Atomos Shogun 7 is a highly complex achievement

The backlighting technology used on an LCD display panel makes a surprisingly big difference to its performance, and we’re not just talking about making things brighter.

The panel in question is part of Atomos’ new seven-inch monitor-recorder, a pre-release version of which was shown to an invited crowd at a pre-NAB event on Sunday evening. It’s meant to replace their existing high power units, which have to date relied on a brilliant set of user controls to provide a sort of variable preview capability for HDR images in a portable, on-camera display, something that at one time did not ever exist.

There was no intention that it be a precision reference display, but it was a useful tool if only because it was capable of really high brightness and therefore maintained a good degree of visibility even in bright sunlight. They are regularly used simply as a daylight-viewable display, regardless the HDR features.

The fact that Atomos has been pondering about releasing an improved model has been known for a while, but the details, and an eyeball assessment of the performance, had to wait until last night. The device retains the fundamentals of the company's existing user interface approach but enjoys what looks like a fairly compelling software overhaul with some new control and adjustment options. Click here for the full article.