Mirrorless Autofocus

[Ko.Fe.]

For me, mirrorless is all about comfort: I can do all settings through with the EVF. No more squinting at tiny print that I would need reading glasses for.

Great point! I flipped my RP's screen inside from day one. Much more durable camera after this and all of the settings, play are via EVF.

 

[RichC]

EVF cameras outclass optical viewfinder cameras in every way. I bought a Sony A7R II a couple of years ago to try (my first ever EVF camera), and I was blown away. I sold all my optical viewfinder cameras, and will never use those obsolete dinosaurs again! ...

I bought my first EVF camera when Panasonic introduced the G1 in 2008. Also tried the Olympus E-P2 with the accessory EVF. I've also owned and used the Fuji X-T1 and X-E2S and the Olympus OMD-E1. A few others belonging to other people along the way. I've really tried to find an EVF that I liked and it simply hasn't happened. In addition to my own vision limitations there's just this inorganic look about the subject, a loss of contact. It's like paying to attend a live music concert and then having to watch the performance on the big screen rather than watching the musicians directly. I can't explain it any better than that other than saying it's not comfortable for me to use.

That's a fair comment. I think this difference may come about from how we make photographs. Many photographers create a picture from an unhindered view of reality, so anything that puts a barrier between them and directly seeing the subject is a hindrance (or worse).

Other photographers - myself included - have a firm idea of what they want a photograph to show and look like, sometimes even visualising the final print, including framing. So, they're less interested in seeing reality through a viewfinder, so seeing how the actual photo will appear is more useful - which is what an EVF does. (I can spend months planning a photograph, so often when the time to photograph arrives, I could probably do it without any viewfinder!)

Using a Sony EVF was transformative: finally, I no longer agonised over how my photos would appear but could actually see them before firing the shutter!

These are from my Sony in a recent exhibition (Finland: The Happiness Project) - held despite COVID! The prints match exactly what I saw through the viewfinder, which I'd switched to black-and-white. With the degree of control I desire, using an optical SLR would have been much more frustrating.