By site editor Dan Chung:
Gratical X Product Update from Zacuto on Vimeo.
If you’ve been eyeing up the Gratical HD OLED EVF from Zacuto but couldn’t really justify the expense, then now’s there’s a cheaper way to own a high quality viewfinder. As we previously reported the Gratical X is exactly the same top grade hardware at a lower cost. The catch? You need to add the features you want in the form of paid upgrades. If you wanted every single feature of the original Gratical HD then you are still better off going for that option. However, if you only need one or two options such as peaking, or pixel to pixel zoom, then the Gratical X is for you.
I envisage the Gratical X as being perfect for users of cameras that output most of the info they want to see over SDI or HDMI, and who don’t need to record that output as a clean feed externally (either because they only record internally in the camera, or the camera has multiple outputs for which the overlays can be separately turned on and off). If you find you really did need a specific feature after all then you can simply buy it later.
Obvious cameras to pair the Gratical X with would include the Canon C300 and Sony FS7, which both output a plethora of overlaid info over SDI and HDMI. At the price it might even be an effective option for more traditional ENG cameras and even smaller cameras like the PMW200 or EX1.
You can pre-order the Gratical X here.
More from Zacuto:
Zacuto now offers two Gratical models; the Gratical HD and the Gratical X. Both units start with a 5.4 million pixel micro-OLED display, high quality precision optics with a built in diopter, and a powerful FPGA dual core processor. The models differ only in software. The Gratical HD EVF comes packed with professional features like Vectorscope, Waveform (3D), Histogram, LUT import and creation and much more. The Gratical X EVF includes only basic features and our unique, customization program allows you to build the software package that’s right for you.
The Gratical X will start at an attractive price point of $1650. Upon activation, the unit will have HDMI and SDI inputs, display adjustments, color bars, blue gun. Additional software features like pixel to pixel zoom, peaking, false color, LUTs, zebras, frame store, HDMI and SDI outputs and many more can be purchased a la carte or choose one of our bundles with savings.
The Gratical X will need to be activated and software features will need to be purchased at Zacuto.com/Gratical-registration (coming soon) by the end user. We will be shipping an activation card with the Gratical X so customers will be aware of the steps required to activate before use.
For those wishing to invest in a complete, professional, electronic viewfinder, the Gratical HD with full features, free future features in development and firmware upgrades for life is still the gold standard and best value at Zacuto.
The Gratical X will be shipping end of July 2015, Limited quantities to start. Get your pre-orders in now. First come, first served.
Full disclosure: Zacuto is an affiliate partner of Newsshooter.com
