Full hood enclosures benefit all external monitors outdoors. I make DIY hoods that rock...


No doubt, you are creative with the accessories. What material do you use for the hood? I'm thinking of cutting up a larger hood that I used to use for a CRT.

Piotr,

you always find cool gadgets :) I better watch your moves.

Could you please post a photo of this Manhattan LCD once arrives, mounted with your rig - so i can assess how big it is? I might consider buying one if not too large - its price is definitely tempting. Please post your experience with its picture quality, too.

Thanks a bunch in advance,

Zsolt

Here you go, Zsolt :)

As to my opinion on the depicted rig, I'd say that the Redrock Micro stuff is indeed of an exceptional quality, with equally great support from Brian Valente (and others on the RR forum). The Manhattan monitor is also very, very good (as is the Tekkeon battery powering it), and the support from ManhattanLCD's John Reed outstanding.

Unfortunately, I cannot say I'm equally satisfied with the Letus Extreme performance or build quality -a real bummer! Aaron, if you read this, please do something to improve the level of Extreme users satisfaction, instead of just charging more for the Ultimate version (which merely offers improvements the Extreme should have as a standard, in the first place)...

So now the only missing thing I'm still waiting for is the NanoFlash - Mike, I'm counting on you!

I had major issues with edge softness with the RedRock M2 on a Sony EX1 and either the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 or 50mm f/1.4 set to f/2 .

Aaron, if you read this, please do something to improve the level of ( Letus )Extreme users satisfaction, instead of just charging more for the Ultimate version (which merely offers improvements the Extreme should have as a standard, in the first place)...

Piotr, I assume you are referring to the backfocus adjustments, which are badly engineered on LEX - in which case I agree with you!

Piotr, I assume you are referring to the backfocus adjustments, which are badly engineered on LEX - in which case I agree with you!

Alex,

As I wrote several times already in other threads, the image quality I'm getting with the improved Letus achromat for EX1, and my Canon lenses, is marvellous. If I'm not totally satisfied is that a precise opto-mechanical device like this, sitting between your high-quality lens and an even higher-quality camera, should absolutely be built better than the Extreme version is.

The back focus adjustment is a real pain; even if you succeed in getting it to focus at infinity, the GG can change the amplitude and frequency of vibration, making such noise that shooting with an onboard mic is simply impossible. Also, the way adjustment is done will never ensure that you will leave the GG planar with the camera imagers (i.e. normal to the lens axis). This causes picture softness in one corner or even the whole (left or right, upper or lower) extremity of the frame. But above all, the adjustment won't keep - the three GG stands will sooner rather than later change their position in the rubber bushes, and you will lose back focus again, or the noise will increase, or the critical focus will not cover the whole frame - or all of the above... This happens to me constantly; heck - this thing should have a precise, repeatable and permanent adjustment!

Finally, the way Letus Extreme is attached to the thread ring on the camera lens is just pathetic - unstable, flimsy, and above all, unrepeatable. The only contact is the shallow flange, and those pathetic three little screws to keep the 2 heavy and expensive pieces together (camera + adapter) - even on rails, this simply cannot be stiff and precise enough a connection! What I'd expect here is a much longer (or should I say, deeper) contact, and a connection secured by a solid, threaded muff.

Most of the above have been fixed with the Ultimate version, for more than twice the price...

To my knowledge, LEX is $1.1K and Ultimate is $4.5K, so there's over 4x price difference actually?

To my knowledge, LEX is $1.1K and Ultimate is $4.5K, so there's over 4x price difference actually?

Yep. My mistake originated from the fact, that - without a second thought - I compared what I actually paid for importing LEX (+ FedEX shipment + duty + VAT), with the net list price of the Ultimate.

So it's even worse, actually.

I'll talk to MLCD about the lack of shielding. Is should be easy to add with a perforated shield plate inside the backside. I don't mount my 3450 that way anyway ( too much stress on the monitor to support connection)
Just got the Manhattan HD monitor and must say there is no hue shift towards blue - the picture is great even with the standard settings.

I also bought the Tekkeon 3450 battery - very nice and well done device.

I only have one problem: when I velcroed the battery to the monitor's back, the Component input picture disappeared! I was horrified, cause I thought the monitor just broke down - but removing the battery cured it. Lack of electro-magnetic shielding, or what?

Do you guys have your Manhattan monitors working with a battery attached?

Uh Oh! Looks like a DIY monitor hood tutorial is being requested. As if I have time. I do owe this forum, where I'm a newbie , at least one freebie before the year is over so look for a tutorial here in about 3 weeks.
Imago Metrics:Toshiba 10.9" DIY Enclosure (http://imagometrics.com/FLReviews/Tosh10.9encl.htm)
Basically
Materials:
------------
90% opaque thin stretchy black fabric
Corrugated PLASTIC board- any color (this is the structure)
3M Super 77 (General adhesion and Velcro hook to monitor)
2" wide non-self adhesive Velcro
4 minute epoxy (Velcro loop to the inside backs of the hood)
Scissors
------------
The handy amongst you will know what to do from that, all else will get theirs when I get some bandwidth!


No doubt, you are creative with the accessories. What material do you use for the hood? I'm thinking of cutting up a larger hood that I used to use for a CRT.

Yes, this is definitely necessary outside. My Sony EX1 LCD does a better job in early morning light while the Manhattan LCD is rendered useless by glare. I'll look into getting a hood for the Manhattan and that Hood sock for the LCD. The EX1 viewfinder is now too fuzzy compared to the other LCDs around it.

M. Paul, do you have a photo of the assembled monitor hood?

Can it be folded flat for transportation, to protect monitor's glass and take little space in transit?

Thanks

Holly cow! I'm so late replying to this. How the heck to I set an alarm to notify me of threads I need to respond to?
I have a photo....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/zephyrnoid/DSCN1609.jpg
Looks way better in real life and do mind my Gaffer's tape trim ok ?;)
Also note my mistake- different angle cuts on the leading corners. I make this one in 20 minutes flat and just failed to match the two sides ( how unprofessional) I'll redo it right for my DIY Tutorial in December.
Yes it folds flat and the way I finish the hood, the back side that goes up against the front of the monitor has concealed indents in it to accomodate the pushbutton array.
I promised to shoot a DIY tutorial but will not be able to deliver on that promise till Mid December at the soonest.


M. Paul, do you have a photo of the assembled monitor hood?

Can it be folded flat for transportation, to protect monitor's glass and take little space in transit?

Thanks

Just got the Manhattan HD monitor and must say there is no hue shift towards blue - the picture is great even with the standard settings.

I also bought the Tekkeon 3450 battery - very nice and well done device.

I only have one problem: when I velcroed the battery to the monitor's back, the Component input picture disappeared! I was horrified, cause I thought the monitor just broke down - but removing the battery cured it. Lack of electro-magnetic shielding, or what?

Do you guys have your Manhattan monitors working with a battery attached?

As you may remember, Velcro-ing the Tekkeon battery at the back of the monitor doesn't work for me, as - for some reason - the battery interferes with the Component input signal, and the picture is gone. Therefore, I need to place the battery away from the monitor; I have plenty of roo on my tripod setup with rails to mount the battery there. However, the original Tekkeon DC power cable between the battery and the monitor is too short sometimes, so I'd like to make my own lead - what is the type of the plug at battery end of it? Is it proprietary, or can I buy it somewhere (preferrably in EU)?

Another question: sometimes, when I'm using a light, I need to mount another big battery on my tripod rig anyway (I'm using PAG bricks); they have two power outs and it'd be ideal if I could use one of them to power up my HD monitor, rather than be tied to the Tekkeon battery... Unfortunately, my PAG's output is 14.8V - too high for the Manhattan HD monitor to feed it directly. Now, I'm completely lame as far as electricity goes; can you tell me how to decrease the voltage to some 10-12V by preparing a special cable for this purpose (using some resistor or alike...)

Thanks for your help!

Piotr, I just got the Manhattan HD089 display to use with my EX1 (component out) and and so far I'm having a hard time getting it even close to being as good as the built-in EX1 LCD.

Besides not being all that sharp (like maybe I can focus slightly better than on the built-in LCD), even with the sharpness turned all the way up, the dynamic range of the monitor seems about 1/2 of the EX1 LCD. I can't get a decently bright image and not have things that are showing up find on the EX1 LCD completely blown out on the Manhattan or in order to see these objects I have to turn the brightness down to nothing.

Do you have some of the settings to share with me on this monitor to get it to give me a good image?

Thanks.

Keith,

Sorry for late answer. As to the dynamic range, it happens that I can see sky partially blown out on my 10.9" Manhattan, while on the camera's LCD it's not yet visible. When I ingest such footage into my NLE, it turns out the Manhattan was telling me the truth.

For instance, situations like those discussed in this thread:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/113933-abrupt-highlights-clipping.html

- can be prevented using the Manhattan, but may not be noticed without it.

Hi Piotr

Thanks for the reply. I worked a little with the Manhattan LCD folks, who are very attentive to tech support questions and have provided me with excellent customer service. One hint they gave me to get better dynamic range out of the monitor and match it up with what the EX1 is sending out is as follows:

On the EX1, output color bars
On the Manhattan IR Remote:
hit source
on the remotes numeric keypad type "911"
This brings up a service menu
Scroll to the page of the menu that lists ADC reset and ADC auto Cal
on service menu choose to reset ADC
on the service menu ADC auto cal
The monitor will go through some obvious cycling. It seemed the picture was a bit better after doing this procedure.

There are also a number of other options in the service menu. One was to brighten the black level, which produced less crushed blacks and one that helped a bit with better gamma curve on the monitor.

I'm still evaluating the Manhattan monitor for sharpness and other factors. What model do you have and do you have further opinions on it?

Another question Piotr, are you saying that the EX1 LCD is not displaying clipped luma info, that somehow it's somehow displaying more dynamic range than is being recorded? Or is it that your NLE or other monitor isn't displaying a full dynamic range? For example if you do some color correction is there detail left if you bring down the whites or is it severely clipped on the whites?

Thanks again.

<deleted redundant question after posting>