VF-4 vs EVF

Oleksak wrote:

What is the difference in FOV when using VF-4 on E-P5 comparing to EVF of E-M5 ?

Are there any advantages of one over another?

decided to add viewfinder due to vision becoming weaker - farsightedness, and wonder which option will be more convenient and useful? Your practical experience and suggestions are highly appreciated.

The field of view is the same, since both are EVFs; however, compared with the E-M5 EVF, the VF-4 is equivalent to the EVF of the E-M5 Mark II, E-M1 and E-M1 Mark II in that it is higher in resolution (2.36M dots versus 1.44M dots), higher in magnification and with a bigger, more generous eyepiece. The original E-M5 EVF is equivalent to the earlier VF-2, aside from incorporating automatic eye sensor switching (a feature incorporated in all the E-M range and also the VF-4 but not the earlier accessory EVFs). The earlier Olympus EVFs (accessory and built in) were very good in my opinion, with excellent eyepiece optics, and the later versions are an even better version in all the above respects, probably with slightly more generous eye relief (I must look up the figures for that...).

The VF-4 can be said to be more flexible in that it can be angled, and indeed removed if desired, compared with an OM-D camera's built-in EVF, but it is arguably more ungainly and uses up the hot shoe.  Later models of the OM-D cameras also have auto brightness options for the EVF which the VF-4 does not, the VF-4 doesn't offer the DSLR-like display mode option that the OM-D cameras have, which allows a smaller image with all the graphics below it, and even an optional appearance of the horizontal level gauge on half-press of the shutter release.