While planning a trip to the Indian jungle to film a short documentary about Pench National Park, my colleagues at cinema5d challenged me to leave my standard gear at home and take the new cinema camera Z CAM E2 instead – would it be up to the task?.
As Jarred said, RED shipped the first batch of pre-stormtrooper Komodos in custom colors to few lucky customers. The first color seems orange to me, but RED calls it “Grossman Gold”. Every batch of these pre-release cameras that get shipped out will have a different color. It seems like the next one will be yellow.
You got it; when carrying the Manfrotto PRO Light Flexloader L, you have choices, and it can rest on your shoulders for hours. The Manfrotto team put a lot of effort into making a comfortable bag. Being comfy is crucial as the Flexloader L can quickly become heavy considering how many compartments and how much stuff you can put in it.
Music for the above video is courtesy of MusicVine. Get 25% off your next music license with code C5D25 (valid for one use per customer).
To use a Sony NP-F battery, slide it to the right. I already said it for Portkey’s monitor, but I love that battery powering option.
The HS7T Metal Edition still features a 7-inch 8-bit IPS display with a maximum resolution of 1920×1080 and a viewing angle of 178°. The screen has a contrast ratio of 1200:1 and it can reach a peak brightness of 1200 nits. This is not as bright as the BM5 (2200 nits), but it starts to be usable under bright sunlight.
According to VIDEOGEAR, the Black Mini draws less than 6W of power. To give you a rough idea, as these results can vary a lot depending on the age/state of your battery pack, I did a quick test with a fresh Canon LP-E6N battery pack (14Wh). I got away with a little more than 3 hours of battery life at the maximum backlight setting. These results are great, and it’s decent battery life for an on-camera monitor powered by a small battery.
Last but not least, the waist belt is inside the built-in pocket when you receive the bag. This is handy if you, like me, rarely use them. One thing I hate is to have a waist belt I don’t use swinging around. Also, the waist belt features a small mesh pocket with a zipper.
I don’t remember any third-party field monitor – other than any OEM screen that usually ships with your camera – that can control a camera. By connecting the supplied cable from the monitor to your camera, the BM5 can control some of the camera functions.
Two little pins inside the handle make the connection between the battery and the D-Tap port. These pins slide back and forth inside the groove when you adjust the handle back and forth.
SDI, HDMI and USB inputs are all available on the OEYE-3G as well as both SDI and HDMI outputs. You can send 4K DCI signals at 24 frames per second through the HDMI or 4K UHD at 24/25/30 fps, but the SDI input port is only able to accept 1080P signals at up to 60 fps. The HDMI and SDI ports allow for cross conversion as well.
A quite surprising result on the rolling shutter measurements, which adds up to the very positive overall impression: in 4K DCI 25p mode (using ProRes HQ and ZLOG2) I got a very good result of 11.1[ms]. For comparison, the BMPCC4k has a rolling shutter of 16[ms] in UHD 25p mode.
In the photo above, you can see that the PT5’s case is bigger than the one included with the Portkeys BM5 III WR (pictured) or the LH5P. That was one of the main complaints I had with these previous small cases. Indeed, you could only store the monitor inside, which is a bummer, as you’ll always want to carry at least video cables or some accessories along with your monitor.
We use a strobe light at 300Hz to reveal pairs of black bars that occur due to the read out nature of CMOS sensors (the rolling shutter). Each pair represents 3.3 ms of rolling shutter.
Nothing broke; it still works perfectly. I secured the casing with some tape, so it stays as closed as it is supposed to be. However, I’m a bit worried about its longevity over time. I think that Volta Cinema could work on a better battery charging solution.
Also, and this is not particular to this monitor, but something I still don’t understand, is why manufacturers only put 1/4-20″ mounting points – thankfully with locating pins on the LH5P – at the bottom of their products.
This update makes the Z CAM E2/Atomos a very capable lightweight combo capable of shooting 4K60P ProRes RAW for just under $2500.00, which is incredible. (Our friend and colleague Philip Bloom shot a short piece with this new setup. You can view it by clicking here).
Also, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack if your camera doesn’t have one, or if you want to monitor your audio signal directly from the LH5H, which works fine.
Also, if you use a 5-pin XS16 to dummy battery cable, you can power your camera/follow focus motor directly from the LH5H dedicated output port, which is smart. This port is compatible with Tilta Nucleus-M and Nucleus-Nano follow focus motors.
The Volta Cinema Top Handle is the company’s first product, designed with a simple goal in mind: create a top handle that can power camera accessories or even your camera via a D-Tap port. I had the chance to play with it for one month, and here are my findings.
You can immediately feel that it’s a well-made product out of the box. The materials look dense, the stitchings of the bag are perfect, the sewing thread is thick.
B&H has a great deal on the Sony a6000 with two lenses – E PZ 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS and E 55-210mm f/4.5-6.3 OSS – plus memory card, extra battery, battery charger, and camera bag.
The PortKeys LEYE electronic viewfinder was first announced back in November 2020. This 4K HDMI-only EVF had a nice and compact form factor (106 x 70 x 78 mm) for a weight of 300g. In addition, the LEYE features a 2.4-inch display with a resolution of 1440 x 900, and can take signals up to 4K at 30 frames per second.
CVP Buy link: Panasonic LUMIX GH5 Camera Body Was: €1,182.68 Now: €967.65 (Savings: €215.03, Free accessories, Free 25mm f/1.7 lens, and Free 3-year warranty).
On the exterior side, there are various buttons/controls to control your camera or adjust your settings. These controls include one customizable three-band switch, one focus wheel, one rec switch, and one nine-way joystick.
Also, don’t forget that you can put a light stand, a camera tripod, and two small LED tubes on the sides/front of the bag, as well as your gimbal and laptop at the back. It means that an entire shooting kit can fit inside/outside the Flexloader L.
With these upcoming firmware updates, the Ninja V will be capable of recording ProRes RAW HQ/ProRes RAW at up to 4K60P from the HDMI port of the E2. According to Atomos, “additional frame rates will be added in the future.” Your footage will be recorded onto affordable AtomX SSD mini SATA drives in the Ninja V.
The monitor mount is not the greatest I’ve ever seen, some parts are made of plastic, but it gets the job done as the monitor is pretty lightweight.
This new Portkeys PT5 on-camera monitor came out in July 2021 and is the company’s most affordable monitor to date. With a $169/€150 price point, I was skeptical at first regarding what this monitor has to offer. However, I soon realized I had nothing to worry about.
This monitor has its limits for sure, but it is an excellent monitor if you want to step up your game and start working with a product that offers professional monitoring tools.
If you’re often shooting outside you should probably not consider this monitor as the screen is tough to see if you’re shooting outdoor. Also, even on a cloudy day, the included sun hood has its limits.
Chinese monitor manufacturer PortKeys just released a new budget-friendly monitoring solution to its lineup: the PortKeys LH5H. If you’re new to PortKeys products, we already reported about their BM5 5″ HDMI & SDI monitor, OEYE-3G EVF, or, more recently, the PortKeys KeyGrip handle. I’ve been using the extremely bright (2200 nits) PortKeys BM5 II for several months now, and it quickly became my go-to on-camera monitor.
The waveform plot of our Xyla 21 stepchart shows about 11 stops (see figure 1). Using IMATEST to calculate the dynamic range I got a result of 10.8 stops at ISO 500, Z-LOG2 using ProRes HQ 4k DCI 23.98fps (at a signal to noise ratio of 2, 11.9 stops for SNR = 1, see figure 2).
The menu itself is straightforward and well structured, also custom presents for the function buttons are available. However, some of the settings require deeper dives (changing the frame rate for example), hence doing that in the heat of the action does not work so well.
This is not that bad on the LH5P, and even at maximum brightness, the image remains viewable and usable. Keep in mind that this is a budget-friendly monitor, so comparing it to the big boys doesn’t make sense.
Finally, there’s a 7.4/24V power input/output port with a barrel connector that you can use to power the PT5. Unfortunately, a D-Tap or any other powering cable isn’t included in the kit, but you can easily find one at an affordable price. Last but not least, this port can feed a 7.4V camera accessory if you power the monitor with a Sony NP-F/Canon LP-E6 battery, but I did not try it.
Adapta is KipperTie’s simple PL to RF adapter while Revolva also offers a system for inserting ND filter cartridges. Pricing for KipperTie Komodo accessories has not been announced yet.
Also, dynamic range is limited to 10 stops and hindered furthermore by the fact, that the noise floor is cut off – hence, you cannot dig into the shadows to get that organic, flatter look – shadows are simply black with no information.
These tools are pretty standard nowadays on on-camera monitors, but nothing is missing on the LH5P. Also, you can adjust the position and scale of each tool via the touchscreen, but more on that in a second.
Portkeys has just launched a new lightweight 5″ on-camera monitor: the Portkeys PT5. This monitor can take HDMI input/output signals at up to 4K DCI at 24p or 4K UHD at up to 30p, it has a maximum brightness of 500 nits with all the monitoring tools you need to control your image properly, and it retails for only $169. So let’s take a closer look at Portkeys’ most affordable monitoring option yet!.
Indeed, a great on-camera monitor must be as color accurate as possible and be as close to “what you see is what you get” as possible. If your monitor colors are not correct, you won’t see your footage the way it’s supposed to be. For example, when a monitor’s colors are wildly inaccurate, you can see orange when you’re supposed to see yellow or red. It can affect how you’ll set your camera’s white balance or exposure, for example.
The Z Cam E2C uses an MFT sensor (slightly smaller than the one used in the Z CAM E2) which allows DCI 4K capturing of up to 4K 29.98 fps in combination with the Z-Log2 flat picture profile.
These monitoring tools were also available in the previous version, but Portkeys improved its peaking mode, which looks easier to view now. A new “freeze-frame” tool is now available to capture a frame and use it as a reference/guide.
The new Z CAM E2’s will be available in October 2019. To me, pricing is impressive, for cameras with that many features:.
Also, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack if your camera doesn’t have one or if you want to monitor your audio signal directly from the PT5, which works fine.
Finally, there’s an HDMI input port on the right side, above the power inputs, that can take video signals of up to 4K30p. There is no video output port.
The addition of this plate easily turns the F7 PRO into an affordable, compact director or 1st AC monitor. Furthermore, the vertical position of the NP-F style plate can be adjusted by loosening two screws in order to adapt to a wider variety of systems.
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There is a little built-in screen on top of the camera but no “proper” display. You need to add your monitor via the HDMI/SDI ports.
Then, you can clip the sun hood in the brackets, and you’re ready to go. The quality of this sun hood is okay, but I’m not sure it will last very long, and you’ll have to be careful with it.
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