SW Anderson

I especially like the intense colors and composition in the low-light images. Well done.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my post for some interesting, informative discussion. I appreciate your thoughts and the info you shared.

The Cosina sounds interesting, especially at around $100. I'm going to look it up. Thanks.

Indeed, camera manufacturers are making them. But at steep prices. I have searched eBay  looking for viewfinders several times in recent months. I cast a broad net, sometimes not seeking particular...

Online. My best recollection is that the best price I found for a VF-3 was $159.

Your point about stifling innovation is a good one. Industry standards are great, but in most cases should only be arrived at by voluntary agreement. Only where safety is an issue should standards...

Your reply is very informative and interesting in places; thanks for that. If you think an optical finder that accommodates a zoom has to be an expensive, complicated, manually operated Rube...

That can be done, and I've done it with the Olympus VF-3. But the prices you quote are best-case, used/refurbished. From what I've seen, new ones cost quite a bit more.

Standardization, or at least broad application of a particular design, ensures competition and simplifies things for dealers and end users, all to the good. Proprietary designs lead to "closed"...

A proprietary interface would be required for an EVF, but not necessarily for an optical viewfinder. Well, in the case of Olympus m43 ILC's, the same EVF works on the EPL-1 through EPL-3, at...

Part of what I'm trying to get at here is that one reason that market is not big is because  $199 and $249 pricetags  keep it small. If the market turns out to be larger than it's assumed to be,...

From what I'm seeing, many digital photographers want and need the kind of viewfinder they can put an eye to. LCD's are great in some situations, but even the best are no match for strong sunlight....

That would make an excellent headline for a story about what the newspaper is doing.

Skilled, experienced, talented news photographers know and routinely do things cell-phone snappers and savvy amateurs with good gear can't be counted on for. Pro news photographers go places with...

If blaming Kodak or your Zx5 makes you feel better, go for it. But for better future results with any camera you get, you might want to keep in mind that the Zx5 didn't take you to a hostile...

I think camera manufacturers are pushing the limits of downsizing now. If they keep on, they'll be making cameras the size of a matchbook — and just about as interesting and fun to use as a...

". . . Get the olympus 9-18 for $500 . . ." Good luck with that.  Regular price for the 9-18mm now seems to be $699, and when the gods of retail are smiling you can snap one up for $100 less.  The...

I second the notion that kit lenses are too often and too easily dismissed as mediocre. I have both the original and model II  Olympus 14-42mm kit lenses, having bought the latter to be able to use...

A bit of ancient history from the days of film cameras and non-hot shoes on cameras. One day I was using a new shoe-mounted flash (pc-cord connection) for some indoor shots and discovered that it...

Nice shots. You and the XZ-1 are obviously getting on well together. :-)