Monitor preference for 7D (or 5D...)

[Bill Pryor]

I just got a little 4" Marshall monitor to mount on the hotshoe. It's not HD but all I need it for is for low angle shots where it's awkward to look through the viewer. I got a tilt hotshoe bracket so I can tilt it up, or even rotate it around if needed. The monitor itself has a metal case but is lightweight. Add the battery, though and the weight goes up. I've ordered a "Video Bracket" from markwatkins.com (similar to the IDC dogleg/handle) and will mount the monitor on a cold shoe on top of the handle, which leaves the hotshoe free to mount a sound recorder.

One thing some may not realize is that if you use the AV cable that came with the camera, it outputs a letterbox image, just like what you see in the LDC screen. Which means you can use a cheap 4:3 monitor with no distortion.

If you need a monitor for critical focusing, for clients, etc., you wouldn't want this one, but for my purposes it looks pretty good. Very bright too, about $279 with battery and charger from B&H. It's the V-LCD4-Pro-L kit if anybody's interested. It has BNC inputs so you need an RCA-to-BNC adapter for your cable. If anybody knows where to get a shorter cable than the one that came with the camera, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

When using the camera's AV out to a monitor, that disables the LCD, so if you're using a Hoodman type viewer for normal shooting, like for handheld, you'd have to unplug the cable. I plan to mount the monitor on the handle bracket, with a quick release, so I can pull the camera off easily and quickly for hand held work where I don't need the monitor.

[Philip Collins]

I am clearly missing something, but I have now been using the 7d for over 6 months and the only reason I can see needing a monitor is to make sure your focus is good. If a firmware update comes out soon then I can also see it for the DP or director to be able to monitor, but since plugging a HDMI cable into the 7d shuts off the LCD, the camera operator will need to be using the monitor.

Since the only person who can use the monitor is the camera operator, why does he need a monitor?

In my experience getting good focus even with my redrock micro follow-focus is quite tricky, even with the Zacuto Z-Finder I have. In fact, the z-finder might make it harder... since all it does is enlarge the pixels.

That being said, how would a monitor without focus peaking even make sense? The slimHD monitors are really impressive looking and sweet, but I don't see any use for them on a 7d. I want to buy the 7" Marshall with peaking, but having used one, they are HUGE! With the battery they weigh as much as the camera and are about 3 inches thick. I was incredibly unimpressed with their size. It seems that monitors would be very useful for getting sharp focus in the field, but until someone makes one like the slimHD with peaking, It seems to me that monitors are only useful on a set or in a studio, not on locaton.

Someone please talk me out of this depressing conclusion.

[Chris Westerstrom]

for the price of a DP6 monitor or similar, you can pretty much buy a second body like the 60d.

I am wondering if that's not more beneficial to the type of work i do

[Ken Diewert]

After doing some research for my needs/budget... I just ordered one of these.
LILLIPUT 669HB On-camera LCD Monitor,7 HDMI On-camera LED Backlit LCD Monitor [Lilliput 669HB] : COOLLCD.com

There are several threads over on the 'View' forum about the Lilliput monitors, with most everyone being happy with the units. With 4600mAh battery, hot shoe mount, sun hood, hdmi cable, and shipped to Canada = $282.99. Apparently these units ship lightning fast. I ordered an additional 6800mAh battery for $28.00 shipped, from another vendor.

I looked at the new 5" Marshall and the Ikan 5600, but settled for the much lower priced Lilliput after reading the posts from happy users some of who own Marshall and Ikan. The 5" Marshall is twice the price but has false colors for peaking/exposure, BUT has hdmi input only.

I thought I didn't need an on-cam monitor until a recent shoot using the 5d with a 70-200 2.8 lens in loooow light, in a cramped space (live event). Had to strain to see camera LCD and later noted that I really blew the focus on a couple of shots... yikes.

So I'll try it out for that price.

[Chris Westerstrom]

Ken, that was real interesting, thanks for posting

[Norman Pogson]

I have the same 7" Lilliput monitor, got it last week and I like it too. It really does give you a whole new experience filming with it, more than just a focusing aid. I think it is getting me to take more time with the composition, it's like seeing your shot on a movie screen.

The shipping from ordering it on Ebay from a Hong Kong supplier was 12 days to my door in Canada.

I wrote something on it here: Canon 7D | Norman Pogson Filmmaker: External Monitor For HD-DSLR Video Cameras

[John Richard]

Originally Posted by Philip Collins

I am clearly missing something, but I have now been using the 7d for over 6 months and the only reason I can see needing a monitor is to make sure your focus is good. If a firmware update comes out soon then I can also see it for the DP or director to be able to monitor, but since plugging a HDMI cable into the 7d shuts off the LCD, the camera operator will need to be using the monitor.

Since the only person who can use the monitor is the camera operator, why does he need a monitor?

The DP6 and most other monitors have "loop thru". With a DP6 that has the HD-SDI you merely loop thru from the operators monitor to the director's or follow focus operator's monitor. With a monitor that only has HDMI and no SDI, you use an HDMI splitter to loop thru to the second monitor. So if you need a second monitor, these loop thru schemes are there to provide this capability. What's nice with the DP6 is you can set it up to use the full monitor even though the 7D (and 5D even worse) are not outputting a full 1080 size signal.