To me it is a wasted opportunity and it is going to be a sales flop. I can't imagine a videographer excited about placing negative 0.86kg (like 2lb) (!!!) on top of their rig and plus having no option for LUT or at least some kind of generic HDR preview like Atomos offers. To me this launch is some kind of a partnership with scuba lamp or weefine kind of companies which launched similar brick products and they just mill out their own housing and their own version of a power source.

If I'd be a Nauticam I'd try to work with likes of Atomos to somewhat adjust their touch base UI to more centralized for use with fewer touch based contact point (after all we rarely adjust our monitors on the fly under water), take that product (Ninja or Shinobi) and run with it. Heck they could charge extra for that software version which is like clear profit...

Is there an emoji for frustrated...

https://www.nauticam.com/collections/external-monitor-recorder-housings/products/nauticam-7-t7-uw-ultrahd-monitor-hdmi-1-4-input-excl-cables

I have to admit that 870 grams is really a lot.

I find it difficult to imagine a setup with a mirrorless camera that can make it perfectly trimmed. Being neutral isn't enough for video. It's probably much easier on cinema housings that have greater mass and better balance.

Conversely, I like the layout and position of the I/O ports. IMHO that's the best point.

However, I don't understand how this new type of mount works. The part on the housing looks like some kind of Arri mount. But I don't get how it rotates.

Of course, Nauticam prices are getting higher and higher. 3500 USD for the basic version and 4700 with SDI. Personally, it's now beyond my budget.

It seems to me its aimed at the Pro cinema market, they show it on what looks like a Canon C400 which is a $US12K housing and from what I understand these big video housings are quite the brick to start with, the C400 weighs 6.6kg on land and 1kg -ve with camera in water. Whether it's right for that or not I can't say but they seem to work on using the bulk to stabilise things and have rails to trim etc.??

Yes, it's definitely perfect for that kind of camera/housing setup, and it will likely become the go-to monitor.

My concern is with mirrorless configurations like the one shown in this photo from their page. Two bulky floating arms aren't always enough to achieve a setup that doesn’t strain your wrists when you're tilting the rig.

And with 800 grams placed on top, it gets tricky.

As for LUTs, I don’t really see the issue. These days, almost all cameras let you load LUTs directly into the body.

When it comes to HDR, the professionals I’ve seen at work expose just as they would for SDR — the key is getting the midtones right. Manufacturers try to sell you their gear, but honestly, you can get the job done anyway.

So, IMHO, HDR is a non-issue.

Here are a couple of links on that:

Sony Cine

HDR - What does it really mean? - Part 2 – Shooting HDR a...

https://vmi.tv/blog/learn-help/hdr_reality_and_monitoring-a_dops_perspective/

On 5/11/2025 at 11:48 AM, Davide DB said:

So, IMHO, HDR is a non-issue.

Here are a couple of links on that:

https://vmi.tv/blog/learn-help/hdr_reality_and_monitoring-a_dops_perspective/

If we accept the notion of being able to see what you get affects the artistic expression then it absolutely matters being able to see what you record in HDR if HDR is intended delivery. Only now I am beginning to understand that I am one of only a few which try to shoot and deliver in rec.2020 and I can tell you in these selected few light conditions where you don't see a thing in rec709 but do see beautiful scenes in 2020 renderings it absolutely matters to see what you get. Scenes which you would pass on in rec709 come to life with 2020 but if you can't see that it will limit your imagination.

Romik, you are right. I'm not trying to convince you not to work in Rec.2020 or that it's not worth it.

What I mean is that sometimes one has to be pragmatic.

Desktop monitors capable of displaying the entire gamut of the Rec.2020 color space are rare and generally expensive, as Rec.2020 represents one of the widest color spaces available, surpassing DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB. Currently, even high-end professional models manage to cover only a portion of this space. We're talking about monitors that start from a minimum of 1000 euros and go up to 25,000 euros e require a special care with calibration.

The same goes for field monitors, and a quick search reveals that only SmallHD has two 7" Rec.2020 monitors in its catalog, with costs ranging between 1500 and 3000 euros. Then you would have to put them in housings. There is a new cheap Feelworld Feelworld LUT11 but I haven't read anything about it.

The Shogun Inferno does not support Rec.2020, but it can load LUTs that simulate it (what that really means...), but it does support HLG and PQ, which are two different concepts but also related to HDR productions.

In short, despite the Rec.2020 standard being over 10 years old, it hasn't really become widespread precisely because technically it still represents a challenge that requires a non-trivial production and viewing chain.

And here I return to the pragmatism I mentioned. If even professional DPs write that on set they work or are content to work in SDR, perhaps it's not that simple. Or when a Rec.2020 product is required, the costs involved are on another scale.

Aside from being made by Nauticam, there is IMHO nothing really exciting so far about this monitor.

Nauticam has not even bothered including batteries in this setup and cables. Both will increase the price sharply. The monitor so far has nothing that makes it a game changer, no internal recording and we do not know yet the supported resolution.

I am using 5 and 7inches Weefine monitors on the GH5 and Z8 and while they works flawlessly on the GH5, the Z8 has long blackout with the 5inches in video mode (lenghty EDID handshake apparently) tberefore I wouldn't buy anything before having a good idea of the supported HDMI resolutions in the manual.

At the end of the day, you get more features with a Ninja with its dedicated Nauticam housing for a substantially lower price.

Edited May 16May 16 by eocean-eu

On 5/16/2025 at 10:01 AM, eocean-eu said:

I am using 5 and 7inches Weefine monitors on the GH5 and Z8 and while they works flawlessly on the GH5, the Z8 has long blackout with the 5inches in video mode (lenghty EDID handshake apparently)

IDK if it helps but my experience with blackout on Sony A1 and Shinobi - it was there had resolution set to Auto or 4k30 in camera HDMI settings. When I set the HDMI settings to 1080p60 there was no blackout when switching modes anymore. Apparently camera is negotiating with monitor for the best resolution for given mode. When it doesn't negotiate there is no blackout and 1080p60 works well for both photo and video - no need to have 4k when monitor is 1080p anyway... BUT IDK weefine internals so...

I've tried all the resolution and there is something odd in the Z8 HDMI behaviour as it seems to switch back HDMI resolution whenever you stop recording or go into a menu in video mode... while being super consistent in photo mode. Whenever resolution change, a new EDID handshake is done between camera and monitor.

If the monitor is slow to do the handshake or has limited choice of resolutions, you'll get temporary or permanent blackout. The most common resolution that will work for any camera is indeed 1080p60 but even that seems to be a slow boat for the combo Weefine 5 and the Z8. I've also tried with an HDMI EDID dongle to see if I could force the handshake process with no luck. On the other hand, as you did with your A1, I've never had any single issue with my GH5 on 1080p60.

It's a pity because the Weefine 5 is a nice little unit to travel with in comparison to the bulky 7inch TV set :D . The Nauticam one won't be better for sure on that point.

are your Z8 HDMI handshake issues only with the 5" Weefine or also with the 7" ?

Edited May 20May 20 by FrancoisC

Only with the 5" . The 7" has a small blackout (1sec maybe) but I do not consider this lag to be a problem. And again, the issue is only for video shooters, not photographers.

Industry standard for camera monitors is SmallHD. Nothing comes close to the usability of their Page-OS platform, and I'm guessing this Nauticam housing is using a Feelworld monitor, or something equivalent. Those monitors are fine for the price point, but the UI is clunky and lacks certain pro features. I'd rather pay a little bit more to house a 503 Ultrabright, which I could easily remove and use as a regular monitor.

Yes, that's true. But not everyone can afford to put an Alexa camera in a housing. So, people make compromises 🤑

And if you look at the monitor table in the pinned thread, the price difference is not small.

Ciao

On 5/19/2025 at 5:50 PM, RomiK said:

IDK if it helps but my experience with blackout on Sony A1 and Shinobi - it was there had resolution set to Auto or 4k30 in camera HDMI settings. When I set the HDMI settings to 1080p60 there was no blackout when switching modes anymore. Apparently camera is negotiating with monitor for the best resolution for given mode. When it doesn't negotiate there is no blackout and 1080p60 works well for both photo and video - no need to have 4k when monitor is 1080p anyway... BUT IDK weefine internals so...

Well that solved an issue for me, I have an Atomos shinobi I use on land for macro focus stacking and diving deep into the menus to set HDMI output to match the monitor means it now switches instantly to display an image and connects up way faster. Now if only I could stop the camera switching off focus bracketing when a monitor is plugged in!

Setting your output signal to match the resolution of the monitor is the way to go otherwise you might get a black screen in certain shooting mode or take longer time. There are exchange of list of available/usable resolution between monitor and camera. It's called EDID. Whenever something is set to auto on one end, it takes longer. Yet, it's still not always sufficient on certain camera to properly reduce blackout time.