How important is to have a personal on camera monitor assist ?

Ram Nanda · May 5

I'm thinking of buying a personal camera monitor, but real not sure about it. Reason to buy is

- to relay on it for every shoot and be sure of the end image.

- to keep a library of luts

Is it worth having a personal monitor ? or to rent it when required ?

any suggestions for monitors with EL zone ? im looking in blackmagic, atomos and small hd.

Nicolas POISSON · May 6

I am only an enthusiast. Years ago I bought a Ninja V, and it has been one of the best purchase ever made for improving my skills. Compared to the built-in display of my DSLR, an external monitor brings:

bigger, more precise, brighter image
measurement tools: waveform, false colours (including EL zone for the Ninja)
LUTs. I made a series of exposure compensated LUTs so that I can play with ISO like EI.
calibration (included in the LUT as well - the calibration from Atomos is crap). However image accuracy is secondary in an uncontrolled viewing environment, which is often the case on set.
clean image: I can switch between measurement / clean image quickly. I really like having an image 100% clean when framing.

So I'd say: yes, a monitor is a safe investment. Maybe not an Atomos. These are not that cheap, and the software leaves room for improvements. For example, the waveform on the Ninja V is measured post-LUT, which I find useless (it is pre-LUT on the Shinobi). They are a bit noisy too. These were a great option 8 years ago, but nowadays ? Maybe the competition is better in this price range... or not.

You can reproduce EL zone with LUTs as well (I guess this is how Ed Lachman created this tool).

Edited May 6 by Nicolas POISSON