On-camera monitors are a niche market that has seen an explosion of products at affordable prices from brands like Portkeys, Lilliput, Neewer, and FeelWorld in recent years. FeelWorld is a Shenzhen-based monitor manufacturer that has been making big waves in the film and video industry with their feature-packed, entry-level displays; disrupting companies like Atomos and Vitec Group’s SmallHD, and driving down prices.
The LUT7S is the latest 7″ on-camera monitor from FeelWorld and among other things, it boasts a headline-worthy 2,200 nit brightness meaning that this display is viewable in direct sunlight. Here with a terrifically calm and detailed rundown of the LUT7S is one of my favorite reviewers and educators, Curtis Judd.
Curtis Judd has dozens and dozens of fantastic reviews and tutorials that are really worth checking out. With over a decade of consistent quality, Curtis is one of the best at presenting an unbiased, in-depth look at video and audio products in a clear and detailed oriented way. As always, I highly recommend his YouTube Channel.
FeelWorld LUT7S Features:
- Sharp Image with 323 PPI at 1920×1200
- Wide Viewing Angle IPS Panel
- 2,200 nit brightness
- 3G-SDI & HDMI Inputs and Loop Outs (no cross convert)
- Touchscreen Controls with Shortcut Buttons
- False Color/Vectorscope/RGB Parade/Zebras/Focus Peaking
- Image Processing with LUTs
- Included Shoe Bracket
- 460g (1.01 lbs) w/o Battery
- Price – $369
The LUT7S is a 1920×1200 Touchscreen IPS Panel with a 1200:1 contrast ratio and a 2,200 nit brightness for easy viewing outdoors. It features a wide-view-angel of 160° which is provide a good viewing experience when you’re off-angle for the monitor.
All of the menus for the monitor are accessed via the touchscreen, and there are 3 additional programmable buttons that can be assigned by the user for various functions.
Brightness
For the price, the headline stealing feature is really the high brightness display which can output enough light to be useful in direct sunlight without the use of a hood.
There is, however, a fair amount of glare on the glass panel so you may still want to use a hood or purchase an antiglare screen protector if you’re mainly filming outdoor. It should be noted that despite being an high-brightness panel, this is not an HDR display.
Inputs and Outputs
The monitor features 3G-SDI and HDMI inputs with loop-out allowing you to pass the signal on to another display without having to use a splitter. Unfortunately, it does not cross convert SDI to HDMI.
The SDI input is low-latency allowing you to use this monitor for focus pulling and can accept a signal of up to 1080 @ 60p, and the HDMI input can accept a signal of 4K DCI @ 24P, UHD @ 30P, and 1080 @ 60P.
For monitoring audio, the LUT7S has a 1/8″s headphone jack with level controls which can be very useful if your DSLR or Mirrorless camera doesn’t have an output jack.
Powering
On the back of the unit there are two battery slots for Sony NP-F style batteries that at advertised to power the monitor for around 4 hours at 100% brightness.
There is also a DC IN for powering the monitor from an outlet or with an external battery on your rig.
Additionally, you’ll find an 8.4V DC OUT for sending power to your DSLR or Mirrorless camera. The monitor DOES NOT come with any power adapter cables included.
Image Tools
FeelWorld’s LUT7S Monitor is packed with the standard tools for focusing and exposing your footage.
- False Color
- Vectorscopes
- RGB Parade
- Zebras
- RGB Channels
- Focus Peaking
The monitor also has at the ability to de-squeeze anamorphic footage in 1.25x, 1.33x, 1.5x, and 2.0x.
Though it is REC709 calibrated this monitor has the ability to process and display LUTs (probably why they named it LUT7S) that are loaded in through the SD card. This is very handy for anyone shooting in LOG to preview their corrected footage while shooting.
Accessories
The monitor comes with an included mount that attaches to your camera rig via the hot/cold shoe. The cold shoe isn’t my favorite way of connecting my monitor to my camera, especially is I’m powering the monitor with on-board batteries – that weight can really add up and that cold shoe wasn’t designed to withstand that.
You can also attach the monitor to your camera with any arm or mounting bracket, and the fact that this monitor uses an Arri style locating pin connector is fantastic.
Conclusion
To be frank, choosing any monitor or television set is a complete pain in the butt. You often feel like you should have a degree in display technology just to be able to sift through all of the jargon. For my purposes, I consider monitors like these to be for visual reference only since FeelWorld doesn’t include any information about color depth.
This monitor offers an entry-level user a lot of features that weren’t available for cheap just a few years ago, but those features come at the cost of build quality. With an all plastic body, this monitor doesn’t sound like it would withstand the stresses of a fast paced production environment; however, it should work well for most videography situations.
At 2,200 nits with the ability to be viewable in direct sunlight, this would certainly be the monitor to add to your kit.
[source: Curtis Judd]
Order Links:
FeelWorld LUT7S 7″ 3D LUT 4K HDMI and SDI Monitor (B&H, Amazon)
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate partner and participant in B&H and Adorama Affiliate programmes, we earn a small comission from each purchase made through the affiliate links listed above at no additional cost to you.
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