If you are looking for a compact on-camera monitor that offers a lot of value, the Elvid 5″ RigVision Monitor may be for you. As someone experienced with the Atomos line of monitors, I was admittedly apprehensive to try out this monitor. But I soon learned that it packs a lot of operational value into its portable frame.
What’s included?
First, the packaging was nice and it came with quality accessories. My favorite was the swing arm, which securely mounts to your camera. You can pivot the monitor any way you want. The arm also includes two other cold shoe mounts, and it was easy to position the arm so that a microphone could face your subject while still seeing the monitor clearly.
The box also includes screen protectors, a cleaning cloth, NP-FW50 dummy battery, L-series battery plate and more. Separately, I got the Watson duo charger with two batteries for my portable usage. I highly recommend this charger due to its informative readout while charging.
A deep look at the Elvid
It has HDMI input and loop-through HDMI output, which any video pro knows is quite handy. The HDMI input accepts DCI and UHD 4K, 1080p and more at various frame rates. The display is a 5-inch 1920×1080 8-bit IPS LCD type that boasts 1500cd/m2 brightness, 1000:1 contrast ratio and 160-degree viewing angle. The Elvid can perform real time LUT monitoring.
It’s touchscreen, and therefore offers pinch-to-zoom control and access to key settings. The interface is not as polished as an Atomos, but it is certainly full-featured and functional.
A robust menu has 20 functions, including positioning aids (guides, grids, crosshairs), image settings (brightness, contrast, chroma, sharpness, tiny, color temperature) and other general settings such as backlight, aspect ratio and config/menu options.
Four function buttons on top of the monitor are programmed to provide you quick access to audio meters, peaking, false color and HDR. You can program these buttons to your liking. Also on the top is a power switch and volume control.
You can also apply LUTs. The included USB drive comes with a Canon, Panasonic and Sony LUT, but you can upload and apply 17x17x17 .cube LUTs, and even recall from the monitor’s memory.
The verdict
This is a great portable touchscreen monitor. It has many features that the 5” Atomos Shinobi includes, which I believe to be its most reasonable comparison. A few reasons to pay a little more for the Elvid:
- Swing arm is extremely useful for positioning and holding other accessories
- HDMI loop-through output
- Superior brightness
If those reasons matter to you and your needs, then the Elvid 5″ RigVision Monitor is certainly worth a look.
