Onboard monitor recommendations 5,6 -6 inch range

H

Harry Lime

Well-known member
Can someone share their experiences with onboard monitors in the 5,6 - 6-ish inch range? The screen should have a vectorscope, waveform monitor, focus peaking and some exposure indicators.

I just ordered my F3 and am now in the process of putting together the rest of the package. Coming from film it's somewhat uncharted territory.

This package is for an independent feature, so the budget has its limitations. I am not necessarily looking for the non plus ultra, latest and greatest piece out there, but something that is solid and gets the job done reliably.

These seem to be the usual suspects.


Marshall V-LCD56MD ($799)
Marshall Monitors - V-LCD56MD - 5.6" High Resolution Camera-Top Monitor with Modular Input/Output

Ikan D5w ($1200)
Monitors: Field Monitors | ikan

Ikan D7w
Monitors: Field Monitors | ikan

smallHD DP6 ($1000 - 1400)
DP6 Bundle Discounts

TVlogic VFM-056WP ($1,500)
TVLogic – 5.6" High-Resolution Compact LCD Monitor


Thanks in advance.
 
If you want scopes it is the TVLogic. Looks expensive but it is the best value monitor on the market when it comes to a monitor with scopes. The SmallHD and the Marshall are excellent monitors but as far as I know they don't have software scopes built in. I did hear a year ago that SmallHD was going to have a firmware upgrade that included a scope package. Not sure if that came to fruition.
 
One thing about the SmallHD is the great sunshade

In this price bracket all the monitors are pretty reflective and dim in daylight..

S
 
Looks like the Marshall has waveform, but no scope. Only the TVlogic has both. Oddly enough the smallHD has nothing, which is surprising.


I'm wondering how essential a scope is if I am primarily shooting 444 slog.
 
Last edited:
Douglas Villalba said:
I would think that a vector scope would be useless with Slog being so flat.
Click to expand...

The low contrast of slog is not the issue. It runs more along the line of RAW vs jpeg in still photography (slog vs rec709).
Slog is not quite as virgin as ArriRAW, but it is a relatively straight dump from the sensor.

Vectorscopes were a necessity for NTSC (Never The Same Color). There are legions of video engineers who can cry you a river about NTSC and the color red.
These's days it's not nearly as much of an issue.
 
I've asked a few colleagues who are more knowledgeable about these things than I am at the moment and the consensus seems to be that a vector scope is no longer an absolute necessity, like it was in the bad old days of NTSC. But you really should have a waveform monitor. The vector scope was primarily used to determine if colors were broadcast legal, which was more of a problem with the old analog system. Nowadays it's a good tool for white balance. There are people on this site who are far more knowledgeable on this subject than I am so I'll just leave it at that for the moment.


Remember film? CTO? CTB? Get the shot, go home, blame the lab.
:)
 
If you get a TVlogic VFM-056W its cheaper, and if you get it used its cheaper still. Some people buy the TVlogic VFM-056W and sell them cheap to get the WP.

It doesn't have the scopes, etc, but those are firmware upgrades. I bought a used one and paid to have it upgraded. It was done in 20 minutes. Works great and saved several hundred dollors.
 
I have two of the DP6 monitors and use them everyday. I have also used the TVlogic on shoots as well. While I like the picture of the TVlogic I found that I hated that the SDI ports are on the bottom and the fact the it goes through batteries faster than the DP6. While the scopes are nice, once you learn how to use false color on the DP6 and the histogram on the camera, there is no need for the scopes, shooting slog or not. My DP6 will last about 4 hours on Canon batteries while the TVlogic was only lasting about 3 hours. Plus the shade on the DP6 is great.
 
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