Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

Absolutely the greatest thing since peanut butter!!! tack sharp images!! 2X as large as my 7D screen. Bright! Great for preview before shooting. Great after shooting!! This is a "10".

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

What a nice viewing screen!!!! clear! sharp!! Everything is easy to check on for focus quality. Lotsa bang for my bucks!!!

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

I purchased this monitor after the built in LCD on my a580 stopped working. Generally, I use in the same way I used to use the built in LCD on my camera (for image review, focusing in magnified live view, and video recording).
I like the mounting system a lot - the LCD can be mounted on a tripod, or onto the hotshoe of any camera with a provided adapter. Sony provides an adapter for both the standard hotshoe and the locking hotshoe found on Sony/Minolta bodies.
Handling is generally good, although the camera with a small lens can feel unbalanced when handheld with the monitor mounted.
Peaking was a bit of a let down. It requires high contrast edges to work well. Sometimes, nothing on the subject is rendered as 'peak'. You can turn up the monitor contrast (which affects peaking), but then peaking gives an overly optimistic prediction of what's in focus.
One problem with image review is that the camera sends 1920x1080 output to the screen, which only has WVGA resolution (800x480). Getting to the pixel level to check focus requires either additional magnification on the camera end (so that the 1920x1080 output from the camera goes beyond 1:1), or selecting the 1:1 option on the monitor.
The monitor does its job in letting me get more life out of my current camera, but I sometimes I feel like I'm not getting too much extra out of it. Most of the time, the central 4:3 portion of the screen is used, and when that happens, I'm not getting any extra resolution.

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

This monitor works great with my Canon 5D Mark II. The Sony batteries last so long with it.

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

Superb HDMI monitor solution for those looking to monitor their video recordings. It is very good for monitoring focus for those cameras that allow manual focusing. The peaking and 1 to 1 pixel checking is ideal for those shooting HD video and want to confirm focus for sharpness.
The only negatives are: Sony doesn't include a battery- so one must be purchased- be aware of that upon purchasing. The other small negative is that the monitor does take about 5 seconds of pressing the power button for the unit to turn on.....it's a bit bothersome but nothing too major- would have been nice to have an instant on button or a quick single depress and get the monitor powered......other than that the unit is perfect. Small other minor point is that the HDMI port is on one side so you may need to route the cable all the way around to reach your particular camera or setup.....would have been nice of Sony added a HDMI port on either side for easy cable routing.

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

Can be used with any camcorder that has an HDMI output! The two hot shoe mounts work on DSLR cameras and some camcorders. By using a clamp assembly on my tripod as a mount, I adapted this field monitor. You need to order a clamp assembly with a 1/4" 20 thread (several available here at B&H - listed in accessories with this review) and a HDMI cable that fits your camcorder's HDMI output.

My SONY HDR-HC9 camcorder outputs via a standard HDMI type output to the standard HDMI type input on the monitor. My camcorder does Peaking in RED, YELLOW, or WHITE. On this monitor, I get any of the three signals, but the monitor displays RED only. All other features of the monitor work with my camcorder.

This monitor's 5" screen is crystal clear with good resolution and displays a much better image to gauge precise focus. My camcorder's 3" LCD and viewfinder never let me reliably see the focus control I have with this field monitor.

The 16:9 display mode brings in the frame edges (narrow black box around image) so I know exactly what will be recorded within the frame.

All panning and tilting are displayed without any lag or delay. Once framed and in record mode, I'm now shooting almost exclusively by watching this monitor.

The battery lasts a long time when fully charged. Have not gone beyond 4 hours to see how long it will last.

The only limitation is outdoor, bright light makes the image on the reflective surface of the monitor a little hard to see, at times. The included fold-up monitor hood helps. In bright mid-day light I use a black out cloth over the monitor and my head for fine detail focus work.

A great addition for field shooting and for review of shot footage.

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

Excellent product.
Lightweight and practical. Focus Assist function good.
Looks great.

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

I use it as a viewfinder when capturing video on a DSLR (D7000).

The peaking function is pretty good. It only highlight the lines that are very in focus (instead of also highlighting the "almost" in focus area). Included hood is handle - easy to deploy; easy to collapse. Even small battery last a long time.

The screen is very reflective in bright sunlight. You will only see the reflection of your face on the screen than the actual content unless you also shade your face with the hood. There is no function to help adjusting the exposure (zebra, false colour). It cannot flip the image up side down if you want to mount the monitor that way.

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

Cheap.
Lightweight.
High Quality.

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

I bought a 16-foot HDMI cable to allow complete separation of the CLM-V55 LCD from the camera body, allow me to immediately see the image when I am working with the remote trigger, saving me time to not have to align and review the camera through its view finder. The sun shield even allows me to work in the bright sun.

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

I bought this to use on a jib and it fits the bill just fine. There's little in the way of bells or whistles and that's fine. What it does have is, what's needed for use as a jib monitor. A great picture and a peaking feature.

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

CLM-V55 Monitor has no power AC or DC included in the box.
Hidden inside the lid is a "Recommended Accessories" list.
You will also have to buy (sony retail prices):
AC-PW10AM AC Adaptor @ $99.99
or, A battery listed below
NP-FM500H battery @ $69.99
NP-QM71D battery @ $99.99
NP-QM91D battery @ $149.99
and a
BC-TRM battery charger @ $ 59.99
because the CLM-V55 Monitor will not recharge any battery.

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

This is a great monitor from Sony for most DSLRs. The clarity of the screen, it's creative design, and the peaking feature really makes it a great asset for the DSLR filmmaker. I do not, however, recommend this product for the Canon 5D MK II, because it does not upscale the video output of the 5D when pressing the record button. Therefore, when you hit record the screen will shrink making focusing difficult.

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

top quality...

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

This is a great Consumer product, it does what its suppose too and well... but its in no way perfect.

If you own a Canon 5D Your 480p Image will look quite small on this monitor while recording. It has no scaling option. If you own a Nikon D7000 or similar you will have 4" of LCD used for viewing the image the other 1" is filled with camera data.

What was also very disappointing is that its all plastic, even the 360 swivel, It broke the second day using it. Since then I ordered a articulating arm.

The Focus Assist is very precises compared to the
Marshall V-LCD50-HDMI, It does have trouble showing the red lines for in focus on skin.

The Menu is simple "To simple" and easy to access.

The Colors are Perfect no calibration needed.

This is a great product for someone who uses it on their own time, but never would I bring this on a paying job. One hit and its dead.

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

I purchased this monitor to use it with my Canon 5d Mk II. The resolution and creative design are fantastic for the price. The features are nice .... but they forgot the most important feature in my opinion!

Here's my only issue: when the 5d starts recording the image shrinks to basically the same size screen as what is on the 5d! This is a well known problem and Marshall and SmallHD both have products out to correct this issue (the screen adjusts and stays full size). Isn't this monitor selling because of the popularity of the Canon 5d? Therefore, I am extremely disappointed in Sony for not adding this feature and considering selling it because how can I attempt to pull focus when it shrinks? Defeats the whole point in my opinion. Too bad, because I was about to rave about this screen! -

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

sun hood
is not heavy
swivels to different positions
soft case

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

Best choice for video on DSLR

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

Had a chance to use this new 5" HDMI monitor on several jobs and I like it a lot. It fits on top of the Canon 5d/7D perfectly. I have used a 7" monitor but that one was few inches to large for handheld use. The 5" Sony is perfect for DSLR use. The supplied short HDMI to mini-HDMI cable is great and hard to find otherwise. So is the supplied sunshade that also works as a screen protector.

The monitor has three main extra features: Peaking, Pixel magnification 1:1, and TV display area (marker display). Quite simple featured compared to other monitors out there but the price of those are quite a bit more than the Sony's $399 price tag.

The peaking feature is a great feature for DSLR cameras. The picture turns black & white and the peaking turns red. It is a great way of finding focus quickly, especially during recording. The pixel magnification is also a great feature that zooms in the 800x480 monitor one to one to the full HD 1920x1080 signal that is fed to it from the camera. This is a feature Canon DSLRs have built in but disabled while in recording mode. With the feature added to the Sony monitor you can now check one to one pixel magnification while recording on the Canons.

Overall build quality, functionality and size & form is great for this Sony CLM-V55 HDMI on camera monitor. What makes it even better is the price of it. $399 is expensive when you compare this 5" monitor to consumer HDTVs. But if you compare it with on camera LCD monitors it is quite reasonable priced.

The picture quality is great. The brightness and contrast works well. It was a bit hard to use in direct sunlight, but this is not an OLED screen either. Overall it is a lot better than other non-branded LCD screens out there. The sunshade that can be attached to the screen is sturdy and also works as a great screen protector as well.

The battery attachment on the back is right in the middle and balanced. The provided hot shoe attachment arm is solid and versatile, although it did not have any adjustment to the tension.

Overall a great monitor that completes a DSLR video package.

Comments about Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor:

I own a NX5U, yes from Sony as well and I was looking to improve view on outdoors and this monitors was the right answer. I just would like to at lest came with a wall charger but no battery and no charger. Expect to pay $80 more for both extra items but the monitor is a great buy.