LCD Monitor for VX2100

[Mike Petty]

I may be doing some work that requires a jib and thought I'd invest in an "on camera" monitor for use with the jib.

I sniffed around B&H and the prices seemed pretty reasonable. Any suggestions for best bet in the $300/$400 range?

[J. Stephen McDonald]

Originally Posted by Mike Petty

I may be doing some work that requires a jib and thought I'd invest in an "on camera" monitor for use with the jib.

I sniffed around B&H and the prices seemed pretty reasonable. Any suggestions for best bet in the $300/$400 range?

How big a monitor do you want and where and how are you going to attach it?

What I do is this:

On the rare occasions I shoot with my VX2100 on a tripod, I use a portable DVD player as a monitor. I strap it to an extra platform to the right of the camera and power it with a converted 9V split off the large lead-acid battery that sits near the tripod's base and powers everything in my rig. Its stiff screen-hinges let me angle it vertically, however I want. It's a high-resolution Phillips PET-1000 and cost me $330. and has a 10-inch screen. It puts on the best picture I found with any SD player. You could go with a smaller and cheaper DVD player, if the picture quality was good enough for you and save some money. It has S-Video and component outputs, as well as one for digital audio. It has only a composite video input, but despite this, shows an excellent picture from the camera. The added bonus is that I can show DVDs on it in the field and I usually carry a folder containing disks of my best work, just like a proud father, showing-off pictures of his kids.