Am I the only one who LIKES EVF?

to make everyone happy ; Nikon rumor has it coming out with a Hybrid view finder: OVF/EVF.

dont ask me how



http://nikonrumors.com/2013/10/23/n...e-retro-styled-nikon-fx-dslr-camera-d4h.aspx/

Any camera I own has to have an EVF. That's the biggest reason I prefer mirrorless cameras.

I like NOVF. I've used LCDs only since the early 2000s with a camcorder. I just hate staring into a little hole and waiting afterwards for my eyes to recover.

Personally, I don't really care. I use it as a framing tool only, that's it. I even have a VF-less cam, a GoPro Hero 2. But it has a fisheye lens, so that wouldn't be a big problem too.

You must not read this forum much as the EVF gets very strong support any time this subject comes up. I personally prefer my pentaprism OVF but I can see why some like the WYSIWUG quality of the EVF--of course more would like it if it was actually true in all cases though.

I moved over to Sony when the A850 came out, leaving Nikon behind. after 35 years.

I bought a Nex3 and sold it after 6 months, then bought an A55 last year and got along with the EVF, but could always tell I was shooting with an EVF, but it didn't really bother me.

Just about a month ago I bought an A77 and I'll admit that I never even realize I'm shooting through an EVF in most circumstances. Once in awhile in a very dark setting I'll notice, but when shooting outside I don't notice it all.

I've also notice that I shoot with the A77 much more often than the 850 anymore, so I'll easily adapt to what ever technology rolls out next.

Gary E

Rybro said:

Rybro wrote:

So I've not been shooting for a LONG time (two years) and started with Sony gear as I've been shooting video for about 7 years now and wanted something reliably with high quality video, at the time Sony was the only company providing this.
I fell in love with taking stills not long after, and knowing that my shot was perfectly framed, even knowing exactly how it would come out, was great. The EVF provided me (someone working on a new format and on new gear) an almost exact frame of reference for how the shot would turn out.
So it always confused me when I saw arguments against the EVF, the arguments (USUALLY) boiled down to "I'm used to compensating for my camera and lenses before i take the picture, so am confused at seeing what the shot will look like before I hit the shutter". The arguments I read seemed more to do with anti-sony sentiment than any real aversion to the technology beyond lack of familiarity.
I was just wondering what the rest of the community thought, if EVF was a big thing for you (positive/negative) and why you felt that way.
Much love,
Ry.

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I'm a huge EVF fan, thanks in part to Canon...

My first DSLR was a Nikon D40, which had excellent metering (set the exposure compensation to -0.3 and everything was perfect). After a few years I sold it and picked up a Canon T2i, which has a horrible evaluative meter. It was so bad I often shot in the painfully slow Live View mode - which metered differently and better. My OVF experience was so bad with Canon that I've sworn OVFs off completely. I've been using EVFs on my 2 cameras since my T2i and have found the benefits of: Live Histogram, Level, WB, Exposure, Color, & Framming Accuracy, far out weigh the OVF benefits for the type of things I shoot.

--

NHT
while ( ! ( succeed = try() ) );

Your not the only one.

To be fair, my experience has been with some pretty high end EVF cameras (A77 and A99) and some pretty low end or old OVF cameras (a33, old Nikon nikkormat).

Manual focusing always tired out my eyes before I found focus peaking. Trying to nail the focus at just the right spot use to consume me at times, now, I see peaking and if I really want to verify, I zoom in.

The WYSIWYG exposure is nice. Many like to poo-poo it as for amateurs, but I do understand very well how to use the metering, still sometimes I see something and get too excited to look at what I left my camera set for on that picture I took yesterday before I start clicking off images. With settings effects turned on, I'll immediately be reminded of the wild abstract things I was trying the day before with white balance, etc, before trying to take nice clean wildlife pictures when the rare buck comes through the yard.

And in low light, it becomes so intuitive to use that I'm sure 90% of my nightlife street photography would be 5x worse without it. When you see the EVF get grainy, you know the picture is going to be noisy, beyond my PP expertise kinda noisy. When the EVF starts getting laggy, I know my shutters going to be too slow, and that I really need to brace myself and if anything in the picture moves it's going to blur. I don't have to keep looking at the meter.

In daylight, shooting birds against the sky, I already understood the concept of compensating the exposure for the subject, but exactly how much was often a guessing game and would lead to shoot and test or bracketing. Now I do neither, and I'm rarely off, and can view the histogram in real time to check highlights if I am worried about them.

Most other daylight scenes where the camera's metering is going to work just fine and the AF is going to be reliable and accurate, the EVF really doesn't help or hinder in my experience. I do like the level with wide angle lenses, which I'm not very used to using and the level helps me avoid some of the crazy distortions I see others get.

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DBE said:

DBE wrote:

This is a bit tricky to explain, but the reduced contrast and dynamic range of the EVF display is a significant hindrance to landscape photographers who use the viewfinder as a device for framing and envisioning the final print. This is especially true in bright or "golden light" situations, where the naked eye can see fine tonal gradations in the scene, but the EVF shows only blacked out shadows and washed out highlights and colors.

When I began composing with the A77 I had to deliberately fight the initial reaction of "this will make a horrible print" and go with what I knew from the histogram would be a good exposure.

I am looking forward to testing the EVF of the new A7r, which is reported to have a better contrast range. If so, the 'shooting experience' will be much improved, at least for me.

-- Darrell

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These are good points, however you're talking specifically about framing for landscape... could you not use the high-resolution LCD instead? as that would solve your issues (and it's OLED) you could even get one of those lcd-viewfinder kits and get the best of both worlds.

I bring this up because buying an a99 for the full frame and OLED EVF is way out of my pricerange.

Interestingly, on the subject of blurring during panning:

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/g-sync/faq

They currently have this working retro-actively with existing screens, so it shouldn't be too long until we have this technology in all electronics and this argument is a thing of the past (a win for all involved)

EVF - unfortunately I wear glasses.

Nope! I love the wysiwyg aspect. Took some getting used to but can't see going back. N/C both habe patents for evf it is the future so adapt or don't but they will only get better. Hey imagine a 4 or 8k evf now that'd be something to see!

Thanks
Jordan

tomface said:

tomface wrote:

I use the Nex 7 and the Nikon D7000. I like both for different reasons/situations. For BIF or young kids or anything that moves in unexpected ways, the DSLR is my pick.

For car shows and flowers, things that don't move or move in predictable ways, I enjoy the Sony.

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Not true at all. For things that move in unpredictable ways (I shoot dance performances often), EVF cameras have the benefit of face detection. There is a live real time feed from the sensor to the processor which is then fed to the EVF. I've found it works remarkably well on the A9. Once you register the familiar face of your model (say your kid) its even better.

OVF DSLR cameras can never do that because the sensor does not activate until the shutter is released. Face detection may be implemented in Live View... but seriously... who shoots stills/video while holding it at arms length?! The OVF is a dinosaur relic - 19th century periscope technology.

Rybro said:

DBE said:

This is a bit tricky to explain, but the reduced contrast and dynamic range of the EVF display is a significant hindrance to landscape photographers who use the viewfinder as a device for framing and envisioning the final print. This is especially true in bright or "golden light" situations, where the naked eye can see fine tonal gradations in the scene, but the EVF shows only blacked out shadows and washed out highlights and colors.

When I began composing with the A77 I had to deliberately fight the initial reaction of "this will make a horrible print" and go with what I knew from the histogram would be a good exposure.

I am looking forward to testing the EVF of the new A7r, which is reported to have a better contrast range. If so, the 'shooting experience' will be much improved, at least for me.

-- Darrell

Click to expand...

These are good points, however you're talking specifically about framing for landscape... could you not use the high-resolution LCD instead? as that would solve your issues (and it's OLED) you could even get one of those lcd-viewfinder kits and get the best of both worlds.
I bring this up because buying an a99 for the full frame and OLED EVF is way out of my pricerange.

Click to expand...

Good point -- in many cases I do check the final composition on the LCD -- it is significantly better in terms of rendering a high-dynamic scene. But one of the big selling points of the A77 is the huge eye-level EVF, comparable to any current or older full-frame camera and hands-down better than any other APS design. I prefer eye-level composition through the viewfinder as it blocks out all other visual distractions.

This holds true even for other styles of photography -- I recently photographed a small-town parade in Warner, NH and even though the day was overcast, the viewfinder images were 'flat'. I got some great images, especially with the fast focus and high fps rate of the A77, but again the shooting experience was less than enjoyable ...

-- Darrell

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I love EVF anything that went before is a step backwards it can only get better.

It Makes manual focus so easy when I need to use it. Since I went sony from Canon i have never looked back now on my 3rd SLT....EVF just excells my expectation...

Preternatural Stuff said:

tomface said:

I use the Nex 7 and the Nikon D7000. I like both for different reasons/situations. For BIF or young kids or anything that moves in unexpected ways, the DSLR is my pick.

For car shows and flowers, things that don't move or move in predictable ways, I enjoy the Sony.

Click to expand...

Not true at all. For things that move in unpredictable ways (I shoot dance performances often), EVF cameras have the benefit of face detection. There is a live real time feed from the sensor to the processor which is then fed to the EVF. I've found it works remarkably well on the A9. Once you register the familiar face of your model (say your kid) its even better.

OVF DSLR cameras can never do that because the sensor does not activate until the shutter is released. Face detection may be implemented in Live View... but seriously... who shoots stills/video while holding it at arms length?! The OVF is a dinosaur relic - 19th century periscope technology.

Click to expand...

Bit of a necro-post but thought it was helpful to state that yes, face detection is available in DLSRs today (from Nikon) introduced in early 2016. And live view is not used. And as for optical view finders being dinosaurs, well, they seem to be alive and kicking 4 years since this thread and post. You're not very good at predictions huh?

BTW take a look at how flat-lined the mirrorless ILC sales have been over the past few years. EVFs are not for everyone.

This post is like walking down memory lane with Walt Knapp leading the charge for OVF. Scinence then they have gotten better and more popular. I hate shooting with my old A700 that still works, it was my favorite camera until I picked up an A77 and now A77ll. Rest in Peace Walt.

The EVF in the new Sony A9 is amazingly good and there is absolutely no more argument for not liking EVF ... hoping all future Sony cameras, including A-mount, will eventually have an EVF that good or better.

The OVF is now officially obsolete....