PortKeys LH7P Review - A Budget 7" Monitor with Wireless Camera Control!

[@PaulJoy]

Here's some affiliate links should you fancy buying one. Thanks for the support. PortKeys LH7P ► geni.us/NJHCrP Portkeys LH5P II ► geni.us/33hVF

[@ScottSalvi]

Thank you Paul. I got an early Christmas Present and I appreciate you going through all the functions! My new rig is up & running!

[@PaulJoy]

Hope it’s working well for you Scott.

[@VuPhamRainstorm]

the first youtuber honestly show how long these monitor power up without any hidden seeds :D Thank you to both of your video and wise commentary

[@PaulJoy]

My pleasure, thanks for letting me know.

[@Trevellian]

Another great review. Good to see you back.

[@PaulJoy]

Thanks, it's good to be back :)

[@whoisJackVolpe]

Great video :) concerning LIVE MODE, this is what I found in a video by Portkeys concerning the PT6 (but I guess the same applies to the LH7P): "When Live Mode is off, if loading 3D LUT only Anamorphic, Backlight, and Color Temperature can be adjusted in the image setting interface. When Live Mode is turned on, after loading 3D LUTs, the brightness, contrast, chroma, sharpness, tint, and can adjust the HDMI OUT screen. But at the same time some software functions will be disabled such as zebra, false color, luma waveform, RGB Waveform and Luma Histogram." Hope this helps ;)

[@PaulJoy]

Thanks for sharing that, I'll try that out next time I use the monitor.

[@whoisJackVolpe]

​@@PaulJoythank you for the great video :) price/value would you recommend this monitor? I shoot anamorphic with a7/a1 but I also have a few GMs so the external touch to focus is interesting. Not too crazy about the menu and touchscreen doesn't look too responsive... for same money would you recommend something else? Internal recording for me. Thanks ;)

[@PaulJoy]

@@whoisJackVolpe I haven't used it to shoot anamorphic so I can't testify as to how good it is in actual use for that. While the touch focus and camera control is good, I rarely find myself actually using it as it's usually easier to just do it on the camera. One exception is if using a gimbal where you don't really want to be touching the camera however for that I find the smaller and brighter LH5II a better fit. The LH7P for me is better suited to interior setups where the bigger screen is just nicer to work with.

[@whoisJackVolpe]

@@PaulJoy great, thanks a lot for your reply!

[@Joulfreunde]

Great to see you back! Looked up your video on the XLR audio handle just a few days ago. Still very helpful to me! :)

[@PaulJoy]

Thanks, I have to watch it sometimes too :)

[@DIRECTEDBYSRY]

Thank you! Amazing false color explanation, switching over from Atomos and the colors are different, I was stressing before finding this!

[@PaulJoy]

Gald it helped.

[@jarrodbarker]

I literally just opened mine as you posted this 👌🏼

[@PaulJoy]

Cool, let me know how you get on with it.

[@jarrodbarker]

@@PaulJoy After using it I would describe it as pretty much useless for users of S-log3, since rather than displaying the actual ISO, it just says "AUTO" rather than giving a numeric value: due to this when the ISO clips below 640, you are completely unaware of it, unless you're staring at the smaller monitor, which completely removes the purpose of this monitor if you're constantly having to check your camera's monitor, especially outdoors. I'm saying unless this problem is fixed in a firmware update its a 100% waste for 10-bit Slog3 users.

[@PaulJoy]

@@jarrodbarker I show it displaying the ISO value when shooting in Cine EI using flexible ISO so that’s not the case. It does say Auto when your in normal Cine EI mode, it’s pretty easy to tell if you’re at 800 or 12,800 base ISO’s.

[@jarrodbarker]

@@PaulJoy I’m not in CineEI, I’m using auto iso to maintain EC at +2

[@jarrodbarker]

Someone from portkeyes just told me it’s a bug & they’re looking into firmware 👌🏼

[@skymakai]

Nice review as always, Paul.

[@PaulJoy]

Thanks Sky

[@MartinVlogLifestyle]

great video ! great review ! thank you

[@PaulJoy]

Thanks for letting me know.

[@oozihaooo]

Love the review. I would like to check if there is a button to press for taking photo. I understand there is the REC button to press and it start the video recording. I believed your camera is in video mode. So if the camera is in photo mode, will there be the button to press for the photo to be taken ?

[@PaulJoy]

Good question! No there’s not, you can only trigger video recording when the camera is in a photo mode.

[@OITW]

This is a compelling product, thanks for the review! Question for you regarding the wireless features--are you still able to utilize the camera controlling touch features if you weren't using a clean feed? I ask because despite the sharpness of having a clean feed, I generally have my camera settings displayed when using an external monitor so I can keep an eye on by exposure settings and my AF selector.

[@PaulJoy]

I’m not sure, next time I’m using it I’ll give that a try.

[@OITW]

@@PaulJoy thanks for the quick reply. I look forward to the result!

[@skymakai]

See if Portkeys will loan you the Portkeys BM7 II DS. I'd love to see your review.

[@PaulJoy]

I’d really like to try one of those, it would be interesting to see how it would compare to the LH7P for sure.

[@eyeofso]

Firmware upgrades must be made to select fan operation. I'm annoyed that the fan noise is recorded loudly in the filming video.

[@PortkeysMonitor]

Dear customer, could you take a video of the fan sound for me? At the same, I will forward your suggestion to the technicians.

[@PaulJoy]

Yes, as I mention in the video if you mount this near an on camera mic it’s likely you will hear it. It’s hard to know if there’s any possibility of slowing the fan via UI in the same way as the LH5P2, I guess it depends on hardware used and cooling requirements.

[@followthefocusofficial]

Which would you say is the bettet monitor, excluding the brightness? Does the lh5pii have the screenshot feature so you can overlay a screenshot to line up a video?

[@PaulJoy]

If Brightness isn't important then it comes down to which size suits your setup best. The LH5PII does offer some additional I/O options and a metal construction but for me I'd take the LH7P as I find the bigger screen to be much nicer to use. Yes the LH5PII now also has the image overlay feature.

[@newzhack]

Greetings from Oklahoma. Do you have to go through the password every time you use this?

[@PaulJoy]

Hi there. No, the password is remembered. Sometimes you do have to re-enable the WiFi on the camera and press the trash button to bring up the connection details but the monitor will normally auto connect at that point.

[@newzhack]

thanks so much, I really like your videos. @@PaulJoy

[@fnaticmedia]

Thanks for you video. I followed almost all your reviews. A qq. I am in the market to buy monitor for my automotive videography. Should i go for - Portkeys LH5p ii - Portkeys LH7p - Ninja Atmos 5 / 5+ thanks in advance !

[@PaulJoy]

If you need to record externally then the Ninja is the obvious choice but if not then there's no point considering that as it's screen is not as detailed as the other two and the battery run time is much lower. If your automotive videography is outside then I'd say the LH5PII would be the better choice as it additional brightness will be very helpful. If you shoot indoors then the LH7P could be the better option as you wont need the extra brightness but the bigger screen is nice to shoot with.

[@pegas5381]

What the different between LH7P vs LH7H ?

[@PaulJoy]

I’ve not tried the LH7H but it seems that it’s similar to the LH7P but without any camera control features.

[@pegas5381]

@@PaulJoy thx

[@nathanaltai]

When you set the Zebra to a function key, and then press the function key, does it simply turn on/off or circle between the different colours? I actually returned my previous Portkeys monitor because it would circle through the colours when pressing the function button which in my opinion was bad design.

[@PaulJoy]

Pressing a function button still turns it on and off, but you have the choice to show up to three zebra levels at the same time so that works fine for zebras.

[@ant00n11s]

May i ask if the grid adapts to the selected aspect ratio width? Thank you in advanced.

[@PaulJoy]

No, the grid is always based on 16:9

[@jack.cinematics]

do you happen to have experience with the atomos shinobi 5"? if so how does it compare to the LH7P? thanks!

[@PaulJoy]

Yes I have one. I prefer the user interface with the Shinobi, AtomOS works well however the screen is not as nice as the LH7P and the Shinobi always looks warm to me. The Shinobi doesn't offer the ability to tweak the colours however you can pay for a separate device to calibrate it, which is not something I've done. The Shinobi is totally silent whereas the LH7P always has a fan running and of course the screen is bigger on the LH7P.

[@jack.cinematics]

@@PaulJoy thanks!!

[@goginnorn]

@@jack.cinematicswhat did you end up getting?

[@ebukaanyaorah101]

Can you play back footage on an external monitor? If so, will it play back slow motion?

[@PaulJoy]

You can normally play it back in camera and if an hdmi monitor is connected it displays on that instead of the cameras monitor.

[@goginnorn]

would you recommend this or the atomos shinobi?

[@PaulJoy]

I choose this over the Shinobi for my projects! It’s a lot bigger than the Shinobi though, if you need something very small and light the Shinobi excels at that!

[@MLDME]

Has anyone else noticed that when you enable the waveform on the LH7P, it removes any Image Settings (Brightness, Contrast, etc) that have been set by the user and defaults to original image settings?

[@PaulJoy]

Not noticed that, def worth pointing it out to PortKeys if confirmed.

[@MLDME]

@@PaulJoy I alerted them to the issue and included a screenshot from before and after the waveform engaged, which clearly showed differences in the image. They said they would like me to send a video of the issue as well but I don't feel I need to do anymore of the engineer's job for them. Actually, I'm unable to since I returned the monitor. Having a waveform up and seeing an accurate image at the same time are important to me while I'm shooting. If they fix it in a firmware update, maybe I'll give it another try.

[@iwasakisony13]

I just bought this monitor and every thing works fine but I cant see the option of touch focus "Finger". I connected this monitor via wifi to my fx30. I want to use touch focus but I cant

[@PaulJoy]

The setup is shown in the video, if it’s not working check you’re using a small focus area that can be moved around the screen.

[@followthefocusofficial]

How do you control the fan? Just opened mine and the fan is very noticeable. Hoping you can adjust it

[@PaulJoy]

There is no control over the fan unfortunately, I talk about that in the video at 03:09.

[@marcopreti4854]

Hi! At 1:45 is it battery eliminator by Atomos?

[@PaulJoy]

Yes it is.

[@marcopreti4854]

@@PaulJoy I thought it worked only for selected Atomos gear! So can I use it like a general np-f dummy battery? 😀

[@PaulJoy]

@@marcopreti4854 I can't see why that would be the case, as far as I know is a simple adapter.

[@timsmithvisuals]

Just got the lh7p, but the fan noise is making me want to return it. On amazon, it's listed that the monitors fan speeds are adjustable, but there no adjustment setting. Let me know if anyone has found a fix.

[@PaulJoy]

As reported in the video there are currently no controls for the fan. Fingers crossed this will be addressed in updates. I’ve used the monitor multiple times for interviews without a problem, it’s really only an issue if you want to mount it near a mic.

[@travisgrenke]

Hi What is the range in feet of wireless camera control ?

[@PaulJoy]

I’ve not actually tried using it far away from the camera as it’s normally connected via HDMI anyway.

[@PaulJoy]

It’s WiFI based though, so in theory it could go quite a way using extenders etc if you have a special need to control the camera from a distance.

[@travisgrenke]

@@PaulJoy thanks. I was trying to be a one man band and hit record at least 25 feet from the camera in the field. No such luck. 🥴

[@PortkeysMonitor]

around 7 meters without any obstructions

[@CarloRosillo]

What were your color settings?

[@PaulJoy]

It can vary so don't assume this will be the same for your setup but mine during my last shoot were: Brightness 45 / Contrast 50 / Chroma 73 / Sharpness 0 / Tint 50 / Manual Color Temp Red :128 Green: 128 Blue: 109

[@GlobalShutterNY]

On my Sony FX 30 every time I turn the camera off I need to create a new device to connect to - it will never connect to the established connection from before...Ugh- any ideas as to what I am doing wrong?

[@PaulJoy]

Are you using connect to smartphone or PC remote?

[@GlobalShutterNY]

The Sony apps work - the new update doesn’t play ‘nice’ with the Portkeys monitor. Sony acknowledges the issue when I contacted them. Not a high priority (or any priority possibly!) to fix unfortunately

[@djrightonbeat]

Finally an in depth video for this monitor. I couldn't get it to work with my ZV-E1, then I watched this and found authentication needed to be off. I have similar rig and use the Small Rig 99 to power the monitor and a Tilta cage with cooling fan. Pleas let us know if there's a firmware update, I wish the screen menu would go away during touch operation, losing about an inch of screen real estate with menu always active.

[@PortkeysMonitor]

Hi friend, I will forward your suggestion to the technicians. I am sorry that now we haven't released a new firmware for LH7P. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[@PaulJoy]

It would be great if Portkeys could enable touch focus / tracking without the menu visible however this would require changing the default action when touching the screen (displays menu). Maybe there could be a way to expand the camera display view so that something is left on the screen to show that camera control is still active.

[@chrissetter]

I think the touch menu can be implemented by swipe gesture. Take a look at how the Monitor+ implements it’s UI… it’s amazing and quite simple. At the same time, the touch menu can be overlayed on top of the video. The touch capabilities are also missing the focus boxes. Without the boxes, I still need to check my camera’s monitor to confirm I locked on to my subject, instead of the, for example, the couch next to my subject.

[@PortkeysMonitor]

Hi Paul, I will take this suggestion into our feedback sheet and the techncians will be receive this sheet every week. Probably your suggestion will be considered. @@PaulJoy

[@PortkeysMonitor]

Hi Chris, in fact we received many feedbacks about focus boxes and the technicians all knew your requests. Probably it will be achieved in one day @@chrissetter

[@NKRDBL]

23:46 Is it npf dummy battery?

[@PaulJoy]

Yes that’s a NPF adapter connected to a SmallRig Battery.

[@alfiefriday5338]

@@PaulJoydo you have a link to this adapter?

[@josephullian1556]

I followed the instructions on how to set up this monitor, and I got all the way to the last step. At that point, everything was working except that I couldn't see the output of the camera on this external monitor. The output was seen on the camera's LCD screen, but not on the Portkeys monitor. I checked all the setting in the camera monitor and I couldn't find a solution. Anyone have any advice?

[@PortkeysMonitor]

Hi friend, could you try to set the HDMI output resolution and HDMI resolution of the camera to 1080P?

[@PaulJoy]

Which camera are you using?

[@josephullian1556]

Sony FX 3@@PaulJoy

[@PaulJoy]

Hi there, just a couple of basics to try. The video signal from the camera is not wireless, you still need to use an HDMI cable to connect the monitor to the camera, the wireless is only for camera control / feedback. If you have connected an HDMI cable check that the HDMI output settings are not 4K at 50/60p as the monitor cannot handle that.

[@josephullian1556]

I have done all of that (setting HDMI output resolution, using the HDMI cable) and now I see the image on the Portkeys, but not on the camera LCD (which went blank when I connected the HDMI cable) and I still can't control the camera wirelessly. @@PaulJoy

[@kellcoleStyleEnt]

It only shoot 4k30 fps it don’t 4k24 or 4k60

[@PaulJoy]

It should do 4K 24, but yes 4K 30 is max input signal.

[@huberbert]

We also like to see the left half of your pretty face! ;-)