I'll need a sunhood at all. I did at least need the plastic sunhood holder on my Shinobi if the sun was hitting the monitor at the right angle. BM5 also appears to be sharper, and the focus peaking, which I felt was useless on the Shinobi, is wayyy more accurate. The Shinobi would seem to peak everywhere on a wide shot, even if I was wide open...The BM5 seems to recognize the difference between high detail and what's actually in focus. Most importantly, my window to return the shinobi for a full refund closes next week, but I can screw with the BM5 until the end of July. So I'll stick with the BM5 for a few weeks and see if my opinion changes. I've done enough with the Shinobi over the last month to know what it's capable of.

A few other observations, please keep in mind that these are not scientific at all, just some things I've noticed in my initial power up and test:
-The fan on the BM5, set to high, screams and the monitor still gets very hot to the touch. As Erik Naso mentioned in his review, it's not noticeable when set to low, but I'm concerned about being out in the sun for long periods of time. We'll see how it handles the heat, I'll be out shooting in the midwest in 2 weeks.
-The Shinobi image appears to have a warm tint, the BM5 appears to have a green tint. I'm sure these can be dialed in but out of the box, side by side, that's what I noticed. BM5 looks closer to what the scene actually looks like, but keep in mind, I'm not shooting charts.
-BM5 has a physical on/off switch. A nice upgrade over the flimsy button on the back of the Shinobi.
-BM5 battery plate might have QC issues. Mine doesn't seem to line up properly with my batteries. Had to really put some pressure on it to get the battery in. But it does have a lemo power input, I might try to get it connected to my ronin S to save the weight of a battery. The locking switch on the battery plate is also currently oozing a bit of grease. Lovely.
-BM5 comes with a small hard case. Great for travel! I was having trouble finding places to put my Shinobi when flying, the carrying case for it was huge because it included room for other accessories, most of which I never needed anyway.
-HDMI port on the BM5 is SOLID. Takes actual effort to get the cable out. Comforting.
-Atomos wins the menu system by far. The Portkeys is awful in that regard. The nice thing is that you can set up different profiles in the Portkeys(A much more inefficient implementation of SmallHD's pages)...so I can just set some profiles and change them as I need to. Probably one for outdoor use and one for indoor use.
-Finally - if someone could illuminate me here (PUN INTENDED) - The zebra settings on the Portkeys aren't in percentages, they're 0-255. I normally like to have my zebras set to 70%...Would I use 70% of 255? Or does it not scale that simply? if someone could point me in the right direction on that, it would be much appreciated.

That's all for now. Hoping this BM5 sticks so I don't have to keep ordering new monitors.
 
Kind of digging up a old thread but would love to hear peoples thoughts on the BM5 after months of use and how its held up? Looking to upgrade form the SmallHD 502 for something brighter for outdoor work and saw that the BM5 also supports camera control through its touchscreen, a nice bonus when working with the BMPCC 4k. Thinking of selling the smallhd and moving to this but would like to hear that it holds up over time.
 
ReelFilmGeek said:
Kind of digging up a old thread but would love to hear peoples thoughts on the BM5 after months of use and how its held up? Looking to upgrade form the SmallHD 502 for something brighter for outdoor work and saw that the BM5 also supports camera control through its touchscreen, a nice bonus when working with the BMPCC 4k. Thinking of selling the smallhd and moving to this but would like to hear that it holds up over time.
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I will chime in again. I would only buy the Shinobi for light use on a gimbal. For that function, it works fine because it weighs almost nothing and is bright enough with the sunshade for use even in nuclear bright sun. For use on an A camera on sticks, as a small client monitor, etc. I would stick with Small HD and get a 7" model. Atomos gear is functional but flimsy. In my mind, their quality has gone way downhill after they made my Ninja Blade, which has an all Aluminum body and I've shot with in the Sahara Desert and in the rain forest in Brazil, it's been a rock for half a decade.

But the newer Atomos stuff is plasticky, flimsy and I am hearing and seeing a lot more issues on the boards. The Portkeys construction is nice but as remarked on, the menus and navigation are a nightmare, the fan is super loud, etc. With monitors, you get what you pay for. If I was going to get an A camera monitor, I would spend a lot more than the Shinobi or Portkeys. Both are cheap, kind of prosumer products, not like a high end Small HD, Flanders, etc. With monitors, you get what you pay for. For under $500.00, both are decent for what you get but for professionals using a $10k to $80k camera, you need something a lot better.
 
filmguy123 said:
Cool! Good timing from them.

Do we think this would be worth an upgrade over the SmallHD Focus? 720p monitor, 800 cd/m2, great UI.
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I have the SmallHD Focus and can't think what this would do for me that I'm not already accomplishing. Slightly brighter. I like the cable management of the Focus better. And I like having a right-side 1/4-20. Plus it can provide power to a USB device if you need it. Neither one has a loop through at least on HDMI. I'd love to have a small monitor like this that has an HDMI loop through for livestreaming. I don't think the SDI version converts from HDMI to SDI out, in which case I can't use a mirrorless for livestreaming anyways.

But if I was buying new, I'd definitely look at this.
 
brettsherman said:
I have the SmallHD Focus and can't think what this would do for me that I'm not already accomplishing. Slightly brighter. I like the cable management of the Focus better. And I like having a right-side 1/4-20. Plus it can provide power to a USB device if you need it. Neither one has a loop through at least on HDMI. I'd love to have a small monitor like this that has an HDMI loop through for livestreaming. I don't think the SDI version converts from HDMI to SDI out, in which case I can't use a mirrorless for livestreaming anyways.

But if I was buying new, I'd definitely look at this.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the smallHD Focus line, especially for the money is a no-brainer(they're almost giving them away at $299). In the last 11-12 months I've bought three- two SDI's and an HDMI for my Ronin S.
 
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