RichC
Well-known
...or why I ditched my SLR.
I’ve used optical viewfinders (OVFs) all my photographic life, owning various SLRs and rangefinders. Until recently, I used a Nikon dSLR (the D800E), and prior to that a Leica M8, preceded by an Epson R-D1.
But I tried out a camera with an electronic viewfinder (EVF) a couple of weeks ago...
I’d done that before, over a decade ago. And I was underwhelmed. The view was blurry, pixelated and smeared dramatically when I moved the camera. But this time was a revelation! The EVF has advanced so much that the view seems like real life. I didn’t feel I was looking at a screen. And, crucially, its view shows me how my photograph will appear - colour, exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows... you can even set it to show the world in B&W. And it works when it’s too dark for OVFs - just press a button to temporarily brighten the EVF so you can see to compose!
Also, I use only manual lenses - which can be hard to focus using a digital SLR as their viewfinders aren’t designed for manual focus. However, manual focus using an EVF is easy and accurate.
I was amazed by the experience. Before, I sneered at EVFs and couldn’t conceive of not using an OVF - but not having looked through a state-of-the-art EVF I had no idea how good they are now.
I’m now a convert to EVFs: I’ve bought a camera with one, and sold my Nikon D800E.
I won’t go back to to using an OVF. It’s obsolete!
Another revelation of the camera I tried was it’s built-in image stabilisation (IS). This is something I’ve never used before, but now that I have I can’t imagine life without it. Hand-holding at impossibly slow speeds. Goodbye tripod!
There’s a more in-depth overview of my experience of moving from an SLR to a mirrorless camera with EVF and IS in this subforum.
I’ve used optical viewfinders (OVFs) all my photographic life, owning various SLRs and rangefinders. Until recently, I used a Nikon dSLR (the D800E), and prior to that a Leica M8, preceded by an Epson R-D1.
But I tried out a camera with an electronic viewfinder (EVF) a couple of weeks ago...
I’d done that before, over a decade ago. And I was underwhelmed. The view was blurry, pixelated and smeared dramatically when I moved the camera. But this time was a revelation! The EVF has advanced so much that the view seems like real life. I didn’t feel I was looking at a screen. And, crucially, its view shows me how my photograph will appear - colour, exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows... you can even set it to show the world in B&W. And it works when it’s too dark for OVFs - just press a button to temporarily brighten the EVF so you can see to compose!
Also, I use only manual lenses - which can be hard to focus using a digital SLR as their viewfinders aren’t designed for manual focus. However, manual focus using an EVF is easy and accurate.
I was amazed by the experience. Before, I sneered at EVFs and couldn’t conceive of not using an OVF - but not having looked through a state-of-the-art EVF I had no idea how good they are now.
I’m now a convert to EVFs: I’ve bought a camera with one, and sold my Nikon D800E.
I won’t go back to to using an OVF. It’s obsolete!
Another revelation of the camera I tried was it’s built-in image stabilisation (IS). This is something I’ve never used before, but now that I have I can’t imagine life without it. Hand-holding at impossibly slow speeds. Goodbye tripod!
There’s a more in-depth overview of my experience of moving from an SLR to a mirrorless camera with EVF and IS in this subforum.
