Photofocus

I can see! I can see! Those were the first words that I uttered after connecting my camera to the beautiful Marshall 7-inch field monitor. If you’re older than 40, you probably share my affliction. My eyes aren’t what they used to be, and as nice as the new DSLR rear LCDs are, they’re still too small to give me enough critical feedback to know that I’ve got the shot, whether I am shooting stills or video.

The main application of this product is for video. Hybrid DSLR shooters who shoot video will love this unit. I’ve tested several of the affordable field monitors and none of them come close to the Marshall 7 inch On Camera Monitor .

I won’t give you all the specs and details. You can find all of that on the Marshall site. What I will describe are my favorite features of this monitor and how it actually handles in the field.

First, the V-LCD70XP is sturdy. It’s well built. I have every confidence that short of outright neglect and/or abuse, it will last a long time. That’s important when you’re working with something akin to a television screen that you’re toting around in the woods.

It’s got all the features you’d expect in a low-cost field monitor and more. The features that really got me excited about the Marshall are the ones you would NOT expect like false color and peaking filters. The false color filter helps you make sure you have a perfect exposure, particularly with skin tones in the shot. The peaking filter helps you nail focus. If you’ve tried shooting any video with your HDSLR then you already know that achieving sharp focus when shooting video wide open is very difficult. That’s where the peaking filter comes in. The peaking filter shows you for sure whether you’re in or out of focus and I have to tell you I absolutely love this feature. It’s changed my life! Nearly 100% of my video footage is now tack sharp. I was at about 70% without the Marshall monitor! Most of the field monitors I’ve tested don’t offer this peaking filter and it’s a shame, because as far as I am concerned it is an absolutely must have feature!

You can mount this monitor to your flash hotshoe, but frankly, I don’t recommend it unless you have a beefy camera and it’s on a tripod. This monitor is a bit heavy for that. A camera cage from someplace like Zacuto, RedRock Micro or Jag35 is the best way to mount this monitor. You could also mount it to a dedicated flash stand as long as you have a hot shoe attachment mounted on the stand.

The monitor has a great screen and is easy to see, but a hood is required outdoors. You can fully calibrate the monitor to just about any situation and there is an AC power cord supplied. You can also add a battery. This unit offers the ability to adapt up to nine different battery configurations for providing mobile operation in the field. The large selection of battery adapters can be interchanged (or “swapped” out) by the end-user.

If you’re shooting video on your DSLR or you just want to be able to monitor what’s coming out of the stills side of your camera, the Marshall V-LCD70XP is the monitor for you. Highly recommended.

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This post sponsored by the Digital SLR Store