This is not a review, just my first impressions. Let me start by saying I have a very good relationship with the team at Convergent Design, so maybe I’m biased. But then I’ve always liked their products and thats really just because that make really good, innovative gear at prices that shake up the competition.

I was going to hold off and writing about the 7Q until I could put together a more in depth review and a video to explain the key features and camera setup, I’m still going to do that, but I’m just so impressed by the 7Q that I wanted to share my first impressions.

First of all it is light for it’s size, it’s also low power. I’ve been running it off a single NP-F970 battery and I get at least a couple of hours from that small battery.

There are a few very small things that are not perhaps obvious in the setup and workflow, but those are very minor. For example when you want to switch from normal recording modes to recording raw from the FS700 you must first load the software from a storage memory area in the unit into the operating area and that takes around 3 minutes. Also before you can view your rushes on a computer you have to run a routine on the Odyssey that closes any open files and makes the clips visible to the computers software. This is part of the safe eject process and takes a few moments, you can’t just pull the SSD’s out and play the footage back, you must eject them correctly.

That screen, oh what a screen. Forget the recording capability for a moment, this is one of the best (if not the best) monitors I’ve ever had. Being able to turn all the key monitor functions like focus assist, zebras, LUT’s etc. on and off without having to go into a menu is wonderful and the display is crystal clear even outside on a sunny day (although a hood will be needed for the very best results). I van see the Odyssey becoming a “go to” monitor for many people, it’s very impressive.

The Raw workflow with FS700 is straight forward once you have your settings correct. VERY important to set the FS700 to SLog2 in a picture profile (the 7Q will flash a message to do this on the screen if you don’t) and even more important to make sure you are at 0db gain as changing the gain on the camera effects the raw recording level and if your not at 0db you will have reduced dynamic range. The 2K raw pictures look stunning, 95% of what I get with my F5/R5, there are some differences and I’ll cover those in the longer review and the differences are more to do with the camera than the 7Q. This is so much better ergonomically than an IFR5/R5 and I think that for FS700 owners in the future 4K compressed will make more sense than 4K raw. Way to go Convergent Design!