Marshall False Color IRE issue
As those of you who follow our Endless Picnic blog probably know, we’re big fans of Marshall monitors. We love both the 7″ LCD70XP-HDMI and the 5″ V-LCD50-HDMI, which shine for all sorts of reasons, especially with our Canon 5DMKIIs.
One of the most of useful features of both models is the False Color mode, which we’ve seen become popular throughout the industry as a quick and useful exposure guide for HD cinematography, both on our Marshalls and on RED One’s monitor.
But recently when reviewing some 5D footage, our colorist/editor Alex Ricciardi mentioned that he’d noticed some discrepancies when comparing the Marshall False Color scale and Apple Color’s Waveform monitor: it appeared that the False Color IRE scale was reading about 10 IRE too high when compared to the software scopes. Knowing how much I rely on the False Color scale for proper exposure, I decided to investigate.
I began by doing some casual tests around our office (More …)Tweet
Hey folks, just wanted to add a few important updates to this review. (Sorry for the delay, but things have been super busy at Endless Picnic!)
• A few months ago we upgraded one of our Marshall V-LCD70XP-HDMI monitors. The factory installed update added an HDMI loop-through feature, which eliminates the tremendous headache of using an HDMI splitter when working with multiple monitors or an EVF, as well as a DSLR ratio adjustment feature, which, like the smallHD DP6, allows the unit to display a full screen image while you’re recording with a DSLR. These features work wonderfully in the field and the studio, and have really improved an already excellent unit.
In addition to making the upgrade available for older units, Marshall sells a new model with these features:
http://www.lcdracks.com/monitors/model/V-LCD70XP-HDMIPT.php
• Additionally, I thought I should add that the smaller MARSHALL V-LCD50-HDMI has proven to be somewhat erratic in the field as far as color reproduction and image quality are concerned. Under certain circumstances–with tungsten lights for a night interior, for example–I had a terrible time getting a strange golden cast out of the image–no matter what white balance settings I used. (This cast was absolutely not there on the 5D’s LCD screen.) I recently recailbrated the unit with Alex, our colorist, and it looked solid enough in our office, but I’ll confess that my confidence in using the unit to gauge color is a bit shaken, despite my initial impressions. It’s still great for black and white
shooting, though!
• Recently, word came through the rental house grapevine that Small HD had updated the firmware for the DP6-HDMI. Being the objective, higher truth seekin’ types that we are here at Endless Picnic, we borrowed a unit and installed the latest version. Unfortunately, after another good hour of attempting to calibrate it, we found that the same picture issues still existed as in our original review. As such, we still stand behind our original review of the unit’s image quality and color reproduction.