Viewfinder Misaligned?

[cpharris]

I had a play with a demo X100 today in store, and whilst brief, the viewfinder (OVF and EVF) seemed to be a little misaligned from the horizontal.

More noticeable when using the OVF, lining up the square guides with horizontal things (shelving) seemed to produce images slightly rotated.

I've also just read from PhotoRadar:

Slightly more annoying, however, is the distortion which affects both the optical and electronic finders. The optical type appears to suffer from some barrel distortion which makes it difficult to accurately compose images, and those verified for levelness with the virtual horizon feature appear uneven on the LCD screen. While some issues with distortion may be expected, it's possible that the viewfinder on our particular review sample was simply misaligned - we will update this section of the review once we know.

Has anyone else noticed anything similar?

Also found this thread at the dpreview forums. Just curious - not intending to moan about anything!

 

[viramati]

This could just be the characteristics of the OVF. If you're not used to a rangefinder (but maybe you are) it tends to behave differently than an SLR when lining things up. hard to explain but it can take some getting used to

 

[Arjay]

Viewfinder and lens have different optical axes and thus have a different field of view. While this is hardly relevant at larger distances, differences become clearly visible at close range. That is, e.g. when you're looking through the optical viewfinder at an object close by, you will be looking at it from a slightly different angle than the electronic viewfinder.

Generally, this isn't a serious problem, as the OVF's projected frame lines will change position after focusing the lens to indicate what's going to be in the frame and what will not. Please note that the projected frame is a little smaller (~ 90%) than what the lens is actually seeing and recording. This guarantees that you can be sure that everything inside the frame will also be in your shot, even if the VF exhibits some parallax (and potentially distortion) errors.

As to nearby horizontal and vertical lines, here's when parallax error will become seriously apparent. It's probably a good idea to completely avoid parallax error and shoot such an object using the EVF.

PS: Another - fairly unlikely - possibility might be an assembly error. In such a case, the image sensor might be mounted slightly rotated so that objects would be captured in another rotational position than visible in the OVF. I once had this problem in a very early-series D70 DSLR. A visit to my dealer's repair shop quickly solved the problem.

 

[cpharris]

Further reading on the Japanese forums shows a few individuals with obviously tilted EVFs. The EVF shows the sensor image, so it's not a big issue, but since the EVF frame lines are shown in the OVF, the lines don't match distant horizons. Apparently they're being repaired or replaced, so I guess these are just manufacturing quirks.

 

[COLOURISE]

VBiewfinder Misaligned?

VBiewfinder Misaligned?

I had a play with a demo X100 today in store, and whilst brief, the viewfinder (OVF and EVF) seemed to be a little misaligned from the horizontal.

More noticeable when using the OVF, lining up the square guides with horizontal things (shelving) seemed to produce images slightly rotated.

I've also just read from PhotoRadar:



Has anyone else noticed anything similar?

Also found this thread at the dpreview forums. Just curious - not intending to moan about anything!

I have experienced the misaligned OVF on my X100. The the view through the EVF & LCD seem to be better.
I have worked around this by using the OVF with the Virtual Horizon displayed, which seems to help in keeping the subject matter reasonably square.

 

[cpharris]

Oh well, got my X100 today, and yes the OVF/EVF is a degree or so off from horizontal. It's not a big thing, but an annoyance for a camera this price. As Colourise said, one can use the auto-level to help level the camera, or just compensate for the slight twist. May see what the UK Fuji Premium support make of this...

 

[viramati]

Just got mime as well and it suffers from the same. Anyway fuji uk admit to a problem and I am sending it in. They have a guaranteed 48hr repair service so I'm not to worried. By the way IQ is amazing

 

[cpharris]

posted mine in today. Hopefully get it back by Monday.

 

[Niels]

Well, so be honest I wont let the camera slip off my hands because of a couple of degrees off - I havnt bothered testing possible misalignment, and i wont be in the nearest future.

Maybe Im just a tiltet person >G<

To each his own. For me: Too much fun to be had as is!


Kind Regards

 

[viramati]

Well I have now had the camera for a few hours and coming round to think that this is really just the limitations of the OVF. side by side with the M9 it is obvious that the X100 finder is not on a par with the leica when it come to barrel distortion which doesn't help but what seems to make it harder is the fact that the frame lines seem to curve inwards slightly, so your are trying to get 2 curves parallel which is obviously extremely difficult. Now if this curve in the frame-lines could be sorted or at least be set to match the curve of the barrel distortion then things might be a little easier.
That being said I love the amount of info you can get in the finder but am finding it strange after the purity of the of the M9 finder. Also I'm not interested in using the camera to photograph brick walls but for street work where this is less of an issue

 

[ozmander]

viramti: interested in your comments as you use an M9. really like your street work. do you use zone focusing (i guess so) and if so -- how does the x100 compare on that front?

 

[viramati]

yes I tend to use zone focussing with the M9 and a 28mm lens for street work. I shoot a lot from the hip with an f stop of between 2.8 and 5.6. I tend to focus at about 9ft (3m) but what I like is that I can see the focus distance and DOF on the lens so I can keep changing it without having to bring the camera to my eye. Obviously this can't be done with the X100 as the lens is not directly coupled and doesn't have any markings. I have only had it for half a day so really can't say much as yet. I was really after something that had matrix metering, good high iso, good IQ and occasional auto-focus. From what I see so far the high iso is fantastic (knocks the bollocks off the M9), IQ looks really good but will have to wait until LR3 can work on the RAW files, and metering seems to work well. So far impressed and if I have to send it back for this finder problem it looks like I will only be without it for 3 days so that I can live with that

 

[ozmander]

thanks, that's helpful. i've used an m8 a fair bit, and like you i like being able to zone focus off the lens marks.

have you shot from the hip using the auto focus (not sure how they might turn out -- depends on how intelligent the AF system is, i suppose)

 

[viramati]

briefly but can't say that I know the camera yet so will test it over the next few days