I’ve been meaning to finish up this review for about 2 months now, unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) I’ve had a pretty heavy shooting schedule over the last 5 months. Everything for this review was actually filmed almost 3 months ago, I just hadn’t had the free time to sit down and put it together. As an added bonus, you can check out
the behind the scenes of this review here.
For those of you not familiar with the monitor, the Viltrox DC-50 is a $170 clone
of the Sony CLM-V55 ($349) field monitor. Very similar design with the same batteries, mounts, and sun hood as the v55.
Put these two monitors side by side and it’s hard to tell them apart. Over all I’d say the Viltrox DC-50 is a pretty good value. Image quality isn’t quite as good as the V55, but it’s reasonably close, focus peaking is a little better on the V55, but the focus peaking on the DC-50 is completely usable. The Swivel cold shoe mount on the V55 is nicer than the DC-50 with better staying power, but the mount on the DC-50 still works.
Basically the Viltrox DC-50 a slight drop in quality from the Sony CLM-V55 but at half the price. Everything is just a little bit better on the Sony field monitor, but only a little bit. For that small drop in quality you’re paying about half the price. Is the Sony CLM-V55 better then the Viltrox DC-50? The answer to that question is yes, but is that slight jump in quality worth $179? It might be to some, but i’m guessing just as many people will be happy with the quality to price ratio the Viltrox DC-50 offers.
If you don’t mind waiting for a shipment from China the Viltrox DC-50 can be had for around $170 on ebay, if you need it right away, you can find it on Amazon for around $199. It’s well worth a look if you’re on a tight budget.
Tags: Field monitor, HDMI monitor, Sony CLM-V55, Viltrox DC-50
May 31st, 2014 at 4:12 am
Hey Deejay, do you know if the Viltrox will work with the BMPCC??
Thanks!
May 31st, 2014 at 6:00 pm
Sorry Emilio, not sure. I don’t have the BMPCC around to test.
March 30th, 2015 at 11:55 am
I the the valtrox dc-50 monitor connected to my sony a7s but I’m not getting anything on the screen. Have you experienced this problem?
September 28th, 2015 at 3:35 pm
How can I charge the DC-50 without a battery?
Are there any AC/USB options and if so what do I need to buy?
December 7th, 2015 at 4:19 pm
I just ordered this from Amazon for $104.73, for use with my Ronin gimbal. I have the MustHD 7″ monitor, which is likely a better display quality, but I need something smaller and lighter for use with the gimbal. This should do the trick.