We’ve seen a number of unique and interesting monitoring solutions birthed in recent months to address some of the issues of working with DSLRs for video. Peaking modes as an aid for focus, false-color options (so-called “Predator Vision”) for exposure, 1:1 zoom toggles to check critical focus, etc. It’s worth noting that in most cases these features existed prior to DSLRs coming into vogue; however, manufacturers are now quickly pushing these tools into smaller, affordable monitors that tend to pair well with DSLRs. These features all address deficiencies in the DSLR workflow…after all, these are not professional video cameras designed for pro use. We’ve simply co-opted them for use in our industry, and now are forced to work around the issues they present.

One of the latest monitor offerings comes from SmallHD. Their DP6 monitor system has been getting a lot of attention lately, users seem to appreciate the build quality, it’s featureset, and the price point. The DP6 comes in HD-SDI and HDMI-equipped versions, the HDMI-only version of course pairing well with DSLRs. Beyond that, SmallHD has built-in a few refinements that make a world of the difference for DSLR users…in particular, they were the first to create a fullscreen zoom feature that properly handles and addresses the wonky and inconsistent HDMI output from Canon DSLRs, the 5D Mark II, the 7D, the T2i, and now the 60D. SmallHD’s DSLR monitor preset automatically switches to various scaling modes to fill the entire monitor screen when these DSLRs change output as you hit record. Many other monitors don’t handle this as gracefully, and as a result you are often left looking at a pillarboxed and/or letterboxed image on the monitor’s screen. Which means you aren’t getting the full use of your monitor.

There’s a fantastic SmallHD blog post that thoroughly discusses the various issues of Canon DSLR output, and how their system addresses them. After reading that blog post and hearing the user reports from professionals I respect, I contacted SmallHD about getting a unit for my own testing in production. SmallHD has been very friendly and they were happy to provide a review unit. When I contacted SmallHD, I had a concert shoot scheduled in New York City in the next few weeks with Anthem Pictures. The budget and director called for DSLRs on this shoot, so I figured this would be a prime chance to test the DP6 in the field. SmallHD kindly arranged to ship in a DP6 review unit for me to use for a few days.

I had a number of concerns in advance of the shoot, not the least of which was my worry about introducing a new piece of gear into the mix on a shoot with a tight schedule. This concert was a Taylor Swift show for Jet Blue’s “Live From T5″ series at the JFK terminal. Taylor would be performing a short set of five songs from her latest album in the JFK T5 terminal for fans, and we were covering the show for the record label and later web video release. We would be shooting the concert on Canon 5D and 7D DSLRs, with five different operators; two operating with handheld shoulder-mount, two on monopods, one tripod wide master. I elected to use the DP6 monitor on the wide master tripod camera location, manned by shooter Jim Geduldick. Handheld rigs for the DSLRs included my personal Zacuto custom shoulder rig (which is similar to the Double Barrel configuration) and a Redrock Micro Field Cinema Standard rig.

Due to budget and space restrictions, we would be using the DSLR LCDs for most of the camera operators. I had an LCDVF viewfinder loupe on my handheld rig, which was my personal unit. I spoke with the Director prior to the shoot about bringing in the SmallHD monitor, and we agreed that if we had ANY issues with setup, configuration, or operation of the SmallHD monitor, we’d simply pull the plug and put it back in the case. We didn’t have a lot of time for monkeying around with new gear, and I wasn’t going to jeopardize our tight schedule if the monitor gave us issues. Which is why I was delighted when we saw how quickly and easily it was to get the DP6 up and running on our rig. Simply a pleasure to use. The only hangup was learning the slightly non-standard button and menu controls, but SmallHD includes a quick reference card in the box, and once you use it for a few minutes, you start to get the hang of how the buttons and menus work.

The monitor was mounted to the wide-master tripod camera using an arm attached to the ever-handy Zaffer clamp, and of course a monitor Zicromount that screwed into the 1/4-20 thread on the bottom of the DP6. We spent a few minutes working through the monitor’s false color exposure feature, and the peaking mode for focus assist, assigning these modes to the two user-assignable buttons…and that was about it for setup. Super easy. We had the SmallHD battery pack connected to the unit, but chose to work with AC power and use the battery as a fallback option. It also wasn’t critical to calibrate this monitor for color, as we’d already setup the color matrix we needed on this Canon 7D. That said, the DP6 does have a blue-only feature for calibration (see full feature list here).

The concert shoot went off without a hitch; Taylor delivered a fabulous performance and we got some amazing footage. It was a pleasure to work with the SmallHD monitor, and I was really impressed by the build quality. I absolutely love it’s clean, machined design. The case feels rock solid, like it could really take a licking and keep ticking. The SmallHD was a great help on this shoot, and it’s now on my “want to buy” list for my own personal gear.

I’ve embedded some pictures that we took of the DP6 mounted to the camera. You can also watch a few song excerpts from Taylor’s set in the 4-minute clip below. My angle on Taylor was from the front row, you can see my prematurely-greying head make an appearance on the bottom right of your screen in the wide master shots. Footage is courtesy of Anthem Pictures and Big Machine Records. Watch below.

FreshDVTaylorT5.mov