Cinemartin Loyal LT – A Full HD Field Monitor for Just $99

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by Graham SheldonJanuary 18^th, 2017

Good on-camera monitors are hard to find, are usually expensive, but are very, very necessary for shooting properly exposed, in-focus images. The HDMI Cinemartin Loyal LT 7″ FHD or UHD monitor has many of the features you may need with a great price-tag of only $99. All the details including availability below: 

The Cinemartin Loyal LT has false color, histogram, peaking, waveform, zoom and more, while being priced at an impressive $99. Lets get this one fact out of the way quickly: No, this is not an SDI monitor (you can’t have everything!). This HDMI-only on-camera monitor is available in FHD (LT) or UHD (S4K) resolution versions for the same price, but the FHD version is brighter (600nits), when compared with 550 nits for the UHD version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKtOKY5Ugh0&feature=youtu.be

Along with a headphone jack, the 0.75 LBS Loyal LT has two 1/4″-20 mounting points on the top and bottom. It should be noted that for $99 you are getting a bare bones package here, and if you want a sunshade, Sony battery plate, HDMI cable and cold shoe arm, you’ll be shelling out another $50.00.

You can buy the Cinemartin Royal LT or LT 24K directly from their website HERE.

Cinemartin Loyal LT – Tech Specs: 

• Size: 7″ inch
• Weight: .75 LBS. without battery plate.
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (LT Version) or 2160p (LT 24K Version) 
• 1200:1 Contrast Ratio
• Input: HDMI 
• Power: Input of 12V with 14W consumption 
• Tools:  False color, Histogram, Peaking, RGB Parade, Waveform, Zoom, Audio Levels 

Availability: Shipping now
Monitor price: $99.00

Perhaps understandably so, major camera manufacturers have been devoted to the recorded image quality, and haven’t exactly provided us great built-in camera monitors. This has created a gap that has been easily filled by companies such as Zacuto, SmallHD and Marshall. These 3rd party monitors are generally fantastic, feature-rich and provide many tools filmmakers regard as a necessity such as histogram, peaking, waveform etc. They are usually on the expensive side, but the Cinemartin Loyal LT seems to be the exception.

Personally, however, I would for more reviews of this monitor before jumping to buy. At a price of $99, there are certainly a few corners cut on the manufacturing side, but cheap doesn’t always mean bad and the feature list certainly makes this a monitor worth looking at.

Have you tried the products from Cinemartin yet? Let us know in the comments below!