Last week I had a four day shoot for a new customer. The work came to me through an agency so I wasn’t in direct contact with the actual client. Agency work usually means higher budgets but the scope of work is often significantly greater than direct client work, so, being thrifty while not being cheap is a real asset.

On this particular job there were a number of people who needed to be plugged into what I was seeing in the camera. Normally that means wiring up - or wirelessly connecting - a number of production monitors that can be placed strategically on set - but this need for extra monitors didn’t come to light until after the budget numbers had been approved. Essentially I needed to add 3 or 4 monitors…for free. The product I’m going to talk about today is not free but it’s quite inexpensive, and depending on your relationship with the customer can be a major value-add to your production or, in some cases, a life-saver.

The product is the Accsoon CineEye 2 and for my needs last week it was the perfect solution. It’s a simple piece of gear that transmits an HDMI signal to up to 4 IOS or android wireless devices. It’s small, it’s light, it has a range of power options and It has an HDMI throughput capability all of which make it really easy to integrate into your camera rig. The app is reliable and features an insane range of monitoring options including histograms, vector scopes, RGB Parade, focus peaking and false color just to name a few.

To use the device, you can power it using a DC adapter, via USB-C, or with a Sony-style NPF battery. You feed it an HDMI signal, turn it on and basically that’s it. It creates it’s own 5ghz wifi network that your wireless devices can connect to, you launch the the Accsoon app, and you’re up and running.

I have to admit, when I first ran across this device, I was skeptical - and in my case, I had very little time before this shoot to test it out which made me even more nervous. So to round out this video, I’m going to hit the 5 things that concerned me most before buying this unit - which I did buy and this video is not sponsored - and a few things that I found to be really cool after spending some time using the CineEye 2.

Stuff I was concerned about:

1 - Range: the advertised range is 500ft with no obstacles or interference so you’re likely not going to throw a signal to a far distant control room somewhere but for the size sets I work on, I’ve never had range issues. I would go outside and walk away until it loses signal but I’m not.

2 - Power: I feel like I’m always pre-occupied with power - batteries to me are like little time-bombs, just waiting to make trouble. When I don’t have to make major camera moves, I always run everything off of AC power. But that’s pretty rare Accsoon specs a typical power consumption of 3.5 watts which I’m sure some math-magician out there could turn into hours and minutes given whatever the capacity of your battery is, but that will be different for every battery, the age of the battery, the temperature and a few other factors I can’t even begin to anticipate. I’ll say this, when I was shooting all my fancy b-roll for this video, I was using a Sony-style NPF 750 battery. I forgot to turn the unit off when I was done for the day and when I came in the next morning, it was still showing 25% remaining battery life - and that’s on a cheap knock off battery that was not fully charged when I put it on. I would likely run this with a NPF550 because of it’s lower profile and smaller size, but even still… I’m have no concerns with being able to run this unit all day without needing to replaced the battery. Again, if I was going to be in a fixed position, I would opt for the USB-C or DC power options.

3 - Size: It’s not obtrusive, adding this onto my video rig was no problem. It’s about the size of a pack of cards. In terms of weight, it comes in at 200 grams which is less than a half pound. Once you add a battery, that number will go up, but not by an appreciable amount.

4 - Cabling: The HDMI input and output are full size ports, so there’s not need use adapters or keep up with mini or micro cables - a HUGE plus for me. The ports are on the side which I like, Ports on the bottom of devices are always a problem for me, getting things plugged in is a hassle, and making adjustments is problematic. Full size, on the side - excellent!

5 - Latency: The advertised latency on this unit is point zero six seconds. That is just the device latency, you’ll also likely encounter some camera output latency, and latency within what ever device you’re streaming to. For monitoring purposes, it was never an issue but I don’t know that I’d use this as a monitor for focus pulling. I’m sure I could set up a stopwatch and record the numbers and all that but that would only give a definitive number based on my setup, so I’m just going to wave my hand instead and you’ll get and idea of the delay I’m getting. It’s noticeable for sure, but not significant.

Cool stuff I came to love about the CineEye 2:

It can control your camera. You can’t make settings adjustments, but you are able start and stop recording, which for a solo shooter or someone creating YouTube content on their own is a really nice benefit. Having my iPad Air on a stand next to me gives me a clear view of focus, and I can nail exposure every time, no wires, big, pretty screen - it’s great. I don’ know that I’d buy it specifically for that purpose, but if you already have a tablet or phone it might actually be cheaper and easier than buying a monitor - and it’s one less wire to trip over.

It’s relatively cheap. For a little over $200 you can add a ton of functionality and customer convenience to a shoot.

The monitoring capabilities are vast - and setting them up is relatively straightforward. Once you’re set up and receiving a signal, adding different monitoring options is as simple as selecting what you want and adding it to the menu. Once added, they’re one-click away. My main go-to for setting exposure is false color - that option alone would make this a huge benefit to my workflow.

It can - with certain people - make you look cool. Unlike matte boxes which look cool but don’t actually do anything, the CineEye 2 lets my clients know that I’m at least somewhat tech savvy and have their needs in mind. It’s almost like I’m saying, hey, I want you to look at exactly what I’m seeing - instead of making them feel like they’re intruding into my work space. For my direct to client work, this is great, it makes them feel like a part of what’s going on, it helps to open up communication, and its one more set of eyes on what’s going on to catch any potential issues. On set last week we had a drink can with a logo that needed to be rotated around. I missed it, but the client spotted it and said something. That’s good stuff.

Any Downsides?

The only downside I had in using the CineEye 2 was adding new devices could be a bit fiddly. It works just fine, but there are buttons to push and can be passwords to input. If your client is using their own devices, they’ll need to load the app and go through the initial connection process which is more than I would ask of anyone I’m working for. It’s definitely not something you want to be dealing with when you should be shooting. If you plan to use this in that way, have a production assistant available to collect devices and get them all connected. IF possible, do it at your final pre-production meeting. There is nothing worse than building yourself up as tech-savvy and then having things not run smoothly with all that tech that you’re supposedly so savvy with.

The Accsoon CineEye line is comprised of several models. The CineEye2 is at the bottom of the range. Moving up the line you can get the CineEye2 S which adds SDI input, From there, there are two PRO models which include a transmitter and receiver you so you can send your signal to a wider range of devices. At the pro level you also have a standard HDMI option and an S model which adds SDI. If you want to be entertained and enlightened on the Pro models, I strongly urge you to check out Philip Bloom’s review linked here and in the description.

Wrapping up, this unit is kinda like power windows in your car. Before you have them you think pffft, I don’t need that, but then once you get them, you’re not ever going back to manual window cranking. Now that I’ve integrated this into my workflow, I really don’t see me ever heading out to a shoot without it. And, that will do it for this one, I hope you found something here helpful and I thank you so much for watching!