I thought you had slightly over sold this monitor but decided to give one a try. The monitor itself I was happy with which includes my preferd Arri False Colour. The only things I was unhappy about was no battery indicator and it would only hold one LUT. I contacted SmallHD about both of these and low and behold I got an immediate reply with an update for the LUT problem (allowing you to store three LUTs which for me is perfect) and then three days later they have issued an update with the battery indicator and the LUT update. So now I am happy.
@@mondobytes I can understand that. I personally find monitors have far too much on them and would prefer just the basics which this one has. I also like the fact I can use my Canon batteries as it means just one charger, I love Arri false colour, the weight and size for my camera bag and now with the updates it fits my needs perfectly. My only down point is the monitor mount which should have locating pins for the monitor and be able to swivel 360 degrees. One thing I have emailed them about is I wish they would make a cable with right angled HDMI plugs. This would help in the case of my Canon to avoid a plug sticking out and being knocked. This would also probably mean you could do away with all the awful HDMI protectors attached to the camera cage. On the monitor once again a right angled plug would avoid the plug and cable sticking out.
On second thought… I think I’m gonna return it. Turns out it’s just a Chinese monitor rebranded with a slightly different shell. Look up the Desview R6 and you’ll see it’s exactly the same only with a different fan exhaust and some minor housing tweaks. The accessories, including the orange cloth are the same, comes with pre-installed screen protector, and even has the exact same packaging. Took me a bit to figure that out, but an Amazon review of the Desview confirmed it, down to the same foam cut outs. Probably the most embarrassing part is that the Chinese version has a more pro interface.
This confirmed what I had initially thought and felt. I think Armando's review is wayyyy off because I've been using the Action 5 and I think it's pretty trash. Oh well!
Aren’t nearly all monitors Chinese these days and I think you will find rebranding is common on many items you buy? If this is the case SmallHD have done the software for it and it is one of the few monitors I have bought that has Arri false colour. Also the cost is in the 2,000 nits most of the cheaper monitors are 1/4 of this and as far as I am concerned completely useless in daylight.
@@DaveKnowlesFilmmaker Most likely, but they’ve gimped the capabilities of the monitor and also delivered the same housing as the cheaper Chinese monitor and just put their logo on it. It’s just not a good look for their “high quality” brand.
I never understand why companies like to give "simplified" versions with a TON OF LESS features and call that an "upgrade". This is so much a downgrade, because nowadays $300 monitor have improved a lot, and they have peaking, luts, cropmarks, false color, and also waveform, vectorscope, zebras, and a lot more.. they throw away so many useful tools. This is pretty much identical to the Desview R6 (body design and even button placement) with WAY LESS tools and with a SmallHD logo on it. It looks like when Hasselblad rebranded Sony cameras so people can buy a camera that had the Hasselblad logo on it to show off
Agreed- even a mini din or Sdi only version for 100 bucks more... ? Still Id be happy. But I have a V+ already however like all Atomos displays its not great in sharpness... very soft imho.
@@IanCDunneFilmsNC yep. I love that its called the “indie”😂. Ive commented on all the social accounts and Smallhd refuses to comment which tells me they dont give AF about us.🤷🏻♂️
Hello Armando, great job on the video as always. It’s a very bright screen indeed but lacks most of essential tools to nail the exposure, which is a complete deal breaker. No waveform, no vectorscopes, no zebras. Limited aspect ratios. Doesn’t even have a simple battery life indicator, which is incomprehensible in 2022. The Atomos Shinobi is a much better option for professional work in my opinion, has absolutely every tool you will ever need on set, and 1000 nits of brightness is more than enough even under direct sunlight. And it’s around the same price tag. Greetings
Different strokes for different folks, I'd take this over the Shinobi every day. It doesn't have the tools to nail exposure? Dude this has Arri False color which is as good as it gets, it's super easy and you get perfect exposure every time. Don't need waveforms, vectorscopes or zebras when using their exposure tool. I agree with you on the aspect ratio, in fact they should let you input your own IMO. Battery life indicator has been added with latest firmware update. In regards to brightness, I'm sorry but 1000 nits is not enough. I use to think that too until I put them side by side. OMG the difference is truly night and day and I can never use my Shinobi ever again because of it. BTW dope channel dude if you're ever in So Cal I'll show you this monitor and it's insane dude, we got 3 more because they're that good!
Shooting mostly outdoors in Louisiana, especially in the summer, can be tough on equipment. So the build quality, screen protection, quiet fan, and insane brightness at a low price is perfect for me! It is oppressively bright, hot, and humid here so every little bit helps. I usually have to use an evf to have any chance of accurately seeing my shot.
just telling the truth to y’all, i’ve been tested it and compare it to my Touch7 side by side, active 5 feels like has oversharped result on images texture. which isn’t pleasing to the eyes in my opinion. it does grainy alot in shadow and highlight, im pretty sure my iso was set at native. (it’s clean and clear on my Touch7) the display dynamic range isn’t that great anyway, it crush a lot on shadow and highlights and I almost having a hard time to eyeballing and nailing the focus, cause it’s really hard to see the seperation between Depth of field and object in focus. feels like all blending in together 😵💫
The big question is how much autonomy do you have with your Anton Bauer Titon when connecting both the Camera (FX3) and monitor. Seriously the price was too good to be true… but without waveform, it’s a no go .. I use false color a lot but having waveform constantly visible in a corner of the screen is so useful.. And the FX3 has oddly no waveform despite being in the FX family… A really good alternative for 100 dollars more is the Portkeys BM5 III .. fully aluminum body, 2200 nits, HDMI in / out and SDI IN, + every monitoring tool you can dream of, including waveforms, overlays, vectorscope, … and even camera control with some camera models. User interface is of course not as slick as small HD but once your used to, it’s definitely good. Also 4 customizable physical buttons to access the most used features. Check it out
odd that it wouldn't have waveform. as my small hd focus that cost only a little more has waveform. perhaps they want people after that feature to buy the more expensive option
@@Milan-cf1xe hmmm, if so thats unfortunate. As it is the lightest monitor ive ever used (130grams). You could look for a used copy on ebay or Facebook marketplace (or craiglist/gumtree). I got my small hd focus 5 used back in 2019 for $300. (Could also look for a used small hd focus 7)
@@legendp2011 Already did that. Nothing. I live in germany and they only have the more expensive ones. Currently I use the Atomos Shinobi which is fine but not perfect. When I used someones Small HD 703 it was so good
Im pretty sure its being marketed to youtuber type people that need to see them selves while blogging. The price reflects that as does the Techie girl that was the first to review it. In that case waveforms and other tools would be a waste.
Thanks for the video, but not sold on the monitor. It's not an OLED display and the brightness wasn't true brightness, just blows out the image that would work in day or night filming. I like that it's touch. I keep hoping that my Sony A7RV will overlay it's settings menus on external display and work with touch, that would be very handy, but I don't think it's an option ... not sure if it's camera limitation or monitor limitation (or both)?
yea, of course they release this right after i spend $450 on an osee. I would have rather had this. loved my smallhd 5 focus but it wasnt bright enough.
Send that OSEE back! Mine failed on 3 different shoots and was mailed back to china twice. Both times the boards fried. After 10 months they finally refunded me but It cost me dearly.
@@Burritosarebetterthantacos what do you mean the boards fried? I actually already sent mine back to china once, the screen broke bc i guess i squeezed it too hard putting the battery on the back. Youre the only other person ive seen comment about them being cheap :/
@@BarefootMediaTV They sent me a couple new monitors and they kept frying. I even spoke with one of the engineers at their factory and it was determined the circuit board inside gets too hot. Shame because I like the monitor. It was the 50,000 emails with them from China and trying to send things through customs that drove me nuts.They were super concerned about my lack of social media following which I think dictated the level of care I received. Anyways, I dont think there is a good option for a monitor right now which is why I dont have one.
@@Burritosarebetterthantacos all my emails were with a single lady, she said she had someone die in her family so took a week off and there was nobody else to respond. So i had to wait 10 days just to talk to her again and get information to ship mine to china to get fixed. i have the osee t7. great image but clearly built poorly and is not touch screen.
Armando, thanks! I'm curious how you attached this. I see an ifootage arm, but not how/where it connects to your camera. I love and want that off-to-the-side monitor position.
the action 5 is literally a repackaged discount monitor and automatically cheapened the brand of SmallHD so much that they don't even carry it anymore.
@@87andsmith this monitor is just a repackaged Desview R5 monitor. When I brought this up no one believed me. I had both at one point and returned the Action 5. They both had the same battery icon that SmallHD patched in 💀
Wish I could say that it worked as well for me as it did for you but sadly it was extremely buggy... screen black outs, and other glitches on the latest firmware. Had to return it.
I booted it up after getting it today and there’s like major light bleed coming from the corners of the screen and bro there’s two stuck or hot pixels on my display already!!! Super disappointed, the whole monitor just feels cheap overall. I’ve already contacted Amazon but if they can’t do nothing this thing is going back. Shame as I have a focus 7 and only bought this for light weight setups I don’t even know what to do besides wait now.
@@mondobytes Yeeeeaaaah no, called SmallHD HQ in NC to verify and they said it was an Authentic monitor and Serial and that was their official Amazon page with Teradek sooo don’t know where you got that Info 🤷🏻♂️💀 They even told me they were having problems with bleeding but that the pixel issue was new. Will be getting a new one tomorrow and if it feels like trash again I’m returning it back and getting my money back.
@@Milan-cf1xe I believe having a false color is more important than a waveform. I feel like all modern cameras have a histogram. so I personally wouldn’t miss much the waveform. But I agree it’s odd it’s not there
@@Milan-cf1xe if you was doing a video about health and workouts I'll be asking an honest question. It alot understandable to get an answer from the person who experienced using the NEW monitor and sometimes they have more information when a NEW ITEM is coming out before its release to the public. For the record I did my research thanks for the feedback smartass 🙃👍🏽
What’s wrong with the Portkeys Bm 5 ii? Also another commenter mentioned the BM 5 iii being a better monitor than this Small HD one, so just something to consider
@@stevenkralovec Didn't say it's "better" :) I said it packed with indispensable features (for me) like waveform monitor and has SDI.. The user interface indeed is not as intuitive as SmallHD, BUT, I have to admit that although I first hated it, I got used to it, and you can be really quick at it in the end. There are also 4 programables buttons on top that let you access your 4 most used functions via a single press and without putting your greasy fingers on the screen :).. Really useful for peaking, false color, waveform, LUT.. (these are the ones I use)
How is it for accuracy? And does it monitor 4k60fps? Seems like the perfect monitor for me and since it uses canon LP batteries that's a big plus over the Shinobi.
Does it turn on/off with the camera? Loved that about the Focus. It goes into standby when the camera is off and wakes up when I turn the camera back on.
I am trying to understand how do I get to use all the great touch autofocus tracking options available in Sony FX3 when I use this monitor. Would I be able to use camera screen for all the settings related things including touch tracking autofocus while simultaneously viewing on small HD monitor aswell?
I have a question that isn't specific to this particular monitor. I have an R6 and when using an external monitor, the rear LCD screen is disabled so you can't use the tap to AF. Does the R5 disable the rear screen when using an external? I know it works with a Ninja V, but I really don't want to use one of those.
This is a stripped down version of an actual smallhd monitor. Don't let the name fool you. They give you a bunch of extras for the short comings of the monitor. No zebras, no waveform, no de-squeeze, no SDI, so many missing features you actually need on a real monitor. Another review said there's no battery indicator? wtf. How is this monitor taken seriously. Like a car without a gas gauge. This is my thought on this monitor. SmallHD said here take this you poors that can't afford our expensive monitors so you stop complaining about an affordable SmallHD monitor. This monitor remind me of the Canon cripple hammer. Armando you should be ashamed. Did they send you this monitor for free?
SmallHD used to have a great range of small monitors that were not so expensive. They all had all the features missing here. Then suddenly the Focus range were discontinued and all they had were expensive monitors.
Is this device compatible with 480SD? I have a device that is currently stuck in 480SD output & I have no device compatible to switch it back in to 1080P
very interesting review and I'm very tempted to get this smallhd action5 however the reviews on amazon are really not good - 20% 1star - 20% 2 stars and only 28% 5 stars ...this is very confusing!! can this be due to a faulty manufacturing glitch?? your thoughts are much appreciated
I am looking into getting a monitor and saw this review and thought it might be a good idea to invest in it but in comparison to the atomos shinobi and the features that it offers, it may be a simple question, but is there a way to film a video with the 9x16 frame guides on the shinobi or if I were to use that I would have to film vertically (rotate my camera and the setup I am using)? I thought that since the other one is a few dollars cheaper and with more features, it would be best to invest in the shinobi but I would like to know prior to making a purchase decision.
@@mondobytes yeah not quite exactly. Unless I'm missing something I have to go into the menus while they are inverted and manually flip the image and the menus. The audio monitors don't flip. It should be automatic like the focus5 or left the screw mounts on the top.
Honestly...1080p is kinda a dealbreaker. It looks a lot like a Feelworld F6 Plus and having this one, the difference between 1080p and 4k is night and day...
I just got mine in the mail today. I can’t tell if it has a screen protector or not already installed. Are you sure it has one? Lol! Just don’t wanna try to peel something off 😂
@@mondobytes thanks for the quick response! I actually did a little test and sure enough I was able to slightly peel it off. Such a well-installed screen protector that you can’t even tell, lol! And I’m loving the monitor so far. The color reproduction seems really really good for this screen and the brightness is great. Fan noise is also minimal and pretty quiet, even when on high. I was trying to see if the HDMI Out would work with a RavenEye to have a secondary monitor for a friend to reference, but haven’t been able to get it working yet. Any experience with the HDMI Out yet? Maybe a firmware thing?
@@jordanw24 I’ve used the HDMI out several times. What I think is happening is that the Action 5 is outputting a 4K signal and Raven Eye doesn’t support it (I’m assuming). Reason I think this might be the issue is because I’ve had similar things happen like this before
@@mondobytes ahh, gotcha. Hmmm.. So I’m shooting on the A7SIII and it outputs to the iPad via the RavenEye just fine, but I’m guessing that’s because it might be outputting 1080p with that? Not a huge deal at all. The build quality feels great. I actually don’t miss scopes or zebras that much. And if I really need them, I can just see them on my camera’s screen below as a small quick reference point. The LUT that comes with it actually looks nice as well. THANK YOU again for the response and video. I purchased the monitor because of this and always appreciate your content!
