04Jan SmallHD announces new 7 inch OLED 1280×800 monitors
SmallHD has announced a new 7 inch OLED monitor as well as a few other models under the title AC7. If you aren’t familiar with OLED technology, it’s basically an LED device that can be made in a LCD form factor. The nice thing about OLED tech is that it doesn’t require a back light, so contrast is greatly improved as well as light bleed. The other nice thing about an OLED screen is that it requires less power then a LCD type display. Less power means longer battery life, which most would consider a good thing.
So to recap the AC7 OLED we have longer battery life, a better screen, and 720p resolution (1280×800). Now for the down side, the OLED model clocks in at $1099 and it’s in a 7 inch form factor. As someone who has grown to love a 5 inch monitor form factor I don’t think I would want to take a step back to a 7 inch screen. Of course there is also the price.
It seems to me that if you can cram a beautiful 1280 x 768 screen into a device like the Nexus 4 cellphone for $350, you should be able to produce a 4.7 inch DSLR monitor for under $600 that doesn’t suck. I wont be spending $1099 on a OLED monitor any time in the near feature, but if you have the budget and feel the need, it’s worth a look.
January 5th, 2013 at 5:22 am
iff there was a SDI function on the $700 version i would really get one!
January 5th, 2013 at 9:25 am
How is a 7″ monitor a step back from a 5″, unless you physically mean you’d have to step back for see the larger screen. A 7″ (actually the OLED’s are 7.7″, even better) screen seems the perfect even at very close range and still good for a few feet back.
The Small HD houseings should be factored in too, I haven’t seen these, but past models have been nearly bulletproof.
January 5th, 2013 at 10:39 am
The smaller form factor is so much easier to pack, takes up less space on the rig and if you are worried about focus you simply use the 1 to 1 mode. I’ve lugged around 8 and 9 inch monitors with higher resolution (the original smallhd comes to mind) and it’s a pain with very little benefit.
Build quality with all of SmallHD’s products has always been good. Tough machined aluminum and good buttons with a nice looking screen. But the 3 i’ve owned have all had issues, like over heating, constant rebooting, and flaky menus.
January 5th, 2013 at 1:46 pm
When have DSLR accessories ever been sold for a “reasonable” price. With the exception of the Chinese made knock offs, this stuff has always been priced for those with huge budgets.
I too wonder how Google can make such a great device like the Nexus 7 for $200 , yet tiny/cheap monitors cost way more.
January 5th, 2013 at 8:23 pm
So true.
January 5th, 2013 at 8:38 pm
I have owned 2 smallHD (7″ and 5″). Menus were not very practical. also the 5″ was very small and lightweight, it was far from rock solid (it fell on the floor and was broken. As I live in France, I am not going to send it back in USA for repair).
So I just bought today the korean monitor BON FM-0550 SCH. My first comments : bigger and slightly heavier than the 5″ from SmallHD but should be daylight viewable (800 nits vs 350 nits for the 5″ SmallHD) more battery consuming too. waveform, vectorscope, easy menus.
January 20th, 2013 at 5:44 am
Hi Deejay, do you use The Sony v55 with Canon 5 III? It seems to be the perfect companion but there were incompatibility issues with the old 5DII so just wondering how it works.
January 20th, 2013 at 7:30 pm
Yes and do. It works pretty well, with only a small amount of windowing full screen. When the new firmware is released in April we should have full screen on the v55. It’s a great little monitor for the price, I use it a lot more then the DP4.
January 23rd, 2013 at 4:04 am
Sorry for stupid question, but is it really bad to use, for example, Nexus 7 as a monitor in comparison to expensive models like this one?
January 23rd, 2013 at 5:57 am
The Nexus 7 works as a monitor as long as you are willing to put up with the glitchy connection system. When it works, it works well, but sometimes you have to restart it 3 or 4 times to get it to work again. A field monitor will cost you more, but it always turns on and works (no resets required).