DSLR Video Monitor

After a few days of using the LCD hood loupe Attachment on my DSLR, I’ve reluctantly come to the sad conclusion that it just isn’t quite good enough to reliably achieve accurate focus on videos when focusing the camera manually. Obviously, when using auto-focus this isn’t an issue because the camera takes care of that all by itself. But auto-focus can be “jerky” with a lot of bouncing in and out of focus before it locks on, so I’ll only be using auto-focus when it’s necessary – plus auto-focus can be noisy in otherwise quiet situations!

Enter a different option – an external video monitor that attaches to the hot shoe of the camera which presents the user with a much larger display to see what’s going on.

The model I chose was the FeelWorld FW759 7″ IPS on camera monitor. The unit ships with a sun screen, HDMI cable, and the hot shoe mounting attachment. The battery is extra – but fortunately, I already own not just 1, but 6 batteries of the required size to operate it! (Glad I checked before ordering another battery and charger!)

FeelWorld FW759

At 7 inches wide, it’s 1 inch over being twice as wide (and twice as tall) as the LCD monitor on the back of the camera, and should make visually acquiring proper manual focus much, much easier! And with the large and detachable sunshade, it should make outdoor use much easier as well.

A downside to this though – besides being bulkier, is it will be harder to hold the camera steady for handheld shooting. With the hood loupe, there is 3 points of stability – both hands, plus your eye held at the eyepiece. With the monitor approach, obviously you lose that third point of contact – but that’s what they make mono-pod and tripods for, and most of the time I use one or the other for video anyway.

The unit should be here next Wednesday or thereabouts (I always opt for free shipping, so delivery dates are a little vague until the tracking info is provided.) But hopefully I’ll be more satisfied with this approach.

Oh! Before I forget! You might be wondering where my microphone will go now if I have the monitor up on the hot shoe. Well, the microphone will go on the hot shoe as well with the help of an adapter that allows up to 3 items to be attached at the hot shoe at the same time!