Re: Modular cameras are the best
alexisgreat wrote:
Michael Meissner wrote:
alexisgreat wrote:
Can I connect this analog video out cable to a computer monitor? Or must it be connected to a TV?
If your monitor supports old-style yellow RCA jacks for NTSC/PAL, then you can use it. If you have an mp4 player, dvd player, or camcorder with RCA jacks for analog video input, you could use it. If you are looking for something small and portable, look for the monitors made for 3rd party car backup systems.
Since the standard for video input has changed over the years, newer computer monitors have been dropping the older plugs, but if your monitor has the old plug, it should work.
Note, the resolution is not so great, so it will look really grainy if you display it on a large modern monitor.
Newer cameras like the E-PL6 have HDMI output as well. However, with the exception of the E-M5 mark II (and possibly newer cameras designed after the E-M5 II), if you plug in a HDMI cable, the camera will only do playback mode, and it will not take pictures. The E-M5 II can finally do live view over HDMI and is not restricted to analog video output.
Thanks, I was actually thinking of plugging into my desktop's video card's HDMI input (it's an EVGA 8800 GTS) but it seems like it would only do play back and be of no use in Live View? My laptop has integrated video but maybe I can buy an external video adapter of some kind that can take RCA? On second thought I do want something more portable, so the monitors made for 3rd party car backup systems might be my best bet. I have old TVs that take RCA connections but they are too big for this purpose. I do have a 7" portable DVD player, that might work. Is the resolution around 640x480? I know the resolution of LCD's on the back of cameras (as well as EVF) is spec'ed differently from monitor resolutions- as far as I can recall you have to divide by four (for RGBG) to get the "actual" resolution? So the EV-4, which is spec'ed at 2.36 million pixels, is actually a little over half a million pixels (so a bit more than 800x600- which is awesome) and the rear 3" LCD which is 614,000 pixels is actually a little over 150,000 pixels which makes a bit over 400x300 in "real" resolution.
You are thinking in terms of digital formats. NTSC and PAL were analog signals defined in the 1940's when TVs used vacuum tubes, with the max image being 720 x 480 (there were 525 scan lines, but 45 of the scan lines were reserved for the blanking interval, which later was used to transmit out of band information). However, whether Olympus transmits the whole image, or transmits a smaller image, I dunno. I suspect for the earlier cameras, it would only transmit the image in the resolution of the LCD or QVGA (320x240).
My wife's Sony DVD player can display images from my cameras. With my old 32" tube TV, I used it with my 12 year old 2 megapixel C-2100UZ camera to frame a shot (I was shooting my renaissance faire boots with me laying on the floor, essentially a selfie).
You have to just try it and see if it works. If you look in your box that the camera came in, there should be a cable with 2 RCA jacks (yellow and white) that plugs into your camera. The yellow is the video, and the white is the mono sound (for live view you don't need this).
If you did want to connect it to a computer, you can find USB devices that take analog video input. I've never used one, so I don't know how well they work.
Since modern Olympus cameras only have one plug (with the exception of the E-1/E-300/E-3/E-5), if you use the analog output cable, you won't be able to use the shutter release, since both cables want to plug into the same hole, and Olympus never made a Y-cable that split video output, shutter release, and USB control.
There were handheld devices that did both remote video and shutter release, but they have mostly disappeared from the scene. The Phottix Hector Live View Wired Remote is perhaps the last of these that still is being sold (http://www.phottixstore.com/store/hero-and-hector-series/phottix-hector-live-view-remote.html?options=cart ). There is also a wireless version and a version with a 7" monitor for video. Phottix used to sell the cables for Hector separately if you wanted to do a DIY unit combining a video feed and shutter release.
If you are handy at making cables, you could make your own, using a cheap Olympus clone cable to give you the 12 pin part that attaches to the camera. Here is the pinout: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/23872082
Finally, if none of that works, you can adapt a shutter release for a film camera to press the shutter button on your camera.
Home made mechanical shutter release for E-P2
However, for modern cameras, Olympus supports smartphones via wi-fi which might be easier than the above.
