Field Monitoring

[Chris Newman]

I am thinking this will be my field and studio monitor when I get my Scarlet:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-7438

I am envisioning an enclosure that I will make from 2x4's, plywood, plexiglass, foam, and protective hardboard that I can slide into a slot in front of the plexiglass. I will add hardware so it can mount to a light stand. Of course, I will paint it all black so it will look professional :wink:.

I will probably also make a sun hood out of fabric that is supported by pins that slide into holes in the 2x4's.

What do you think? How are you planning on monitoring?

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

Be warned... 300 cd/m2 is nowhere near enough for sunny days with any type of hood... you would need to get a tent to make that work. I tried exactly what you are talking about, made a very nice case, built a long hood... but it was a royal pain in the behind to be able to judge in the sun.

And of course the color will be way off to say the least.

Also, it might not display the image 1:1 even if it has a 1:1 setting which means you won't be getting the proper framing which can be very misleading and also a PITA for you if you are sitting in front of it for most of the day.

However, super inexpensive... good luck and just don't scratch it till you got to test it out.

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

found a picture with it in a BTS folder and cropped it for you

ours was 500 cd/m2

 

[Chris Newman]

Thanks Roberto. Do you have any recommendations for other affordable monitors that are at least 720p?

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

Not really... Gateway used to make the one I bought with much better color than they sell it now. Perhaps an Apple LCD, they also have decent color... but not sure if it does 1:1... the Gateway was just as good color wise before they changed the manufacturing but the 1:1 option cut of the overscan when fed through RGB via the D4 plug on my HVX.

If you want 1:1, proper 8-bit color and tons of brightness you will need to spend a lot more money. And piles more for something that will let you see the R3D files in their full glory for post.

What I would probably recommend (please ask around, I am no guru by any means) is that you get one of the small LCDs being sold right now for Red One for the set, just get the little one cause it is cheaper, and try to make due with that... it will be tough to share when shooting, the AC needs to have his face planted on that puppy for focus, and hopefully the operator has something else to frame with. But that won't work for post.

If you have tons of time to wait, there is a cheaper 8" LCD that has killer resolution, colors and so forth yet half the price of the Panasonic 8" counterpart. It is called the Carrion, but they ship out super slow and the guy that makes them is a film maker with little time to devote to customer support... not that his monitor will ever have issues, I've never heard of one having a single problem... just don't expect to talk to a representative when you call. It is called the Carrion, but even that one at only 8" goes for like $1500 and you still need power. You will however be able to hook it up for post for a small yet very decent color representation for NTSC. Then use your bigger 1080p LCD for focus checking.

Now by all means try out a few computer screens, just don't expect to be able to rely on them for best results, especially without anything else to frame with. However you may get lucky, and you may get one that at least shows you the full image with the overscan somehow... and then if you are working with a good DP that doesn't need to look at a screen to know what he is getting color wise, then you could be in very decent shape. Post would be in RAW so you could fix nearly anything so long as you can see what you are working with. However that could be a ton of work you could avoid with proper monitoring on set.

Do some searching over in the Reduser sections, there are tons of threads trying to solve this very subject, but for under $500 your best bet is to test out different LCDs till you get something decent and understand the issues and limitations, then adjust to them.

Now, if you are planning to shoot for the www, then you are in much better shape. Then you would be distributing to other LCDs, so all you need is to get a "better" one than the average screen out there... a good way to see how decent the colors might be on a given screen might be to take a look at the way full black is displayed... often you will have strong hints of red on LCDs, but better LCDs get closer to real black.

An other cool thing to do is to somehow feed blue bars to the screen, they are just like color bars but only with blue hues, which in conjunction with the normal color bars allow you to proper calibrate the color and contrast as best as it can be calibrated for NTSC with the settings that a particular monitor will have built in. If you can, judge the LCDs you test only after calibrating like this.

Best of luck!

Content is king :wink: