Breaking with my anti-EVF prejudices

[mfunnell]

Over on this thread:

All the cameras I own are OLD - even the digital ones!

It's kind of, well, obvious (duh!) but I only just realised that not only do I own a lot of old cameras, but that even the digital cameras I own (the ones I use, too!) are quite old. The most recent camera I own (aside from my iPhone), which I kind of regard as 'new' (even though I've had mine...

www.rangefinderforum.com

...I wrote:

Whether 'more modern' cameras than that provide further significant improvements (over, say, the 7-8 years since the 5D4 came out) is something I can't say. I've not used any camera more recent than that, and my preference for optical finders / prejudice against EVFs means I'm unlikely to do that any time soon unless someone can show me some compelling capability my existing cameras don't provide. (Those won't include video features - I'm not that much interested in video. If others are, that's fine with me. But it's not for me and doubt it will be.)

Just now, under the heading "show me some compelling capability my existing cameras don't provide" I've gone and bought an EVF-only (!!) Canon mirrorless ILC camera in order to use the "Canon RF 200-800mm f/6.3-9 IS USM lens" lens (I've also picked up the 1.4x and 2.0x extenders and EF-to-RF adapter for my older lenses).

That extended telephoto capability (out as far as 1600mm!!) is something I'll use for bird photography - which is something I've done a fair bit of this year:

Lord Howe Island Birds

Birds I photographed on a recent trip to Lord Howe Island. I'll post them in the order I took them (maybe adding others later). If you'd like different formats or higher resolution, please contact me (meant especially but not only for those who I gave my details to while on the island).

flic.kr

Bird Photos April/May 2024

Photos of birds, taken on a recent driving and cycling trip I took with my Dad from Canberra, through Victoria and New South Wales then back to Canberra.

flic.kr

Essentially, I'm buying the camera to use a lens I'd otherwise not be able to. I'm expecting the camera itself, EVF and all, might be something I just have to suffer to get access to the lens. All-singing, all-dancing, techno-wonder though the camera likely is, I'm not expecting to especially like it or it's EVF. But who knows 🤷‍♂️ - perhaps it will surprise me. I can't think of anything else available that will give me such an extended telephoto range, while being useable hand-held, at a price that's at all (just barely) affordable.

I really am expecting the camera to be "the cost of doing business" to access the lens - even though I'm paying more for the camera than the lens. I'm fortunate that I have some remaining funds from a small inheritance that I was asked to "use for something self-indulgent". This is the self-indulgence I've hit on after considering many alternative uses, including travel I've already done.

Delivery of the new kit is expected today (I've just received the notification). Wish me luck! 🤞

...Mike

 

[wlewisiii]

Hope you enjoy it. I can deal with EVF though I'll admit to a preference so far to optical vf for the ones I've used but they get better all the time.

 

[mfunnell]

I'll admit to a preference so far to optical vf for the ones I've used but they get better all the time.

I've yet to use an EVF that I've liked, and I expect I'll not especially like this one either.

When I played with it in-store to check if "hand-holdability" of camera+lens was workable for me (it was) my impression of the EVF was that it's the best one I've used so far. It should be, being an "introduced in 2024" camera. Whether it's "enough" is an open question. My guess is that I'll find it useable but not likeable. But I can hope I'm wrong about that 🤞

...Mike

P.S. Maybe it's just me, but when I put down my $$ I bought online from the outfit that gave me the in-store camera demo. I might have saved some bucks buying elsewhere, but not enough to overcome the principle of "doing the right thing". I don't want camera stores to go away.

 

[Godfrey]

I used EVF cameras for quite a while (Panasonic G1, G2, Olympus E-M1, Leica SL, Leica CL) and generally like the ones I've used quite a lot.

However, my eyes are changing in my old age and I find they don't adapt from bright sunlight to the dimness of an EVF quickly enough to shoot the way I like to... It's for that reason that I went back to Leica M bodies (now M10-R, M10 Monochrome, M4-2, M6TTL 0.85x), but I continue to use the Visoflex 020 with the two digital bodies for longer focal lengths and for Leica R adapted lenses that I use for macro and tabletop shooting.

It's good to have options. No one camera is perfect for all uses by all photographers. 😉

G

 

[mfunnell]

No one camera is perfect for all uses by all photographers. 😉

G

That's my excuse for having so damned-many cameras 😂 - and I'm sticking to it! 😃

...Mike

P.S. It's even true 👏

 

[Freakscene]

I've yet to use an EVF that I've liked, and I expect I'll not especially like this one either.

Anything of 5mp+ and 60Hz+ (120Hz is better) is very, very good. I like the view in an rf or good SLR viewfinder better, but they are harder to focus. Good focus peaking and a good EVF is a pretty formidable combination functionally. The cameras mostly stink, but I can find some thing to complain about about almost any machine.

Marty

 

[mdarnton]

I bought a Nikon Z5 a couple of months ago and haven't touched another camera since. It's GREAT for low light. It doesn't have the jitters I used to associate with EVFs, it's sharp. It gives me a view with all of the presets included so what I see pretty much looks like the final image. What's not to like.

I'm using magnified focus; all of my lenses are manual. If you care about precise focus, and I do, focus peaking is just an approximation and can be fooled, plus it totally destroys the view with a bunch of glowing lines.

 

[Dogman]

Like Michael (mdarnton), I bought a Nikon Z5 recently as well. I was totally surprised that I fell in love with this camera. I've never liked EVFs and I've been pretty vocal about that. But I wanted to better utilized the manual focus lenses I own. My Fuji X-Pros are wonderful cameras but they work best with Fuji's AF lenses. The Z5 is an outstanding base for the old LTM and the Voigtlaender and Zeiss M-mount lenses I own. With the FTZII adapter, all my old Nikkors fit and function. It's my most used camera these days.

 

[mfunnell]

Well, I've done my first experiments with the new camera+lens (I'd run out of light before the battery charged yesterday.) I took the time to make an initial cut at setting the camera up the way I want it (so many settings 😱 - but my plan is to set 'em so mostly I can forget 'em).

I took camera+lens out for a walk, looking for test subjects - and found a few:
[Why is it, that when you set out to test, you end up with mainly black, or mainly white, subjects against strong back-light? I don't know, but it seems to be a law of the universe 🙁]

Currawong


Sulphur Crested Cockatoo


Sacred Kingfisher

Based on these, I'll call the 1st experiment a success. All were taken at quite a distance. They're still cropped a bit. The kingfisher one is cropped a lot, because when I got closer, I found that I'd stuffed up the AF settings, and the bird had flown the wire by the time I got them sorted out.

Note to self: it is easy to knock the AF point into the wrong spot while just carrying the camera. I'll be using the 'lock' setting around the power button quite a lot, I think, to guard against that.

I have to say I'm not loving the EVF. It's very functional, yet I doubt I'll ever truly love it. But I already love the capabilities I get with this rig, even just on initial experimentation. So I'm really quite happy.

...Mike

 

[DownUnder]

I used EVF cameras for quite a while (Panasonic G1, G2, Olympus E-M1, Leica SL, Leica CL) and generally like the ones I've used quite a lot.

However, my eyes are changing in my old age and I find they don't adapt from bright sunlight to the dimness of an EVF quickly enough to shoot the way I like to... It's for that reason that I went back to Leica M bodies (now M10-R, M10 Monochrome, M4-2, M6TTL 0.85x), but I continue to use the Visoflex 020 with the two digital bodies for longer focal lengths and for Leica R adapted lenses that I use for macro and tabletop shooting.

It's good to have options. No one camera is perfect for all uses by all photographers. 😉

G

I too resisted EVFs for a long time.

Until 2020 all my photography was with reflex cameras - first Rolleiflexes, then Nikkormats and other Nikons as the technology moved on and cameras became more electronic-everything. So my photo history was TLRs, SLRs to DSLRs and on to mirrorless. Not overlooking a too-brief foray into Leica Ms in the '80s, which I still miss.

I stayed with film until 2009. When Nikon produced the D90 and then the D700, I decided the IQ had reached a level I liked, and I made the big change. But I went on using film until I retired in 2012 and had time to play with my cameras and explore other aspects of photography.

Four years ago I was given a Lumix GF1 kit, with the dreadful EVF which for me made everything look as if I hd advanced eye cataracts. Yet the images from my GF1 were truly good, and I persevered.

In 2022 I got into Fuji cameras in my usual two-fisted way, with XT1s and XT2s which I found I didn't bond with,, tho' the Fujinon lenses have superb optics.

I then bought an XE2, which made all the difference - in size, IQ, ease of handling, and with an EVF I could see through. The ease of using a small mirrorless camera with good IQ and a clear EVF helped me to break a tendency to static and 'mannered' images and gave a good kick to my creative urges.

this year I've been looking to downsize my arsenal of Nikon gear and a few Rollei TLRs and get into Leica, this time a CL. So far without any great success, most CLs I've found on the secondhand market were either not up to my basic standards in a used camera, or too expensive for my budget.

Now an as new Fuji Xpro2 has come my way, at a price I initially considered as a little high but still in my budget. So the CL acquisition project is on the back shelf for now, tho' I'm still determined to clear a few shelves of little used gear and make the investment into one good camera.

For my age my eyes are in reasonably good condition, and I like the flexibility of having the EVF or the OVF in the XPro2, altho' I am predicting I will be making much better use of the EVF, all the more so as I've now bought an adapter for my Nikon 85, 135, 180 and 300 lenses.

So the new camera 'quest' seemingly never ends, but hoo! it sure is fun...