A Look at the PortKeys HS7T Monitor High Brightness 7″ Monitor

On this video our colleague, Photographer Curtis Judd takes a look at the new 7″ monitor by PortKeys which has some interesting features for a very affordable price.

Shenzhen based PortKeys developed the HS7T as a high brightness affordable 7″ monitor with a pretty comprehensive set of features including an extensive array of powering options (dual NP-F style batteries (which can power the monitor for over 4 hours with a single high capacity battery), D-tap for connecting V-mount or other pro batteries),

The monitor itself is pretty impressive in a lot of ways. It is 1920 by 1200 IPS panel (with good viewing angles) and has a brightness of 1200 nits which means that you can use it outdoors even on a relatively sunny day without a hood (although you might want to have one anyway for reflections etc.).

You do have the option to buy an external add-on that can be connected to your camera and transmit wireless signal to your monitor. The build quality is good and the monitor has a rubberized exterior which seems to feel nice.

The monitor has both HDMI and SDI (in and output) for 4K 60p (HDMI) and 1080p 60p (SDI) with relatively low lag (especially on the SDI). The interface is simple to use with 4 buttons and a wheel. The monitor has 1/4″ 20 on each side which is really nice.

One annoying downside is that you don’t have any battery status on the monitor (hopefully this is something that PortKeys can add in a future firmware update). There are no vectorscopes and waveform indicators and the audio meters are kind of limited.

All in all and despite the limitations – the HS7T is a pretty good bargain/value especially for a high brightness 7″ monitor at this price range.

You can get the HS7T for under $290 on Amazon which is even less expensive than when Judd’s video was recorded.

You can find many more previews and reviews on our Photography review section here on LensVid. You can also find many of Judd’s videos on this subsection here on LensVid.

Iddo Genuth
Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.

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