Today I had a chance to work with the Cineroid EVF and can I tell you it was a breath of fresh air. The Panasonic AF101 has a very crisp LCD and on the side of the camera you have a detail button which helps you while focusing.
The EVF in the camera is OK but for me far to small, it’s best to turn off the colour in the viewfinder and use the focus assist which gives you a red outline when you are in focus.
That said you can use a portable production monitor like the Sony 740 as seen above to check your focus but while on location you tend to hand your monitor over to the client to view your shots.
Enter the Cineroid EVF from Korea a cracking EVF, made for any camera that has an HDMI output or as was first intended a DSLR with a mini HDMI socket.
While filming today I discovered a great benefit while producing a high pull focus shot, the ability to see what I was doing remotely from the camera itself, fantastic.
As you can see from the picture above the colour rendition is very true which is essential if you are relying on your colour balance to be correct, the Cineroid is also as sharp as a tack and can easily be used for pull focus. You also get various functions like peaking in red or sharpness mode, zebra settings, monochrome, underscan, pixel mapping, 4:3 guide bar and the image can be rotated or mirrored.
CONCLUSION : It is well made, plastic construction, the battery compartment takes a nack to open it, looking at the picture above you slide the compartment to the right then it lifts off. The screen is as good as the Sony EX3 in both colour trueness and sharpness, it’s miles above anything you get with the Panasonic AF101 itself. Two minor details are the mini to mini HDMI cable supplied obviously meant for a DSLR but the AF101 has an HDMI socket so an appropriate supplied cable would be useful…mini HDMI to HDMI.
It takes one Sony like NP-F570 Li-ion battery which I am told will last you 3 hours, I am fortunate by having not only 2 F570 batteries but a Sony battery charger as well !
I found the power pins used to connect the battery a bit flimsy and I think with a lot of use may cause a problem but these are minor details compared to the quality of the picture itself…well recommended from HD Warrior.
UPDATE : Good news…the Cineroid EVF I have is a non production model and the battery pins have been changed for the production model due out this month (Jan 2011).
FURTHER UPDATE : Hello, my name is Spencer Doran at OCTICA. We represent Cineroid in the UK and offer full technical support for the EVF. The note regarding the centering of pixel to pixel mapping was reported to us yesterday and is being addressed. A software update has been developed at the factory and is currently being tested. We expect that it will be released at the end of this week once testing is complete. We will make it available to anyone who wants it as a free software update later.
I was considering the Cineroid for our AF100. Unfortunately I found out that if I switched the AF100 to 24Psf (segmented frame) in order to record the HD-SDI signal to an outside recorder, the AF100 shuts off the HDMI output. This is of course not a fault with the Cineroid, but makes purchasing it a no go at this time for me.
Just use the analog output of the AF101 and connect it to the Cineroid analog input. Picture quality should be almost the same since we are talking about a very small LCD screen.
Thanks.
Johnnie
KD, actually the camera doesn’t completely shut off the HDMI output when the 24Psf is turned on. We tested this with the Cineroid and with the 24Psf turned on, you can still get an image through the EVF if you down-convert to SD. Not the best option, for sure, but still an option nonetheless and only when you need to turn on the 24Psf.
Both interesting options that I wasn’t aware of guys, thanks. What I was considering instead was getting the SmallHD 5″ monitor instead and splitting the HD-SDI ouput of the camera. 5″ with the sunshade should be about the same relative size as the magnified Cineroid, and much higher resolution. Thoughts?
Tried a Cineroid EVF at MITCORP today with my 7D and the Pixel To Pixel mapping was significantly off-centre – high and to the right. Suppliers tried out a second EVF, which displayed the same result. The 7D was tested separately with a SWIT Monitor which displayed a correctly mapped centre image. THE CINEROID IS GREAT. I STILL WANTED TO BUY IT, but Mitcorp wouldn’t sell theirs until they had consulted the Manufacturer.
Just got my Cineroid EVF today, it’s really great to a have a viewfinder that adds peaking to DSLR filming – I’ve really missed it going DSLR from TV gear.
But I’m terribly disappointed that I can’t have a full 5D mk II image over the whole LCD. It’s a great LCD and I’d like to use all of it, since the LCD is pretty small as it is, but it’s displaying an image smaller than what I’m getting on my camera’s LCD.
Just had a look at the Zacuto EVF, and they add scaling so that you can size the image to the full LCD size. Understandbly you’ll lose camera info, but if you could have your settings and then just hit scaling before you record it should be really good, as long as it can work alongside peaking – I’d hate to have to choose between one or the other setting.
So not sure if Cineroid can work on a firmware upgrade, but I’ve got mine now and I’d like to keep it instead of changing my mind or spending money on Zacuto, but I’m waiting to hear from them if they’ll upgrade it a bit. I can’t see the worth paying for a nice LCD of which I’m only using 2/3rds.
Hi Mario, thanks for the feedback I will send your comments to Spencer Doran at OCTICA the company who distribute Cineroid in the UK.
Hi guys,
I had sofar no chance to get a live look at the Cineroid, so I have a question conserning the delay of the HDMI output. Since the signal has to be processed in the camera until it gets output on the HDMI some sort of delay gets added. I just recall the times when there were a few Accuscene VF around, that used the HD-SDI Signal of HDCams. Brilliant image, but a noticeable and anoying delay, reason enough for me not to buy one back then. On Sonys F35 even the standard EV shows a delay.
So, the question that comes to my mind: how bad is the delay on the AF101 and the F3?
Maybe someone has an answer.
Greeting from Vienna, and sorry about my English!
Hi.
I just checked the usage of a cineroid vf on the Panasonic 3DA1. After we found out, that there is something “strange” in the vf, we measured the delay by shooting a TC slate and in the same time showing the monitor in the picture. We measured a delay of at least 3 frames, which is horrible to work with. Your never know when your pan is ready as what you see is already “past”, the moment it appears in the vf. In addition to that, there is a shutter problem visible, with a frequency of about 2-3 Hz. So my balance is a negative one. I am waiting for an answer support guys from cineroid (secu-line, korea), i will post their statement as soon as I hear from then.
Regards Stefan Schroeder
When I received my Cineroid I had to find out that it doesn’t work with my Panasonic ag-af101. I thought maybe my camera doesn’t give out a signal due to whatever settings in the menu. I tested the cameras HDMI output on a Samsung screen and it worked. I switch to the Cineroid and nothing but color bars. I checked the Input setting of the Cineroid; HDMI – correct. Anybody had this problem before? Anybody knows if there is a software update that would solve the problem?