Rhood

Good to know about MPB! Was pretty close to buying something from them a few months ago.

Quick first impressions of the Viltrox DC-X3 Very nice build quality! Lot's of accessoires included. The NPF battery sits a bit loosely, not that it will detach, but when shaking the monitor the battery will rattle a bit. Probably not with every DC-X3. (And of course simple fixes for this) Scrolled through the menu a few seconds, screen seems nice and bright. Wondering however if my unit is really the amount of nits that it claims to be. The amount of guidelines for aspect ratio's seems very limiting? Just a few options, and no custom option if I'm not mistaken. Will look further into this when I have more time.

Anybody any thoughts/insights on the VND?

YouTube's search engine has been acting very bad the last few months. It was already not top notch for a few years, but lately it's been really bad. And I agree with @zerocool22 vimeo used to be a good spot to find interesting films.

Ordered the Viltrox. The price for what you get was too hard to pass. I'll let you guys know how it compares to the SmallHD 501. Does anybody by any chance know if the threaded holes on the Viltrox DC-X3 are regular arri locating? Or different spacing? The SmallHD's have a different spacing. I'd just do that if I were you! Has anybody used the Smallrig 4415 VND 4x5.6 Filter tray? Looking at VND's currently. Was going to DIY hack a VND to matte box. But maybe the Smallrig 4415 can be easily adapted? On the B&H website at the Q&A section is stated that it works with a Tilta MB-T12. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1852163-REG/smallrig_4415_multifunctional_vnd_filter_tray.html/qa Apart from if it would work. Is it a decent filter? Before was looking at K&F(budget, popular on YouTube) Vaxis or Haida (Also popular on YouTube) VND filters. Or are the B+W XS-PRO Vario ND MRC-Nano still the best around?

Thanks for the recommendation. I was considering it as well, but it didn't show up on used websites in my country. Now it is indeed the same price as a used Focus 5 or cheaper than a Portkeys BM5 III. So actually no need to find it used. Have you used this monitor yourself?

Not at this moment. Can anybody confirm the SmallHD Focus is daylight viewable at 800 nits? Currently it's between the Portkeys BM5III or the Focus. Anybody who has had both in hand?

Thanks for chiming in guys! Can the 501 and the Focus 5 (non OLED) also be updated to use EL Zone? Really? I read a somewhere on a forum that the quality of the screen was really bad. Like looking at an old monitor. Or is that what you mean with quality control? How would you rate the Desview against the Focus 5?

Thank you for the opinions! I'm gonna stick around with my XT3 and look for a used XH2S. I can start a new topic for this but don't want to bloat the forum with topics. Also looking at some used monitors. I have a SmallHD 501, the button is a bit janky. So I thought buying a back-up one (or keep the 501 as a back-up). Options I have considered. • Buy a second 501 (but it's not daylight viewable) • Buy a SmallHD Focus 5 (claimed to be daylight viewable, but is it at 800 nits? The no loop through is ok, but I can imagine a situation where it is not) • Portkeys BM5 II or III (a bit more expensive than the previous two, menu not great) • Blackmagic Video Assist 12G (Even more expensive) • Atomos Shinobi II (Priced between the focus and the portkeys, some people rave about it some people trash it...) Anybody who has had their hands on any of these? Right now leaning towards the Focus 5. Used to SmallHD OS but also their screens. Things I sometimes use (apart from framing and trusting it for exposure and colors with custom LUTS) waveform, false color, peaking, anamorphic desqueeze. Thanks!

Yes another camera topic! Looking for some opinions and thoughts. It's been a while since I looked into other camera's. There's a documentary project that might come up, and I wanted to anticipate. At first I thought just going with my Fuji XT3 as usual. But since it seems to be back a bigger project than usual I started to think and look what's on the (used) market. (It's been a patch of smaller projects the last few years, used to have a F35 or rent Alexa for bigger projects) Documentary doesn't mean that it's going to be run and gun style. Mainly just a lot smaller crew than fiction project. What I'm looking for (and probably everyone): Alexa in a small boxy form factor with internal ND 🙃 Also I think it's the internal ND that started me thinking, since I use single filters in matte box right now. What I came across: Sony FS7 MKI and MKII and FS5 MKI and MKII Rented the FS7 a couple of times years ago for various projects. Was never really fond of the camera. But that's also because I compared it to the price tag. Now it's at such low prices that I might consider those it. Main dislikes: menu system, more ettr style than others (not like Alexa), screen, form factor, extra unit at the back makes it very weird Pro's: Pretty lightweight, Image is ok (not blown away, but ok) Canon C70 Never used this camera. It's pretty high on the dynamic range database? But are those numbers correct? Main dislikes: a bit more expensive Pro's: Lightweight, interesting form factor (except the top handle) What I'm currently also considering: Fuji XH2S (Or XM5 according to dynamic range database has more stops?!?) Same mount/eco system/adapters as Fuji XT3 A bit more video dedicated. Know I can use autofocus if I really need it. (seldomly) Also XT3 can be used as B-Cam 🤓 Main dislikes: No internal ND, (probably audio 🤷‍♂️) Pro's: Lightweight, lens mount/eco system, not the best form factor but my current rig mostly solves this Currently the FS7 seems most tempting, because of the price (1.5 to 2K for a package). Yes I know I can rent, and I might just do that. But interested in hearing your thoughts. Also feel free to point me to interesting comparisons (and interesting options I probably missed).

Hello all, sorry to open a topic for this. But currently looking for a 50mm prime with good AF performance for video (quick but natural). I have the Fuji 60mm Macro and that one is very bad for video. Could not find direct comparisons on google. Anyone who has had their hands on both? Or one of them? Thanks!

Yes indeed. I'm going with option 1. Any specialists out here with recommendations? I'm thinking of buying older Mac mini as a NAS. At Location B (which is offsite, somewhere at a family members house) it's meant solely as a back-up. At Location A it's meant as a back-up, but I might also look through files and copy them to a work drive. If it can be a work drive, even better but I think that's not possible on a low budget.

Ok, I've been reading very bad reviews on quasi all kinds of cloud storage. I thought everybody used cloud storage, maybe they don't know the risks. That means there are two options left. 1. NAS at home and NAS at family member's house that I can access from my home. 2. Continue with hooked up physical drive's, which I mirror to one another. But one (or two) of them are at family member's house and/or deposit box. Option 2 is very hard to keep track of and takes a lot of discipline. But apart from that is pretty simple...

Thanks, that's the one I'm considering now. I read they had faster speeds than others. That's exactly one of my other concerns.

Hi Anaconda, thank you for your input. The thing is, currently I only have one location. So if I get a NAS, it would be at the same location as my other physical drives. I think the only solution to this is a cloud service, unless I'm mistaken?