Whose used the Alphatron EVF 035W-3G EVF (made by TVlogic)?

[Daniel Reed]

Hi,

If you've had a chance to try-out the new EVF by Alphatron, please share your experience.
On paper the specs look good; however, I'm concerned about ergonomics and build quality.

One immediate concern is the hinge to the loop itself.
Does it have friction like the smallHD DP4-EVF, or does the loupe just swing around like the Zacuto flip?

Outside of resolution, how does it compare to the smallHD DP4-EVF in terms of general use?

Another concern is the the eyepiece itself, specifically how comfortable is it to view through w/ glasses on.

Thank you for any input you can provide.

Below is a link to the Alphatron EVF product page from the US distributor, as well as a link to a video review:


http://www.alphatron.tv/evf.html


http://www.xdcam-user.com/2012/06/al...-video-review/






Regards,
Dan

[Mitch Gross]

First shipment has just arrived (these are all spoken for).

[John Howarth]

Ours have just arrived. First impressions: build quality is excellent, good design & ergonomics. So far, best 3rd party EVF we've seen. Don't have the SmallHD, so can't comment on ow it compares. Has adjustable diopter, so should be useful if wearing glasses. Only just out of the box, starting to out on rentals, so should have more feedback shortly.

We've posted a few pictures of one set up with an EPIC: http://pinterest.com/shootblue/alphatron-evf/

[Daniel Reed]

Thanks John for the update and photos of the unit. How smooth is the hinge and locking mechanism on the loupe?

Ours have just arrived. First impressions: build quality is excellent, good design & ergonomics. So far, best 3rd party EVF we've seen. Don't have the SmallHD, so can't comment on ow it compares. Has adjustable diopter, so should be useful if wearing glasses. Only just out of the box, starting to out on rentals, so should have more feedback shortly.

We've posted a few pictures of one set up with an EPIC: http://pinterest.com/shootblue/alphatron-evf/

[Matt Gottshalk]

Mine shipped from Abel today. Will try it out on the Scarlet as soon as I get it.

[Daniel Reed]

One other major concern is in terms of the image delay/retention. I appreciate it may not be as good as the RED BEVF; however, I'm curious how bad the motion blur from fast movement and how perceivable is the image delay/response times when compared to the Alphatron EVF stacks up to the smallHD DP4 EVF, Zucato, and Cineroid


Alister Chapman replied to me about the Alphatron EVF loupe hinge:

"There is no tension in the hinge. The magnet holds the loupe in the fully open position quite nicely. It’s not a very powerful magnet, but strong enough to hold the loupe open, not so strong as to make it hard to close it quickly when you need to. I haven’t used the DP4 so can’t compare, but the Alphatron is very good indeed and a real pleasure to use."

[Daniel Reed]

Sounds Good Matt! I look forward to hearing your impressions.

[Jean Bernard]

Just got mine and put it on the Epic & Nikon D800. For the price it is pretty good and will serve me well for both cameras and others for framing and operate but it is hard to pull focus with it! Don't get me wrong, it is a solid EVF but I have a few issues with it!:

Cons:
-Battery cover is cheapish plastic and finicky and when using a larger battery there is no where to put it, I guess I will treat it like a fragile lens cap and put it away safely.
-Rubber eye piece's contour doesn't wrap around the eye fully on the left by the nose... and allows light to sneak trough! Maybe I have a funny shaped face :-)
-The loope display slightly softness on the edges of the monitor the image bends inwards a little on the side edge.
-There is a very noticeable lag when you pan and can get dizzy if you shooting action.
-Over all t is not really a high resolution monitor Like I was told at NAB You can see the pixelated image with a 1080 feed from epic's HDSDI and not ideal to pull focus on without the use of Focus assist at its max! And I am not sure where the comparison to iphone's resolution with Retina display comes from!

Pros:
-Light & rigged
-Precise customizable menue(Markers, Aspect Ratio, Focus Assist, Color Temperature, Contrast, Brightness, etc...) & easy to navigate with 4 custom keys on the side.
-3x mounting options
-Adjustable diopter and loope's open & closing both to see the monitor and the shutter to protect it from sunlight damage.
-SDI&HDMI IN&OUT With loop through.
-Price

Although unscientific; I took the iphone infront of the loope and it looked waaaaay sharper & brighter and overall high resolution than the monitor itself, even with the crapy iphone camera.


Getting close to matching the Epic's monitor colors, brightness, contrast, etc.. and saving it under user preset

Here the EVF with timecode display and Audio channels monitoring on the side


Shutter for the eye piece half way closing



Iphone in front of the loope checking out the actual retina display resolution.

[Tehben Dean]

-Over all t is not really a high resolution monitor Like I was told at NAB You can see the pixelated image with a 1080 feed from epic's HDSDI and not ideal to pull focus on without the use of Focus assist at its max! And I am not sure where the comparison to iphone's resolution with Retina display comes from!

Well "retina" displays aren't very hires compared to say the RED EVF which is 1280x1024 and half the size of the iPhone screen which is only 960x640.

[Jean Bernard]

True! And the Alphatron supposedly has the equivalent of the iphone display but the iphone seems to have far better image quality. Would be interested to see how the Alphatron performs against the other EVF in its class.