Mailbox: return of the SmallHD DP4

OPEN THE BOX BEFORE SIGNING!

UPS stopped by today to deliver my SmallHD DP4 monitor after I sent mine back because of a slight sunburn... Too bad it didn't arrive one day earlier- I could have used it for my shoot yesterday! But SmallHD shipped it from NC, USA to Amsterdam in exactly one week from the point they (should have) received my damaged monitor. That's fast!
Last week it passed Germany on the way over here and I got a little suspicious when a UPS-worker from Poland(why Poland?) asked me for my BTW-number (my business tax-number). I get a lot of 'fishing' emails and after my monitor got stolen by some postal worker, I don't trust anyone. I called UPS Holland and they said to ignore the mail. The next day I received another email from a guy from UPS Holland who asked me for my BTW number as well and who signed his email with a very unprofessional 'Mike'. I ignored that as well.
Which is apparently the thing to do because today my monitor arrived anyway. The UPS guy came, asked me to sign for the package but when I was about to take the pencil from his hand hesitated and said "sorry, I want to check if my item is actually in there." I opened the box and there it was. I showed the DP4 to the UPS guy. Then I looked at him intensely and asked him if his name was 'Mike' and if he had friends in Poland. He said "no" and I told him that if he ever saw a colleague of his filming with something that looked like my monitor, he should contact me... 'Sure, buddy' he answered, a little unsettled, excused himself and quickly drove off in his brown UPS truck.

MY SMALLHD DP4: SPOTLESS

SmallHD DP4 and sunlight

BELOW RIGHT: WHITE SUNBURN SPOT

I have been using the SmallHD DP4 for about a month now. It's been sunny and that's the reason I have been shooting outside a lot, experimenting with different lenses, rigs, my new mattebox and glass filters. My DP4 made it a lot more fun and so much easier to shoot with these accessories and judge what I was doing.

But there is a big drawback to shooting in the sun with an Electronic View Finder (EVF): sunlight. And when I disovered a few spots/specks on my monitor and contacted SmallHD what these spots could be, they said they recognized the spots as coming from sunlight going into the EVF burning holes in your screen. The EVF is a magnifier: remember as a child using a magnifying glass to burn stuff? SmallHD says it takes no more than 30 seconds to burn holes in your screen. Considering that, I'm glad the damage was limited to a few spots...

Problem is that most often we're shooting with the sun in our back. So fiddling with equipment, searching your bag, talking to talent, whatever... 30 seconds is gone in a spiffy...

Is it a flaw in the design? I am not an engineer and cannot answer that. I have read that Zacuto's EVF has the same problem and most likely every monitor/EVF combo. Can't they redirect the sunlight so it won't hit the LCD? My uneducated guess is that -if possible at all- that would require very expensive optical engineering that would put the DP4 out of our financial range.
SmallHD has warned for use in the sunlight and consider this 'user damage'. But I have to give the company credit for the way it handles this issue. For now, clients are getting their DP4's fixed under warranty. In the future the sun warning will be more explicit in the manual and a lenscap for the EVF will be shipped with the package. I would add: preferably permanently attached to the EVF and with a big yellow warning sticker on the EVF itself. Because in the rush of the job, 30 seconds can pass before you can change a lens...

SOME SPOTS ARE ONLY VISIBLE WITH BLACK BACKGROUNDS

Mailbox: SmallHD DP4

SMALLHD DP4 ON PANASONIC GH2

GREAT PICTURE WITH ALL THE NECESSARY INFO ON DISPLAY

I received my SmallHD DP4 today. First -superficial- impressions: great design and feel. The monitor itself is featherlight, the viewfinder feels rocksolid, almost clunky in comparison. I'm almost afraid to mount it on the monitor for fear of bending/breaking it! It's probably better to attach the monitor to the viewfinder than vice versa. That is to say, don't mount the viewfinder when the monitor is on the hotshoe or on a flexible arm. Hold the viewfinder in your hand and press the monitor in place, that way you can exercise more controlled pressure.

I did a quick tryout with my GH2 and the resolution and picture looks great, straight out of the box. Have to get used to the menu but that's to be expected when you don't RTFM... The feature set and options are manifold and there's 2 preset buttons for your favorite settings. scroll/push button, usb port, HDMI in and out, replaceable battery plates (for now you can only use Canon LP-E6 batteries), and headphone jack for monitoring audio.

QUICK OVERVIEW OF BUTTONS AND PORTS

I didn't get a signal out of the camera straight away: I was about to start sweating when I discovered that either the camera or the DP4 doesn't like it when the camera is turned on before the monitor is. After I turned the camera off and back on again, the picture showed up.
As expected, the package feels very professional and complete. From the design to the materials to the accessories, this EVF/monitor makes me feel I can really go to work with my DSLR's.

I will write more about how the DP4 performs in the field and -when I get back to Europe- how it works with my Canon 550D/T2i.

If there's anything in particular people would like to hear about, let me know.

FALSE COLOR FOR JUDGING EXPOSURE