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SmallHD AC7 Field Monitor

What a great monitor….  The End

OK, ok. Maybe a little more is needed =)

Earlier this summer I was prepping a project and the DP had asked for a larger monitor with a really good sun shade.  I was using an older 5″ HDMI monitor.  We were shooting on my 5D3 and were going to be on the move over the 5 days of shooting.  So I started looking at my options.

I had checked out the SmallHD AC7 and it’s bigger brother the DP7 at CineGear and was very impressed.  Both monitors had a really nice look and feel and were well built.  I’m very partial to the way SmallHD handles their focus assist features.  The peaking in these monitors reminds me of the peaking in my old BetaCam cameras.  When you’re on, you are on!! and you can see the focus plane coming/going as you are rolling through focus.  Really helpful with DSLR shooting. The 5D3 staying in HD during recording is also very nice.

So as I said I was going to be in the field (or actually on an island) for 5 days shooting mostly “Run and Gun”.  We weren’t going to be able to charge batteries during the day and the rig had to be really light and nimble.  Pictured here is my Hand Held rig:

I found the easiest thing was to set up the 5D3 on a Manfrotto raiser with 12″ rods and use a Ultralight 15mm rod accessory to add the monitor via a cine arm.  (Say that 3 times fast =)  This put the monitor almost right over the camera body and still left access to the battery door and CF card slot.  To keep the weight down I used the Canon battery plate from SmallHD.  This allowed me to use all the same batteries for the monitors and cameras.  In this config we really didn’t need a follow focus and normally left the mattebox off as well.  At night we could run without the sunshade leaving a much wider angle of view for the shooter and any one around him.  I didn’t have it at the time but have since added a LockPort to protect the mini HDMI connection on the side of the camera.

The monitor was flawless.  The HDMI port is on the bottom so it was very easy to run the cable under the lens and straight up into the monitor.  It is very light weight.  The screen is quite bright and clear.  The shade helped the daytime shooting immensely.  We could make it about 4 hours on one pair of batteries. ( the plate is set up for 2 batteries to run together extending the over all running time.)  When the batteries are down to about 10% the screen changes to the AC7 logo and starts flashing.  (Can’t miss that warning =)  Pop two fresh batteries on and you are ready to go another 4’ish hours.  You can get a variety of different battery plates to match your kit batteries and needs.

The monitor comes in two versions: an HDMI only version or an HDMI / HD-SDI version.  I went for the HDMI version at the time but am now thinking about getting the combo HDMI / HD-SDI version.  That way I can hang it off my EX3 or the H2S converter on my 5D3 / Blade kit.

The menu is easy to navigate and has a dial entry approach along with two assignable button for shortcut features and menu functions.  There are a number of guides that can be assigned as well as false color, etc.  Truly a well thought out monitor.

Well just my first impressions of the monitor.  Very happy.  It now lives in the 5D3 bag.  I’ll give an update as I use it more this year.  Thanks again for reading my post.

Until next time, Good shooting

TDTrey.com


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SmallHD HDMI Active Splitter

Life Saver!!!!

I just recently added a Zacuto Z-Finder EVF to my 5D2 package. (Really great tool to have in your kit) But I was having a little trouble routing my signal through the whole rig. I was going from the 5D to the EVF and then looping out to the Black Magic Design HDMI to SDI converter. While the loop-thru works pretty well, it appears to sometimes be a little intermittent. I think it has something to do with the handshake between all the devices. Thus the SDI feed going out to the client monitor would cut in and out occasionally.

Enter the HDMI active splitter from SmallHD. The unit is about the size of a Zippo lighter (for those of you who can remember a Zippo =) and is self powered drawing it’s juice from the inherent 5V present in the monitor/device connections. It has a great little hook at the top that is perfect 1/4-20 size. There is a little LED at the bottom to indicate if you have 1 or both HDMI outputs in use. Green for 1 and Yellow for both.

The configuration of the connections is really nice. The bottom has an HDMI IN and Out. The top has the HDMI OUT and optional power inputs if needed. The power connectors are 1 DC barrel and one mini USB. I found these were not needed in my rig and wouldn’t be needed unless I was looping a bunch of these little guys together or doing really long cable runs.

The active splitter sends full 1080 HD out each output and maintains individual handshakes with each of the devices connected. The BMD converter’s signal is really stable when the splitter is in line. The one thing I noticed in my testing is that you have to power up the rig after everything is connected to make the handshake process work correctly. Once I did that it was perfect.

I’ll do an update to this post in a few weeks after I have used the system a little more. I just wanted to get the word out how cool this little guy is. And he’s built right here in the USA in North Carolina. The price is a mere $59 and the shipping is fast and easy. Pretty Cool =)

Until next time, good shooting.

TDTrey.com

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The Zacuto Z-Finder EVF Pro

The Zacuto Z-Finder EVF Pro – in a word, AWESOME!!!

I finally broke down and bought one this year. (What was I waiting for?) I got it last week for an upcoming 5D2 job and got to use it on an unexpected car spot a few days later. Almost all out side – could have really been difficult. The EVF Pro made it very easy. I used the Zebras and the Action Safe makers all day.

The 16:9 Sun Mask is a must. (DON’T TAKE IT OUT) it is very easy to burn the LCD when shooting out doors – It will happen in just a few seconds. And, the burn ins are YELLOW!!! not black or grey like the old BETACAM days…

I was very pleased with the auto scaling for the 5D REC compensation and the HDMI loop through. I had to put one stage of extension in to get the diopter in range for my eyes. Easy to do. I added an eye cushion to the eye cup for the comfort (and the look factor =). I’m mounting it to my Easom cage with a cine arm right now but will be checking in to something better in the future. I put a Switronix DC cable on it from my Hawk-Woods VL-DC5X D-Tap battery brick distribution system so the whole rig can be powered off of one brick. In the end I think we are all still trying to make these DSLR rigs like our old shoulder camcorders with all the new features of the sensor size and sensitivity.

With all the goodies coming out this year I think it’s a good time to start streamlining your rig and this monitor is a great start. Definitely check it out at the next HD gear show you go to and watch the Zacuto video series on the the EVF – well worth the time.

Until next time, good shooting.

TDTrey.com