Portkeys vs. SmallHD?

A

au8ust

Active member
I was looking into buying the SmallHD 702 Touch ($1099 on BH) the model that has 1500 cd/m² but I just discovered the Portkeys BM7 which has 2000 cd/m² and only $499.

Anyone has experience with both of them? Basically I just need a 7" monitor with high brightness and preferably the anamorphic de-squeeze feature (not mandatory though).
 
I have a 502 which I bust the SDi port which was only attached by solder. I dont think you get any more quality for the money.. Small have become a jewelry brand. I would not buy SmallHD today (since selling out to VItec)

The 502 joystick it just waiting to fail too, goes janky sometimes when that goes it will be $1000 monitor down the pooper.

Worrying about my Small finally dieing is just one more bit of stress in my shooting day.

Better a cheaper monitor and a backup like feelworld and still a spare $500 in your bank.
 
I was not a happy camper when smallHD got gobbled up by Vitec, but so far it hasn’t really had the negative impact that I thought it would. I own seven smallHD monitors, some going way back to their early days and obviously pre-Vitec. 2x DP 6’s, 2x DP7PRO OLED’s(one I bought used from Charles Papert), 2x Focus SDI OLEDS and an HDMI Focus OLED. So far they are all still alive and kicking and the DP6’s are probably ~10 years old(?) and the DP7’s maybe ~7-8(?). I’ve personally retired the DP6’s, but one of my audio guys rents one sometimes for commercial work, just so he can have something on his cart to see the frame.

The only real problem I’ve had with an actual monitor of theirs, that comes to mind, is the first DP6 I bought was missing the bushing around the center pin of the SDI which caused a poor connection, but they repaired it and turned it around in a day for me. I guess it may help that they are only like 2 1/2 hours up the road from me, so shipping is a non-issue.
 
I had both the PortKeys BM5 and the SmallHD Focus OLED SDI.

I wouldn’t buy the BM5 again, but I’d buy another Focus in a heartbeat.

The image, UI, ease of use of the Focus was far better then the BM5.

Sure the BM5 is brighter, but I didn’t feel as confident judging colors or exposure, I just couldn’t trust what I was seeing.
 
Interesting (and useful) discussion. @Eric Naso, you have a PortKeys BM5, right? Do you still like it? Do you still recommend it? And I don't recall, do you have an SDI version?

Same for the rest of you... What 5-inch monitors (esp those with SDI) are working for you these days?
 
Jim Feeley said:
Interesting (and useful) discussion. @Eric Naso, you have a PortKeys BM5, right? Do you still like it? Do you still recommend it? And I don't recall, do you have an SDI version?

Same for the rest of you... What 5-inch monitors (esp those with SDI) are working for you these days?
Click to expand...

I have three smallHD Focus SDI OLED's. Two SDI's and an HDMI(for my Ronin S). I've said before that the DP7Pro OLED's are kind of my 'prized possessions' for gear, and were my go-to and de facto on-camera monitors, but the 5" Focus has become my #1, now, mostly because of it's ease and speed of mounting. Not to mention that they are practically giving them away.
 
I love hate smallHD.

Dead hdmi ports, janky controls, weird design choices reinventing the wheel, a whole mess of things. But they hit a sweet spot in this era of constant updates. They are cheap enough to go along, they have a lot of options.


Vitec has its pros and cons too. The monitors can now control the Arri or Red camera via touch screen on the Cine 7. Integration with Teradek.

...but vitec also shifted the emphasis from being a boutique company filling a need in the growing industry, into a “how can we make money with this brand” thing. And good business or not, that messes with the design philosophy.


But at the end of the day, i am also always looking for some better alternative. And i always give TVlogic a look before i make a final decision.
 
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R&G: do the Focus OLED monitors have the ability to get power from a dtap, or are you locked into using the NP-f battery?
 
captslomo said:
R&G: do the Focus OLED monitors have the ability to get power from a dtap, or are you locked into using the NP-f battery?
Click to expand...

I use the dtap-to-dummy battery adapter.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1437324-REG/smallhd_pwr_adp_sonyl_dtap_d_tap_to_sony_l_series.html

But I also bought two of the CoreSWX Flat pack batteries before Christmas, when Core had everything on-sale, but I only use them with the Ronin-S. Whenever one of the monitors is on a real camera, I’ve just used the adapter.
 
If you shoot interviews in small rooms, forget the Portkeys 7", it has two fans, you can turn them off but they turn on if the monitor is overheating.
People always forget audio. I shoot a ton of interviews and even the fan in my C200 has caused sound issues in really quiet rooms. Some gear, the
LitePanels Geminis, have fans but they are relatively large and you cannot hear them when they kick on and off. Generally, the smaller the fan, the
noisier they are.

I have the Shinobi SDI. It's okay, not great. The touchscreen is semi responsive, sometimes it works, sometimes it takes repeated button pushes.
At least it loads up to 8 LUTs and the waveform is essential for me when I operate. I cannot believe how many cameras these days do not have a
marked, calibrated waveform monitor, how the hell are you supposed to correctly expose video with a histogram?!??
 
puredrifting said:
If you shoot interviews in small rooms, forget the Portkeys 7", it has two fans, you can turn them off but they turn on if the monitor is overheating.
People always forget audio. I shoot a ton of interviews and even the fan in my C200 has caused sound issues in really quiet rooms. Some gear, the
LitePanels Geminis, have fans but they are relatively large and you cannot hear them when they kick on and off. Generally, the smaller the fan, the
noisier they are.

I have the Shinobi SDI. It's okay, not great. The touchscreen is semi responsive, sometimes it works, sometimes it takes repeated button pushes.
At least it loads up to 8 LUTs and the waveform is essential for me when I operate. I cannot believe how many cameras these days do not have a
marked, calibrated waveform monitor, how the hell are you supposed to correctly expose video with a histogram?!??
Click to expand...

Histograms are a carry-over from the DSLR "revolution". I never saw one tied to video until then. Absolutely useless for video. And honestly, I find them useless for stills, as well.
 
Run&Gun said:
Histograms are a carry-over from the DSLR "revolution". I never saw one tied to video until then. Absolutely useless for video. And honestly, I find them useless for stills, as well.
Click to expand...

Right? I was amazed yesterday at the Sony training for the FX9, the trainer bought up the metering tools menu item and you can not only put up a waveform, but also a vectorscope AND you can put a histogram. I should have grilled the Sony engineer on why that is on there!
That was the main thing that drove me crazy about the BMD UMP G2 and Pocket 6K, Histogram ONLY!!! Insanity.
 
puredrifting said:
Right? I was amazed yesterday at the Sony training for the FX9, the trainer bought up the metering tools menu item and you can not only put up a waveform, but also a vectorscope AND you can put a histogram. I should have grilled the Sony engineer on why that is on there!
That was the main thing that drove me crazy about the BMD UMP G2 and Pocket 6K, Histogram ONLY!!! Insanity.
Click to expand...

But how else can we ETTR?
 
Waveform for video, histogram for raw.
Waveform shows the exposure range of the video codec, not the sensor.
RGB histogram for raw shows sensor saturation, dynamic range and black/white clip points for each primary.
Shooting raw with a gamma corrected monitor lut there is less concern about what the image looks like on screen, more about getting maximum sensor saturation for post DR. The video may well read clipped when the sensor is not.
 
Run&Gun said:
I have three smallHD Focus SDI OLED's. Two SDI's and an HDMI(for my Ronin S). I've said before that the DP7Pro OLED's are kind of my 'prized possessions' for gear, and were my go-to and de facto on-camera monitors, but the 5" Focus has become my #1, now, mostly because of it's ease and speed of mounting. Not to mention that they are practically giving them away.
Click to expand...

I know the original question was about 7 inch monitors, but I can also recommend the Focus OLED. For $299 it's tough to beat. The main weakness that I see is a lack of dedicated external power in, need to use the dummy battery which adds just a little bit more bulk.
 
Nick M said:
I know the original question was about 7 inch monitors, but I can also recommend the Focus OLED. For $299 it's tough to beat. The main weakness that I see is a lack of dedicated external power in, need to use the dummy battery which adds just a little bit more bulk.
Click to expand...

I actually found that I like the dummy battery better, because it’s easier and way more robust than the Hirose connection/cables that my DP7 Pro’s use.
 
Cool thing about the Portkeys 5", for 149 extra you can get the 501 cage/viewfinder that effectively turns it into a 1080p EVF.
 
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