NX100 EVF10 Viewfinder Impressions
Feb 23, 2012
After reading a few impressions scrounging the threads, I decided to buy the EVF for the NX100. Other people might be interested in this evf, I wanted to share my experiences using it. I have no prior EVF experience, I have only used SLR viewfinders so that is my only basis for comparisons. I got it for 125 USD with free shipping from Korean ebay seller. It sells for 200 at Adorama or B&H, this is where I would go if you want to return the item if you are not happy.
There are several good and bad points to it in my opinion.
The EVF is well made and is very secure once mounted to the flash mount, although because you are talking about trying to slot in a delicate smart port connection, you will never ever hot swap this thing in and out.
The Diopter works quite well, although because it protrudes just slightly past the body and takes very little pressure to turn, you can change your diopter when you slip it into a camera bag if you aren't careful. The eye cup for me is a little too close to the body of the camera, and the magnifier at the eye cup black outs the edge. . If you do not wear glasses, this will be less of an issue. Fortunately the ergonomics of the camera means that if you use your right eye, your nose should be past the edge of the camera. I unfortunately am left eye dominant, and generally use my left eye to look through a eyepiece. This means that I have to cram the EVF to my glasses to see the edges of the frame. While I can use my right eye, my habit is to use my left and so I have to relearn.
The EVF does not automatically turn on, but has a switch to the side. If the EVF is on, the main screen is not. Working the camera is exactly the same, the screen is a copy of the main screen but that also means you must use the EVF screen for everything unless you turn the EVF off. You do not have to fiddle around in settings when attaching the EVF, what it also means is that reviewing your images your images on the main screens means either clicking on and off the viewfinder power, or turning the camera off. If the camera goes to sleep, the evf must be manually turned on again. Clicking on the EVF power button will wake the camera from sleep but not turn on the power.
The resolution is 320X240 QVGA. The view is quite bright. The camera remembers your setting for the EVF and keeps it separate from the main screen. You can adjust brightness +2 and -2. The contrast of the screen while not bad is not the same as the main display. Thanks to the extra sampling for each pixel due to downsizing of the image, the gain noise on the display in low light is actually quite good. The main screen of the nx100 has a lot of gain noise when in very dark conditions or stopped down; the EVF thanks to its supersampling is much better in low light conditions. Using a stopped down manual lens as an example, you can use it stopped down to f11 and there will be very little noise in the image, while the main screen red noise will be prevalent even at f4.
The screen resolution is both a blessing and a curse if you manually focus lenses. The lower contrast plus low resolution means that unless you have a very large contrasty area, you will be better off using the main screen for focus. If you use a moire technique of looking for aliasing and moire to figure out when a image in focus, then the low resolution actually enhances moire and aliasing. I will have to try to again use the contrast bar but I can see using that combined with watching the aliasing to view focus. Clicking on OK will give you 2X multiplication, although its difficult to hit that button while your face is crammed against the screen. Since its an EVF, you of course are getting an exactly view of what is through the sensor. There is a aspect ratio crop factor, the EVF is QVGA which is a 4:3 while the Samsung Sensor of course is a APS-C 3:2.
Now after this long winded explanation, I can say that I am excited about the idea of an EVF, but not as happy with the technology. This is NOT Samsung fault, micro displays are in their infancy, and EVFs are very new technology. This is also compounded by the fact that the NX100 has a older sensor and an older EVF. If EVFs become more common and the technology improves, several of the problems will go away. A lower noise sensor not only means a lower image noise but also less noise in the EVF. Lower noise EVFs means we can have higher resolutions and even better low light performance. Finally their price will go down and we will have EVFs in every mirrorless camera. I am pretty sure the reason why NX100 and even the K-01 does not have a EVF is because of the cost and the fact that the technology is not mature. I think it was conscious decision for Samsung and Pentax to skip the EVF technology this time around. Am I happy I bought the EVF10? Yes, for autofocus composition and bright daytime manual focusing, the EVF is extremely useful. I found even with the small screen in bright contrastly situations, I could focus well manually using the magnification function. Should you buy it? Yes if you understand what you are getting into. If you are new to EVFs then I would recommend using Adorama or B&H and you can return it if you are not happy.
