EV1S impressions

Just got the EV1S today and tried it out on the 5N. I also have a Panasonic G3 to compare it to.

The colors are definitely better on the EV1s and the view is a little crisper in daylight. Not as dramatically better as I may have thought, but still excellent. The EV1S showed a little more moire/interference jaggies on patterns though.

I have a prominent brow and biggish nose (and am left eyed) and I definitely prefer the EV1S/5N combo over the G3. My nose barely touches the screen and, luckily, it disables the touch screen when you put your eye up to the viewfinder (I got a few "operation can't be performed on this screen" when my nose hit just before the eye detector). Love the higher vantage point so I can open my right eye and get more situational awareness. I took the 5N+18-200_EV1S to a HS football game and really enjoyed using it at full telephoto...much more stable. It actually makes this combo look less ridiculous than without the viewfinder...balances it visually.

This evening in a dimly lit room, I compared the 2 (one with one eye, one with the other simultaneously). In the dim situation, the G3's viewfinder was brighter with less noise, albeit a little more washed out. I much prefered the G3's view here, although it was a little more laggy...I'm assuming they lowered the framerate more than Sony to get a brighter scene.

Anyway, I'd say in normal use, the EV1S will be a little better, but it's a bit ugly in low light. Love having it on the camera, and will likely leave it on most of the time. It's similar to Olympus' add-on pen EVF, although this one actually locks onto the camera as opposed to the Olympus and looks a little less dorky.

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Rick Krejci
http://www.ricksastro.com

Thanks for this info. Very useful. Where did you get it from?

Do you have any menu option to disable the LCD screen full time when the EVF is attached? And if so, do you get any idea whether the EVF would be more or less power draining than the LCD? I'd be curious if you can disable the LCD, use the EVF, and maybe get a longer battery life to boot...I would be most likely to use the EVF myself during daylight, so the LCD wouldn't really even be necessary at any point, as long as all the menus were still displayed in the EVF.

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Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg

Great feedback! Thanks.

What do you think? Is it practical to own both the flash and the EV and switch between them as needed?

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Ex-Tee-Eye * Fifty mm 1,8 * Seventeen-Eightyfive mm 4,0-5,6
En-Ee-Ex-5 * Sixteen mm 2,8 * Eighteen-Fiftyfive mm 3,5-5,6
Voigtlander ThirtyFive mm 1,4

Ordered it from Sony Style yesterday standard shipping...I'm relatively close to Chicago where it shipped from.

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Rick Krejci
http://www.ricksastro.com

You can set it to Auto, where it switches from the LCD to the viewfinder when your eye is by the viewfinder. Or you can set it to manual, where you puch the button on the viewfinder to switch.

Manual will save power, since even with the viewfinder selected, it still only turns on when you put it to your eye.

And yes you can operate all the menus in the viewfinder and review images as well...very nice experience.

zackiedawg said:

Do you have any menu option to disable the LCD screen full time when the EVF is attached? And if so, do you get any idea whether the EVF would be more or less power draining than the LCD? I'd be curious if you can disable the LCD, use the EVF, and maybe get a longer battery life to boot...I would be most likely to use the EVF myself during daylight, so the LCD wouldn't really even be necessary at any point, as long as all the menus were still displayed in the EVF.

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Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg

Click to expand...

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Rick Krejci
http://www.ricksastro.com

If it's an occasional switching it would be OK, but if you did it a lot, it would be irritating to fiddle with that little screw every time.

If you would tend to want leave both of them on all the time, it would be irritating and you'd probably be better off with the NEX7 I would think.

Rick

Mike Wee said:

Great feedback! Thanks.

What do you think? Is it practical to own both the flash and the EV and switch between them as needed?

----------------------------
Ex-Tee-Eye * Fifty mm 1,8 * Seventeen-Eightyfive mm 4,0-5,6
En-Ee-Ex-5 * Sixteen mm 2,8 * Eighteen-Fiftyfive mm 3,5-5,6
Voigtlander ThirtyFive mm 1,4

Click to expand...

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Rick Krejci
http://www.ricksastro.com

Thanks for the impressions, I've been waiting with baited breath to hear what people thought. I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed because a lot of people that got to try the A77 seemed to be taken back. They would say things like, "I hated EVF's but this is the first EVF I may be able to live with", and "I was almost fooled into thinking it was an OVF, we may not need OVF's anymore".

It made me think the EVF was revolutionary and almost like in OVF. It's good to be brought down to earth though so I'm not disappointed from unrealistic expectations later on.

So what I gather is that it's still the best EVF around but maybe not quite as revolutionary as what it was being made out to be.

Does the viefinder have diopter correction?

Hey Rick. G3 question here. I recently sold my gh2 in order to buy a nex 7 possibly. However, if the nex 7 does not blow me away I may get a g3 instead and save about 700 bucks.

When I was playing with my friend's g3 in my room, the eve display was a lot more reddish yellow under the yellow light bulb in my room. Is it normal for the g3 sensor to produce such a yellow cast through the eve compared to my gh2 or does my friend have a busted g3? Thanks.

Thanks for taking the time to give us a review.
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A veteran is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America," for an amount of "up to and including my life".

That's excellent news - Thank you. I would most likely use the viewfinder in Manual anyway, as I'd be most likely to use one format or the other for the entire day - no need to switch back and forth.

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Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg

Hi Rick,

I'm interested in the new EVF for manual focus. Is there any way to have magnified view in the finder? Thanks
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Cheers, Reza

Yes it works the same as the LCD. With a manual lens you can zoom in and focus, complete with peaking...IMO easier than an OVF, particularly w fast lenses wide open where focusing screens mislead the dof.

Nikkorforever said:

Hi Rick,

I'm interested in the new EVF for manual focus. Is there any way to have magnified view in the finder? Thanks
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Cheers, Reza

Click to expand...

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Rick Krejci
http://www.ricksastro.com

I think it has more to do with the subsampling algorithms than the display potential, so higher level cameras may be better. I need to do direct comparisons during daylight. I would say it's overall more pleasant due to the better colors and better overall resolution.

Photohobbyfun said:

Thanks for the impressions, I've been waiting with baited breath to hear what people thought. I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed because a lot of people that got to try the A77 seemed to be taken back. They would say things like, "I hated EVF's but this is the first EVF I may be able to live with", and "I was almost fooled into thinking it was an OVF, we may not need OVF's anymore".

It made me think the EVF was revolutionary and almost like in OVF. It's good to be brought down to earth though so I'm not disappointed from unrealistic expectations later on.

So what I gather is that it's still the best EVF around but maybe not quite as revolutionary as what it was being made out to be.

Click to expand...

--
Rick Krejci
http://www.ricksastro.com

Sorry. In my previous post those words should read EVF and not eve.

I'm sure the refresh rate of the screen has a lot to do with the quality of the EVF. I think the lag inherent to EVFs is the first clue that you're not looking at an OVF.

I'd be surprised though if the nex-7 and a77 used different processors and different algorithms for the EVF. I'm more willing to bet that they are all the same but I suppose we'll know in a few weeks once people run more comparisons.

RicksAstro said:

I think it has more to do with the subsampling algorithms than the display potential, so higher level cameras may be better. I need to do direct comparisons during daylight. I would say it's overall more pleasant due to the better colors and better overall resolution.

Photohobbyfun said:

Thanks for the impressions, I've been waiting with baited breath to hear what people thought. I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed because a lot of people that got to try the A77 seemed to be taken back. They would say things like, "I hated EVF's but this is the first EVF I may be able to live with", and "I was almost fooled into thinking it was an OVF, we may not need OVF's anymore".

It made me think the EVF was revolutionary and almost like in OVF. It's good to be brought down to earth though so I'm not disappointed from unrealistic expectations later on.

So what I gather is that it's still the best EVF around but maybe not quite as revolutionary as what it was being made out to be.

Click to expand...

--
Rick Krejci
http://www.ricksastro.com

Click to expand...

Yes, magnified view at EVF will beat OVF with a regular focusing screen. Now thats been taken care of, looks like I have a reason to get one. Thanks for the reply.

RicksAstro said:

Yes it works the same as the LCD. With a manual lens you can zoom in and focus, complete with peaking...IMO easier than an OVF, particularly w fast lenses wide open where focusing screens mislead the dof.

Nikkorforever said:

Hi Rick,

I'm interested in the new EVF for manual focus. Is there any way to have magnified view in the finder? Thanks
--
Cheers, Reza

Click to expand...

--
Rick Krejci
http://www.ricksastro.com

Click to expand...

--
Cheers, Reza

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http://www.pbase.com/maurus_e/

Thanks for the impressions. I was hoping it would be a huge jump over the G3 and Olympus EVF, but I guess some improvement is not bad.

I loved the Olympus VF-2, but hated that it came off the camera too easily.

Looking forward to testing out the Sony combo soon