20 Best External Monitor For Sony A7Iii (2023 Updated)

I use this for making videos for YouTube, it is mounted atop a Canon Vixia hf G50. One caution related to using it on this camcorder, the mount will not tighten down on the Canon shoe. I 3-D printed a spacer that took care of that.

The dimensions of the spacer I printed are: 21 O. D. , 6. 4 hole, 3. 5 thick. If I printed it again, I would probably increase the O. D. But this one works fine. The monitor allows me to ensure that the focus is good for my finished video.

Surely increases the quality of my videos and saves editing and/reshooting.

It performs the basic function quite nicely and shows the picture as expected. Beyond that , there are pros and cons to it. 1. The sun shade holder is made of a flexible material and the pull of the sun shade distorts the shape of the holder and may mildly interfere with viewing.

Probably some money was saved by using flexible material but in the long run the holder may crack which will be a real problem (loss of one star). Metal sun holder is needed as was the case in the earlier model of the Lilliput monitor (which I bought and still use).

2. The user manual that came with the product lacks a proper explanation (if there is any at all) of various functions that can be set. For example, what is the proper setting of peaking level? How is this to be determined? This oversight is unprofessional.

3. There was some glue stuck to part of the screen which could not be removed even with cleaning alcohol. Some quality control is called for (loss of one star) 4. On the positive side, they have put a switch in the back and unless you move the switch, the battery holder shall not come off when you remove the battery for charging as was the case in the earlier model.

Good job here. In summary, it is OK, price is good but could use some improvements and quality control. Ajeet S.

I’m not a sophisticated user and was just looking for an economical monitor while filming myself for YouTube productions. This fit the bill and worked perfectly right out of the box for this basic function.

I did have to swap in a new battery – so perhaps I should not leave the battery in the unit when not in use? Lesson learned. The plate for the battery seems to fit a little loosely on the back of the monitor, but nothing too serious.

Unlike the fit of the batteries in the plate, which is a bit too tight! But neither is a major issue. The image on the monitor look a little brighter than the actual footage. I’m sure that I can and will adjust that as I get used to using this monitor.

This was my first use of the unit but so far so good. And problem solved! Easy to see how I am framed during filming and to look into the monitor – as opposed to the lens of the camera – is so much easier and more natural.

It keeps me from glancing over at the flippy screen of camera #2! Thumbs up!.

I have the PortKeys BM5 monitor which I love, but which I found a little heavy for the gimbal, particularly with a battery – the gimbal is OK with it, but my arm less so. So I looked around and settled on this, which seems to be the lightest monitor out there.

Of course it doesn’t have all the features of the BM5, but it is surprisingly capable. It has focus peaking and zebras, the two main tools I use, but also false colour and other tools. For the most part, I just need this monitor to see what the camera is seeing when it is not at eye-level.

I have the BMPCC 4K, so since there is no swivel screen on the camera, a monitor is necessary. It’s not nearly as bright as the BM5, but I mostly use the gimbal indoors, so it suits the situation. Also, this is made entirely of plastic, so if you are planning on dropping it, this may not be the monitor for you.

I couldn’t find a way to attach the included mounting arm to the gimbal, but I have a little Andycine mounting gizmo which works fine. I bought this for one purpose, to use with the gimbal, and it has served this purpose well.

And it is priced well for a single-purpose item.

This is the best little thing I have gotten lately. I have a Canon MK4 and the LCD is therefore fixed. I wanted to be able to place the camera near the ground without having to crawl in the mud and get the low shots.

This fills the bill. I can tilt the monitor up on the support arm and get a perfect image on the monitor. Things to know are that the monitor only works in live view and the Canon battery is a little hard to install.

The battery needs to be lined up by pressing a button on the side. This works fine once you get a little practice. This is offset by the fact it uses the same battery as my camera. It is light and fits snugly on the camera.

You need a HDMI to HDMI mini and NOT and a HDMI micro. I got the micro cable by mistake. Correct cable correct fixed everything. Only down side for me is having to install the cable and the arm and attaching them to the camera.

A tripod is needed. Oh, the unit does have a sunshade. It attaches easily as the hook side of the Velcro is attached the monitor and the shade is easy to line up.

Got this for my BMPCC4K. Works great. I’ve used it with a battery, and powered the camera. I’ve also used it plugged in. Swivels easily and mounts to my SmallRig full cage perfectly- giving me various angles of view that the viewfinder on the camera does not.

Not sure what the negative review is all about, I’ve used it many times over the past year and a half and feel no need to upgrade. It does the job.

Really happy with this monitor so far. Resolution works for what I need, and the tools that come with it are not included in much more expensive monitors. Large Screen, Waveform, Scopes, Peaking, safety margins, False color, its bright, Pinch to zoom, Custom LUT profiles, customizable menus and dedicated buttons for functions you use often.

Menus are easy to navigate, and it includes a pretty solid mounting arm, so overall I am very happy with it. Build quality is what you should expect with a budget monitor. Plastic housing, lighter feel, as I said it’s a budget monitor.

Negatives: It’s glossy, so reflections will be an issue in certain environments. Touch screen will leave fingerprints(It’s a touch screen, this is more common sense. ) I will update if there are any issues after more use, but I recommend this over many very expensive alternatives if you are on a budget.

Nice crisp picture. Extra lumens makes it stand out from its competitors. Very lightweight, won’t make a camera too top heavy on light duty sticks. Menu clunky compared to recent standards, but it does the job.

Handle with care, plastic parts not suitable for rough and tumble of real world rentals. Will cringe on first drop. Like most Pro-Sumer category, worry about connections lasting constant plugging and un-plugging.

Miss BNC and XLR. Overall, pleased with initial plug-and-play, now in wait and find out mode for rubber meets the road performance out in field. P. S. Get the dummy battery power supply.

Great monitor, even in the hot sun I am barely at 70% brightness. Even though its hard to tell a difference with the naked eye from 75% up to 100%. But you can discern the level when it gets lower, the screen does dim.

Only issue I am seeing is so far when using a RED camera all the camera data normally stays on screen. And due to the information not changing. After only a week of use, I am already starting to see a monitor burn from the data from the camera.

So when the monitor is off I can still see some of the data in the black regions from my red on the monitor. Other then that it works great and I love attaching a transmitter for a quick directors monitor as well.

This monitor is great for achieving focus with my manual focus lenses. My eyes are not what they used to be and my camera is old and does not have focusing aids. My one issue is, as it’s been mentioned before, it drains the life out of the battery in no time.

Good thing the monitor weights next to nothing, cause you’re gonna need to carry many batteries if you’re planning to use it outdoors.

Very pleased with the image and quality of this monitor. I am using it with a Sony a6500 for 1080p HD, but works just as well with 4K. The silicone case fits well and provides good protection. Since B&H doesn’t currently provide much of a description for this product, here are a few more details: It includes a 12V 2000mA AC adapter (identical to the ikan AC-12V-2A-US, B&H# IKAC12V2AUS).

Includes two battery plates: F-970 and LP-E6. Included HDMI cable has a mini connector for the camera. You might need a micro (true for my a6500). Audio quality with headphones is good. As some have noted there is a slight lag between live sound and monitor output.

I get the same effect with my camera connected to a TV, so can’t blame the monitor. The vertical resolution is 1200 pixels. With the default menu settings the aspect ratio is set to “full” and it stretches 16:9 output vertically to fit.

Change the aspect setting in the function menu to 16:9. (Note: I purchased the A7S-B with black case, but assume it is exactly the same except for color. ).

Lightweight with great image quality and all the features you would normally expect on a monitor that is three or four times the price! It has standard 1/4-20 mounting points on three edges, but not on the edge where the connection points are located.

The dummy Sony battery mounted on the rear means you can attach your remote wireless video send unit to this directly making for a much neater unit and less cabling to be run for wireless video send or focus-pulling rigs.

A solid value monitor with features well beyond its price-range! Being honest with you, it’s perfect for indoor use or where you can work in shade with it. I work with my monitor in a wireless focus pulling setup, so the lack of brightness for outdoor use is a non-issue for me as I can work in the shade while minimising reflections.

Pro’s: Incredible value and quality five inch monitor with full-sized HDMI through-puts to pass off to your director’s wireless image system or wireless focus pulling setups. Built-in Sony battery dummy mount for other devices to be mounted on and powered from.

Features usually reserved for much more expensive monitors, such as scopes, focus assist/peaking, false colour, exposure warnings, magnification, a huge range of different video proportion frames, safety guides, apply LUT’s toview, DC or Sony battery as options to power it and much more! Con’s: The only weaknesses I can think of are the NIT value (screen illumination brightness), with the screen being a struggle to work with outdoors as a result of it not being the brightest kid on the block and with it having a glossy screen which strengthen all reflections.

It does have a sun shield, but the reflections will still happen. As I mentioned initially, if you can work around this, it’s the bees-knee’s for solo budget video work.

This was a good little monitor for months. I would use it to check the preview output of an ATEM mini during streaming productions. However, I started to notice that it would experience a bit of burn-in if left on for too long.

And then, after a power outage when I wasn’t at the studio, it turned itself on and overheated. If it had overheat protection it completely failed. There’s now permanent burn-in and the output completely scrambles after about fifteen minutes of use.

I like to give brands like this a shot but this was a waste of money. The damage is preventable. Do not leave it plugged into DC power and maybe leave the brightness as dim as possible for your environment.

I wouldn’t recommend this for regular use.

Right out of the mailing box, this felt nicer than other monitors I’ve seen for the price. One of the biggest appeals to me was the compatibility with both Sony-L series (NP-F) Batteries, as well as Canon LP-E6.

I use both with my BMPCC4k, so this flexibility is fantastic. The folding sunhood doesn’t seem very durable, but no problems with it yet. Any review you see on this monitor will tell you that it’s great for the price, and I agree.

There are three 1/4 mounting holes on the monitor: Right side, bottom, and top. I wish there was one on the back and left side, but for the price, I can’t complain. As a result of the lower cost, this thing seems to be 100% plastic, so I dread dropping this thing from any height, especially if I have a battery on it.

The features this has built-in are top-notch. False color, focus asist, histogram, waveforms, and more. Pair that with the touchscreen and menus, as well as the BMPCC4k’s monitor settings, and you have a great little screen to use.

It came with a mini-HDMI to fullsize HDMI, so be prepared to supply your own cable. There is a noticable delay between action and screen, but it’s workable. The included cold shoe arm is all metal, except for the locking system to hold the monitor, which is plastic.

The biggest sacrifices with this one is durability and delay. Otherwise, great bang for the buck.

The only negative thing to say is that it does not come with batteries or a charger, though the item page tells you this at the bottom of the description. You need Sony NP-F batteries, the largest and heaviest of which is the NP-F970; I have the lower-capacity and smaller NP-F570 batteries which worked great and have lasted throughout all of my tests so far.

With that one caveat out of the way, I can honestly say that everything I’ve done with this field monitor so far has been quite satisfactory. You will want to make sure you know which HDMI cable you need; there are three HDMI connector sizes out there and while this comes with a mini-HDMI to HDMI, I have several devices that require micro-HDMI and had to use one of my existing cables.

The screen audio is all the way up when you first turn it on; this is fine if you want to plug headphones into it but you really need to turn the volume down to 0% immediately on the first use. The provided ball mount is of acceptable quality and the sun shade does its job reasonably well.

The focus assist feature is extremely useful and has saved me a decent bit of time. A clamp with a double ball arm can be used to attach this to tripod legs for working with cameras on super tall tripods which is one of my use cases.

If you get a camera with a non-articulating screen, this thing can be a real life saver. Though you can spend thousands on field monitors if you really want to, this is a massive value for the budget filmmaker that I’d highly recommend.

I just bought an A7s ii with a rig, mattebox, filters, Rokinon 4 lens bundle and a couple of other accessories so I didn’t have a bunch of money left to spend on one of the nicer monitors on the market, yet with this camera I found a monitor to be completely necessary.

Normally I would wait until I could afford to buy a really solid product but this was so cheap there is really no downside. Even if I end up getting another monitor or recorder at some point I won’t have wasted much money plus I’ll have a really solid second monitor which could be nice for clients or director etc.

The picture is large and bright and easy to see even outdoors in the sun. I found the color easy to adjust to match the LCD screen on the camera. Unfortunately it doesn’t come with any scopes to aid with exposure.

That was my main hangup when I was deciding to buy it. However that downside is more than fairly reflected in the price and I decided that I can live without those tools for now, until I can afford a better monitor.

One tool that this monitor does have that I find very nice is the focus peaking. It works pretty well and gives you a solid idea of where the peak focus is. If I had a shot with a tricky pull I would definitely use the peaking.

The downside to that is I wouldn’t turn the peaking tool on and off during a shot because pressing the buttons on the monitor makes a very loud clicking sound no matter how subtly you try to press them.

It’s just a bit plasticky and cheap in that regard. Another thing that is plasticky and cheap is the hot shoe mount that this comes with. Mine came loose on me twice and slid off. This can be very bad as the monitor can fall and hit my lens (which is a far more expensive and important piece) or it can fall and yank on the HDMI cable that it’s attached to the camera with and potentially damage the camera’s HDMI port.

Which would mean I would need to send my camera away and pay for a repair. Instead I now use an articulating arm to attach this monitor to the cage that I use with my camera. One other strange thing is that this camera has audio outputting internally.

When I first plugged it in and turned it on it gave me earsplitting feedback. I recommend turning the volume all the way down and leaving it that way. Overall this thing gives a really good image for a small monitor which is super helpful.

It does have a few downsides but I can live it. Unless this thing stops working completely within a year I am very happy with my purchase.

Simply put do not buy this. The build quality is terrible. The unit is flimsy, and the HDMI connection is very weak/wobbly. It failed on my new unit after using it 5 times. Then having to deal with B&H warranty was a horrible experience.

I emailed, they said I had to contact the manufacturer, they gave me an email and phone number for China. I live in Canada. I emailed the company in China. No response. Emailed B&H, this time they actually look up who handles warranty for this product which is a company in Texas.

http://www. texastr. com/ I dealt with Mark. Mark was helpful and they are finally shipping mew a refurbished unit. But, by the time I get it back, there will be only a handful of weeks left on the original warranty, despite the product being broken/being replaced for months.

I have since stopped shopping at B&H and will go with Henry’s. They provide direct customer service, call them up and one of the sales guys will become your personal shopping connection. You get better service and better prices that way.

Plus they have an enhanced warranty service that you pay a little more for. But it adds years of no hassle of warranty replacement.

The FEELWORLD S55 Camera Field Monitor 5. 5 in 1280×720 Support 4K HDMI Input Output so far it works with my 4K Digital Camera, AiTechny Vlogging Camera I have two one it doesn’t work so far I haven’t touched a button yet have went any further yet sir-mam I’m not prepared to send it back it has a few surprises in good favor like the light turned on from the camera it started to look real good sir-mam, not a lot of redness in the camara goes away, so far so good the display is from my camera in part and its generic looking though but works sir-mam; so far if you have a Vlogging camera with a flip screen in back so far its not goanna work sir-mam I had a display problem with it turned, upside down but so far I had plugged it with up a 12v cord and it had changed the display screen, into the right position, a little bit I had turned it on and off the display, turned upright sir-mam so far so good sir-mam try its a buy I recommend, I just bought it got it today in the mail sir-mam 12-24-21 but I got long ways to go this sir-mam; The FEELWORLD S55 Camera Field Monitor 5.

5 in 1280×720 Support 4K HDMI Input Output very long ways sir-mam;.

I got the LUT7S field monitor with three purposes in mind (see below), and for my specific situation I am happy with it. Due to its plastic housing, this monitor is more suitable to owner-operator use.

The screen is bright and the menus are convenient. It gets rather hot in normal operation. Use case #1: Mount on or near my BlackMagic URSA Mini Pro. For this purpose I use the SDI input and power it with an IndiPro DTAP to Sony NPF adaptor (available at B&H).

Mysteriously, the LUT7S complains of no signal when I try to feed it a supposedly compatible 2160p30 signal, but for me this is not an issue because it works fine with 1080p. Use case #2: As a field monitor for my Sony a6100 camera.

The included HDMI mini cable has a wide adapter plug that does not fit the camera if the camera is also plugged into USB. But otherwise this combination is fine. Use case #3: As a broadcast monitor fed by a BlackMagic ATEM Mini Pro that is on back order.

This was my main motivation for getting the LUT7S, but it will be several weeks before my ATEM Mini Pro arrives. Note: Contrary to the current B&H product description, this field monitor ships with a cold shoe bracket for mounting on a camera, and an HDMI normal to micro and mini cable, but not 12V power adapter.

I understand the design of the bracket, but it is flimsy. I will not use it in the field. The included HDMI cable might or might not be useful, depending on hour HDMI signal source’s layout.

And even. forget the bang for the buck part. Just a great 7 monitor and focussing aid period. Bright, great picture and reasonably accurate out of the box with possibility to tweak to even more closely match your cameras EVF or LCD.

The black (where its at. forget red) rubber sleeve is brilliant in the little things it allows such as a longer sun shade to velcro to the inside edge, and it also provides protection for the screen to not be rubbed against inside of an equipment bag.

Im especially motivated to write this for B&H since I thought I had one with defective Peaking and returned it and had another shipped. All controls such as brightness, contrast, saturation, etc have scales that go from 0 – 100.

With the peaking setting on the 1st I could get up to 72 where I (thought) it was just becoming useful as I like peaking a lot like most everyone else for manual focus, but then any higher and it seemed like it shut off.

The second one came and was a little better. up to 82 before it (shut off). So I also wrote to customer service on the Mfrs web site. Guessing they are in China by the times of the prompt replies including the first one which asked for serial numbers, maybe to check their batches.

But on the 2nd reply she explained that with Peaking, instead of getting stronger with the higher numbers it gets harder to see. So actually between 20-30 is the level I was trying to get to, where you can roll your focus ring and see the field of focus move from rear to forward and back again and stop precisely where you want.

HUGE difference. I just thanked her and mentioned that yes Ive heard and seen of Peaking being referred and adjusted to with Higher frequencies showing less. But to be consistent in their menu it seems to me that they should have kept the 0-100 scale the same as all the others, since the sparse manual does not mention.

So be aware of that and just buy this if you need a great and not expensive monitor. And yes, it does drain batteries even when turned off if you leave them attached as others elsewhere have noted.

This monitor has started to make an electric noise coming from the back, where the battery is, constantly right on start. The HDMI port has a default and the cable need to be pushed and maintained really hard in order to make the signal pass through.

I cant use it at all. For the short time it has been working, the LPE6 batteries last less than 10minutes (fully charged) on a brightness of 50 and no output. The heat was really important, more than 60°c in these 10minutes.

The first time I started it, with no input, all the graphics on the screen (grid, aspect ratio ect) were doubled and magenta. This problem disappeared on the second start. Point is : mine had to be a default one, but I will not buy Liliput again for sure.

Not reliable.

I do strictly amateur stuff, often bad, and just for fun. I did not need this monitor but I thought it would add to the enjoyment of shooting video. I have only used it a few times and It is easy to use.

It seems to be rugged and should hold up under my type of use. The on screen menus take a bit of getting used to but work simply and well. The image is quite good and reflects accurately what I see in the cameras viewfinder, the small built in monitor and what is seen on our tv screen.

I have not used any other monitors of this type so I cannot compare but I am very pleased with this monitor and with B&Hs advising me that this was a better choice for my use and budget.

This monitor is perfect for use on our Ronin S. It’s light and has a clear bright display packed with features. Love that it adds focus peeking which our DSLR lacks. It also has several options for powering which makes it convenient and versatile.

Overall, this monitor ticks many boxes: lightweight for its size, 4K image, ultra bright, HDMI and SDI in AND out, and a very reasonable price to top it off. These are all great, useful features. The one glaring issue I found is poor image latitude, especially in the highlights.

Many times, highlights that seem completely washed out and lack any details on the FeelWorld monitor (like white curtains and bright outdoors background), look perfectly fine with excellent detail and separation on a more expensive, higher end monitor.

So if you’re operating off the FeelWorld monitor this lack of accuracy can really throw you off. I would say use this monitor for framing and focus but don’t count on it for lighting and exposure.

I am spoiled! This 7 monitor is a perfect addition to my gear. Recently, I used this for a video with a large audience at one location, but split into two rooms. We used the the SDI in and out to send a feed to the second room and it worked perfectly.

One SDI went in from the camera to the monitor and the other went out from the monitor to the line feed. No issues at all. When using the SDI out directly from my camera, I lost the FeelWorld monitor signal, (even when I used an HDMI from camera to monitor at the same time) which is why I then switched from using the camera SDI to the monitor SDI out.

The monitor color, size and brightness were so helpful and I don’t think I could ever go back to using my camera LCD as a sole source of view. A few tech people working alongside of me inquired about the monitor and shared their positive thoughts about the monitor’s great picture and usability.

The menu system is user-friendly, easy to navigate, and has all of the features I would want short of a tally light. But, for the price, I am not complaining. And, there are plenty of instructional how-to videos on YouTube.

When shooting in a stationary position, I save on battery usage and added weight by using a SWIT battery dummy adapter plug-in for power (see BH #SWS3602F MFR #S-3602F) For battery power, I use a Sony NP-F970 which would give me 6-8 hours on my camera, but only about 2.

5 hours on the monitor. The monitor generates heat on battery power and leaving it on rather than turning it off between shots does seem to save on power. It seems to jump in 20% increments when dropping in battery power.

However, this is not enough to discourage me from using this monitor at every shoot. Lastly, I would recommend finding some sort of storage case for this monitor. In my array of bags and cases, I found something that I can store the monitor in, but it would be great if there was a product specifically designed for this unit.

Personally, the decision to use more plastic materials makes sense. Any other material might added unnecessary weight and who wants more weight added to their cameras? Kudos to FeelWorld for providing a sensible, reliable and reasonably priced 7 Ultra-bright monitor!.

Bought this specifically to use on my Canon C70 for outdoor shooting. It offers a good, clean image but the main benefit is the brightness. I can clearly see this in direct sunlight. Note, no AC adapter or cable.

It will take batteries but to save weight, I grabbed a D-Tap to power from the camera battery. Also, its bright so when using indoors, you have to be mindful the image is not nearly as bright as proper exposure.

So far, so good.

Love this monitor. Sturdy, metal housing feel solid. My only annoyance with this monitor (and despite my gripe I still won’t take a star off) is that the HDMI Output port is located too close to the mounting hole.

When I use my Smallrig Monitor mount, I can’t get an HDMI cable into the output to send a feed to a client monitor or livestream. I can’t even fit a little right-angle adapter in there. I feel like it’s not fair to take a star off for such a specific lack of compatibility, but I thought it’s still worth a warning to others.

We’re using this on our Sony video camera to improve the user experience with a larger monitor for setting focus and framing. It has a lot of great features and is filling the role well as far as size, brightness, an function.

We haven’t had it long so long-term quality and durability is TBD.

I have been working with me new Lilliput FS7 Monitor and it is fantastic. The ability to the sharpest possible images with this monitor is so easy. The peaking settings makes perfect focusing a snap.

Well built and easy to use.

Kudos to the designers of this product. It fell off my camera on to marble floors at a hight of 6 feet at least 8 times. Last night it fell 10 feet down a marble staircase on to a marble floor. Although the batteries got destroyed every time the unit keeps working! I feel obligated to let everyone know how well built it is!!! Overall this monitor is making me look good.

I can now see all the fine details and adjust the picture accordingly even in bright daylight. One suggestion: tape the bottom of the camera shoe to keep it from falling.

The monitors top temperature is 104 degrees so the middle of summer temperatures could exceed the specification. It does work great helping me see what I am filming on my Nikon camera. I like putting the camera on a tripod, holding an umbrella over the camera, and sitting in a chair while I take short live video segments of soccer games.

I did have to purchase a different HDMI cable, plus the stuff not included (battery and battery charger.

When I purchased this item from b&h I was happy because I buy alot of stuff from here but when I purchased this camera monitor the box it came in was not new it was used and already opened. The material that it needed where in the box but I was just disappointed that I paid for something I thought would come new not something opened and possibly returned.

Most of my products I have bought in the past from B&H have been great quality and new but this time kind of a let down.

For monitoring framing and audio and battery levels etc. when filming yourself. Works very well for that purpose. I would have liked it to have Sony type batteries. I have attached it to a magic arm.

You can flip the picture upside down and same goes with sun visor. Feels sturdy enough, but lets see how long it lasts.

If all you need to do is see your frame a little bit bigger then sure, this is fine. If you want more functionality beyond that look elsewhere. The power passthru is subpar, once a battery on on the monitor begins to lose charge your camera will not operate properly.

If you want see colors on screen with any accuracy, look elsewhere. I was not expecting stunning color accuracy at this price point, but this thing is not even remotely close to what anyone would call passable.

No matter how you change the settings or calibrate it there will always be a green cast, or magenta cast, or a lack of color, or over saturation. There’s no winning, the color is just plain TERRIBLE.

The little ergo arm included with it is pretty much useless, because once you plug in 12v DC or USB-C they collide with the arm. Menu options are limited, and touch function does not work on certain menus so you have to use the terrible little clicky wheel.

If you’re on a tight budget and just need a bigger screen to work with over your cameras LCD and you don’t care about the other functions save a few dollars and buy something cheaper. Because this is not with the current $190 price tag.

Good: very bright, size and weight are nice, the chassis seems very durable, the UI is intuitive and easy to navigate for a non-touch screen Bad: my joystick doesn’t work sometimes. The screen will start ghosting and selecting things on its own and the joystick will only work for some directions.

It’ll sometimes take 2 or 3 reboots for it to work again. Only had the screen since March so I’m worried about the longevity of the screen and, for the price, quality shouldn’t be an issue.

Ive had multiple SmallHD monitors before this (501, 502, 502B, 701, 702B) and these Ultrabrights are definitely top of the line. This 503 heavier than the 502B but still not overly heavy considering that its solid metal.

The joystick is much improved, I dont think Ill break this one. Having the Lemo port is great, no more dummy batteries. The display is very close color wise to my 502 Bright which has a good display as well, just brighter.

Color/gamma is usually the #1 complaint with SmallHD panels but these are definitely the better ones. (Note: Ive found all of SmallHDs 5 displays better color-wise than the 7 displays). I suggest using a probe with the DisplayCal program, then adjusting RGB Gain will help get the monitor more accurate.

(Do this around 100nits and let warm up for 10-15mins before) Tip for anyone who uses SmallHD monitors, SmallHD doesnt convert input signal for some reason, therefore to avoid clipping/crushing, use the Input tab to set proper gamma for anything you connect to the monitor.

Go to the Input tab and adjust the Lift & Gain by looking at the histogram it shows in the corner. (It will be different for SDI and HDMI). For lift, cover with lens cap/body cap to set blacks (adjust so spike lines up with 0% the histogram).

For Gain, shine a light into camera to clip it (again adjust so spike lines up with 100% on histogram).

Really enjoying this monitor so far (about 3 months in). No complaints. Solid build quality, bright, lots of display options, multiple screens to switch between checking focus, exposure, LUT, etc.