The SmallHD ULTRA 5 Bright Touchscreen Monitor is on sale today for $1,499 USD which is a massive saving of $700 USD.
The whole concept behind the Ultra 5 is to provide users with a professional, solidly made, portable, lightweight, daylight-viewable solution that can stand up to anything you may throw at it.
The monitor features a 1920 x 1080 LCD touchscreen with a claimed brightness of 3000 cd/m². It covers 100% DCI-P3 and it has a contrast ratio of 1000:1.
The screen is listed as 10-Bit, but it isn’t a true 10-bit display, instead, it features the commonly used 10-bit (8+2). Some potential buyers may find this a little disappointing given the high cost of the monitor. However, what you should clearly know is that no panels with true 10-bit color exist in this size, everyone just uses dithering to achieve the 10-bit target. 10-bit (8+2) is pretty much imperceptible to 99% of people
Key features
- 5″ 1920 x 1080 Touchscreen Display
- 3G-SDI and HDMI Inputs & Outputs
- Bright 3000 cd/m² LCD Panel
- 10-Bit 4:2:2 DCI-P3 Color Gamut
- 5-Pin USB & Ethernet Control Ports
- Power via 2-Pin LEMO Input
- PageOS 5 with Imaging Tools
- Milled Aluminum Unibody Housing
I have previously reviewed the SmallHD ULTRA 5 Bright on the site and you can read that review here.
As I have said so many times before, it’s not that hard to come up with a reasonably good-looking smaller-sized screen these days and be able to sell it for not a lot of money. The problem is there is a lot more to a monitor than just the display. It’s the software, inputs, outputs, build quality, and the OS that separates the good and great monitors from the ok ones. The user experience with a monitor, at least in my opinion, is paramount.
The SmallHD Ultra 5 ticks so many boxes when it comes to build quality, customization, inputs and outputs, OS, power options, and most importantly image quality. The ability to control certain RED/Sony/ARRI cameras, albeit at an additional cost, is an added bonus.
