Lilliput Monitor *IPS LED, 720P, 7in* $300-660

[Wayne Greensill]

Hi Guys,

Do I really need to have the O/P version of the Lilliput 663 IPS Panel or can I get away with just using the standard 633 version without the O/P that still has the IPS Panel?

I would be using it with a Canon XF305.

Thanks
Wayne

[Josh Bass]

Hey guys. Are these really actually decent HD monitors? Accurate (ish) color, etc.? That's incredible. Not too long ago when I bought my 5.6" Lilliput (800x480, no less) they were known as "well, it's a monitor" kinda monitors. Good for focus, framing, not much else. Has the world gone topsy turvy?

[Steve Varnell]

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

Hey guys. Are these really actually decent HD monitors? Accurate (ish) color, etc.? That's incredible. Not too long ago when I bought my 5.6" Lilliput (800x480, no less) they were known as "well, it's a monitor" kinda monitors. Good for focus, framing, not much else. Has the world gone topsy turvy?

On color I just have my eyes to compare to. I don't have an high priced studio monitor or the expensive video charts to compare so I can't think of any way to test this. I could take a photo, but then that would change the color it sees too. Do you have an inexpensive way? I may love doing a test for that. For me the color is very close to what I see on the LCD screen of my camera. It is different, but because at any given time my lighting condition varies I couldn't say how they differ. There are adjustments, but I've not found the need to do them. Of course I am not shooting in a studio with very controlled conditions and the same setup everyday either.

I do find an external monitor quite handy and valuable.especially for focus, but also for highlights and low lights. I use zebras all the time, but I really want to see what is happening in the zebra areas to decide if I want to adjust my iris a little. The same goes for focus. I want if I can to get the focus as perfectly as possible. My camera does not have a shallow depth of field. Getting focus should be easy, but its not. Too often the focus assist for my Panasonic AG-AC90 camera has a huge area shown in focus, but in reality its not all "focused". It may be 98% but not 100%. With the combination of my eye, digital zoom, and focus peaking from my camera and the Lilliput I can get much closer to that 100% I may want. To me that is why the 1280 resolution is so nice, just another thing you can actually see. On the sharpness lets you know what is going on with the other "non-critical" areas of what you are filming (like how do they look even though they are out of focus).

[Josh Bass]

If it's accurate to the LCD, that's a start. . .providing your LCD is accurate. How does footage look on the LCD compared to what you see when you view the footage on other displays? For instance, the EX1 seems to have a fairly accurate LCD.

If you can calibrate the Lilliput to colors bars, that's also a good sign. Mine. . .can't do it. Those adjustments don't do squat.

[Michael Desiderio]

Can anyone tell me if the standard non HDSDI pass-through version will do HD through the standard BNC AV input if you run an HDSDI into it? Or will it only do standard definition through the BNC?

[John Peterson]

Just got off the phone with "Joanna" from Lilliput regarding the video being scrambled when exiting 1:1 mode.
She said that the first 100 or so of the 663 o/p models had this issue so they stopped selling them for a month because of this problem.

She said that the new ones they just received do not have this issue. They sell it direct for $359

Lilliput: 1-888-608-3088

John

EDIT: Just ordered one direct instead of messing around with eBay vendors that may still have old stock with the "scrambled video on 1:1 exit" issue.

[Panagiotis Raris]

did they happen to mention a return/replacement? or should i look to return with original seller?

[John Peterson]

I asked her if I could return it if the one I get has the same problem. She said yes and that there was a 30-day return policy even if I don't like the monitor for any other reason.

If you bought it from a third party vendor I am not sure if that applies, but I would call her and ask.

John

[Thomas Smet]

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

Hey guys. Are these really actually decent HD monitors? Accurate (ish) color, etc.? That's incredible. Not too long ago when I bought my 5.6" Lilliput (800x480, no less) they were known as "well, it's a monitor" kinda monitors. Good for focus, framing, not much else. Has the world gone topsy turvy?

Not sure how important the color is on a monitor. For years I shot with a b/w viewfinder on professional video cameras. Color is nice but honestly how much tweaking of color in the field do most of us do anyway. That is what white balancing is for. The color will be accurate enough to know if you white balanced or not. Color should be saved for the edit with a proper calibrated monitor and a consistent lighting environment.

I'm sure they are not perfect but no LCD monitor is. Even iPads have color variations and look different depending on the environment. Any LCD TV you could buy would be just as inaccurate or in other words close enough to know the shot is white balanced in the right ballpark.

[Josh Bass]

There are different approaches to field work. One is to have a monitor that you know is accurate and can rely on when making very slight lighting tweaks or color balance tweaks ("warming it up" in camera via menus, etc.). I want to know if something is too dark/disappearing into black, overexposed, to orange, too blue, etc. in camera, or if it just looks that way because the monitor's off. In a quickie run & gun situation a monitor that's in the ballpark may be fine, but some types of shoots require a more precise touch. Hence the existence of $3000+ field monitors that are still not considered accurate enough for color correction in post.

[Thomas Smet]

If you are somebody that needs critical color then you are really looking in the wrong place and need to look at very expensive color calibrated field monitors. Even the LCD on your camera itself is not calibrated and just a reference so you are not loosing out on anything by using one of the Lilliput monitors in terms of color reproduction. Yeah it may be slightly different then on your camera but neither is accurate enough to judge critical color in the field.

Once you burn in your monitor however you may be able to get used to how it looks and mentally compensate for it. It will never be as good as a proper calibrated field monitor but then again very few on camera monitors actually are.

[Josh Bass]

That's all I meant. The lilliput I have is all but useless for anything but framing/focus, wondering if they'd improved since then.

While it's true some on-cam monitors are not color accurate, I have been on many a set where folks are making their lighting/color decisions based off the higher end 4-5.6" monitors that have been coming out over the past several years.

[John Peterson]

I haven't played with mine yet (It arrived yesterday), but I plan on using it for exposure as well as focus and framing. You can even calibrate the tiny LCD screen on my EX1 for that so why not this?

John

[Josh Bass]

My non-scientific answer is. . .some monitors, you just can't. Run bars to certain monitors (e.g. MY little Lilliput) and you'll see the pluge never changes for some strange reason as you adjust brightness/contrast, or they don't have a proper blue only mode so can't adjust chroma (no phase with HD, correct?) with confidence (and PS, using a blue gel over the monitor in place of a blue gun? Tried it. Tried like five layers of it. No good. If this actually works for people, as I've read, maybe someone can explain).

At any rate, let me know how it turns out. Not hopeful, but still hoping.

Regarding the EX's LCD. . .funny thing, I work with those a lot on corporate videos, and we also have these $3K little 8" or so Sony LCD monitors (couldn't tell you model offhand). We've found the cam's LCD is more accurate than those (yes, even calibrated), at least where color is concerned! So maybe that cam just has a really trustworth LCD.

[John Peterson]

The LCD monitor is calibrated differently than the CRT monitor so those typical NTSC charts don't work on LCD monitors especially on black levels and white levels.

Download the free ones from here and follow the directions:

LCD monitor test images

John