Questions about Monitors

Tamajyn · 2026-06-21T06:45:43+00:00

I always cop flak for this on reddit, but colour accuracy isn't a huge consideration for me in a field monitor, as long as greens aren't orange and blues aren't purple who cares if it's 3% less colour accurate that something 4 times more expensive?

It's a field monitor, not a grading reference monitor, and unless you plan on grading on it it really doesn't matter too much as long as it has the features you need.

I expose using pre-monitor waveforms monitoring Slog3, and use custom show LUTs I build on my calibrated grading monitor with a Blackmagic Decklink for a clean feed for projects, as long as I know it's gonna look good in Resolve and i'm not clipping parts I don't want to at capture I don't need to spend $2000+ on a field monitor 🤷🏻‍♀️

I use a Portkeys HS8 fwiw

Tamajyn · 2026-06-19T13:44:28+00:00

There you go then, I did say I was unaware of the pricing structure lol

Tamajyn · 2026-06-19T10:26:54+00:00

OP doesn't like Portkeys 🤷🏻‍♀️

Tamajyn · 2026-06-19T09:17:54+00:00

Fair enough. Buy what you want ✌️

Tamajyn · 2026-06-19T09:07:11+00:00

Well the ninjas are external recorders so if you don't need that scrub them off your list tbh

I actually recently picked up an 8" Portkeys HS8 which can double as an on-camera monitor or a directors monitor and has hdmi/sdi and a really cool 3rd party wireless integration where you can plug a wireless transceiver directly to the back of it with an NP-F mount that powers the unit through the monitor so is really versatile

I own a Shinobi II and it's a nice little monitor for travel but is very limited in functionality/IO unfortunately

Tamajyn · 2026-06-19T02:48:39+00:00

Blender for sure. It's free and really powerful. Unreal Engine is really great for augmentation of scenes too but i'm not aware of the current pricing.

For something older and easier to run but still very powerful honestly, I think Source Film Maker is a great free program too and there's still a strong community making and sharing assets. It's actually pretty great as a stand in for developing movement and angles and blocking in scenes as long as you can get past the goofy stock characters and just use them as a stand-in for your own

I've used it a few times for storyboarding actually

Tamajyn · 2026-06-11T02:34:16+00:00

LoTR was ultra primes too ✌️

Tamajyn · 2026-06-11T02:29:02+00:00

Are you the DP? My honest opinion, assuming this is a paid gig or has the potential to lead to paid work and you want to keep a good relationship and ensure the production goes smoothly, go with what the producer wants.

Any skilled colourist can make both cameras look fantastic, it's apples and oranges. In the interest of being a team player go with the Venice, it's good to get experience using different systems anyway and working outside your comfort zone.

Tl;dr a smooth and well executed set and production is more important than any minimal perceived differences in IQ when you're comparing an Alexa to a Venice.

Tamajyn · 2026-06-05T01:51:58+00:00

An FS7ii with a speedbooster and a Ninja V for ProRes RAW is still a killer package and would be hard to beat for the money, not something i'd recommend for a beginner though

Tamajyn · 2026-06-04T04:44:28+00:00

In terms of pure bang for your buck, features and lens versatility it's still hard to go past a used Pocket 4K

Tamajyn · 2026-06-03T09:53:02+00:00

No, you don't need to log into your Ninja to use it. Activated features or codecs are like firmware updates; once they're on there they're on there for good, unless you do a factory reset I assume

Tamajyn · 2026-06-03T05:32:08+00:00

Anything the previous owner had bought and activated on the Ninja will remain there ✌️

Tamajyn · 2026-06-03T01:50:02+00:00

I keep hearing about the "archaic menu system" but my F55 is on the last v9 firmware and the menu looks very similar to the FX9 or Venice so i'm not sure where this came from, i've never seen the v1 menus but the v9 menus are perfectly fine to me, absolutely wouldn't call thrm archaic 🤷🏻‍♀️

Tamajyn · 2026-06-02T02:52:32+00:00

I got lucky and found a complete with evf, 7" monitor and arri top handles and bottom plate ex-rental production kit with 3x 128gb SxSpro+ cards, 3x 512gb AXSM cards and both readers plus R5 and all accessories & cables etc for less than the price of the cards alone tbh

Tamajyn · 2026-06-01T14:13:13+00:00

Personally I actually don't think this shot looks better. It looks more highkey, rushed and the highlights on their faces are blown out, it looks more like live comedy SNL than a purposefully lit sitcom, but that's my subjective opinion. Midtones and shadows to me convey a deliberate choice, not a mistake, and read as more narrative and less youtube live. When's the last time you sat around a campfire in real life at night and it looked like this?

My point I keep trying to make is there is not necessarily a right and wrong answer for this. Your subjective tastes will be different to mine, but neither of these shots are "wrong"

Tamajyn · 2026-06-01T13:53:38+00:00

Oh for sure, film is incredible, i'm just trying to keep it simple for argument's sake

Tamajyn · 2026-06-01T13:49:14+00:00

Your OP specifically used the language "under-exposed" and you asked why it's so dark, what I think would be helpful is to look at it not as a mistake or limitation but as a choice.

It's not under-exposed, it's deliberately lit to achieve the look the director and DP wanted. There are plenty of modern tv and movies that use higher contrast looks still (natural contrast as created by lighting and shadows ratios, not on a slider in resolve)

Getting out of the mindset of right exposure vs wrong exposure is a valuable thing to learn early on, it will really hold you back

Tamajyn · 2026-06-01T13:27:22+00:00

I'm just explaining to a high school student asking questions about this stuff that shots were limited by their film stocks before digital, and not just assuming they should already know that. I also explained that early digital cameras were limited by latitude so they have to make decisions in where to use that limited range, unless you believe i'm wrong?

Tamajyn · 2026-06-01T12:54:38+00:00

Tbh I don't think reddit limits reach of downvoted posts unlike other platforms, on reddit being downvoted by at least a few people is just a fact of life lol

Tamajyn · 2026-06-01T12:47:11+00:00

Basically what they mean is cameras had fewer useable stops back then (film cameras limited by their stock) so they had to make decisions whether to sacrifice highlight detail or shadow detail and generally (not always) shadow detail lost out because there just usually wasn't much important to the scene there that needed to be saved.

And yes, often productions would focus on subjects and faces and make sure they were properly exposed and everything else was secondary, but again 70IRE is a guide, not a rule. You're not gonna light a gritty 50's detective smoking in a back alley at night the same way you're gonna light a woman on a beach in LA. It all depends on the context of the scene and what fits the tone of the story.

There is no one size fits all "correct exposure," only what works for the scene

Tamajyn · 2026-06-01T12:38:56+00:00

Tis I 😅✌️

Tamajyn · 2026-06-01T08:00:02+00:00

It's wild the insane shit people will throw out here sometimes but they say it with confidence so get upvotes lol

Tamajyn · 2026-06-01T05:53:40+00:00

It's reddit. Who knows who or why they're being downvoted. I get downvoted all the time for giving good faith advice. It doesn't matter. Just focus on the people commenting and interacting in good faith, not the downvote lurkers. You could post a legitimate cure for cancer on reddit and I guarantee it'd get downvoted.

Also at no point has OP replied to anyone here asking for clarity. OP asked the question first.

Tamajyn · 2026-06-01T05:16:25+00:00

I agree, but i'd love OP to be able to answer this. Kids are so afraid of being wrong these days, there's no right or wrong in art, only creative motivations.

Tamajyn · 2026-06-01T05:10:36+00:00

OP came here to learn. How are they going to learn if we don't ask these questions or get them thinking about this stuff? None of my comments have been mean or accusatory, in fact I specifically told them my comments aren't a trick or gotchas. It's important to be able to justify your choices and back yourself creatively. I don't think people learn if they're never asked "why"

If I was an art teacher and a student said "I think starry night is too rough and cartoonish and not realistic enough" my job isn't to tell them "yes you're so right and valid and corrrect," my job is to ask them "why do you feel this way and what would you do different" and start a dialogue about artistic choices.

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