LCD vs. External Field Monitor? (DVX100A)
 

Is it necessary to invest in a professional field production monitor for use with the DVX100A (using an s-video connection) or is the attached LCD monitor sufficient? I realize you can't trust the LCD 100% to give you an accurate exposure, but will a field monitor be that much different? I would like to know before I go and invest $600 or more for a monitor that I may not even need for setting up shots with this camera. Also, will a field monitor be capable of showing an unsqueezed 16:9 image while shooting with the anamorphic lens?

Re: LCD vs. External Field Monitor? (DVX100A)
 

<<<-- Originally posted by Dwight Morris : Is it necessary to invest in a professional field production monitor for use with the DVX100A (using an s-video connection) or is the attached LCD monitor sufficient? I realize you can't trust the LCD 100% to give you an accurate exposure, but will a field monitor be that much different?

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Yes it will
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I would like to know before I go and invest $600 or more for a monitor that I may not even need for setting up shots with this camera. Also, will a field monitor be capable of showing an unsqueezed 16:9 image while shooting with the anamorphic lens?

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Don't know
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If you care that much about the shots, you should consider using a waveform monitor too.

If you want to see what your image will look like, get a monitor. Waveform and Vectorscopes are good too, but you have to actually know what you are doing with those. I am primarily a film guy, so I leave that to the engineers.

A Sony PVM9L3 is a good field monitor with a nine inch screen. It can run off a battery, or on regular AC. It detects whether the signal is PAL or NTSC and auto switches. Porta Brace makes a good case, the MO-9L2, that has an integral hood, pockets for cables/etc. and a repositionable prop to angle the monitor up, so you can see it when it's on the ground/dolly. Dave Riddle has an eStore on eBay and sells calibrated monitors complete with a really nifty hardcase that also has an integral hood and bracket/handle with a 5/8" female receiver so you can mount it on a stand. I'm saving my pennies for that one.

The PVM9L3 will give you 4:3 or 16x9, blue gun, underscan and other nifty features. You have to buy plug in cards for Firewire, SDI and MPEG-2.

You are better off going through the RCA video out on the DVX. BNC is the professional connector, S-video is a lower quality signal and the cables are more expensive. Get an an RCA male to BNC Female adapter for the camera, about $5 @ Radio Shack. Be sure that you get 75 ohm, shielded BNC cable. I suppose you could use an RCA cable and put an BNC to RCA adapter on that. Not sure if the cables are shielded, or not.

There are a bunch of different monitors on the market made by all of the major manufacturers. What you get depends on your pocketbook and feature requirements.

There are also small handheld monitors that get a signal via wireless transmitter from the camera and then the director can see the image and not be tethered. This is good in some situations, but it does not give you the color fidelity, blue gun, or underscan capabilities. If you want to get fancy, with multiple monitors and wireless, you end up having to use video DA's and switchers and all kinds of fun stuff.

With my equipment, S-video shows a sharper image than RCA-->BNC connection.
Panasonic GS70- normal camcorder A/V cable to BNC
Sony pvm-1354q

S-video connection does not show chroma crawl than RCA/BNC does. Sometimes it may be desireable to check for chroma crawl to see if you can make simple changes to avoid it. It can get annoying on fences and certain textile patterns in clothing.

In practice, I find S-video/Y-C to be sharper.

As far as S-video cables being more expensive, they aren't for short runs. For long runs, it's cheapest to get S-video to RCA/BNC/co-axial adapters and use co-axial or BNC cabling. Dunno if cablewholesale.com has them.