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I make no apology for looking at the frugal side of life - Because it frequently looks at me. Still - we can share a cup of tea, if the monthly teabag will still work - and quietly contemplate useful products like the Port Keys 7-inch high-brightness monitor.
Let me say at the outset that I am the market this sort of monitor is aimed at - I am just starting to learn how to make my videos with a modern camera and am doing so in small steps. Up until now I have been using the tilting LCD screen at the back of my mirror-less camera as the view-finding and review mechanism.
It is fine, as far as it goes, but it isn’t when I try to get it to do too much. Outdoor shooting in WA sunshine is nearly impossible if I am using the LCD. It is back to the viewfinder and even that is boosted up to the max to beat the ambient level.
The screen on my camera is also small when it comes to having all the indicators working at the same time as the main view. It is crowded and hard to compose through.
Playback is fine, but here again I get no audio feedback to speak of and more screen would be nice.
This is where the Port Keys people aimed their unit. It runs from either a cable or a Sony NP-7 battery, has a 1000nit screen brightness, and an internal speaker. It has ample sockets support off a rig cage and is reasonably lightweight as well.
Apparently there are internal focus and operational aids as well, but that’s for the future. I am pleased to see it supports focus peaking as this is what saves me in the dance videos. My subjects travel too fast for AF to cope and it’s either nail their little feet to the stage or create a big DOF zone in which they can gyrate.
Why was this stuff never a problem in the old Standard 8 days?
All images and text by Richard Stein
