I spoke with some one on the phone today and he said that the orders will be shipping today and tomorrow and that I would get an email with tracking number once it does.

just got this via e-mail a couple of minutes ago:

I got the email too. I wonder how many they got out yesterday and today. I haven't received a tracking number yet :(.

Garrett

I never got a tracking number either, but Dale told me that mine probably shipped out yesterday as it was one of the first ones.

i think our orders were fairly close together, so i'm hoping mine is on the way as well.

either way, i'm glad they sent an email out - hopefully it calmed some of those easily-agitated nerves.

me? i'm just freaking excited to get my smallHD!

now, which articulated arm to get? I'm so confused by all of these options.

Hi Justin,

What was your order number?

Garrett

Is was: 283051

Thanks Justin,

Mine was 108. Hope my unit went out by today.

Trevor, I was trying to figure out how to hook mine up too. I've got a Sachtler tripod and was trying to figure out how to connect it to that so it moves with the camera like a broadcast pedestal unit. He actually suggested trying to connect something into the left side pan handle point since I only use one. He suggested using a mic gooseneck for maximum flexibility in where the monitor could be positioned. A pretty good idea so tonight I'm off to Guitar Center to look for one.

Garrett

Good evening,

I was number 45 if i recall, I have no notice from UPS yet, but that does not surprise me from ups.

I have been trying to delay my excitement until I know ity has shipped. I am really keen to put it into action. I take off on an important shoot Saturday morning, I am certain it wont be here tomarrow. Heck overnight shipping in Canada usually takes three days. Two day shipping, perhaps a week.

I am going to build my own camera mount. Will start on that tomarrow.

I woke up this morning, checked emails, and noticed an email from UPS saying that my SmallHD delivery is scheduled for Tuesday!

Now I'll be tracking the dang package through the whole weekend...

Thanks Dale

same here. yay!

I also got mail from UPS.

Odered from HUN, delivery is on 5th of Jun. (order N: ...203)

Tuesday delivery for me as well...

Number 45 is in customs in wennipeg 400 miles east of me, should be in hand wed or thursday.

now I am anxious.

Have a steady cam shoot next weekend, will use it then for sure.

It's a Winner
 

OK, it’s a winner. Just received the long awaited SmallHD monitor, and did a quick comparison test with my Totevision, last generation monitor. Note, the Totevision was a definite value in shooting HDV with a Canon XH A1, however it was a lower resolution screen.

I set up two HV30 cameras shooting the same outdoor subject, simultaneously connecting the ToteVision and SmallHD. The difference was incredible, better color, much sharper… lot more detail. Tested both HDMI and component inputs.

I’m sold just based on the image, which is good since the menu/ control system is somewhat challenging.

Great to hear Terry! Are you able to post any side by side shots?

mine comes tomorrow. my heart is already racing :)

Justin,
Sorry, I’m all tied up getting ready for a gig this Friday and my time is too limited. I’m sure there will be lots of pictures and info shortly. Just wanted to say that the image was far superior than expected. The Totevision is Ikan class 800x480 LED monitor and as I said, is a noticeable improvement from camera LCD’s. I have also used a cheap Poloroid 16” HDTV, and the Small HD is a vast improvement over both of them. It will interesting to read the comments about the control functionality, but I plan to just set it up once and forget about it.
The wait will be worth it.

Great to hear; I've been using an 800x480 monitor and was debating on buying one of the new Marshall monitors (for the Focus-in-Red and False Color features) or the DP1 for its higher resolution. We'll see tomorrow but I'm fairly certain I'm going to be very happy that I went with the DP1 instead...

Duplicate post.

Duplicate post.

I'm setting mine up just now. The menu buttons are confusing as all get out, and I'm trying to figure out which input equates to Component?

Ahhh got it. Connector wasn't seated in the EX1. Working onward...

It is up and going now. My greatest dissatisfaction is the menu buttons, which are laid out in an unhelpful horizontal line. The most terrible aspect of this arrangement is that the POWER button is one of these 5. It should be well-separated from them in position, I think. I'd most like to see the power button on the connector-edge or on one of the sides of the screen or perhaps on the front in the lower right.

I know little of setting up calibration. I await someone's expert flowchart for doing this on the DP1. Perhaps SmallHD should place this on their site.

PS, just in case someone is as daft as I was, the Component is called YPbPr (I'm a newb), and on the EX1's menus this is called YPbPr/SDI simply because the functions there apply to both interfaces. Incidentally, setting the EX1's "display" on or off means should the menu and other icon stuff show up on the DP1 or not. But no one can be as new as me, can they?

tone

This has got to be the best Tuesday ever. First the firmware update for manual control for our 5D and now the SmallHD came in. Still fooling around with it but I am very satisfied so far. Here are some pictures. Now to go try it outside...

nice John! I'm still waiting on UPS today, it's driving me NUTS!!!

Anyway, I was just wondering what purpose (if any) the tripod collar serves on your 70-200 (i see it's turned upside down - just to get it out of the way?) I know this may sound dumb, but you know you can remove it from the lens right? It'll save ya a bit of weight :-)

Enjoy! I can't WAIT for my DP1 to get here *face glued to window*

Yeah I know ;) I still use it quite a bit for stills and just leave it on. I'm just lazy I guess. I have to drill and tap an extra redrock micromount and put my noga arm on for the monitor than I will be all set and increase the weight even more. Oh and I can't forget the French flags for the wow factor....

Oh and by the way I tried it outside in direct sunlight and it was still surprisingly viewable. I was expecting it to be pretty much useless without the shade but it does really well. The sunshade is nice though.

ah, i totally hear ya about that tripod mount for still shooting - although I never mount my 70-200 (or any of my still cameras for that matter) to a tripod, i still really prefer that collar for handheld shooting. it just makes the lens feel so much better.

i'm happy to hear your report re: DP1 use in direct sunlight. I'm always surprised at how well my EX1's stock screen does in direct sunlight, so it'll be cool to see how the DP1 does. I'll be ordering a sun hood this week though, since I forgot to get that and a U bracket with my order.

unboxing photos coming soon!

My monitor was delivered but is waiting at home while I'm 30 miles away at work. I won't be able to go play with it until later tonight. :(

John, your set up looks great. My friend has a 5D that he uses for stills (he's got a photog business) but he's been playing a little with the video. Once I get my monitor I'll let him try it to see how things turn out.

Garrett

My own sunshade barely fits. Ok, it doesn't really fit: one of the receiver slots is not cut well into the aluminum (I know it is the cut and not the plastic tab meant to go into it, as reversing the shade doesn't alleviate the problem at the same corner). I think I am going to wind up filing down the plastic and marking it with some paint so I can recall the orientation that works. Not impressed with this one aspect at all.

tone

I have the same problem with one of my sunshade posts. And like you said it's not the bracket it's the monitor. I wonder if their cnc model was a little off for that hole.

I do like that it is one piece though and no velcro.

D1 Unboxing photos posted to my flickr stream at http://www.flickr.com/meeksdigital

They were uploaded from my iPhone so sorry about the typos etc, but when I get home I'll correct those and post the actual photos to the thread directly. I'm super excited to go back home and hook the thing up to my ex1!! More photos coming soon. Enjoy!

Been testing the monitor on a number of sources, including my HPX-170/SGBlade and HV-20, and I must say that so far, this monitor rocks! The HD resolution is far superior to the 800x480 that I had been using previously.

Agree that the sunshade is a little tenacious but works beautifully. I think the stiffness will diminish after some use.

Kudos to Dale and SmallHD for a fine product and TOP-notch customer service...

Trevor, you're missing an 'r' in your URL... Here it is fixed:

Flickr: meeksdig's Photostream

Thanks Leo! I fixed it as well in my original post. I was typing on an almost dead iPhone trying to finish before my battery died haha. Had too much fun playing flight control after the new update today.

But I digress... I'm back home now and ready to do some testing with my SmallHD DP1 and Sony EX1 yay!

For those of you who are like me and are somewhat lazy about clicking photo links, here are my unboxing photos. I'll post the rest in my next post. Also, there are descriptions in my flickr stream - I can't put descriptions on my attached images here unfortunately.

More unboxing pix!

Thanks for share!

Is the front frame plastic? it looks like so ugly :(

I mean like this:

I believe it is aluminum all around. It is not as pretty as you'd think, but looks nicer than the ones with sharp corners with connectors sprouting out the edges. Mine arrived with a few very minor blemishes, but all in all the packaging and presentation was superb for a small new outlet such as SmallHD.

Overall, I think this will be a great first monitor for me, but it is most helpful and ... well... easiest to focus on where it can be improved.

My gripe list, from fairly serious to just suggestions now stands as:

1. button arrangement is very poor. Most strikingly, power button needs to be far from others.
2. sun visor does not fit -- the cases seem to have one mounting hole cut too small. This will be VERY NICE once fixed.
3. a few pixels are still lost at the top edge of the screen, behind the casing.
4. the battery has an LED shining when the connector to feed its juice to the monitor is plugged in. This suggests drainage (how bad? no idae) if you leave the battery connected. My solution for now is to leave the battery in place, but to remove the cable from it until ready to rock.
5. battery clips seem prone to breakage and do not release the battery easily.
6. no manual is supplied... just that one card. One that outlines the calibration process would be nice.
7. AC supply adapter is not the same gadget as the one that charges the battery. It would be nice to seek commonality here. To complete this into the realm of truly nitty: put the SmallHD name on it so I need not worry about confusing it with other devices.

Miklos, no, the monitor is most certainly not plastic, and it most definitely is not ugly. The front bezel is more of a matte finish than the rest of the housing, apparently to reduce unwanted glare around the screen. It looks beautiful as you can see in the first image (below.) There is also a nice corner detail image below (that I took just for you Miklos) showing the beautiful curved corners of the ALUMINUM housing :-)

You know, I tried all day, but I just can't help it anymore... I have to respond to a few of Anthony's gripes. I'm very impressed with this monitor and I strongly yet respectfully disagree with some [most] of his "negative" points on the monitor.)

1.) The button arrangement is just fine. For how little one will use the buttons, they work very well, and are fairly easy to navigate (even blindly) after spending 10 minutes with the monitor. The card included depicts the buttons as you feel them while looking at the monitor from the front, so you can just reach around the back and click them. Each feels a bit different, and I've never once accidentally hit the power button or had a problem with where it is.

2.) No comment on the sun visor yet, mine is on the way sometime this week when I get around to ordering it. A few other people have mentioned this so I'm interested to see for myself. I have a feeling though, that the parts are just new and need to wear in a bit in order to fit what feels like properly.

3.) I spoke with Dale about this, and it is most certainly not an issue with the front bezel overhanging the screen - it's actually a firmware scaling issue, where the monitor appears to be underscanning the image or something to that effect. He's working on getting this resolved, but it really does not bother me one bit.

4.) How is this a bad thing? All you have to do to power the monitor (and battery) down is unplug the cable from the battery. Again, this does not require the use of the power button since the monitor turns on automatically once power is supplied. Furthermore, I can imagine that the battery (which is what, 26wh?) will power that one tiny LED for over a week, if not more. LEDs hardly drain any power at all. Again, I hardly see this as a negative.

5.) The battery clips are extremely sturdy, and although they are made of plastic, I have never once felt like they would break, even after much use. You do not want them to release the battery too easily, since um, that's the whole point of the battery clips in the first place. A slight pull on the raised tab of one battery clip will release pressure on the battery and allow it to be lifted out. Another thing to do would be to move the brackets as far left and right as possible to make the fit on the battery a bit looser if you wanted. That way you can simply slide the battery to one side (just a bit, there isn't much room for movement, but some!) and then lift it out with almost no effort.

6.) Simplicity is key. I do not see how the "lack" of a manual is a bad thing. The card is informative, just as it needs to be. I don't need a 25 page manual for a little monitor. "Calibration" is easy if you have a basic understanding of color or color correction. Save the environment, use less paper. I think they're on to something...

7. This one is honestly just ridiculous. The monitor uses a very different connector (much larger) than the one on the battery. The USB charge adapter for the battery seems logical, as it is very low profile and is an obvious difference from the voltage out port, which is small enough so as not to wreck the outer casing of the battery (which, I must add, is quite beautiful.)

Please see my other photos below... they are also posted on flickr at Flickr: meeksdig's Photostream under the SmallHD DP1 set.