@imdjay in your opinion, is Lenmar a good brand for these Sony NPF style batteries? Yes, those 750s look to be a perfect size for the H056.

I just did my first shoot with my H056 monitor this week. It was presentation on stage (live event) with a darkened room to see images behind the presenter. There was an audience of 150 people. I had my GH2 in a generic Gini Cage and the H056 mounted off an arm mounted to the cage. I used the GH2 swivel screen for color/contrast reproduction, and to check framing if necessary.

Focus Assist: The difference with the focus assist on H056 was night and day. I could easily see my focus and rack through different faces in the audience, confidently placing the focus where I wanted it (all in manual mode). Even in very low light it performed beautifully for focus. After looking at the H056 for awhile, it made looking at the GH2 swivel display make me feel like I needed glasses, the focus on it looked so soft.

Overscan: I did some more analysis of the headroom issue (vertically top and bottom) and found the monitor had zero overscan (top and bottom). There is still ca. 3-5% overscan left and right. From my previous post I realized that the GH2 display mode I use is #3, where the GH2 screen is in under-scan with a black frame visible around it, and the display info (shutter speed, iso etc.) are as far out of the image area as possible. The GH2 generates a grey line on the edge between the black frame and the image area. Since I did my tests & screen shots on a white bulletin board it was very hard to see the grey line. This grey line is what I thought was the difference between the GH2 display and the H056 display and called it over scan. In fact, in prepping for my shoot I looked at it again and realized the top and bottom frame line is accurately displayed by the H056.

I updated my post from Sept. 26th/pg. 6 to reflect my finding on the overscan. there are 2 screen grabs posted there to show what I am talking about and this little grey line on the GH2 screen in GH2 under-scan display mode #3.

Color: the H056 I received has a green bias. It was noticeable on my shoot. No amount of tweaking could get rid of it. This time the signal from the GH2 was directly plugged into my H056, not being looped through the Lilliput as I have shown in my previous post. I checked the 3 color temps in the menu 5600, 6500 and 9300 and they are all green. I pointed the camera at a white piece of paper and using a 3 color meter measured the color value of the "white" displayed H056 in these 3 temp modes. I got values of 8000, 8900 and 9500 with +12 green. It was unscientific as I didn't bother to custom white balance the camera, but balanced it by eye putting the color bias of the camera half way to the lower left, toward amber and magenta, to get the GH2 screen to really look accurate. I pulled out my gel swatch book and found that looking through a 1/2 minus green gel helps the color reproduction of the H056 (but isn't prefect either, blues are still too bright, but the flesh tones and green swatches looked better on the MacBeth chart).

In a perfect world I'd think about "how can I add the minus green gel to my screen and put a piece of plexiglass in front of it (for protection)". In actuality, the plexi would introduce more green shift and have to be precision cut. Requiring more time and tweaking. I can live with it for now.

Bottom line: H056 is awesome for focusing and framing with confidence and the GH2 swivel screen is great for color reproduction. For what it gives you, you can't beat the price. At the end of the day, you can't fix bad focus in post. I pulled focus for a living for years, this is now a part of my GH2 kit. Thanks @Vitaliy_Kiselev !

For those interested, I post 2 pictures of the Camax HV056 with focus assist. Those are the internal cards. The blue card is the motherboard with HDMI input. We can see the space for SDI and YUV connectors. The control chip is a TSUMV36K-LF. The green card is the LCD screen driver with a NOVATEK chip.

The SDI model is here : http://www.aliexpress.com/item/5-6-inch-TFT-LCD-High-resolution-DSLR-Monitor-for-photography-with-YPbPr-HDMI-HD-SDI/528654986.html

The only screen is here: http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale/wholesale-HV056WX1%25252d100.html?SearchText=HV056WX1-100&CatId=0&manual=y&SortType=price_asc&SortType=y&filterCat=400401,541,4099

@tonalt I have some real sony 970s from B&H in the USA (best price for real stuff) and they are quite heavy for a monitor articulating arm. I think there is a 770 model which is a better (lighter) size. If you find a good/cheap/off brand one let us know. I will be looking too.

@imdjay it's not the first time I see a product offered by Ikan or a similar brand and see I can buy it from ebay (without the brand sticker) for less.

In this case it sounds like Ikan offers red peaking whist the H056 offers white peaking, and the connectors on the back are a little different (there is a different auxiliary circuit board in there) but the housing of the Ikan vk5 and the H056 look identical. Since they offer red peaking there must a difference in the firmware too but they must be coming from the same factory... that's what I mean.

@imdjay It would be good to know if the Ikan vk5 has better color reproduction then the H056. Want to buy one and report back? Don't have the cash myself...

@Sangye - I've read the posts and it sounds like exactly the same as the monitor I received. 2%-5% overscan is still overscan. Not sure about the 16:10/16:9 issue but in all other respects, the same.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if they changed something and didn't tell anyone. I'll let you know when this monitor gets here.

@CFreak The key to the fixed monitor will be when the factory is actually ready to produce them. I should be one of the first people to receive a fixed one, as I sent mine back and have been dealing with them in getting it replaced for one of the newer models. They are currently on what I understand to be a Chinese national holiday until the 7th of October. Like I said before, as soon as a fixed monitor arrives I'll do a review.

I am anticipating that it is much less of a "fix" than it is a completely new monitor. They have said it has the same specs, e.g. resolution, screen size, hdmi, but is going to be a solid aluminium case with a microphone port. Here's hoping for a DP6 knock off...

These guys have said it was fixed before and it wasn't so these are all just words to me until something actually arrives at the door, so don't treat this as fact. But as soon as I know, everyone else here will know.

@imdjay The Ikan vk5 looks to be the same form factor with different connectors, perhaps an earlier or later model.

The resolution is really nice. I've never shot anything with this high resolution of a screen before, and it's a different experience altogether. Obviously it isn't necessary, but I would say that it enhances the filmmaking experience, and you might see things in your shot that you otherwise wouldn't have noticed.

Two more thoughts after a little more testing with it today - for one, it never seems to turn completely off. The red light by the power button stays on, as does a light on the back under the battery mount. These will drain the battery - mine was dead in the morning after leaving it connected over night. This means that when you aren't using the monitor, you should disconnect the battery. A little annoying, and I can see it happening that I'll forget to do this on a job sometime and have to finish without a monitor.

Also, the color temperature profiles are wrong. I think 5600 and 6500 are reversed. In any case, 5600 displays as warmer than 6500. Even the coldest setting (labeled as 6500) is too warm for my taste. I'll get used to it I'm sure, but it's one quirk I've found.

sounds like it's good to go. question is now, is the extra resolution worth it over some of the known brands 5.6" monitors which have better overscan and colors and closer to 300 price tag

@Sangye Did yours have a 2nd S/N# sticker over the original with original build date? That could be the key to the "fixed" monitors. Glad to hear yours arrived.

I don't know how this is with the latest TVs. Anyone got some info?

On any normal TV you can set point to point mode. And this is that you want to use with any HD channels or game consoles.