Review on ANDYCINE A6 Monitor 1920X1080 Gimbals by Alex Winnick

A few years ago I was thinking about adding a video monitor to my camera. Back then, I traveled to conferences and conventions like CES and wanted to see what was being recorded. One of the most important considerations for the monitor was its portability. Older field monitors were bulky and could not be easily attached to the camera. I wanted something that would attach to the camera along with lights and a microphone. So I looked at smaller HDMI field monitors from companies like Small HD. Their 5-inch monitor costs between $400 and $500. And while the quality is amazing, I just couldn't afford it. Just when I was about to stop looking for a cheap 5" HDMI monitor, I came across the ANDYCINE A6 5.7" HDMI Field Monitor. The ANDYCINE A6 5.7" Field Monitor is compatible with well-known brands of DSLR cameras, such as Sony, Nikon and Canon, as well as stabilizers. It is equipped with a 5.7-inch IPS screen. It is lightweight and ideal for most Recording applications, including the use of gimbals and handheld gimbals It has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 and a brightness of 460 nits The monitor supports 4K HDMI input The monitor is powered by a built-in 8V DC power supply or a portable battery powered. It also has an HDMI input and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The monitor is almost ready to use. It comes with the cables necessary for operation, but no power adapter. It is compatible with RAVPower's NP-F550 (a battery used primarily with Sony cameras) which I already had on hand, so that's the power supply I went with.In addition to the shoe mount, the monitor also comes with a sun visor and d delivered in a frame. The visor and frame comes with the velcro which works great but I have to admit that when I went to put the monitor in my camera bag I took the sun visor off the frame and attached the velcro on the frame to the bag. . This ensured the monitor was secure and could be moved around in the bag, but made it difficult to quickly remove the monitor from the bag. An umbrella is a great addition and I recommend using one. This makes the object much easier to see in bright light. There are three 1/4-20 threads on the monitor - top, bottom and right. I ended up using a shoe mount to place the monitor on top of the camera and then attached the microphone to the cold shoe position on the shoe mount. You can use these other attachment points for additional accessories if you wish. They are included because the monitor uses the main shoe mount. The mount arm pivots, which is great for watching videos from all angles - or if you want to track your performance on camera. The A6 monitor is very light (only 1.65 pounds) and the body is mostly made of plastic. The shoe mount is a metal frame that is excellent for stability. This monitor is not a touchscreen and its main navigation controls are via the 8 buttons located at the top of the monitor. A breakdown of the controls is shown below. The monitor loads fairly quickly, and while there is a small lag between the camera and the monitor, I don't think it's detrimental to video production. This seems to be fairly common with cameras and HDMI monitors. In addition to control buttons, the monitor also has several connections. USB Upgrade: Only for upgrading the firmware on the monitor. 3.5mm connector: for headphones and audio output. DC IN 12V: DC power input interface, polarity same as power input DC OUT 8V: DC output interface, power input polarity HDMI IN: v1.4, HDMI input up to 4K@30Hz with DC coupler sold separately. The headphone jack is useful for video playback but not very reliable for audio monitoring. For accurate audio monitoring I would connect headphones directly to the camera as there is a slight lag between the picture and sound when using a monitor. The screen is the best part. The native resolution of 1920 x 1080 is stable, delivering a full 1080p resolution that delivers a nice, clear picture. This is perfect for checking focus and getting great news for your final video product. The colors on the monitor are very accurate and much better than many budget monitors. One of my favorite features of this monitor is that it includes image rotation, which is perfect for use when using the hinge on the mounting bracket. I have used this monitor several times in the field. I was concerned about the exposure of my video as I was using a Canon 5D Mark IV and the day was particularly bright. So I hooked up a monitor and using the monitor's false color feature, I was able to easily identify where my exposure spots were too hot. I also used this monitor to check the focus and position of myself on the camera while filming the talking head video. Aside from the 5D Mark IV, I've also used this monitor with a Canon EOS-R camera and it's been extremely useful, especially when I'm shooting with the camera. Every time I've used the ANDYCINE monitor, it hasn't let me down. This is a wonderful little monitor and I was blown away by the excellent quality I got for such a cheap option. I think the menu system is user friendly, but it took me a while to get used to the layout of things. After doing that, I went through the settings and found that the quality of my output improved simply because I was able to track my progress while recording. I can recommend this monitor for semi-professional use. It's affordable and works great.