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Building a high-DPI EVF with 4-5" screen
  • SangyeSangye

    I'm continually surprised by the fact that there is no cheaper / better alternative to the Zacuto, SmallHD, and Cineroid EVFs. High-DPI screens are being mass-produced for incredibly cheap in Asia, mostly for use in mobile devices. How difficult would it be to build an HDMI monitor in the 4" to 5" range, and a loupe with a diopter that fits to the frame? Seems like this should be doable with a basic knowledge of electronics, and perhaps Arduino or Raspberry Pi.

    I'm seriously tempted to talk with some people who know more about this than I do, and think about crowdfunding such a project. Given the simple components, it should be possible to build a retina EVF and sell it for under $400!

    edit -- specifically, I'm thinking of the 1080p displays used in phones like the HTC One (4.7") or the Samsung S4 (5"). This would give 1-to-1 pixel mapping for 1080p cameras, and 4-to-1 pixel mapping with integer scaling for UHD cameras, as well as the capability of a 2x 1-to-1 pixel map read-out. On these phones, such high PPIs are almost silly. However with a magnifying loupe, these high PPIs are suddenly being put to good use.

  • 14 Replies sorted by
  • aldolegaaldolega

    I guess you haven't seen BlackMagic's new Video Assist monitor/recorder they just announced at NAB? 5" 1080p touchscreen, records HD to SD cards, scales UHD input...$500. Doesn't have a loupe but I'm sure they will come out with one, or the aftermarket will, or someone will adapt the SmallHD Sidefinder loupe to it.

  • Adam_MercierAdam_Mercier

    I've been looking at raspberry pi things too, a hdmi ips 720p 5" setup would come under 80$ in parts, and could be powered from a USB battery... Could be a nice little diy project with a slim printed enclosure. also look at the retina ipad screens! See here : http://www.adafruit.com/categories/63

  • Adam_MercierAdam_Mercier

    Cheap and slim low res hdmi panel : http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-5-0-inch-TFT-800x480-Hdmi-touch-Screen-LCD-Display-monitor-Modul-for-Raspberry/1983094768.html

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Well

    http://febon.blogspot.com/2014/02/febon188-uvc-usb-sdi-grabber-card-user.html

  • Adam_MercierAdam_Mercier

    This looks interesting and slim : https://hackaday.io/project/364-mipi-dsi-display-shieldhdmi-adapter

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @Adam_Mercier

    You are going into deep DIY land. No one will be making it anyway.

  • Adam_MercierAdam_Mercier

    Yeah I know. Wich sucks because it would mean that with this 40$ board and 40$ GS4 screen you could have a superb 1080p amoled monitor for less than 100$ and still companies sell overpriced crap

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Yeah I know. Wich sucks because it would mean that with this 40$ board and 40$ GS4 screen you could have a superb 1080p amoled monitor for less than 100$ and still companies sell overpriced crap

    LOL. I always amazed with such comments.

    People buy products that solve specific problems and have specific properties.

    You board and screen do not solve any, and, in fact, can't be even connected, and are not suitable for end products. Plus require expertise, development and manufacturing expenses in many many thousands of dollars to do anything suitable for end users.

  • Adam_MercierAdam_Mercier

    Actually as far as I looked there is no hi def portable hdmi screen available on the market. Most cameras have OK built in monitoring fonctions already.

    If there was a plug and play solution consiting of one screen, one board and one external usb battery with the specs I want I would take the time to design an enclosure to have printed.

    But I agree that as its stands the project I linked is worthless and will probably die with the original developper interest like so many good things.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Just wait a little and it'll be plenty of FullHD and even better resolution small screen monitors/EVFs

  • FrankGlencairnFrankGlencairn

    Not exactly full HD but for 139 bucks, I don't even think of DIY

    http://www.ebay.de/itm/261850768721?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @FrankGlencairn

    http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/12617/feelworld-fw759-1280x800-ips-monitor#Item_16

    It is made by our long time friends, under SEETEC brand it'll be on deal this weekend.

  • nickgoreynickgorey

    @Adam_Mercier that project went into production http://creotech.pl/en/produkt/mipi-dsi-display-shieldhdmi-adapter-2/ iPhone 4 screen is 960x640 at 3.5". I wonder if you could write some sort of focus peaking/zebra overlay scripts for the arduino to push through the shield? Would make a perfect sub $200 high-res EVF.

  • majoraxismajoraxis

    @ nickgorey

    What you are describing is basically the Cineroid EVF4RVW with addition of SDI, a sharp view finder, two color waveform monitor, vector scope and audio meters. It's not $200, but it may be worth the extra couple hundred dollars (I purchased one on eBay for used for $400, Adorama has a used one for sale for on eBay now for $469) to avoid having the put the time and effort into developing the functionality you desire for the Arduino.

    I find the 960x640 of Cineroid EVF4RVW leaves me wanting for a bit more resolution and it only takes a 1080p input so the pixel x pixel is handicapped if you have a 4K HDMI signal like with the A6300.

    @ everyone:

    As far as a high resolution display small display (5") the Neway CT500HO for $289 in the deals section has more than twice the resolution as it is native 1920 x 1080 and it takes a 4K HDMI input so you can do a pixel x pixel display and show 1/4 of the 4k signal natively.

    The CT500HO has a very nice screen that has lot of color adjustment latitude so that you can dial in the contrast, brightness and chroma (saturation), so that if you are using a SLOG with the colors bumped up in camera you can adjust it to be close to the display on the back your camera (in my case the A6300 with the signal compensated for SLOG2). Anyway, the resolution, the color/saturation adjustment latitude, the pixel x pixel and zoom (you can zoom even further than pixel x pixel) are fantastic on the CT500HO, along with how lightweight it is.

    Things that I don't like on the CT500HO are that the focus peaking is weak (with an SLOG signal) and the peaking mode desaturates the whole screen. The Zebra display changes color setting of the screen to default and with an SLOG signal this is too flat. So depending on if you us SLOG, you may not able to comfortably use all the functions CT500HO offers if you want to see a compensate signal from an SLOG source.

    That said if you a add GRID 5" EVF, you have a 1080p viewfinder with 4k pixel x pixel so you may not miss the focus peaking (that much) and it would be around $500 total. I also have a BMCC and using the focus peaking of the BMCC with the color enhancement of the CT500HO and is a great combination. This makes me think that instead of spending $500 on the black magic video assist as a monitoring for the Blackmagic Design Micro Cinema Camera, purchasing the Neway CT500HO would be a cheaper and better looking solution because of the colors, saturation and brightness setting for the CT500HO, and the just use the peaking of the BMMCC.

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