[liukaitc]

For my own experience, you do not need focus peaking, you can still get accurate focus easily by using a HD 7 inch external montior.

[chromo]

I bought a $99 Dick smith 7" tv for my K-5. It has a built in rechargeable battery.
Not full HD but I haven't found it necessary since the K-5's got zoom in on LV.
No HDMI, I just use the A/V input.
Great for low to the ground shots or save craning your neck looking vertically at the night sky or shooting over a cliff with a remote shutter.

[maltfalc]

$10 portable dvd player from a thrift store. beat that. :P

[Danh]

On the K-5 manual it says that only HDMI works for video preview. Did I get something wrong?

[tempelorg]

I wonder if anyone has actually confirmed that the HDMI output is capable of delivering true 720p or 1080i resolution in LV mode? My own tests where I connected it to my 1920x1200 monitor showed no obvious difference when I switched the camera's output from 480p to 720p or 1080i. I wonder if the higher resolutions only are used when playing back video.

I also have a suspicion why we'd not get more than 480p in LV: The back display has supposedly only 480 rows, and we appear to be getting the HDMI signal from the same internal path that the display gets it signal from. So why should the camera internally produce a higher res image if it can't usually display that on the display anyway?

Also, there are marketing limitations (due to taxation etc.) that prohibit a DSLR to work like a camcorder, and that's probably why the manual states that we won't get > 480p in video recording mode. And for the same reason, it makes sense that we shouldn't get > 480p in LV mode, either, do I make sense?

So, with my belief that the HDMI won't give us true 720p or 1080i unless we're playing back recorded video, I wonder if it makes sense to get any monitor that can handle > 480 rows at all (unless you really need the high res for video playback)?

[CharLac]

I know this is old but hopefully someone still sees this and has an answer....when in "hdmi mode", do you see the status screen when not in live view? i.e. all the information like shutter speed, aperature, etc

[CharLac]

I answered my own question....plug in the HDMI cable and suddenly all and everything that would have gone to the rear LCD screen is now projected on the screen connected to the other end of the HDMI cable.

[Mercifulfate]

If you keep the external screen below the level of the camera, I think gravity will pull the signal, using less (if any) energy.
and yes, this is a joke...

Mine doesn't heat up at all. It doesn't take much in the way of milliamps to push the signal to a monitor. As a matter of fact it is doing it all the time it is just there is no cord to transfer the signal until you plug it in. There is no switch on the plug that allows or impedes the signal output.

If you hold it above the monitor gravity does the rest ...

---------- Post added 12-31-18 at 08:28 AM ----------

I know this is old but hopefully someone still sees this and has an answer....when in "hdmi mode", do you see the status screen when not in live view? i.e. all the information like shutter speed, aperature, etc

I have mine hooked to a 50 inch television. I love it. So handy for indoor macro work. Any monitor or HDMI capable television will work in this situation.

[CharLac]

I have mine hooked to a 50 inch television. I love it. So handy for indoor macro work. Any monitor or HDMI capable television will work in this situation.

Yup, I am using a computer monitor and it works great....the LCD on the K-7 I am using is busted so the monitor makes the camera usable...I am only using it for slide reproduction

[blackest]

I just picked up an andycine 4k monitor and it works with the k5 pretty well it has built in focus peaking zoom 4x 9x 16x, zebra striping, false color and more.

I've just checked it reads the hdmi while recording video. retail price is around £/$180 i got mine for 80 euro. i also picked up recently a q-666 tripod a tourism tripod at a very light weight 3 pounds including ball head. I am dubious how good it is for eye level photography with its 2 stage centre column extended. But it seems solid enough and there is no slop in the centre column when its down.

i haven't tried it with my slider yet but i have the option to unscrew the ball head and attach that to the legs and maybe the ball head to the slider. its arca swiss and can convert to a monopod with 1 leg and the reversible centre column. The bottom of the centre column has a spring loaded hook which is removed for the monopod but rather usefully its a 3/8th female thread. so you can use it to attach say the field monitor to the base of the column when its inverted and get the camera close to the ground but upside down.

Ok you can flip the monitor screen but i have discovered my 200mm nodal rail has 2 arca swiss grooves. You can put the rail in upside down in the ball head and i used some lightstand extenders (or magic arms) and another 200mm plate to create a cage for the camera so the camera is upright but low to the ground. with the field monitor at a useful height, (a cheap selfie stick can give even more height if you need it).


One issue with the field monitor is it doesn't come with a battery or charger but it does use sony F series batteries, so i bought a daylight balanced 160 LED panel which came with a battery and charger. It wasn't that much more than it would cost for a battery and charger alone.

Anyway if you fancy a field monitor the andycine 4k is well worth a look.

its also quite handy as a secondary monitor when editing in lightroom, It can show you whats focused the contrast ratios ...

small edit it says on the box andycine A6 and on the monitor Andycine 4K

[tempelorg]

When I google "andycine 4k monitor", I only find 1920x1080 screens, not 4K (which would be twice the width). Could you provide a website link, please?

[blackest]

When I google "andycine 4k monitor", I only find 1920x1080 screens, not 4K (which would be twice the width). Could you provide a website link, please?

Hi the screen on the andycine is 1920 by 1080p and is 386 PPI it can take a 4k signal (a retina display is 326 PPI in comparison).

A 4k display would be 2x 386 PPI at that screen size. But surprisingly yes you can get a display with that resolution around that size
Here comes world's first 6" 4K AMOLED display with an unprecedented density of 734 PPI Although I don't know if there is a field monitor at that resolution, certainly not at that price.



Alternatives:

if you can use a wireless display then maybe a phone or tablet is an option

Highest ppi phones 2018, highest pixel density phone screens 2018, how to calculate PPi Pixel Density of Phone Screen, Best Pixel Density phones 2018 Sony XZ premium and Samsung Galaxy S8

GMonitor ? Apps bei Google Play
?GMonitor on the App*Store

These apps are designed for lumix cameras with Wifi but the resolution sent by wifi is only 640x480.

Interesting though maybe at some point there will be a pentax app such as for the K1. I think its going to lag quite badly over wifi to be fair.

There are other field monitors with options such as recording hdmi out as well as in and i think, sdi input which gives a less laggy input than with hdmi

Somehow I don't see Pentax producing a camera with the capability to use these features in the near future.
They do have a version of the gopro.
Specifications?WG-M2 | RICOH IMAGING

gets quite a bashing here

You Tube

You Tube

I believe Amazon have them for €99 - €150 more expensive in the UK thou.