Dp7pro high bright

[Joshua Gitersonke]

I think looking back at the photos taken from the shoot out with the sun in the reflection the smallhd

Is better than them. This is what I was trying to show. Now it admit I wasn't able to attend that event. But just

Judging from the photos everyone supplied I would say the smallhd is brighter than those.

I will take some more photos later on today. Maybe a video will be a better.

You won't be able to tell anything substantial until you get which ever monitors you think are good and sit them side by side to see.

I personally have not had a monitor this bright before. Besides the old green screen back in the beginning.

I am just trying to share the experience. I live in eagle rock if anyone wants to meet up and look at the thing.

[Rob Vuona SOC]

Josh, Thanks for posting

Regardless of Eric or anyone else's comments, what really maters is, if you are happy with the monitor. Does it do what you want it to and does it fit into your budget.

 

I am very curious to actually see this monitor in person and in real working conditions, I demoed the Cinetronic, as many of you know, and hands down it has been the best outdoor viewable monitor I have ever used. But, the Small HD has its own set of features that make it quite appealing. I've said it before, I think the Cinetronic may well be the future monitor for all steadicams if Chris can hang in there and keep making leaps and bounds like they have been. Technology is just getting better and better which always keeps it interesting.

 

There are many ops out there that are waiting for the true test of this monitor. So lets just see what develops

 

Fly Safe

See ya soon

[Alan Rencher]

I just got an update from SmallHD, they say that they expect to be out of backorder in five weeks.

[Victor Lazaro]

There will be a High Bright monitor at the CineGear NY this weekend (friday saturday)

[Rich Cottrell]

At which booth?

[William Demeritt]

I just got an update from SmallHD, they say that they expect to be out of backorder in five weeks.

 

I just heard the same thing. Good to hear!

[Kurt Warner]

I put my $100 down last July and my DP7 Pro HB arrived today.

I've had it on about an hour and all the menu features and picture are working as promised.

I have a studio shoot tomorrow and plan on using it then.

 

B)

[Victor Lazaro]

I saw the High Bright at the Cinegear NY and met the guys. they are really looking for feedback from steadicam ops on our needs and wants so don't hesitate reaching out to them. the things I noticed from the show was:

-the screen is bright (1500 nits, but just forget about that and be a great OP ;) )

-the screen protection is plexiglass which is very reflective it is held by screws in each corner and was also glued on the demo versions, but you might be able to remove the protection for those sunny days. they did not bound the screen to the protection to be able to change it when it is scratched.

-the monitor is not waterproof as it has a small silent fan in the back. They are looking to use a neverwet like system on the board to make it more water resistant.

-there is an internal digital level and their idea is to try to tap into the Steadicam sensor and plug the monitor instead of the "knight rider" piece and have an on screen level.

- recording will be 720p on the sd card which is more than I need for myself and my demo reel (they are looking into doing 1080p but not sure if it will work so far)

 

the menus are vast and fairly intuitive.

All the best.

[Joshua Gitersonke]

Ok guys I have some new pictures. Of a Cinetronic and the SmallHD side by side. I would like to preface this post with the fact that I like the Smallhd monitor a lot. The UI and build of this monitor are quite nice. I have never owned a monitor from Smallhd until now, but I have used a few of them over time. I don't own a Cinetronic but was impressed by it.

Brian Freash, and Charles Papert and I put together a little side by side test. In person Both of these monitors look more viewable than what it looks like in these photos.

I will say a little bit about them both. The Cinetronic was the more viewable in all situations I think because of the Anti-reflection coating. The Cinetronic has a very good one. In my opinion the Small HD is actually a little bit Brighter in Nits possibly. But the Reflections on the Smallhd at this point are very noticeable. We took off the Polycarbonate screen protector. We all decided that it only made the reflections worse as it added another layer to look through.

In Direct sunlight no clouds both monitors are easily viewable. The Reflection at certain angles is what will make the Cinetronic win out. I personally like the contrast control on the Smallhd Better. In some of the pictures it is tough to see but on the Smallhd there is more detail in the shadows when the contrast is pushed up higher, which possibly will hep you focus better. The Cinetronic smoothed out the transition from blown out to where the detail was. This might be on purpose and be considered the better way to do it. I guess at a certain point its what you like that determines which monitor is better in the contrast area.

When the monitors were under the silk we set up the Cinetronic was the clear winner. It took care of basically all or most of the reflections. The Smallhd reflected back basically everything unfortunately.

I have been in contact with Smallhd and they are possibly going to offer an upgrade that would add a optically bonded AR coating to the Screen, They don't have a price yet but they said that it would be hopefully under $500.

All in all the Smallhd is very Bright and for almost all of the time will be fine for what we do. With a good AR coating the SmallHd will be a lot better in some very difficult situations. The Cinetronic was very viewable in all situations.

I think the UI of the Smallhd is years a head of the Cinetronic or any monitor really. The Smallhd has the possibility of 24 user definable function buttons. the first 8 are 1 touch the rest you need to roll the scroll wheel 1 or 2 times to get to.

 

 

On another note, I ordered a screen protector that has an AR coating on it just to experiment. I will let you all know if that helps in the situations where your under silks .

 

 

Here is the link to the pictures.

 

https://www.dropbox....a1eu/mzv91SiXkB

[Charles Papert]

Even though it's in bold in Joshua's post, please again understand that these pictures are meant for comparison only, both monitors appear brighter in person. Every monitor manufacturer will tell you that you can't just take pictures of a monitor especially under these conditions and have them come out the way they look to eye. Even the green screens.

[Brian Freesh]

My assessment was more or less the same as Josh's.

 

Cinetronic 2: More easily viewable from all angles (one exception below) with or without direct sunlight, with or without "cloud cover". Superior anti-reflection.

 

DP7: Appeared brighter when looking straight at it from the front when not in direct sunlight.

 

Despite having used a Cinetronic 1 and 2 since August of last year (I've not noticed a difference in performance regarding viewability) and naturally being very impressed with it's performance in sunlight and cloud cover, I am still satisfied with the DP7's performance. I would absolutely recommend it for outdoor daybright use on steadicam. The menu system is also easier to navigate and more intuitive, though I cannot speak to what functions it has and if it is missing anything important to our work.

 

So all in all: get what works for you and is within your budget.

[maxfischer]

Any thoughts about the DP7's artificial horizon?

[Victor Lazaro]

Any thoughts about the DP7's artificial horizon?

The horizon indicator is an arrow at the top and/or at the bottom of the monitor that can be set to go in the bubble level way or the opposite. The sensor is a simple accelerometer inside the monitor (no gyro).

I saw the monitor at CineGear NY and met the SmallHD guys and they mentioned that they wanted to use the Tiffen digital level and create an adapter to plug it to the x-port on the back of the monitor to read the data and show it on screen. Hopefully they will succeed in doing so.

[Joshua Gitersonke]

A little update here. As I've worked with this monitor, I like it more and more. I have found that the peaking function is really great. Even when the peaking is cranked all the way up its a subtle effect that is really useful. It can be tough to see if your focus is nailed when looking at a monitor on the bottom of your rig but the guys at Smallhd must be carpenters because peaking works like a charm.

Also, I recieved the nushield dayvue anti reflective coated screen protector. Although it doesn't take away the reflections off the screen completely, It worked pretty well for a 14 dollar add on.

So all in all I'm pretty happy with this monitor so far.

[Joshua Gitersonke]

Ok so this morning in eagle rock was particularly over cast but still bright. I know that pictures don't really do monitors justice. There will be no picture of the sky... As per Eric. But here is a picture of the monitor. This is with the AR coated screen protector from Nushield.

Also this was tilted so that the white sky was directly reflected off of the monitor.

This is to show that with a little bit of Anti reflection help. The brightness of this monitor is pretty good in bad conditions. Since I don't have the Cinetronic with me I can't compare the two again, but I will say that these conditions are normally tough for monitors.

So SmallHd Dp7pro HB +. The $14 Nushield Dayvue screen protector are a good little combo.

Cheers