EVF resolution - how much is the minimum?

DJSanjay

Well-known member
Messages
121
Reaction score
22
Hi guys. I'm thinking of buying a micro four thirds camera, possibly an OM-D. Most of the bodies I can afford come with 1.4 million dot resolution viewfinder. Is this sharp enough, or do you see a lot of pixelation at this resolution? Would a 2.3 or 2.5 million dot EVF be significantly better?

Thanks for your advice!
 
Hi guys. I'm thinking of buying a micro four thirds camera, possibly an OM-D. Most of the bodies I can afford come with 1.4 million dot resolution viewfinder. Is this sharp enough, or do you see a lot of pixelation at this resolution? Would a 2.3 or 2.5 million dot EVF be significantly better?

Thanks for your advice!
What do you use the viewfinder for? It’s a reference tool for framing and potentially (not necessarily at all) image, but it is not the image, so - does it do the job?

Personally, I really like a viewfinder, since I’ve had operations for cataracts and thus it’s awkward to use the back screen for anything but rough framing. So having a viewfinder is quite useful for me, but it’s quality, in all honesty, is not super critical. I’ve used anything from frame guides on top of the camera to the ground glass at the back of a large format camera, or the mirrored image on a medium format twin lens camera. They all did their job, and had no impact on the final image beyond that.

That said, I enjoy a large, high resolution viewfinder, with good optics so it resembles a direct view of the subject with minimal or no lag. I find it worth paying for, because it is nice to have. But that is all it is, in the kind of photography I do, and in how I use a finder.

My guess is that yes, you will see some pixellation at the lower resolution (if the viewfinder optics are OK, and your eyes are healthy), but a small increase in resolution won’t do anything about that. Even if you got the very highest resolution viewfinder on the market, it would still have less than twice the linear resolution, plus it would have a higher magnification, increasing the apparent size of the pixels. It is still an area of slow development, so unless you are thinking of stepping away and coming back in a decade, it’s not going to be fully solved anywhere.

Use what’s avalable today, and enjoy your photos and photography! :-)
 
The higher the better.

I know nearly all latest Olympus models having evf, like EM10-I/II/III, EM5-I/II and EM1-I/II/III all are in the range of 2.3M dots... Those 1.4M dots might be the older external add-on vf2 for the older Pen models only.
 
Hi guys. I'm thinking of buying a micro four thirds camera, possibly an OM-D. Most of the bodies I can afford come with 1.4 million dot resolution viewfinder. Is this sharp enough, or do you see a lot of pixelation at this resolution? Would a 2.3 or 2.5 million dot EVF be significantly better?

Thanks for your advice!
All OM- D good evf no pixaltion. Used all no issues of that sort. EM 1X should not have this issue. - Sanjay
 
Hi guys. I'm thinking of buying a micro four thirds camera, possibly an OM-D. Most of the bodies I can afford come with 1.4 million dot resolution viewfinder. Is this sharp enough, or do you see a lot of pixelation at this resolution? Would a 2.3 or 2.5 million dot EVF be significantly better?

Thanks for your advice!
My first m43 body was an OM-D E-M5 Mk1, with a 1.44M dot viewfinder. I found it to be a bit coarse, a bit like sitting too close to an old analogue standard definition TV. But as Jonas has pointed out above, a viewfinder is a compositional device to assist with producing an image. It is not the image itself. As a compositional device it served its purpose and I made some good images with that camera.

But I moved on to an E-M1 Mk1 with its 2.36M dot finder, partly because I wanted a higher resolution viewfinder. I found the difference in resolution noticeable, and good. It is still just a compositional aid and doesn't help me take better photographs than those I took peering through a 1.44M dot finder, but it makes the camera more pleasurable to use.

If you can really only afford a camera with a 1.44M dot finder don't worry about it, just buy the camera and start making images. But I'd be surprised if you can't find a used E-M1 Mk1 for just a little more. If you can, then buy it.

--
BartyL
www.facebook.com/barty.lobethal/photos_albums
 
Last edited:
Hi guys. I'm thinking of buying a micro four thirds camera, possibly an OM-D. Most of the bodies I can afford come with 1.4 million dot resolution viewfinder. Is this sharp enough, or do you see a lot of pixelation at this resolution? Would a 2.3 or 2.5 million dot EVF be significantly better?

Thanks for your advice!
Look, in the 1960's people were over the top happy, just having exchanged their B&W for a color tv.... with 480 lines. And they remained happy for the next 30 years.

In the 80's, PC monitors had 640x480 pixels (0.3 mio pixels) and we were proud to afford one of these. Then came 1080x768, 1k, 2k, 4k and now we are talking 8k.

It is completely painless upgrading to a higher resolution. Going back is the problem. It's human nature. Once we got used to a certain quality, we just do not like to go back.

You ask how much is the minimum for an EVF. I would answer this way: it is whatever your previous camera had. Anything less, and you will be unhappy. Anything more, you will forget about one week later, and it becomes your new normal.
 
Hi guys. I'm thinking of buying a micro four thirds camera, possibly an OM-D. Most of the bodies I can afford come with 1.4 million dot resolution viewfinder. Is this sharp enough, or do you see a lot of pixelation at this resolution? Would a 2.3 or 2.5 million dot EVF be significantly better?

Thanks for your advice!
Look, in the 1960's people were over the top happy, just having exchanged their B&W for a color tv.... with 480 lines. And they remained happy for the next 30 years.

In the 80's, PC monitors had 640x480 pixels (0.3 mio pixels) and we were proud to afford one of these. Then came 1080x768, 1k, 2k, 4k and now we are talking 8k.

It is completely painless upgrading to a higher resolution. Going back is the problem. It's human nature. Once we got used to a certain quality, we just do not like to go back.

You ask how much is the minimum for an EVF. I would answer this way: it is whatever your previous camera had. Anything less, and you will be unhappy. Anything more, you will forget about one week later, and it becomes your new normal.
Lol. My previous camera had none! Just the LCD.
 
Hi guys. I'm thinking of buying a micro four thirds camera, possibly an OM-D. Most of the bodies I can afford come with 1.4 million dot resolution viewfinder. Is this sharp enough, or do you see a lot of pixelation at this resolution? Would a 2.3 or 2.5 million dot EVF be significantly better?

Thanks for your advice!
The EVF is used to see what composition you are making. Even the EVF in the original E-M10 is more than good enough for that purpose. The one in the E-M5 Mark II has more pixels and higher magnification. It suits me better. But where your bottom line is, I do not know.
 
The higher the better.

I know nearly all latest Olympus models having evf, like EM10-I/II/III, EM5-I/II and EM1-I/II/III all are in the range of 2.3M dots... Those 1.4M dots might be the older external add-on vf2 for the older Pen models only.
The 1.4M dot EVF was also used in the original E-M5 and the original E-M10 - you're correct that the VF-2 also used it and it is the same panel inside.
 
For me, magnification is more important than resolution, when it comes to EVFs.

I doubt if any M4/3 camera currently on the market has an EVF resolution lower than the minimum tolerable, so I wouldn't worry about it.
 
I have both the EM10 Mk1 (1.4m dots) and EM10 Mk2 (2.4m dots).

Yes, the EVF on the Mk2 is nicer and yes, the difference in resolution is noticeable. But I certainly don't think my enjoyment of the camera would be much impaired if it had the same EVF as the Mk1. In a nutshell, 1.4m dots is totally fine.

More important for me are the technologies used: I also have a Pana GX7 and honestly, I strongly dislike the EVF (which is a very important part of a camera for me) and will sell it back.
 
Last edited:
My first camera with EVF was bridge, the Fujifilm S2950 and that was pretty awful. Don't remember the resolution but the problem was the lag, high contrast and bad colours.

Then I got the E-M10 Original and found 1.44 mp, good colours, no lag. So that was (more than) the minimum for me.

Recent cameras do much more than that but I'd still be happy today with the E-M10 viewfinder.
 
Hi guys. I'm thinking of buying a micro four thirds camera, possibly an OM-D. Most of the bodies I can afford come with 1.4 million dot resolution viewfinder. Is this sharp enough, or do you see a lot of pixelation at this resolution? Would a 2.3 or 2.5 million dot EVF be significantly better?

Thanks for your advice!
Honestly, it depends on your eyesight. If you have very sharp vision, then I wouldn't want to go any less than a 2.36M-dot EVF. Even then, cameras like the A7Rii, and almost certainly the E-M1X, have a noticeable screen door effect. If you're vision isn't super sharp then it probably doesn't matter nearly as much. Just don't get a camera with one of the field sequential EVFs, those are awful regardless of the resolution.
 
Last edited:
The only way to tell is to try it out in person. Everybody's eyes are different. Particularly if you wear glasses, some displays are not good when your glasses require you to be further from the display. On most electronic viewfinders, there is typically a dial to change the diopter of the display. You want to dial in an appropriate diopter so you can see the display. Some people who normally wear prescription eye glasses can dial in the diopter so that they don't need glasses to use the viewfinder (of course if they hand it off to somebody else, it will appear to be out of focus). Note, if you go for the original E-m1 mark I, you don't want to dial in strong diopter values as there is a common reported problem that certain diopters can cause the viewfinder screen to burn out if exposed to the sun.

I tend to be of the opinion that if you use a store to try out a camera in person, you should buy it from that camera and if a salesperson helped you, buy it from that person so they get the commission. After all, the store helped you and gave you the value of trying it out in person, which should counter getting the camera elsewhere on the internet at a lower price. If nobody buys from the store, sooner or later, it will go out of business.

There are generally 3 types of viewfinder, each with pluses and minuses:

1) The TFT LCD viewfinder. This is used in Olympus E-m1 mark I/II, E-m5 mark I/II, and the original E-m10 mark I bodies as well as the VF-2 external viewfinder on older Pen bodies. I think the E-m1x also uses a TFT LCD viewfinder. A lot of people feel the colors are more 'natural' with a TFT viewfinder. The refresh rate of the viewfinder can be cranked up fairly high.

The major downside to a TFT LCD viewfinder is when you shoot using polarized sunglasses. Unfortunately, due to migraines, I need to wear polarized sunglasses all of the time when I'm outdoors in sunlight, so it is a hot button issue with me. In particular, on the Olympus cameras, if you shoot in landscape (horizontal) orientation (i.e. the normal way people shoot), the viewfinder can either be completely opaque (VF-2, E-m5 mark II) or there are bands on the viewfinder where you cannot see the image with sunglasses on, and bands where you can see the image (E-m1 mark I/II, E-m5 mark I). I've found that if I use the viewfinder, I can generally frame the shot with the area that I can see, but it is annoying, and I wouldn't be able to do detail work like manually focus. If I switch the camera to portrait orientation, the viewfinder is completely usable.

The rear display of most cameras these days tends to be TFT LCD, but the orientation that is problematical with polarized sunglasses is portrait (vertical). In the past, the E-m5 mark I had an OLED rear display, but generally the cell phone makers consume the worlds supply of larger OLED displays, so it is rare for current generation cameras to use them.

2) The OLED viewfinder. This is used in the Olympus E-m10 mark II/III, Olympus Pen-F, and the mid/upper Panasonic bodies (G85, GH5, GH5s, G9, etc.). Unlike TFT LCD viewfinders, the OLED display can be used in either orientation with polarized sunglasses (typically one orientation is darker with sunglasses, but there is no visual disruption). OLED monitors also tend to have a wider angle of view than TFT LCD monitors, though I'm not sure it matters as much for a viewfinder as compared to the rear display.

IMHO, the major downside to OLED displays is they tend to saturate the colors more. Now, a lot of people like the pop of a saturated display, but I find the pictures will appear to be duller when viewed on a computer if I shot the scene with an OLED viewfinder and adjusted the photo in the camera for the viewfinder. I now mentally tone down the image to allow me to get a better perspective on what the final image will look like (and/or just boost up the levels in post processing).

I've seen complaints that the refresh rate for most OLED viewfinders is lower than a TFT LCD display, and that for some people, this low refresh rate can lead to migraines. I've heard that the Panasonic G9 has a higher refresh rate, so it probably depends on the camera.

Another issue to consider is historically, OLED monitors seemed fail earlier than the same generation TFT LCD display. In particular, over time the LEDs start producing less light, particularly the blue LEDs, which can mean that before it becomes unusable completely, the color rendition may be off. Now, I'm not sure whether this is an issue with cameras, as it may be based on the amount of time the display is on. People who take relatively few pictures, might not use the camera enough for it to start failing. Pros shooting for a living and amateurs that blast out photos tend to replace their cameras every few years, and may not see the failures (of course this might be an issue if you buy a used camera from somebody who did shoot tens of thousands of images).

The power usage of an OLED tends to be different from a TFT LCD. The TFT LCD tends to be more consistent since the main power draw is the backlight used to illuminate the screen, while on an OLED, a lighter scene will consume more power than a darker scene. I'm not sure whether this is reflected in how long batteries will last before being depleted.

I bought a Panasonic G85 specifically because it had an OLED viewfinder (and was splash proof and had a sensor shift stabilization). After buying it, I found while the viewfinder worked great, I really preferred the Olympus menus and shooting parameters, so I eventually bought a refurbished Olympus E-m10 mark II to use as a good weather camera to use in bright sun.

3) Field Sequential. These tend to be the smaller displays used in Panasonic GX cameras (and LX100). Unlike OLED/TFT where each pixel consists of 3 LEDS (red, green, blue), a field sequential display uses a single light that pulses red, green, blue and depends on your eye's persistence of vision to merge the colors together. Some people are more sensitive, and field sequential displays can have a rainbow effect if the eye or camera moves rapidly. Another downside is just the smallness of the display.
 
Last edited:
There isn't a 'minimum' for functionality.

I had no problems shooting photos in 2006 with the then-stunning 200,000 pixel EVF on my Sony bridge camera.

As cba_melbourne said in a post above: You just won't really want to go lower than your previous camera's resolution.
 
The higher the better.

I know nearly all latest Olympus models having evf, like EM10-I/II/III, EM5-I/II and EM1-I/II/III all are in the range of 2.3M dots... Those 1.4M dots might be the older external add-on vf2 for the older Pen models only.
Ouch. The older Pen ones. I received one as a Xmas gift long ago. I find them ususable.

The 2.3m ones that started appearing on the EM1mark1 and the Em5markII are the minimum as far as I'm concerned
 
There isn't a 'minimum' for functionality.

I had no problems shooting photos in 2006 with the then-stunning 200,000 pixel EVF on my Sony bridge camera.

As cba_melbourne said in a post above: You just won't really want to go lower than your previous camera's resolution.
I guess that's true. A few years ago I had a Pentax bridge camera like that too. Funny, I never thought of it as "not enough" back then.
 
The higher the better.

I know nearly all latest Olympus models having evf, like EM10-I/II/III, EM5-I/II and EM1-I/II/III all are in the range of 2.3M dots... Those 1.4M dots might be the older external add-on vf2 for the older Pen models only.
Ouch. The older Pen ones. I received one as a Xmas gift long ago. I find them ususable.
There was another older one for the Pens, the VF-3 - this came out after the VF-2 (which corresponds to the EVF in the E-M5 and 10, and which I like). I don't like the panel in the VF-3 though. Might you have had that one? It was painted a bluish silver, was smaller than the others, and had an unlock button for the mounting pin in the foot. The diopric correction is a big dial on the side and the eyepiece and cup are rectangular. Resolution was about 900k dots and the contrast was overly high.
The 2.3m ones that started appearing on the EM1mark1 and the Em5markII are the minimum as far as I'm concerned
 

Keyboard shortcuts

Back
Top