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Which monitor to look at?


varun sud

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Hello

I am at Cinematographer from India. Most often on medium size shoots, there isn't a DIT with a proper calibrated monitor like Flander's Scientific on set. Even the on-camera monitors vary from vendor to vendor and are not calibrated properly. Thus when the director asks which monitor to look at for exposure/skin tones, it becomes an awkward situation.
 

I want to buy a personal 7" inch monitor which can give me consistent judgment across shoots. Since I don't have a budget for a Flander's, can someone pls suggest a good 7" monitor in the $1000-1500 price range. I have heard good (and few bad) things about the SmallHd 502/702. Are they worth the price? Or can the cheaper Atomos (Shogun/Shinobi) monitor+recorder range be trusted for setting exposure

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  • 2 months later...

The biggest misconception about monitoring on set is that there is a "right" one to look at. Even a Flanders will look incorrect if it's not in the proper viewing conditions.

What are proper viewing conditions? A pitch black room with a color calibrated D65 monitor. You can get a color calibrated D65 monitor, but the pitch black room on set is a luxury.

Calibrating your monitors with SMPTE bars on set will be your best option. In prep, calibrate your monitors with SMPTE bars to see which ones are different. Most monitors like a SmallHD 502/702, Flanders, Sony, TV Logic, etc will math pretty well. Cheap monitors, even calibrated, will still look off.

Practically speaking, if you don't have a pitch black tent to set up a color calibrated D65 monitor, then calibrate your monitors with SMPTE bars every time you change locations and determine in camera prep which monitor will be the best one that reflects your look.

At the end of the day, everything will look different in post. ?

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