the editman.com

I got hold of this excellent used Panasonic BT-LH1700W monitor. The image above can't show how good the image actually is because in real life it's a superb image displayed.

Bit by bit I take my equipment further and to go all HD SDI from camera to the Atomos Samurai and then this monitor has been a goal. I intend to use this as a director monitor or reference. I wish I could show you how great it really looks. It has a WFM built in which is similar to the one in my AF101, two HD SDI inputs and one HD SDI output along with composite, s-video and component inputs.

If you ever felt this monitor you know how solid it is. An all aluminium chassis and high quality buttons and connectors. It's a 17" monitor and it feels small enough to be placed in narrow places and still provides a big enough image for a director to watch.

There are several useful functions like markers for different aspects but no 1:1 and such which newer versions have. Image quality is just smashing thou!

In 2010 I saw this great device called Teradek 220 that could stream full HD video wireless. At the time I felt this to be exciting because during a shoot clients and producers could use their laptops to display what comes out of the camera.

More than a year later I got hold of one unit from the first batch of these streaming devices - a Teradek 220. Since it's older hardware inside you can't run the latest firmware but it does provide for both wireless and ethernet streaming, a feature not on the current 220 unit. Then you'd have to go for the Teradek 250 which will give you better wifi streaming at the same time as ethernet streaming

      

It's a small unit that mounts like shown here on the cold shoe on top of a camera. You plug in HDMI and power (7-24) and use your laptop to view. In theory it sounds simple enough.

If you choose to stream via wifi the stream is very sensitive to interfering signals and will drop out pretty quick. The bandwidth becomes to narrow when using more than one viewing laptop so it sounds good but in reality isn't the best solution.



A better way to use the Teradek 220 is to hook it up to a wireless router and stream from the router to more than one laptop. You can use an iPad if that's your game. The streaming server inside creates a stream which is viewed in VLC or any other program that can read the rstp.

If you go all ethernet it's rock solid streaming and it streams both video and audio from the HDMI connector. It codes incoming video to H264 so quality is good.

You have many options inside which you adjust through a connected PC and can stream from 480 to 1080 with many different frame rates and bitrates. You can even adjust delay which influence how much lag there is. A low setting results in a short delay but at the same time doesn't provide as much buffering as you might need. A value of about 250ms is recommended so you'll end up with 1/4s delay. Not ideal if you look at the actor at the same time as the screen and especially with regards to audio delay. But if you've parked your client in another room or further away from the set it's a very useful tool.

I haven't got the chance to use it at a big shoot yet but I will as soon as I can.

Shooting with DSLR cameras like the 7D and 5DmkII monitoring has always been a problem. First I had a 3.5" LCD screen runned through composite video. It worked okay the first couple of months. Then I got a Marshall 7" LCD which has helped me getting great images. Now this little 3.2" LCD or EVF from Zacuto arrived.



So far only taken it for a short try with my AF101 and 5DmkII. It's smaller than the LCD screen on the AF101 but has many more features that complement the AF camera. When hooked up to the 5DmkII it really shines. It's a complete package with unit, battery, charger, HDMI swivel type cable, pouch and manual. Even a small Giottos MH1004 is included. This is the weak part of the package. It's no match for the beefier Giottos MH 1304 I have mounted on my AF101 and my DSLR cage the "editman cage". It takes some force put eventually it will stick firmly. I dislike the tightening knob on the 1004 so I'm a bit disappointed. Why couldn't they include the 1304 which is much better?

The housing is made up of two halves that's put together. Fit is not that great between these but I guess it will work fine regardless. When having the flip frame down you can't see the whole screen. it does obscure a little on the edges. Flip it up and you can see it all. I fitted my Z-finder and got a nice and big view. Without peeking the image is soft, just like how it is when attaching the Z-finder directly to my 5DmkII. With peeking it's easy to nail focus but the displayed image is rough and lots of grain is visible.

You do get exposure tools like zebra and false colours. It's to bad you also get a large amount of image lag when using false colours. I have to comment on the battery that comes with the EVF. It will last long I have no doubt about that. The obvious choice is to use a Canon DSLR and EVF together so why not include a battery that is compatible with a Canon DSLR? As it is now you have to use another charger for the EVF battery and this charger is really bad if you compare with a Canon charger. This battery can't be used or charged with the Canon camera/charger so I have to bring two chargers for the same type of battery. I'll probably end up tossing this battery and buying another original LP-E6 that works with both camera and EVF.



Finally when the whole DSLR thing has become a reliable tool and matured something like this EVF comes. Is it to late considering the new wave of large sensor cameras? It works great on my AF albeit a bit small to use as the only external screen. My Marshall 7" still has it's place in my bag but I will use this as my main display when shooting with the 5DmkII (not so often these days) and that 1:1 zoom is great together with the AF.

When you use a Canon 5DmkII in a production environment you need to make it work with monitors. Often you have to put on monitor for the DP, one for the director and one for the client. The best possible connection out of the 5DmkII is HDMI but to run HDMI for long runs wont work. There's also only one HDMI output on the camera so how do you solve this?

Some use HDMI to HD SDI converters and daisy chain monitors. This can work but often, because the 5DmkII changes to low resolution when recording, it doesn't work or work with problems. I've picket another path. I use the HDMI output and run it through a 2-way HDMI splitter and one output from the splitter to my Marshall monitor and the other one to a HDMI to composite converter. Then having as long cable as I need to daisy chained monitors. This works better than one would think despite the low resolution and composite video. Still the DP have a clean HDMI signal to the onboard monitor.

The only thing that have bothered me has been the complexity of having two boxes and having to power them both. Up until now I've used power adapters and when moving the camera it's a bit messy and I have to have power from a wall outlet to make it work.

About a year ago when I got my Marshall I put a 3.5mm DC plug on the bottom of the battery mount to enable the battery to not only power the monitor but something like a splitter. At the time I couldn't get it to work with the splitter I used but, this week I got a one box solution. A HDMI converter with a HDMI pass through and I can power it from the battery on the back of the monitor! Now I don't need the power adapters and just have to change one battery to make it work. So much easier and less complicated.



At the same time I got an angled mini HDMI to HDMI cable to make the connection a bit safer. Still I really dislike HDMI it has no place on pro equipment!

These are exciting times! We have the Panasonic AF101 camera coming in December, Panasonics GH2 coming in just a few hours they say and we have this small 2-way HDMI splitter. It does not sound to revolutionary but in a way it is. All active HDMI splitters run of 5v. It's fine if you have a power outlet nearby and it works great to split a DVD-players signal to more than one monitor. But what if you want to use it with one of the Canon cameras to get signal to two monitors? In these cases having another thing hooked up to your camera that needs juice can be troublesome.

Enter this 2 port HDMI splitter.

If you take a look at it, it's just another HDMI splitter. Housed in a plastic box and a fixed HDMI cord to input a signal into it, it's worse than my other HDMI splitter if you look at the built quality. There is a 5v connector on one end and you do get a 5v power supply with it. But the beauty of this thing is you don't need that 5v anymore. Hook up any HDMI source and you end up with two active HDMI outputs in HDMI 1.3 standard!

What does this mean when having let's say a Canon 7D? I can now run this splitter between my 7" Marshall monitor without needing more power sources than camera battery and monitor battery. It takes the 5v voltage that is already coming from the cameras HDMI connector and uses it to active handle and split the signal. I think this is great reducing some of the complex setup a cinelike Canon DSLR can have.

Somehow I feel DSLR shooting coming to a turning point with regards to camcorders with larger sensor chips being releases. Will I laugh at how we struggled to make a DSLR into a pro-camcorder? Or will I laugh everytime I shoot with a DSLR? My best bet is I'll laugh at both and be happy to found this HDMI splitter for now.

Check out this ebay item if you're interested: 260647100966 or check out PORTTA'S HDMI ebay store.

One of the weak things on DSLR cameras that shoots video is the mini HDMI connector. One of the better ways might be to have a bracket releaving pressure from that weak spot. Another way might be this mini HDMI angle converter from Impact Acoustics. They call it HDMI mini port saver and that is what it does. In a way at least.

The converter works just like it should. It converts mini to standard HDMI and you can swivel 180 degrees. But built quality could be better and still you can damaged the connector on the camera if you bump into it. I like that you can have the connector go sideways but some sort of bracket to hold is needed before I trust it completely.



To much low-quality plastic but we'll see if I can make a bracket to hold it. Then it's useful!

Let's call this another equipment week. I have a pearl band of stuff coming this week and at the beginning of next. But today I'm not gonna write about new stuff. Instead it's another modification, this time on the Marshall battery's plate.

The little power jack on the bottom of the battery plate was what I did tonight. It took some digging in my electronics box but I found a jack and managed to drill a hole just enough for it to fit. What does it do? It provides a power outlet for, in my case, the 2-way HDMI splitter. This way I don't have to power it with another battery pack. Actually I already got a high power PSU for the HDMI splitter but I want my rig clean and simple. It works just like expected. I can now power both monitor and splitter with the Canon BP-970 type of batteries I have.

I didn't want to drill any hole in the monitor itself so I was a bit constricted where to mount the power jack. It's not in the way and if you don't plug anything in you'll never think about it. I'll monitor if the splitter drains to much juice but I doubt it since it's such a small circuit.

I got this really short HDMI cable to go between the camera and HDMI 2-way splitter. 1ft is really short, the shortest I could find and it should make for a clutter free setup when rigged. You can get it at www.cyberguys.com and yes they do have longer cables if that's on your agenda!

I've searched for shorter HDMI cables and today a set of two 0.5m HDMI cables arrived. I'm planning to use one between the splitter and monitor. I do have two HDMI mini to HDMI in 0.5m lenght on the way so things are looking good when it comes to un-nesting that cable nest!

I got it on ebay and this is the item number 220587443990

Stuff just keeps coming. This week I sold of things I never or seldom use,
so even though my equipment grows I try to get rid of things I can do without.
The Hoodman H-700 is not an item I could do without.

The H-700 fits my Marshall V-LCD70XP and is one of the recommended hoods for this monitor.
Without a hood forget about monitoring in the sun!

I don't think the velcro straps you tape on the side of the monitor is a perfect solution.
On top and bottom, the hood has a velcro piece sticking out. It would have been better with this on all four sides.

I tried to take a picture illustrating the hood but I'll get better pictures next week when we're about to shoot in the archipelago nearby Stockholm.
You see the back end of the Marshall at the end of the hood. Pretty black inside that hood?

I just got the Marshall HDMI monitor and since running more than one monitor with a 7D is cumbersome you have to split whatever signal you output.
Composite is bad from the Canon cameras and your best shot is the HDMI output. The other week we had an AJA HDMI to HD SDI converter to cover monitoring and it worked well.
But we didn't use an onboard monitor for the camera. When trying to find rental equipment that matches a DSLR it's my finding that there aren't many options. Most stuff they do rent is for more pro camera like ARRI and RED. So the only choice is to have the basic stuff covered yourself.

On ebay I found a small, really small HDMI 2-way splitter. It runs on 5V and it might be possible to use it together with the Marshall sharing power supply through battery or net psu.
Check it out here!

I took the plunge and got a Marshall V-LCD70XP after reading so much positive about it.
I was surprised of the high resolution with HDMI from the 7D.
Brightness and contrast is very good. Way better than many monitors I've tried.

I had to try a way to mount the monitor to the rods with a Manfrotto 234 tilt head.
It's the most solid and reliable mount for a LCD monitor I've found so far.
Locks in place great and it's no problem to handle the weight.
I guess even a beefy 9" would rest comfortable on this head.



Tried two different positions for the mount and Marshall and they both work great and feels super solid.
Cages are from cpmfilmtools.com.

Compared with other 7" I think the Marshall is rather small and it feels great.
Got many features I'll try tomorrow in another commercial shoot.