FAQ Should I keep or sell my Zacuto Z-Finder EVF Pro?

moldcad

moldcad

Veteran
I have this EVF as a left-over from my FS100 camera times; as I'm about to finally buy a B-cam for my current FS7 (depending what Sony is announcing at NAB, it will either be the GH5 or - should it be worth further wait - an A9, A7S iii or whatever it will be called). I'm going to use it mainly in a highly mobile setup, but - also having unused shoulder rig I plan to use when recording to my Shogun Inferno - I wonder if I could use my Zacuto EVF Pro with it.

I realize very well this EVF - with its limited resolution - will not give me great monitoring experience, but with a shoulder rig it will at least be more ergonomic than using my future B-cam's own VF (or screen). So my question to you guys is:

- will it work well enough to keep it, or should I do my best to sell it (losing of course), and sped much more $$$ on something with higher resolution? Thanks or your opinion,

Piotr
 
Anyone who tried using the original Zacuto EVF Pro with a 4K camera, please speak up! Is it good enough for critical focusing at all?

Piotr
 
Hey Piotr,

I've used my old Zac EVF with a Sony A7rii shooting 4K, and the short answer is no I'm afraid. Not really enough pixels to judge critical focus, although enough to see what you're pointing the camera at, and see that it's not completely soft. Can get focus if you have the time to use the magnification function, but even that's only taking a 1080 feed via the HDMI, so not really enough to be sure.

BTW, if you own the EVF already, and have an FS7, then can't you just plug it into that and see how it works for you personally?

I'd give a recommendation for a Gratical eye if you do decide to get a new one. Just 'downgraded' from the GHD to the eye and it's brilliant. So small and light, DTAP power, crystal image, proximity sensor to limit burn-in on the OLEDs. :-)

jason
 
klfi said:
Jason, Man i ask Why did you downgrade. What are the advantages?
Klaus
Click to expand...

Maybe it's misleading to call it a downgrade, since although the Eye is ~$1000 cheaper than the GHD it is ultimately a different piece of kit. Here are the central differences:

Gratical HD: Larger and heavier (don't know the specs, but it's significant); Self-powered with Canon LP-E6 type batteries; HD-SDI & HDMI inputs AND outputs (pass-through); Power switch.

Gratical Eye: Smaller and lighter (especially valuable given it's rigged further forward than any other accessory); Powered by a 2-pin lemo/D-tap cable from an external source; HD-SDI input ONLY; No power switch, BUT has a proximity sensor and auto-sleep.

As you can see, they've got a very different set of possible usages. One will work well for some, and vice versa.

In my personal situation I've used the GHD for two years, and the FS7 would be a strange beast to me without one (due to my frequent reliance on their 'downstream' LUT-applying function when shooting Slog). I sent it back to Zacuto because the power switch was getting stuck "ON" sometimes, and they were gonna fix it under warranty. They said they'd noticed some burn-in on the OLED display (the VF data overlays that are always in the same spot will slowly imprint onto the image, meaning you see 'ghosts' of them even when they're switched off), and that it would be $450 to replace the OLED. They then offered that I could swap my GHD for an eye for the same price of $450. I considered it and decided that I would go for it for the following reasons:

I wouldn't mind a lighter setup (and particularly on that front end); I'm sick of having to recharge the Canon batteries (they only last a couple of hours each), and have SWIT batteries for the FS7 with D-tap sockets built in; I've only ever actually used a HD-SDI input on the GHD anyway, and never needed pass-through; I could set the proximity sensor to 5sec sleep mode (it comes back on instantly when you look in) and hence hope to see a much slower development on any overlay burn-in.

Hope that is useful information to you or anyone else!

Cheers,

jason
 
klfi said:
Thanks Jason....is EYE significant Lighter und handier to use ?
Klaus
Click to expand...

MUCH smaller, Eye vs. GHD. The weights are 14ounces vs. 20ounces, which may not sound like much, but given that it's often the furthest-forward part of the entire rig, it does make a real difference to fore/aft balancing for sure.

Incase you have more questions, here's a review with typically fanboy-esque Bloomster - plenty of useful pics though: http://philipbloom.net/blog/graticaleye/

Cheers,

jason
 
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