31Jul SmallHD DP4 first impressions.
Above are the SmallHD DP4 and the Sony CLM V55 monitors. The size and resolution is about the same but the smallHD’s pixels are closer together. Both monitors blink but, from early testing, it seems like the Sony CLM v55 recovers faster. The upside to the DP4 is that in record mode you can choose to have your image scale to full screen. If you’re using a Canon 7d it wont be a major difference although the scaling function does give the DP4 a little bit of an advantage.
The first thing you see as you open up the SmallHD DP4 is the user manual. The box itself is shiny black with a medium size SmallHD logo. The user manual is only 32 pages but covers the features of the DP4 well enough.
Under the user manual is the DP4 monitor and a small box containing a swivel mount cold shoe adapter. The screen comes with a thin sheet plastic protector for shipping but Smallhd has also included a sheet of acrylic that can be attached to the front of the monitor with adhesive to protect the monitor.
Under the monitor is a small pile of wires and connectors along with all the extras included with the DP4 monitor. One thing I did find interesting when thumbing through the manual is PIP (picture in picture) mode. This allows you to display footage from both the composite and HDMI inputs at the same time. I didn’t actually know this was a feature, but it could come in handy if you were trying to work with multiple sources.
The monitor does include a right angle HDMI adapter which is nice, but the swivel mount cold shoe adapter seems a little cheap. Mine has come loose twice while testing.
Even though there are dual battery mounts, the monitor will run just fine with a single battery. Having the option to run with 2 batteries should give you a lot longer between battery change outs. I’m interested to see how long the DP4 will run with 2 generic LP-E6 batteries.
The LP-E6 batteries fit very snug, but I would have liked to see some kind of push release button. The monitor supports up to 18V so if you have an existing battery system, there should be plenty of options to adapt the DP4 barrel plug. I’ll post some more comparison shots as soon as I get a little more time to test.
September 12th, 2011 at 6:10 pm
This is awesome, thanks for the review.
I’d love to see a post or video showing how well these two work with canon cameras.
oh, and a comparison with an atomos ninja, since it’s not much more expensive than the DP4 EVF..
🙂
September 27th, 2011 at 6:43 pm
[…] like the Sony CLM-V55 (above) or a monitor with an HDMI port at the bottom of the screen like the SmallHD DP4, you end up with a cable that can more easily be snaked through your […]
May 23rd, 2012 at 1:15 pm
[…] SmallHD DP4 is a pretty good monitor overall, but when I ordered it the price was $549 for the monitor alone […]