X-Series EVF challenges in Bright Light?

Mycenius · Jan 29, 2015

Hi All,

Has anyone had any noticeable issues using the EVF (I'm specifically thinking the X-E1 or X-E2 or models with comparable electronic only viewfinders) in bright light - last weekend I was out walking/hiking on a really hot, bright, sunny day and found the EVF very difficult to use - HOWEVER I would add the caveat that I did not make major adjustments to the brightness setting for it - so I assume that would have helped to a greater or lesser degree if I had wound it up a fair bit?

Essentially I found bright light (regardless of direction) resulted in the viewfinder losing all detail (e.g. too much shadow making it hard to verify focus/clarity/etc of subject).

Is this a common challenge with the EVF and is ramping up brightness setting the only solution? How have other people dealt with it?

TIA.

Tommy TJ · Jan 29, 2015

It's one of those "EVF downsides" I see the problem on the X-E1 and Sony SLT models I have though the Fuji will tend to blow the highlights, and the Sony hold them quite well but at the expense of the shadows (newest models are somewhat better)

Worst case scenario for me is taking strongly backlit shots with fill flash it's just difficult to see, the workaround is to use the rear LCD and just maintain eye contact away from the camera ie expressions etc it's important to see that, that's how I dealt with it. For DR and harsh lighting really no EVF can match an OVF, though both have good and bad points.

shigzeo · Jan 29, 2015

Mycenius said:
Hi All,

Has anyone had any noticeable issues using the EVF (I'm specifically thinking the X-E1 or X-E2 or models with comparable electronic only viewfinders) in bright light - last weekend I was out walking/hiking on a really hot, bright, sunny day and found the EVF very difficult to use - HOWEVER I would add the caveat that I did not make major adjustments to the brightness setting for it - so I assume that would have helped to a greater or lesser degree if I had wound it up a fair bit?

Essentially I found bright light (regardless of direction) resulted in the viewfinder losing all detail (e.g. too much shadow making it hard to verify focus/clarity/etc of subject).

Is this a common challenge with the EVF and is ramping up brightness setting the only solution? How have other people dealt with it?

TIA.

afedorov · Jan 29, 2015

I have struggled with the same thing on EX1. I never found the solution as there was no extended eye cup. The problem is generally caused by very bright light "leaking" into the eye from the sides and overpowering EVF. On x-T1 with optional extended eyecup its mostly not a problem. but X-t1s EVF is much, much better then the EX1

pluton · Jan 30, 2015

Mycenius said:
Hi All,

Has anyone had any noticeable issues using the EVF (I'm specifically thinking the X-E1 or X-E2 or models with comparable electronic only viewfinders) in bright light - last weekend I was out walking/hiking on a really hot, bright, sunny day and found the EVF very difficult to use - HOWEVER I would add the caveat that I did not make major adjustments to the brightness setting for it - so I assume that would have helped to a greater or lesser degree if I had wound it up a fair bit?

There are no major adjustments to the EVF...It's just not bright enough, period.

Mycenius said:
Essentially I found bright light (regardless of direction) resulted in the viewfinder losing all detail (e.g. too much shadow making it hard to verify focus/clarity/etc of subject).

I, too, experienced this with a dark lit subject against a brighter background. A serious flaw for which there should be a solution that doesn't require wading into menus. Is Sony or Olympus any better?

Mycenius said:
Is this a common challenge with the EVF and is ramping up brightness setting the only solution? How have other people dealt with it?

Keep an OVF-equipped DSLR handy.

Mycenius said:
TIA.

MayaTlab0 · Jan 30, 2015

Mycenius said:
Hi All,

Has anyone had any noticeable issues using the EVF (I'm specifically thinking the X-E1 or X-E2 or models with comparable electronic only viewfinders) in bright light - last weekend I was out walking/hiking on a really hot, bright, sunny day and found the EVF very difficult to use - HOWEVER I would add the caveat that I did not make major adjustments to the brightness setting for it - so I assume that would have helped to a greater or lesser degree if I had wound it up a fair bit?

Essentially I found bright light (regardless of direction) resulted in the viewfinder losing all detail (e.g. too much shadow making it hard to verify focus/clarity/etc of subject).

Is this a common challenge with the EVF and is ramping up brightness setting the only solution? How have other people dealt with it?

Two things at play here :

1) the EVF backlighting luminance. If it's too low, your eyes, which will have accommodated to the bright environment, will make the EVF appear very dark. The solution is to raise the backlighting luminance, and on the X-Ex series it's done by pressing the Q menu while looking through the EVF.

Obviously that's an entirely stupid design decision from Fuji for many reasons. First, the really smart way to do EVF backlighting luminance is the automatically adjust it according to the brightness of the scene This way your eye doesn't have to accommodate when going from the scene to the EVF. Second, this is exactly what Fuji's been doing with the X100's OVF frame lines since launch... but for some reason they didn't apply the automatic adjustment to the EVF itself. Rejoice though, the X100t finally has it ! Expect it on all future Fuji cameras at least.

I believe that's the main reason for your concern given what you wrote.

2) The EVF's handling of a scene's dynamic range. That's trickier. On one hand it can be nice to see what the final jpeg will look like, but this is less useful for raw shooters for example. The X100t's EVF now has a "natural view" mode that tries to mimic the behaviour of an OVF, and I believe now shows the effect of DR adjustments. On the X-E1 / E2 you can raise the shadow curve to help a bit.

nixda · Jan 30, 2015

Mycenius said:
Hi All,

Has anyone had any noticeable issues using the EVF (I'm specifically thinking the X-E1 or X-E2 or models with comparable electronic only viewfinders) in bright light - last weekend I was out walking/hiking on a really hot, bright, sunny day and found the EVF very difficult to use - HOWEVER I would add the caveat that I did not make major adjustments to the brightness setting for it - so I assume that would have helped to a greater or lesser degree if I had wound it up a fair bit?

Essentially I found bright light (regardless of direction) resulted in the viewfinder losing all detail (e.g. too much shadow making it hard to verify focus/clarity/etc of subject).

Is this a common challenge with the EVF and is ramping up brightness setting the only solution? How have other people dealt with it?

It's one of those things one has to put up with when there are imperfect implementations of modern technology, whatever the reason may be. But really, the fundamental problem has been around since viewfinders, oculars, etc., electronic or optical, on any kind of optical device ever existed.

You have to shield the EVF and block incoming light. Either use one hand around or above your eye, wherever the light is coming from, or - better yet - wear a hat, like Ansel Adams ;-) That way you can also avoid wearing sunglasses as they interfere with vision and color perception, if that is important to you.

MMS · Jan 30, 2015

I have experienced it with both X-E1 and E2, BUT the X-T1's EVF is just amazing.

Mycenius · Jan 30, 2015

Thanks for the responses - I think MayaTlab0's comment #1 is the key - FTR I do not wear glasses, I always remove my 'sun glasses' when shooting, I almost always wear a hat or cap (on the day in question I had a baseball style cap on), and generally get my eye pretty close to the EVF/rangefinder...

Next bright day I'll focus on getting my eye hard up against the camera's EVF - and utilising the Q button option to boost the back lighting - if that's not sufficient I'll resort to the bigger hat (I have a couple of good Tilley's for just such an occasion)!

I'm presuming the enhancements in the X-T1 and X100T with the back lighting aren't software based but ar ephysically improvements to the EVF itself - so can't easily be retrospectively applied to the X-E2 (or X-E1) via Firmware updates? Anyone know?

MayaTlab0 · Jan 30, 2015

Mycenius said:
I'm presuming the enhancements in the X-T1 and X100T with the back lighting aren't software based but ar ephysically improvements to the EVF itself - so can't easily be retrospectively applied to the X-E2 (or X-E1) via Firmware updates? Anyone know ?

The X100's OVF frame lines are displayed using the EVF screen, and their brightness automatically adjust according to the scene's light, so I actually think it's entirely software related and the algorithm has already been in place in Fuji X cameras since the very first of the line. Why Fuji didn't think it would make sense to allow users to apply the algorithm to the EVF as well is anyone's guess, but fact of the matter is that it took the Olympus EM1 to make Fuji realise the issue.

Search

X-Series EVF challenges in Bright Light?

Mycenius

Active member

Tommy TJ

Forum Enthusiast

shigzeo

Senior Member

afedorov

Member

pluton

Senior Member

MayaTlab0

Senior Member

nixda

Veteran Member

MMS

Active member

Mycenius

Active member

MayaTlab0

Senior Member

Keyboard shortcuts