What are some good camera monitors?

I'm going shopping this week for one, for a shoot coming up and want to know which are good. If I see any of those I'll choose one. I would like one that maybe plays like an HDTV, with no motion blur, if that's possible. That way I can see everything clear and can tell when to pull focus exactly. Are there any like that that would be good to be on the lookout for? Thanks.
 
Ikan (http://ikancorp.com) makes some stellar monitors. On the budget end is a $300 5" that looks great, on the slightly more expensive (but still cheap compared to competition) are some 5" and 7" ones that clock in around $1000-1300 but give you all the features you could ever want and then some in a monitor. Worth every penny.

As far as refresh rate, you probably won't find a really high refresh rate in a small monitor. The purpose of a monitor is to show you an accurate picture, not a sweetened or altered one. 5" is plenty to pull focus from, 7" is even better.
 
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Okay thanks. The stores will probably have the cheaper ones though for sure. Hopefully not too cheap that they will not serve their purpose. Actually since we are on the subject I need a new pair of headphones as well. We where shooting at a location and the owner had a dog, that destroyed my headphones. The owner felt terrible and went out and bought me a pair of Seinheiser closed cans that were $100, but do you think those will do the job?
 
I have a set of Sennheisers I use in the field I really like. I can't remember the model number. Again, just like the video monitor you want your headphones/audio monitors to sound accurate, not "good". Most consumer headphones try to boost the bass higher than it really is, but monitors are accurate.

What is your Sennheiser model number? I'm sure Alcove or AudioPostExpert can give you a thumbs up or down.

Several of my music friends swear by some Audio Technica headphones. I tried them, and while I wouldn't want to listen to an iPod recreationally with them I'd monitor with them any day of the week. I could hear every minute detail across the entire frequency range, not just lows and highs.
 
I paid about $180 for a new 7" Lilliput 668GL monitor which came with long-lasting battery, sunhood, HDMI cable & a hot-shoe mount. Oh, and a remote control I never use.

It can accept an HD input, though it displays at 800x600. I dig it, though for an extra $30 I could have got an 8" instead. I'd probably have done that, in hindsight.

Make sure you get an articulating arm, if you have a rig with rails. Pop that monitor on the rails, and position wherever you like. :cool:
 
You can get an arm for $40 that comes with a hot shoe mount and the option to screw it directly into a rig piece. Versatile, set it up how you like.

I have a Lilliput monitor, and if there's one piece of fear I regret buying it's that. It's been sitting on a table in my room for a year and a half now. It's too bright and lacks the controls to tune the image, me and the other camera peeps that used it would have to unplug it to check color/brightness(aperture/iso) settings then plug it back in. It got so annoying we stopped using it and started saving for a real monitor.
 
Well I went to the stores today, and all the monitors they carry are USB input and not HDMI. Is this a problem for good quality focus pulling? There is one HDMI one in town, and that is a $500 one by Marshall. Is Marshall a good brand?
 
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Marshall is a great brand.

I might be wrong, but I'm 110% sure there isn't a monitor with a USB video input. It would have to have some other input, and just a USB connector to read media from that.

But yeah, I know you hate ordering online for some reason, but that $299 Ikan is pretty great.

http://www.ikancorp.com/productdetail.php?id=354
VL5_3.jpg
 
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It's not that I don't hate it, it's that I could use one for the weekend. Since I will be shooting that protest, in a whole other city, where I have to get a motel, I want to make sure I pull focus correctly and don't want to leave it chance. I could wait on a monitor, I just want it go well. As far as USB inputs, I'm just going by what the guy in the store said.
 
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