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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Zacuto Gratical HD Micro Oled EVF

mrogers said:
Mandy here from Zacuto. The pre-order price of $2900 is over but we lowered the overall list price to $3100. Some dealers are still showing the higher list price of $3800 and we are working to get this corrected. http://store.zacuto.com/gratical-hd/
Click to expand...

@Mandy is the release of the Gratical delayed? A week ago all you marketing info was pointing out for a early February Shipping now is displaying 4-6 weeks.
 
Slight delay

Slight delay

Hi- Yes, we had a short delay in shipping Graticals. We began shipping on Friday and hope to be caught up on pre-orders by the end of February.
 
Can't wait to see one. The EVF is a weak point on so many camera systems. While my OLED Bomb is reasonable its resolution IMHO is not sufficent in a 6K world. I wish Red would say if they plan on a new EVF in the near future?
 
I wounder why they can't put a shutter like on the old OVF of film cameras to prevent the sun light hit and burn the screen. The shutter system was activated when the eye applied a slight pressure on the OVF.

Pat
 
How does this work : "An auto-closing eyecup door prevents sunburn display automatically without any action by the operator. "
 
Hi, Steve Weiss from Zacuto here and I'd like to clear up any confusion about the Gratical HD and LT

First, about resolution:
Someone mentioned the idea of seeing a 1080p display. I made a test 1080p version in our lab space and their is no difference to the 720p version no matter how many "K" you are pumping into it. Plus it would make the EVF over $6K because the panel itself would have a huge price tag. With an image approximately 1.75 inches in diameter your eye cannot resolve the difference between 1080p and 720p. The bigger issue is how many OLED lit pixels you have and how tightly packed they are. Everyone who has reviewed the Gratical has said that you can't see the pixels, so it's game over. The resolution is so sharp that features like red line most reviewers say are unnecessary because you can see the image so clearly that you can easily focus. That being said we do have Red Line (actually it can be configured to any color line you like). These reviews get into some of these issues:

Another issue that comes up is will the EVF read 4K. We are currently working on that as a firmware update in which will probably down-res the image to 1080 (not a guarantee it can do it but it would be a nice feature). But understand that you will never see the difference in 1080 to 40K when viewed on an image this size. I don't want to get into a 4k discussion because I know how passionate you are all on it and it's great but we all know that like anything the eye can only resolve it at certain distances and sizes. Think of a billboard, the dots are golfball sized when viewed 5 feet but you see no dots at 200 feet from it. Of course 4K is great for a million things but in this case it will not make a difference. Most people do not realize that many of the on-board monitors we use are not even 720p. I don't believe the Epic touch screen is HD, I could be wrong and many use that for critical focus. The Gratical is 720p (larger including scopes) and you are viewing it from like an inch away and not seeing any pixels.

Now another issue is the panel itself. Not all OLED panels are the same and the quality of the panel is key to the sharpness plus the amount of lit pixels it has in relation to the physical size of the display, optical system and amount of magnification. The Gratical has 5.4 million pixels on a .61" display. It has a custom designed 6 lens optical system with -1 to +4 diopter range. Also, the software and how you get your video to the display is another huge issue for sharpness and contrast range. The final element has our latest patented anti-fog formula. As a side note, for the most part the panel drives the cost basis. Just as a footnote in large quantities the panel itself is over $300.

Someone mentioned the quality of the Alexa EVF--actually the Alexa is not OLED, it's LCOS. Every shooter I know who uses it hates it. Every time you move your eye around you see weird rainbows. LCOS is an old technology. Resolution, sharpness and gamma range are not in the OLED area at all. The Amira is another story. I've hear rumors that the EVF might be a total recall because it's so bad. It's OLED but not sharp at all and something goes terribly wrong unless you are pinned into the center of the screen and then it is still soft. This is a known problem and almost to the level of not usable, search the web and you can read about it. Sadly, I would put the Sony OLED over any Arri one, the Panasonic one is not bad (a bit of pincushioning, probably due to it's ability to increase and decrease the FOV). Here's a very unscientific quick video we did with Bruce logan: http://vimeo.com/117608625

Just so people know, the FOV and the eye-box in the bomb is much small to the Gratical HD. It's closer to the Gratical LT. The FOV of the Gratical is about 10% bigger then the Alexa EVF. We spent a lot of time working on the relationship between the magnification and the field of view. We have found the optimal size so you can see the entire image in one view without having to move your eye around to see the whole image. The eye box is the amount of room you feel you have to move your head around and still have see the image clearly. The Gratical HD is huge, the LT is less. Most think the bomb FOV is too small. And the old LCD type EVF's like our original EVF or any of the others based on cellular displays are ridiculously too large. It's like sitting in the front row of the movie theater and having to turn your head to follow the action. There are lots of reviews out there about the Gratical HD but here are links to two:

http://provideocoalition.com/freshdv/story/gratical-hd-evf-review
http://www.cinema5d.com/zacuto-gratical-hd-evf-extensive-review-viewfinder/

Some one mentioned that we should have left the fluff stuff out of the LT and kept the same display as the HD. The only difference from the HD to the LT is the panel and optics. The rest of the unit is the same. Why would I shut features off in the LT (fluff stuff) when it doesn't affect the cost basis, that's just mean. They are identical in features (cause they share the same body), the only difference is the quality of the optics and display size/reduction in pixels. It's still better then most EVF's on the market (just OLED and it's gamma range and sharpness) but it is not as crisp as the HD.

Someone asked about the shutter that used to be in the old Arri film viewfinders. Good question. I'm an old timer and I have to admit, that I hated those shutters. You had to push fairly tightly into the eyecup to get it open and by the end of the day you had a permanent red ring around your eye. Couple reasons why we didn't do this. first, we typically operated that system on a dolly or tripod and you had resistance. The concept never really worked in handheld mode because the pushing required you to pull back on your camera for resistance. Arri's were build like a tank and heavy when tripod mounted and nowadays we have a bit more flex in our lighter camera setups then those days. People didn't do as much handheld back then. Plus, the cost of this would have been very expensive. We though about it but in the end decided it was not the best choice. We invested a lot of money in trying to develop a smart glass system, where when you take your eye out of the eyecup it instantly makes the last glass element go black. We had a working model but here was the downside. You couldn't get the screen without like 30% ND (so to speak) when the smart glass was in clear mode. So it just didn't work. We also experiment with an LCD window kind of like a Casio watch from the 1970's but that too had issues, their was a delay time to opening and closing the window. We are continuing to work on the smart glass option and designed the unit so that they could be implemented in the eyecup and be easily added to existing units.

Someone asked about the chamois. Usually when I go that route, I just use a black cloth/sock to cover the evf when not using it. There are a lot of options for how people look into EVF's so their is not perfect solution. Our rubber door works, it requires a bit of learning on how to open it with your head and not your hand. You kind of catch raised piece of rubber with the side of your head and rotate your eye in. It works, is comfortable and will guarantee it can never burn. Here is a video on how it works: http://vimeo.com/114381017

If anyone has any questions you can always email me directly: steve@zacuto.com
 
Got it today here in Toronto, from Image Gear.
First look: WELL MADE-SOLID as it should be. Flappy cap works, but takes time getting use to the "head move" to open it with no hands (as per video).
Picture: SHARP. CONTRASTY. AS IT SHOULD BE. Still going thru menus, figuring out all options. Hardware wise, top marks! No more worries with flimsy cables (got the Shape 10" coiled SDI). Oh, Loupe is GREAT, and fine tuning works.
I did make a custom rosette adapter to connect evf with my "old" Solid Camera mount. Now, Gratical HD is perfectly leveled and in perfect spot on camera body, and due to slim profile stays on the camera when packing.
Next, battle testing...
 
Steven,

How does the Zacuto EVF compare to the Red's OLED Bomb EVF. Is it substantially sharper? I assume its a much larger image FOV compared to the Bomb? And Mr. Weiss will any of your Australian distributors be getting a demo model?
 
Just unboxed this unit. I can tell you that this unit is AWESOME! Great build quality, sharp, comfortable, customizable, just freakin awesome. I can see this as a viable option, and in some cases, a replacement to the Touch LCD. My one grip against this is the toggle power button. I can see myself forgetting to turn it off when not in use but luckily, LPE6 batteries are always on me.

Compared to the BOMB EVF, superior in every way.
 
Mine is coming in on Monday... Heads up to anyone who ordered from B&H before the $900 off promo: I got charged $3600 (which was the preorder price when I ordered mine, end of November). Currently trying to work this out with B&H, it should be fine, just a minor inconvenience. I just want anyone who preordered at $3600 to check what they got charged.

I've already brought this to Zacuto's attention in case it has happened to other people or other vendors.
 
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