Why EVF and not optical?

I'm a little worried to get a camera with an LCD for a viewfinder. All non-digital cameras and most digital cameras have an optical viewfinder. Doesn't this bother anyone? Why does Sony do that?

LCDs are usually grainy, and certainly not as sharp as 'reality'--or am I missing something?

Mike

Mike,

Their EVF on the F707 is due to its design. It would be difficult to engineer an optical viewfinder which swiveled with the lens but was still usable.

Now, you are not missing much anyway. Optical viewfinders, on the majority of consumer digicams only allow for framing the shot and they are not very good at that. You will not be able to see the proper focus and since they are not SLR/through the lens finders, they are useless for macros. The only other issue is in low light but with the NightFrame mode of the F707, this actually becomes a benefit of the EVF.

Mike said:

I'm a little worried to get a camera with an LCD for a viewfinder.
All non-digital cameras and most digital cameras have an optical
viewfinder. Doesn't this bother anyone? Why does Sony do that?

LCDs are usually grainy, and certainly not as sharp as
'reality'--or am I missing something?

Mike

Click to expand...

I actually prefer the evf, as the one on the 707 is so good it allows me to accurately find a spot that gives me the best exposure for the frame, and then using either a half button press or the AE lock, I set the exposure for the picture and then proceed to compose the shot. While color and contrast in the evf are off, the exposure is usually right on.

Barry

Mike said:

I'm a little worried to get a camera with an LCD for a viewfinder.
All non-digital cameras and most digital cameras have an optical
viewfinder. Doesn't this bother anyone? Why does Sony do that?

LCDs are usually grainy, and certainly not as sharp as
'reality'--or am I missing something?

Mike

Click to expand...

Ragnefinders have lots of problems, so I assume you want something like an SLR. SLRs are great, but they introduce a lot of weight, mechanical complexity and cost.

Ron Parr

Mike said:

I'm a little worried to get a camera with an LCD for a viewfinder.
All non-digital cameras and most digital cameras have an optical
viewfinder. Doesn't this bother anyone? Why does Sony do that?

LCDs are usually grainy, and certainly not as sharp as
'reality'--or am I missing something?

Mike

Click to expand...

I prefer the evf because I can see exactly what the CCD sees.

Mike said:

I'm a little worried to get a camera with an LCD for a viewfinder.
All non-digital cameras and most digital cameras have an optical
viewfinder. Doesn't this bother anyone? Why does Sony do that?

LCDs are usually grainy, and certainly not as sharp as
'reality'--or am I missing something?

Mike

Click to expand...