Lately, I use the RED Komodo a lot for both Virtual Reality filmmaking and
traditional 2D filmmaking. Komodo has a
very small body and can be rigged anywhere I want - like on the car, as you see here.
So it is great for outdoor production. But its display and camera control are not so great.
SmallHD Cine 7 Red Komodo camera control monitor solves this problem. But it costs more than $2000.
Most independent content creators can not afford that.
Then, I found the PortKey BM5 WR camera control monitor. It only costs $599 and can control the
Red Komodo wirelessly with a touchscreen. In this review, I will show you some cool,
unique features of the BM5 WR, and why I like it. Let's go.
Hey, what's up, everybody? It is your boy Hugh here from CreatorUp. If you follow this channel,
you know I use the RED Komodo for VR180 production. There are many ways to control the
RED Komodo. You can use your phone to control it, just like a VR camera. You can also use
the Komodo Link, as you see right here, to control the camera. This is great for Livestream and
remote production. If you want to learn how to set up the Komodo for multi-camera Livestream,
don't forget to subscribe and drop me a request comment down below.
For the everyday content creators and filmmakers, the easiest way to control the camera is using
a camera control monitor. The PortKeys BM5 WR is great for that. If you don't have the RED Komodo,
this monitor can also control other cameras like the Blackmagic Pocket 4K, 6k, Z Cam E2, SONY,
Canon, Panasonic and basically most cameras out in the market. In fact, the reason why I get the
PortKey BM5 WR is because I used the BM5 Mark 2 to control the Z Cam K2 Pro for VR180 production,
and I love it. This is how I know the brand and decided to get the new version for the RED Komodo.
Key Features
Besides being cheaper than SmallHD Cine 7, PortKey BM5 WR is a lot brighter as well. It is 2200nits.
You can see everything clearly, even under direct sunlight. SmallHD Cine 7 is only 1800 NITs.
It supports touch screen focus on RED KOMODO, Panasonic BGH1,
and the Z Cam E2. Touch screen focus is amazing. If you come from the SONY mirrorless camera world,
like the SONY Alpha 1, A7 series, you know what I am talking about. Yes,
all professional filmmakers use manual focus and probably have an AC to pull focus for you.
But for run and gun content creators, YouTubers, documentary filmmakers, quickly tap and focus with
accurate focus assist is ... one less thing you need to worry about onset. I think most of the new
Komodo users are not professional filmmakers. This feature will literally save your life.
It can wirelessly control your RED Komodo. Small HD Cine 7 requires an extra cable to
control the Komodo. It is not wireless. Having fewer cables is great for run and gun filmmakers,
especially you are using a gimbal like the DJI RS2.
But the PortKey BM5 WR still requires the 12G SDI cable to see the images. So it is
not truly wireless. Talk about SDI, you need to be very careful
handling the SDI port on your RED Komodo. If not, you will be risking damaging your SDI port.
I will suggest anyone read this official guide on RED carefully when you are using
an external monitor. The last thing you want is damaging your brand new bady.
Give this video a thumb up and drop me a thank you comment down below.
Now let me show you how to quickly connect the port keys with the red Komodo on
the red go ahead and hit menu you're gonna go down into communication and go to wi-fi
and then right here you see in default usually disabled so you're going to go ahead and turn
on Ad-hoc mode okay go ahead and hit ok and then go ahead and select ad hoc and ssid
go ahead and make sure to create a name named Komodo uh you have to start with Komodo
uh uppercase locate is fine but i will usually start with commodo and then i put a number here
this is my camera number two and here is camera number one so i usually have two komodo because
the vr 180 i need to switch to number one and number two to check left and right eyes so that's
why i named it like so if you had more than two three Komodo i would name it with the number that's
easy for me to find which one is which and then go ahead and hit okay and then in pass in the
passcode pass phase and you can have any password you want i usually just set up as a Komodo88
or any password and i would set all the passwords the same so you can swap between
camera easily so after this is all set the most important thing is in the band you have to pick
2.4 gigahertz not 5 gigahertz the default is actually 5 gigahertz but
don't do that pick 2.4 gigahertz and then yeah that's all the setup you need now just go ahead
and your wi-fi is already on right and then go ahead and go to port key and then go ahead tap one
slide down so now you can choose all camera you want uh we are not using z cam e2 or or Blackmagic
pocket we gotta use the wi-fi and usb and then right here hit this camera i wi-fi icon right here
and then go ahead and click my device because i already connect the Komodo 1 and Komodo 2. see
when i turn it on it automatically connects to my Komodo 2 already so you all need to set up once
and then from now on whenever you turn the camera onto the display on it will automatically connect
to the last camera you connect to so i'll go ahead and disconnect right now
so now it's not connected i usually add new devices and then you should be able to find
my Komodo 2 it's a new devices go ahead and hit that and then right here i gotta type in the
passcode if you forgot about it go ahead and go to communication WiFi ad hoc mode ssid is
Ko mo do and now you can go ahead and see in my device now your Komodo 2 is there
ahead and just hit one again and it should connect to your komodo already
so go ahead i'll show you let's go ahead and turn off the menu right here
so as you see i can go ahead and change because yeah i changed my f-stop right here
i can change my shutter speed and change iso right here
oh actually this f this fps you can jump into 60 frames per second and 30 frames per second you can
change the color temperature see everything's remote controlling right there you can also Komodo
just click right here to just fine tune that into 15 to 56 kelvin see i can start recording
stop recording i can also do the focusing tab focus see slowly focus right there boom it's
focused great and you can also do manual focus as you see right here okay changing the focus
and all the great stuff that's how easy to connect your Komodo with the portkeys bm5 wr
One thing I have to mention is the New Peaking the algorithm introduced in BM5 Mark 3 and WR version.
It can accurately capture the subtle facial focus - great when you do not have a focus
puller. When you tap, hold and slide right on the peaking icon, it shows a settings menu
for how strong you want the focus peaking. I usually keep it really low, so I can pull
critical focus on a subject or set the infinite focus for VR180. If you ever have the chance to
work with Z Cam K2Pro - you know how hard it is to get perfect focus on the fisheye lens.
This new peaking algorithm is really helpful in a situation like this.
False color is another great feature that helps RED newbie like myself to set perfect exposure
on talents' faces without a light meter. It has standard ARRI false color, so if you use Alexa
or other ARRI cinema cameras, you know what to do already. If not, please check out this in-depth
tutorial on using false color in PortKeys BM5 series to nail your exposure fast and accurately.
You can set all kinds of charts and customized the monitor to your liking.
It is really the only monitor you will ever need for all cameras in run and gun situations.
Thank you for watching! I hope this video helps you. PortKeys BM5 WR can also wirelessly control
Blackmagic Pocket 4K, 6K, and 6K pro. And it works great with my SONY A1 and Z Cam K2 Pro,
which is 2 Z Cam E2 for 3D VR180. I am planning to make more practical tutorials on this.
So comment below. Let me know which camera you want to see more tutorials on.
If you are new here, don't forget to subscribe and hit
the notification bell. And I will see you next time.