Using the Alphatron EVF

The Alphatron EVF – great retina display viewfinder from TV Logic.

I am currently in my hotel room in Kuala Lumpur failing miserably to beat jet lag from my flight from London yesterday. So I thought i’d write down some initial thoughts I had from using the Alphatron EVF for the first time on a shoot last week. It beats staring at the fan on the ceiling anyway!

I have been wanting to test out this EVF for a while now since it was announced back in NAB 2012, the specs really stood out and as I am looking to get an extra monitor for my FS700 soon and I was excited to hear I would be getting the chance to use one on a shoot for Waterloo film studios.

Before I start i’d just like to say that I didn’t have much time from getting my hands on the kit to play with the viewfinder before starting the shoot, we shot for 12 hours and then I packed the kit away and drove back to London. In an ideal world I would have liked the chance to go through the menu’s, adjust things to my liking etc but I simply didn’t have the time so I apologise for not having a complete knowledge of the menu systems and all the features of the EVF.

The Alphatron hooked up to the F3 rig. Click for larger image

I only had about 5 minutes to play with the Alphatron before I needed to set up for the first interview so after hooking it up to the F3 rig and powering it through a D-tap battery I only had time to turn it on before having to start setting up lights etc.

The EVF seems well built with what feels like heavy duty plastic. It was bigger than I expected and the weight was good – not too heavy but solid enough.

I found the Alphatron design quite intuitive and very easy to use, the buttons on the side are relatively easy to find without looking and the menu system is plain and clear.

I started my career using the CRT EVF’s on the DSR-450’s which were a joy to use, even in black & white and I think Alphatron have really come close with this OLED monitor and I was quite impressed with the resolution.

With the F3 LCD panel open alongside the Alphatron EVF I found myself instantly drawn to looking at the Alphatron instead. The resolution is fantastic! It is clear and sharp and the lag from LCD to the external monitor on the F3 was minimal to not noticeable.

It may be a little hard to see but in my opinion the resolution on the Alphatron was better than the F3 LCD. Click for larger photo

The expanded focus button on the F3’s handle did not work through SDI or HDMI but I found the Alphatron’s expanded focus fine and the fact that peaking still worked whilst in expanded focus was great, although on an 18mm prime it was quite tricky to get focus right and I wished the Alphatron could zoom in a little further like the Canon 7D can.

I had a bit of trouble with the connection of the EVF to the camera and I think if you are thinking of getting this product to put on a shoulder type rig you really need to pay attention to how you mount the EVF onto the camera rig itself. I would recommend finding a solid connection that wont move when you put slight forward pressure on it when your eye is looking down the barrel. Also try and find a connection that will allow you to tilt the screen up and down, back and forth and as well as adjust the height of the EVF in relation to the side of the camera. If anyone reading this knows of a good mount system for the Alphatron EVF then please let me know in the comments section.

PROS:

OLED retina display screen (same as the iphone) which results in fantastic quality.

Peaking whilst on expanded focus

SDI and HDMI connection in and out

Adjustable diopter

Various focus and exposure assist functions

CONS:

The battery clip on the back kept coming off if it was nudged

Expanded focus could have a tad more zoom although not a big deal

Shooting handheld with the F4 & Alphatron

All in all I found this to be an excellent product, TV Logic have done a great job at moving this part of the accessories industry forward and I will most definitely be getting myself one for use on the FS700.