The H005 Real Pic monitor showed up yesterday (shipping from china was surprisingly fast). The package was your standard brown paper bag wrapped around the product with some bubble wrap. No cellophane around the box and it looks like it has been opened before.

The monitor itself is packaged in a nice foam cut out and comes with the normal plastic screen protector.  Something to note is that the monitor does have 1/4 20 mounts on both the top and bottom of the display which makes it easier to mount.

The brightness default setting on the monitor was a little over board but it was easy enough to adjust it down to about 45, bringing the color into a range that looks very nice. The focus peaking option seems to provide a subtle brightness to the focus area that’s not to hard to see, so I would consider that useful, but it’s not as easy to see as some of the other models (DP4, CLM-V55). Resolution of the monitor is noticeably better then the DP4 and Sony CLM V55 monitor when connected to the Canon 7d which is a positive, and the colors on the screen are reasonably close to what I would expect for the price range. The monitor mount and sun hood seem to work well with the monitor, and the battery plate is easy enough to install.

But there are a few negatives. First, the monitor I received will only stay on for about a minute to a minute and half before it shuts down which basically makes it useless (I’ve contacted the seller to return the monitor). The buttons on the monitor require a very firm press to work properly and the menu system is kind of funky. The battery plate sticks out about an inch from the back of the monitor and by the time you add the battery you’ll have another inch and a half to deal with.  The included hdmi cable has a rather large nub around it that doesn’t quit fit the Canon 7d or Canon 5d mark III. Last but not least the monitor is made from flimsy plastic that flexes pretty easily, so it probably wouldn’t survive a fall.

Although I was impressed with the quality of the display itself, I can’t say much positive about the rest of the aspects of the monitor. It is also extremely disappointing that monitor that showed up wont stay on for any useful length of time. If you get a working monitor, the display does look very nice, but I’m skeptical of the quality control put into the build of the H005 monitor. I don’t think I’ll be ordering a replacement. If they could put this nice looking screen into a better case, give it a nicer menu, add dual LP-E6 battery adaptes and make sure the monitor works properly before shipping, I think they could easily sell for $300 with no problems. Maybe that will be in the next model.


 

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