Best Bright 7″ Monitors

The SmallHD ULTRA 7 is a robust, professional 7" on-camera touchscreen monitor with a bright 2300 cd/m² display, supporting 4K via HDMI and 6G-SDI inputs/outputs.

It offers advanced image functions through PageOS 5, camera control for ARRI, Sony, and RED, 10-bit color processing, and durable aluminum construction, making it ideal for both indoor and outdoor production environments.

Besides the TVLogic F-7H, this is the monitor that you will most likely see on professional film sets because of its durability and easy-to-use interface.

The LCD panel can reach up to 2200 nit in brightness and still provides accurate colors and saturation, even at the brightest setting. Four user buttons and a joystick for navigating menus make using this monitor a breeze. All the connectors are located on both sides of the monitor and optional battery plates can be plugged in directly to the back of the monitor for a clean setup.

This monitor is the brightest 7" field monitor available. With its whopping 3600 nits, you will have no problem seeing a clear picture, even on the sunniest days.

Just be aware of the high power draw when you have the monitor brightness set to high, but this is an issue with all bright monitor panels. Also, the color accuracy goes into the bin the brighter the panel gets. The monitor has quick-access user buttons on the front and a slim design.

It features both SDI and HDMI in- and outputs that are located on the rear and the side of the monitor and there are all the exposure and focus tools you can wish for. The click-wheel on top of the monitor does not feel a high-quality as you would expect in a professional field monitor though.

If you are like me and always thought about the potential of touch-screen control of SmallHD menus, the Cine 7 lets you navigate all the menus and tools with your fingers.

This also enables a button-less iPad-like fullscreen monitor experience with all the connectors on the bottom of the housing. Besides looking amazing on your rig, this monitor features 1800 nits of brightness and all the exposure, focus, and framing features you are used to from a professional monitor.

This monitor (just like the other SmallHD Smart 7 series monitors) also offers camera control with compatible ARRI, Canon, RED, and Sony cameras. If you are into eco-systems, there is also a Teradek Bolt 4K Module that connects directly to the monitor for a cable-free wireless experience and you can even get your focus overlays on the display when using a Teradek RT wireless follow focus.

This monitor-only Atomos Shinobi 7" features 2200 nits of brightness and all the features you would expect from an Atomos product.

The AtomOS offers many assistant features for framing, focus, and exposure which you can control through the (unlabeled) touch interface. All the connectors are located on the back of the monitor, as well as an integrated battery plate. This is by far one of the cheaper monitors with this amount of features, but the build quality is definitely not as high as some of the other monitors I mentioned.

Although, only available in a combo with a wireless transmitter, the DJI Transmission Wireless Monitor is very good value.

The high bright monitor features a peak brightness of 1500 nits and a resolution of 1920x1200 pixels. There is an HDMI input on the monitor with the option for an SDI input. Of couse, if you'd like to use the DJI Transmission Combo as intended, you will be using the HDMI and SDI Inputs on the wireless transmitter but it's nice to know you have the option to use it as a hard-wired monitor as well.

Monitoring, exposure, and focusing features are built into the very easy-to-use DJI menu system. And in combination with DJI Ronin 4D and some Sony cameras, you even get camera control from the touchscreen interface of this monitor. The monitor also ships with a cage which offer protection and mounting points for other accessories

The Video Assist 7" is a 2500 nit monitor with the usual Blackmagic Design build quality and amazingly minimalistic user interface.

You control everything with the easy-to-use touchscreen interface and you can choose from all the assist features you are used to from Blackmagic cameras. All the connectors are located on the sides of the housing and there is an integrated battery plate on the back.

In addition to displaying your footage, the Video Assist also gives to the ability to record your footage to SD cards (or to an external SSD via USB-C which kind of defeats the purpose of an external monitor/recorder in my opinion).

This is a good budget monitor with a peak brightness of 1200 nits and very solid metal housing.

It features very interesting design features, like a NP-F battery dummy on the back for mounting wireless video transmitters (GENIUS!!!), as well as a built-in NATO rail on the bottom for mounting. Depending on your lighting situation, 1200 nits might not be bright enough, but it's a good option for the price tag.

It features all standard framing, focussing, and exposure features. All video and power connectors are on the bottom of the housing and there is also a built-in dual-NP-F battery plate on the back.

The PORTKEYS LH7P is a 7" high-bright touchscreen monitor with 1000 cd/m² brightness and 1920 x 1080 resolution, supporting up to DCI 4K24 and UHD 4K30 video via HDMI.

It features wireless control for select Sony and Blackmagic Design cameras, 3D LUT support, and various image monitoring tools such as peaking, waveform, and histogram.

The LUT7S Pro features a very bright 2200 nits of brightness according to the spec sheet. It features an ambient light sensor that automatically dims the panel depending on your surroundings.

You can set and change all the tools and settings using a (not very appealing) touch screen user interface. On the back of the housing is a very handy NP-F battery dummy for mounting wireless video receivers directly to the monitor, which is a great idea. All the connectors are on the bottom of the housing and there is a built-in battery plate on the back. 

Swit is known for imitating products from other companies and this monitor is also heavily leaning on the design of the SmallHD 702 monitor but the panel is very different.

With 3000 nits of brightness and full HD resolution, this monitor can be used in very bright environments. HDMI and SDI in- and outputs, and a built-in NP-F battery plate make it a solid low-cost choice. Menu navigation is done using the red joystick and it features most tools for exposing, framing, and focussing that you will find in most other products.

You can also check out Jeff's review of the monitor HERE.

Another contender in the budget monitor category is the Desview R7S II (also available as HDMI only as the R7 II). This monitor has a 1920 x 1200 resolution and a peak brightness of 2600 nits. You can control the user interface either with the touchscreen or via the menu scroll wheel.

You can connect cameras either via HDMI (with support up to 4K 24p) or SDI (HD up to 60p). There are HDMI and SDI in- and outputs for pass-through video signals. Power is provided by the built-in dual NP-F battery plate or via the optional AC power adapter or P-Tap cable.

There is support for custom LUTs, which can be loaded with an SD card. You will also find the most common focus, exposure, and framing tools.

The FEELWORLD L7 is a budget-friendly 7” on-camera monitor. This HDMI-only model has a 1920×1080 IPS panel with a maximum brightness of 2200 nits, supports 4K signals up to 30fps, can store up to 50 custom LUTs and features rugged aluminum construction.

Our biggest complaint with most of their field monitors was their plastic housing. We tried their LUT7S and, while it does the job, it feels pretty easy to damage while running-and-gunning on set. But with the new L7, it looks like the company is now slowly switching to a more rugged design.

The L7 features a 7-inch touchscreen IPS panel with a resolution of 1920×1080. The screen has a maximum brightness of 2200 nits, which easily makes the monitor daylight-viewable, an angle of view of 160° and a contrast ratio of 1200:1.

The L7 is an HDMI-only monitor with a single input and output, both supporting signals up to UHD 4K30p.

The back of the device features a dual Sony NP-F style battery slot, but the monitor can also be powered externally via its 12V DC power connector. A DC power output (8.4V) is also available to provide power for additional accessories, such as a wireless video system, for example.

The BM7IIDS is a 7″ 1920×1080 on-camera monitor with 2200nits. It comes with a single HDMI input that supports signals up to 1080p60, 1x HDMI output, dual SDI input (up to 1080p60), and 1x SDI output. You can perform a signal cross-conversion between HDMI and SDI connectors in any direction, so there is no longer a need for an external conversion box.

It has a built-in Wi-Fi module that allows wireless control with RED, Sony and Blackmagic cameras. Canon, Panasonic and Z-CAM cameras can benefit from wired control using LANC cables, multi-control cables, or USB-C cables. Again, this is not a wireless video signal transmission tool, it is only a camera control feature.

Adjustable wireless camera features include REC, Iris, ISO, Shutter, Color Temperature, White Balance, EV, Focus Areas, and Single Focus for Sony cameras such as the A7 III, A1, A9 II, A7C, FX3, A7S III, A7 IV, RX10, FX3, and FX30.

The BM7IIDS has a custom freeze frame feature for match cuts, 3D LUT HDMI output, anamorphic lens calibration, customized peaking range, custom rectangular image crop, and brightness and RGB signal detection before and after loading 3D LUTs. Additionally, it has a false color and ARRI false color feature with customizable overexposure and underexposure IRE scales and so much more.