SmallHD 703 Ultra Bright

[Walter F. Rodriguez]

Mine shipped today...

 

 

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[Jacek Drofiak]

Transvideo are pretty strong, impact resistant. How it looks like with SmallHD 703 Ultra Bright, is it strong enough to work regularly on steadicam?

[Alan Rencher]

If anyone is using these to pull focus, or as a director's monitor, Media Blackout has LogicBlocks for them, now: https://mediablackout.net/products/logicblock

 

[Walter F. Rodriguez]

I've debated whether or not to write about my experience with the SmallHD 703. Obviously, I have decided to write about my short time with the monitor. I received it on Monday and took it to set Tuesday morning. Camera was outputting the usual 1080 23.98 PSF we have been using for years. There were 6 other monitors on set, none of which have ever had any issues. Two Sony 17" OLED, two older TVLogic LCD, and two other SmallHD 7" monitors.

 

Unfortunately, the 703 displayed horrible ghosting delay and interlace looking tearing.

 

It was unusable for operating or pulling focus. Only static images appeared normal.

 

I promptly called SmallHD and they offered to send me a replacement or refund.

 

I opted for the refund.

 

I am still a proud owner of a SmallHD 702 which I also pre ordered and have never had any image issues with.

 

 

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[Michael Desiderio]

I've debated whether or not to write about my experience with the SmallHD 703. Obviously, I have decided to write about my short time with the monitor. I received it on Monday and took it to set Tuesday morning. Camera was outputting the usual 1080 23.98 PSF we have been using for years. There were 6 other monitors on set, none of which have ever had any issues. Two Sony 17" OLED, two older TVLogic LCD, and two other SmallHD 7" monitors.

 

Unfortunately, the 703 displayed horrible ghosting delay and interlace looking tearing.

 

It was unusable for operating or pulling focus. Only static images appeared normal.

 

I promptly called SmallHD and they offered to send me a replacement or refund.

 

I opted for the refund.

 

I am still a proud owner of a SmallHD 702 which I also pre ordered and have never had any image issues with.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I have seen this issue when cross-converting a PSF signal with my 702, were you running it through any sort of converter?

[Walter F. Rodriguez]

I have seen this issue when cross-converting a PSF signal with my 702, were you running it through any sort of converter?

No, straight from the camera.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Alec Jarnagin SOC]

Walter,

 

If you have not returned it yet, you may wish to wait. It is a firmware issue. They emailed me Firmware 1.5.1 and I did some side by side tests with my two monitors and my Sony F3 yesterday.

 

Top monitor is the old firmware. Bottom one is the new version. Big difference.

 

 

[Jens Piotrowski SOC]

How's the monitor otherwise Alec?

[Alex Leung]

I received my 703 last Friday. I did notice the same ghosting issue as Walter. But I'll try the new firmware tomorrow on set and see if that fixes the issue. According to the changelog, it appears the original firmware is not interpreting P vs PsF signals correctly.

 

And to respond to Jacek, the monitor is quite solid. Appears to be milled from a single solid piece of aluminum. Besides the joystick and buttons, I don't really notice any plastic on the exterior. The display is Gorilla Glass. But I guess time will tell how strong it is once they get out on sets and suffer some abuse.

[Walter F. Rodriguez]

Walter,

 

If you have not returned it yet, you may wish to wait. It is a firmware issue. They emailed me Firmware 1.5.1 and I did some side by side tests with my two monitors and my Sony F3 yesterday.

 

Top monitor is the old firmware. Bottom one is the new version. Big difference.

 

 

Thanks for posting Alec,

 

This is exactly what mine was doing.

 

How are the backlights on your units when viewing a black screen?

 

Mine had a hotspot in the lower right corner.

 

 

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[Chris Koveleski]

How long did you guys who ordered it take to see it shipped? I ordered mine last week and it's still listed as being fulfilled

[James Baldanza SOC]

Walter,

 

If you have not returned it yet, you may wish to wait. It is a firmware issue. They emailed me Firmware 1.5.1 and I did some side by side tests with my two monitors and my Sony F3 yesterday.

 

Top monitor is the old firmware. Bottom one is the new version. Big difference.

 

Are you using it as your steadicam monitor?

[Alex Leung]

So after loading the 1.5.1 firmware, I can confirm that the ghosting issues are gone. I'll take some pictures tomorrow that'll show if there are any hot spots. If there are things people want to see in particular about the 703, let me know and I'll take videos/images.

[Alec Jarnagin SOC]

Hi all,

 

Like most of us, I’m always on the lookout for reliable daylight viewable monitors. I used the old CRT green screens for a very long time because of the limitations of LCD technology at the time, but finally made the switch to LCD when the Cinetronic was introduced (first a Gen 1 and then the Gen 2). Many high NIT monitors suffer in the color department as its very difficult to maintain accurate color rendition with large amounts of backlight being pumped through the screen. For Steadicam use, I’ve always accepted this limitation as the monitor is really there for framing. This said, I’ve always wanted a more color accurate monitor with programable LUTs so everyone who looks at my monitor sees a better rendition of the image we are capturing. The color and contrast on the 703U seem to be spot on and there is still detail in the shadow areas which have also been known to suffer on “high-bright" monitors. In addition, the 703U has all the features of the 702 (which I’ve been using on “Studio Mode” cameras) with its intuitive menus and many, many features.

 

Here are some pictures of the tests I did and some thoughts. For comparison, I mounted the 703 to my Cinetronic 2 monitor so both could fly on the Steadicam at the same time. I used my Sony F3 camera for signal which puts out a psf signal. As has been pointed out, there was a firmware issue with the 703's release (which has since been fixed, but I did these tests prior to that) so I ran the image through a Decimator MDX (which I leave full time on my Cinetronic 2 as it does not handle psf at all).

 

The Cinetronic monitor is mounted closer to the sled (monitor arm sucked all the way in) so it's a bit more shaded as it's under the camera and Preston but the difference is very slight.

The image on the Small HD is clearly sharper with more contrast and way better color. It definitely catches more reflections on the glass though but between the horsepower and better contrast the image is very close. Also proves just how amazing the Cinetronic 2 is all these years later. The build quality on the Small HD seems solid. Much beefier than the 702 and it has Lemo connectors. Its still very light so I'll be carrying a battery on the back for Steadicam use. The photos were taken on an iPhone and are of course limited to that image quality.

I have Cam-Jam sending me parts to mount it on my sled and I'm looking forward to using it in the field. I like the idea of having the same monitor on dolly and Steadicam. Of note, there is no analog (NTSC/PAL) input on the new generation of Small HDs. Having bought the Digital only ("basic") XCS level though, I've entered a digital only world. In the unlikely event I see a SD tap on a camera, I suspect there will be an AJA analog to SDI converter so we can transmit via a Teradek anyway. Maybe I'll even buy my own converter but this insures I'll never need one! Funny how we've come full circle (we used to carry down-converters).

[James Baldanza SOC]

Alec,

Have you gotten the parts from Cam-Jam? Any additional updates?

 

 

Hi all,

 

Like most of us, I’m always on the lookout for reliable daylight viewable monitors. I used the old CRT green screens for a very long time because of the limitations of LCD technology at the time, but finally made the switch to LCD when the Cinetronic was introduced (first a Gen 1 and then the Gen 2). Many high NIT monitors suffer in the color department as its very difficult to maintain accurate color rendition with large amounts of backlight being pumped through the screen. For Steadicam use, I’ve always accepted this limitation as the monitor is really there for framing. This said, I’ve always wanted a more color accurate monitor with programable LUTs so everyone who looks at my monitor sees a better rendition of the image we are capturing. The color and contrast on the 703U seem to be spot on and there is still detail in the shadow areas which have also been known to suffer on “high-bright" monitors. In addition, the 703U has all the features of the 702 (which I’ve been using on “Studio Mode” cameras) with its intuitive menus and many, many features.

 

Here are some pictures of the tests I did and some thoughts. For comparison, I mounted the 703 to my Cinetronic 2 monitor so both could fly on the Steadicam at the same time. I used my Sony F3 camera for signal which puts out a psf signal. As has been pointed out, there was a firmware issue with the 703's release (which has since been fixed, but I did these tests prior to that) so I ran the image through a Decimator MDX (which I leave full time on my Cinetronic 2 as it does not handle psf at all).

 

The Cinetronic monitor is mounted closer to the sled (monitor arm sucked all the way in) so it's a bit more shaded as it's under the camera and Preston but the difference is very slight.

The image on the Small HD is clearly sharper with more contrast and way better color. It definitely catches more reflections on the glass though but between the horsepower and better contrast the image is very close. Also proves just how amazing the Cinetronic 2 is all these years later. The build quality on the Small HD seems solid. Much beefier than the 702 and it has Lemo connectors. Its still very light so I'll be carrying a battery on the back for Steadicam use. The photos were taken on an iPhone and are of course limited to that image quality.

I have Cam-Jam sending me parts to mount it on my sled and I'm looking forward to using it in the field. I like the idea of having the same monitor on dolly and Steadicam. Of note, there is no analog (NTSC/PAL) input on the new generation of Small HDs. Having bought the Digital only ("basic") XCS level though, I've entered a digital only world. In the unlikely event I see a SD tap on a camera, I suspect there will be an AJA analog to SDI converter so we can transmit via a Teradek anyway. Maybe I'll even buy my own converter but this insures I'll never need one! Funny how we've come full circle (we used to carry down-converters).