23May H005 Real Pic 5.6 inch 1280×800 hdmi monitor – first impression/last impressions
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.
May 23rd, 2012 at 10:48 am
For $350, I would expect a better product. I got my DP4/EVF kit for only double that, and the accessories alone make it worth that. I’d be interested in knowing if the power issue is cross-units, or if you just got a faulty one.
May 23rd, 2012 at 12:38 pm
The DP4 was rather expensive, but I think they’ve just dropped the price $599 with EVF. I’m guessing the power issue was probably just the monitor I received, but It still cost me $21 for return shipping so I don’t think I’ll risk getting another one. I already own 2 good monitors, this was just an impulse buy that I really didn’t need.
I will say that the picture quality was quit good, It’s a shame that the unit was defective.
May 23rd, 2012 at 2:30 pm
Yea, when I found out about the SmallHD price drop I jumped on it. The whole kit plus accessories for 700 was too good to pass up.
May 23rd, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Gah!
I don’t know why they even bother making such a crap finishing job on a high end product like that.
Such a shame…
Thanks for the review Deejay, just avoided me some trouble!
I was about to get it, only to add up to the disappointment pile…
DP4 is looking pretty nice, too bad it’s out of my price range.
Save up and keep the hope it is.
May 23rd, 2012 at 6:25 pm
You might want to take a look at the Lilliput 569 5″ HDMI monitor
, still made out of plastic but the build quality is pretty good and most reports are positive. It also uses pretty easy to find Sony batteries.
May 25th, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Thanks Deejay, will definitely check it out!
Sad thing is Amazon won’t deliver electronics to Brazil, but might search for it elsewhere… you got any other links outside Amazon for referal? 😀
May 31st, 2012 at 12:25 pm
Heyy,
Can you consider doing a review of the Swivi 5.6″ HDMI LCD Screen
June 3rd, 2012 at 9:09 am
Damn!!!! after reading your first initial post I had really high hopes for this monitor, I am crushed!!! Maybe you should email them with some suggestions with “‘Fingers Crossed” they take them into consideration and update their product!!
April 1st, 2013 at 12:59 pm
Seems to be the older H005/H056, this screen is noticeably sharper then the rest due to its smaller size and higher resolution however their peaking feature isn’t implemented very well (as in not very noticeable), the image is either a stretched 16:10 or overscan 16:9 (there was a slight update to firmware in late 2012 that fixed the 16:10 to 16:9 but introduced overscan issues) there is no HDMI pass-through, the colors are inaccurate even after calibration (black balance is off, shadows are cool with a blue green tint and highlight are warmer with a slight yellow tint) plus their lack of features and build quality is really bad (some people receiving units with power on issues right out of the box). However there is apparently a new revision of the H056, the new model fixes most of the issues and is now in an aluminum shell. There is also the Feelworld/Seetec 5.6″ version which supposedly shares the same screen but has better software, better built than the older H005 and cheaper than the new metal H056.