Neewer F700 field monitor review: the affordable all-rounder

I've used and owned many field monitors over the years, from the cheap and cheerful to the more high-end, and I have developed a longing for a few things. Firstly, I hate faffing with sun hoods, as they never quite sit right, it's one more thing to pack and set up. I also really prefer something lightweight, which usually means compromising build quality or size.

My go-to for many years has been the Atomos Ninja V, a favorite of many filmmakers, thanks to its excellent build, useful tools, and versatility, with its various accessories.

That said, I'm always on the lookout for different options so jumped at the chance to bag Neewer's F700, after being pleasantly surprised by their F500.

Neewer has built quite a following amongst the hobbyist and indie filmmaking community, with a massive range of tools for shooting and lighting, so does the F700 make the cut?

Neewer F700: Specifications

Neewer F700: Price

Starting at $269.99 / £289.99, this isn't a small amount of money but, compared to some options with similar specs, it's really good value. You'd be hard-pushed to find a 7" field monitor with a screen as good as this for anywhere close. You're getting a lot for your money here, from the usual suspects like waveforms, audio monitoring, and zebras, to the less obvious benefits of really good battery life and dropping the need for a sun hood.

Neewer F700: Design & Handling

The F700 ships in a number of kits, with either no, one, or two batteries. I have the single battery option but otherwise, they are all the same, coming with HDMI cables (in micro, mini, and full-fat versions) USB cable, a mount, and a quick start guide.

I've noticed a few companies up their game with cold shoe mounts recently and Neewer is among them. The mount here is excellent. It's fully metal, nicely machined, and has an arri style locating pin, to prevent twisting, plus holes you can pop a small tool into to crank it nice and tight. It's adjustable for angle too, so fitting it to your rig is easy. Plus there are 1/4 20 threaded mounting holes on the bottom and right-hand side, making it pretty versatile. I tend to use a magic arm for this, so it suits me well.

The design is nice enough. There's not too much going on so it looks clean, with a few buttons on top that, while a little cheap feeling, are click and responsive. Ports all feel nice and tight, alleviating any worries about easily disconnecting by accident.

There are both ins and outs for HDMI, USB-C, and DC inputs for power and an SD card slot, although this is for firmware and LUT loading. No onboard recording here, which is a missed opportunity.

The screen is touch-sensitive, which can be switched off for those who prefer button control. The screen is fantastic too. The menus may look a little dated (more on that later) but the image is good, bright, and detailed.

That said, the housing is made from a rather thin and cheap-feeling plastic. Not to the point I think it will break easily but it doesn't compare well to my regular Ninja V.

It does have dual NPF locking battery slots though, which is good.

Neewer F700: Interface

Some companies just seem to understand how a user interface affects the way we see our devices (Thumbs up to Blackmagic here). It still feels like camera companies (and those making peripheral gear) still fall short in this respect. The Neewer F700 is an odd mismatch. Graphically it leaves a lot to be desired, with rather an ugly presentation that feels distinctly dated. However, the menu system is great. It's well laid out and navigating is easy.

A short click of the menu/set button activates the quick menus at the bottom of the screen, which can be chosen and re-ordered as you see fit. You can either use the touch screen, or the left and right buttons to make changes, with the menu/set being used to confirm and the back button to exit.

A long click will open up the main menus, which will shut down again after a few seconds of nonuse. The menus give access to all the tools a filmmaker needs when monitoring a feed. There are things like aspect, including all flavors of anamorphic, peaking, false color (in both spectrum and Arri flavors), audio meters, waveforms, and zebras.

A nice touch is that you can reposition the waveforms, based on a grid. Not complete freedom but far better than a fixed position.

There are no options for camera control on the F700 but at this price, that's no reason to complain. All in all, the tools offered here are what you'd expect and all work well.

Neewer F700: Performance

Performance is key to the success of many devices and that is especially true of something as vital to a filmmaking rig as the monitor. Luckily the F700 is a great all-rounder in this regard. The on-screen info is all clear and easy to read and I really appreciate the ability to customize the quick menu that pops up at the bottom of the screen with a click of the menu button. This makes it a doddle to access frequently used settings, without having a constant clutter, distracting from the actual image.

I love that you can do things like move the waveform monitor too. It may not be complete freedom, as it is restricted to a grid of nine locations but that's plenty for me.

The touch element of the screen is very good too. Responsive and fluid, with no noticeable lag and I haven't had it miss a beat or fail to recognize my inputs.

While there is no SDI onboard, for most users looking at this I think HDMI is perfectly fine and it's nice to see Neewer include all the HDMI cables in the kit, so no matter which camera you are using you won't have to trawl amazon for extras.

There are three stand-out features for me when looking at the F700.

First up is that SD card slot. You can't record to it (not even proxies) which is a shame but at this price, I'm not surprised. However, you can use it to load LUTs to the monitor, which is fantastic. If you regularly shoot in a log profile you will know that it can be tricky to monitor your 'look' properly, so being able to load your own LUTs is a real boon. Neewer has thought this through well too and having an active LUT doesn't change the accuracy of the tools, like altering the waveform, etc. It also doesn't pass through to the HDMI output, so if you are daisy chaining to another destination you get a good clean signal.

The second is battery life. I used two a pair of NPF 750 batteries, which easily supplied power for a full day. Fantastic for the many of us who have these lying around. And for those who don't, the kit that includes them is a great deal. In fact, I'd suggest going for that anyway, as the batteries are good quality and also have the neat trick of being chargeable via the built-in USB-C port. Nice work Neewer.

Last but not least is the screen brightness. I really dislike unhoods and visors. They rarely look neat, often don't fit well, have light leaks, and can be easily lost or forgotten. This is where the F700 really shines, literally. The 200-nit brightness means this can be used outdoors, even on sunny days, with no need for a hood. It feels very much like looking at a good phone screen. Clear, bright, detailed, and rich.

This alone makes the F700 worth considering for those without a field monitor and possibly even for those who do. Using a larger monitor, unencumbered, is a real joy.

While it does accept a 4k input the F700 display is 1080p, which is a shame but again you can't really criticise too much at the price point. It's a 16:9 display too but it can deliver all sorts of incoming signals, including all flavors of anamorphic.

No matter what you are sending it, you should be fine to view it. The tech specs suggest it maxes out at 50fps but I found I could view 120 without any issues but that could have been some form of tweening.

All in all, it's a fantastic experience, with some extras like a headphone jack for monitoring audio, DC output a wide viewing angle.

Neewer F700: Verdict

The F700 is a device with two sides. It's built to a price point, with cheap-feeling plastics and the menu design (graphically at least) isn't the best but the screen itself is excellent, the features a very good and it does exactly what you want it to, even in a sunny location. It's hard to criticise the build too much at this price and the F700's capabilities have won me over. One for the shortlist for sure.

Alternatives

Atomos Ninja V
A mainstay of many rigs, it's solidly built, has all the tools you'd need, and performs very well.