(I occasionally use Google Android’s speech-to-text function. Pardon the mistakes.)
I didn't buy my two Atomos Shinobi monitors for the false color ability, nor the histogram. Hell, they’re not even recorders. I've shot on all sorts of cameras. The large, shoulder mount Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro with it large’ish screen (which I kinda miss) to the one-handed compact Panasonic Lumix LX100 (which I fricken love for travel).
But, the reason I have the Atomos Shinobi is because clients are impressed by large cameras with all sorts of techie stuff hanging from it. It’s like if you hired a bodyguard, you would hope they have cold, calculating eyes and a physical appearance that says something before they need to say something. Don’t get me wrong… it’s not a superficial reason at all. An external monitor brings a lot of production value with it’s long list of features. But, it does look impressive when you walk into a job with a caged camera, XLR mics, and a bright monitor perched atop it all. Any paying client deserves to see that you’re serious about your work. I’ve never approached a job with hardware I can buy at Best Buy or Costco, and even though it might work, my clients deserve a trained fighter.
I've never had perfect vision, but my reading vision has never had a problem. I've been around a bunch a decades, but the health of my eyes seem to be on the decline. Yeah, it sucks… but at least now I've got a damn good reason to use the Atomos Shinobi monitors I bought a few years ago.
I literally cannot see if I’m in focus. As great as the rear screens are on my Panasonic S1H, S1, and S1R , I need reading glasses to see if the images are sharp. Yes, focus peaking does help but it’s not foolproof. Zooming in on parts of the image also helps, but that takes too much time when you’re in the midst of shooting something that’ll never happen again (which is everything.)
It takes an extra set of batteries and an HDMI cable, but I think my days of occasionally using external monitors are numbered. Or… maybe it’s time for another Blackmagic Ursa? Hmmm…