Marshall V-LCD50-HDMI 5" DSLR Monitor

Ken Stone's FCP by Steve Douglas

As the move by many towards use of the DSLR for video, practical monitoring of the imaging becomes necessary as reliance upon a DSLR's own LCD screen is not always workable.

With that in mind, Marshall Monitors has introduced their V-LCD50 HDMI 5" monitor for the DSLR user which features an 800 x 480 pixel display, a multi format compatibility accommodating digital video inputs and your standard VESA formats with ranges from 480P/576P to 1080i/60.

The 5" display panel uses an active matrix LCD system comprised of 1.2 million pixels and a contrast ratio of 600:1 enabling it to be used in a diversity of filming and lighting environments. It is very light weight in the hand and did not present any top heavy type issues. The Marshall monitor also comes with the ability to flip the image for flexibility in mounting in several positions. Additional features which I will go into at greater length further into this review are a Focus Assist, False Color Filter, different aspect ratio settings, and pixel to pixel mode which allows for native display of any incoming image format. There are also a diversity of screen markers for 4:3, 16:9 and full screen modes. The V-LCD50 Marshall monitor comes equipped with a four AA recharger and batteries, a swivel hot shoe for different positioning, and which proved to be very helpful, an AC power cable, and a disc containing the owner's manual which you can also download from the Marshall Monitors website. A V-H50 5" hood for help when viewing with the sun behind you is optional.

Not included is an HDMI to HDMI mini cable which really should have been included as part of the package. I found finding a Standard to mini HDMI cable at local electronics stores was difficult. One shop had one that was 10 feet long but I just needed a length that would allow me to go from the hot shoe on a Norbert DSLR rig to the camera. I found an 8" cable which I thought would be perfect at a specialty shop and I was surprised that it proved to be too short. Fortunately, an associate had a 12" cable, but it also was too short so I decided to forgo the rig and mount the monitor directly onto the Canon 7D's hot-shoe. The 12" cable barely reached and I could see that there would be a tendency to possible kink the cable. But, thankfully, it worked. Of course, if mounting the monitor on a separate C stand than you, indeed, might find the 10 foot cable more fitting. I wound up returning the 8" cable and picked up a 3 ft cable which was the shortest one they had in stock. It worked out just fine, but before you go out to buy a cable be fairly certain of just what length you might need. I am sure they can be ordered somewhere on line. I just didn't have the time to do so. Other than the cable the only other thing I found missing would have been a nice little pouch to carry and store the monitor in for protection when not in use. It would have been a nice touch. read more...