I remember the first time I saw a camera with a flip out display. I thought it was the coolest thing ever invented, until I started using cameras more regularly. Then I realized they were too small, too dull, and not really as helpful as I had hoped. Since the novelty has worn off, they often now leave camera ops like me calling for more. More brightness, more sharpness, more size, just more. SmallHD answered the call with its most recent release, the AC-7. This monitor has it all: more brightness, more options and more software, just plain more.
On top of that, the 7.7-inch monitor itself is rugged, well-made, and feels like it could stand up to a little abuse. It also has 4/20 mounting receivers on both the top and bottom, giving you a variety of mounting options. The AC-7 comes with HDMI, but SDI models are available, making them equally good for post or live production environments. The kicker here is the AC-7 utilizes organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology at a price that is comparable to traditional LCD monitors.
TAKE NOTE
The clarity of the screen is one of the things that really makes the AC-7 stand out from other monitors. The OLED has to be seen in person to be really appreciated, but trust me: it's awesome. The colors are vivid and the blacks are black because of the use of OLED technology. The reason OLED is important in this application is the advantage it has over regular LCD. While the advantages are numerous, most of them hinge on the difference in how an OLED monitor produces light or, in the case of black—doesn't. Typical LCD monitors have a contrast ratio, which is the monitor's ability to produce black against its ability to produce white. The difference with OLED monitors is that the color black is a result of turning off the diodes rather than blocking the backlight the way LCDs do. Since LCD backlight is always on, regardless of how much black or white they are producing, there is always some light leakage. This is easily noticed when turning on a traditional LCD monitor—they glow even if there is no source data and the monitor is black. On an OLED this lack of light results in the contrast ratio being almost infinity to one. This also increases the perceived brightness, as the eye becomes accustomed to such vivid dark values, the white values seem extremely bright.
Great for circumstances where the monitor is being used during the week on a DSLR and then pressed into service on the weekend for studio configuration for IMAG.
When you add to the contrast ratio the fact that the AC-7 also has a high color depth or bit depth, resulting in fantastic looking gradients, you really start to get an appreciation for just how good this monitor is. Bit depth determines how many increments of value (lightness) there are between the brightest and darkest shades of red, green and blue. For example, six-bit panels reproduce 64 levels of color per “channel” (or color). These numbers multiply together to reach the total number of colors the panel can reproduce. 64x64x64 = 262,144. Eight-bit panels have four times the amount of R,G,B shades as six-bit, meaning 256 colors per channel. This means an eight-bit panel achieves 16,777,216 colors—64 times more colors than a six-bit panel.
ENERGY BENEFITS—
AND MORE
Another side effect of the way OLED technology works is in its efficiency, since the “black” diodes are off, it lowers power consumption. The AC-7 is capable of running on batteries used in many of today's cameras. The included battery adaptor plate gives you options in mounting plates including Panasonic, Canon, Sony and Anton/Bauer. This is important because it puts your battery investment in a battery that can be used on multiple devices. If you are already using a pro battery (like Anton/Bauer or V-Mount), SmallHD also makes a D-Tap-to-Barrel Adapter cable that eliminates the need for any type of battery bracket on the back of the AC-7. Just plug straight into the pro battery's D-Tap output. In the event you don't want to run off batteries there is also a Hirose locking connector that allows the AC-7 to run off four-pin XLR.
One of the other ways it's flexible is it has eight presets and two user-defined buttons. This is great for circumstances where the monitor is being used during the week on a DSLR and then pressed into service on the weekend for studio configuration for IMAG. It would be easy to make a preset for each situation and toggle them quickly as needed. The user-defined buttons give you the option to have the software features easily at your fingertips, like focus assist in red or false color. The focus assist in red is one of my favorite features of the software package. This feature outlines the edges of whatever is in focus in red, making it very easy to focus shots. The false color effect is a great way to view and adjust the exposure of the subject, as well. It functions much like “zebra” filter painting over exposed and underexposed areas.
Some of the other software features include framing guides, 1:1 pixel mapping, and anamorphic desqueeze. All of these features can be mapped to the user-defined keys or activated from the menu navigation. The menu on the AC-7 is very easy to use and super intuitive. The menu is navigated and selections are made using a button scroll wheel similar to the ones used on DSLRs. The menu set up is logical and with the one-button navigation and selection, it's very easy to get around in.
If you haven't figured out that I really like this monitor you were reading the wrong article. The OLED screen gives this monitor amazing color, contrast, and gradient rendering. This is the monitor I always envisioned but never thought would exist, especially at a price that I could afford. The price tag on the fully loaded SDI OLED version is $1,399, however the little brother of this monitor, an HDMI-only LCD version, retails for $599. Just Google OLED field monitors and see how few show up and then check out the price, and you will see SmallHD really comes out on top.
