Not an optical viewfinder in X20?

I was somewhat surprised today when they told me in the photo shop that the viewfinder is not an optical one. They said that if you have no power, you don't have an optical viewfinder. It gets dark.
But the call it optical viewfinder. Can anyone please explain?

It is related to the information display unit - in the X20 info is displayed in a layer in the viewfinder, without power this layer is not fully translucent.

Best regards ... jef

The shop was wrong.

It is an Optical Viewfinder in the X20; you can look through it when there's no battery in the camera, etc, but 'yes', the 'heads up' display does darken the view a little.

I have an x20. The optical view finder does not produce an image thru the lens. It operates like 35mm film cameras. However it is coupled to the zoom. Your view will sync with changes in zoom same as the electronic view finder on the back of the camera. There is an electronic overlay that shows shooting data in the optical view finder when the camera is turned on- shutter speed, f-stop, and mode. Also OK focus indicator that turns green when subject is in focus. You will not see brightness changes when shutter or f-stop is changed. I really like the view finder. It really helps when the sun washes out the electronic view finder.

JohnXLondon said:

JohnXLondon wrote:

The shop was wrong.

It is an Optical Viewfinder in the X20; you can look through it when there's no battery in the camera, etc, but 'yes', the 'heads up' display does darken the view a little.

Click to expand...

Only if the battery is completely flat or not present, in which case the LCD panel is not completely transparent or clear. The camera would be pretty useless in that condition, anyway.

Bill Donnell said:

Bill Donnell wrote:

I really like the view finder. It really helps when the sun washes out the electronic view finder.

Click to expand...

It's excellent, really.

Even the one in the X10 was much more useful to me than not, especially in bright sunlight.