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Consumer cameras use CCD sensors, all the way up to 828, and all have LCD/EVF.
Americans (at least Minolta) also call true SLR cameras "SLR type." Look at the Maxxum 5, being advertised on KM Camera home page in USA: "Maxxum 5: an SLR-type camera."
They will. There's no point in making an SLR-like. This segment is very neatly covered by 7/A series.
True, and true.
True.
Not true. With optical viewfinder, you see the image that is projected on the matte screen. In the case of Minolta, this is a true matte image, not a mix of matte and ariel to give a bright image (this is achieved in a different way), but true matte image. But Minolta uses a 'microraster' acute spherical matte, which blows out bokeh, which you can't really see until you have the final picture.
Yes - black and white preview, IR preview, image highlight, possibility to see blown-out areas, histogram, precise exposure information.
And high end, like Minolta A1. Mind you, I wouldn't like a hybrid, but I can see advantages where there are ones.
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All Minoltas as well. In the latest line, I'm sure that EVERY body has accurate (not 100% FOV, though) framing. Dynax 9 has 100% accuracy, complete FOV coverage and absolutely no parallax errors.
What wasted pixels??? What are you talking about? You can always frame more tightly if you want to use them. Anyway, a picture does not look pleasing if your subject seems like it wants to jump out of the picture instead of staying on it.
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If there's absolutely no lag, though.
And with the Angle Finder VN, I can view from above, left or right, and when I click over to "2X", I actually see more detail instead of bigger pixels. For critical focusing w/macro & long tele stuff. The concept of having an EVF that can boost brightness for DOF at f/22 is nice, if only the EVF provided enough detail to actually determine what's in focus.
Well, not very complete ... not sure about accurate. Then you've got the old xi lenses that could actually zoom wide to show you more of the image to help with framing (like predicting when a subject would enter the frame) prior to shooting.
No big deal - something you get used to very quickly, same as with film. Heck, with half the shots I see posted, those extra pixels are useful for leveling the horizon after the fact
Agreed, at least for now. I can see the advantages of an EVF for some types of shooting, but for my primary SLR use (nature photography), where I typically shoot from a tripod in manual focus mode, I wouldn't use a DSLR that wasn't truly an SLR ... I wouldn't mind an interchangeable lens; larger sensor digicam (i.e. a DSLR but with an EVF) if it were $1000 or less, just for "casual" shooting (candids and the like).
Have you ever tried without AS? I think no-mirror-slap is an equally important feature.
I don't WANT to "get used to" an innacurate veiwfinder. Basically I am already used to Nikon F and Hasselblad which are accurate, as are the Sheet Film cameras I still use occasionally. Finding 'stuff' in the frame that I thought I was specifically keeping OUT really upsets me!!No big deal - something you get used to very quickly, same as with
film. Heck, with half the shots I see posted, those extra pixels
are useful for leveling the horizon after the fact
The quality of the viewfinder image -- and how good or bad the current EVFs are -- is very much a matter of what you are used to.
I am just imaging the possibilities:
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Could be your focusing screen. I just replaced the 40+ year old screen on my Rolleiflex TLR with a new screen from Bill Maxwell and the results are amazing !!!
Maybe not, but we're talking about DSLRs, not digital 4x5s, and current Minolta SLRs have some of the best optical viewfinders on the market. On photo.net, Mike Johnston raves about the viewfinder in the Maxxum 7. EVFs may be better than some systems, but they can't compete with recent film SLRs that we're talking about replacing with digital SLRs.
They're getting slowly better, and IMO, they suck for anything other than point & shoot use where you're relying on AF. Sorry, you can like them all you want ... I see the benefits, too. I enjoy using my digicam for certain things. But I can't even guess as to how long it will take before EVFs are good enough for me to consider using one in place of an SLR for nature & macro photography. I mentioned the Angle Finder VN & how useful it is to magnify the image (rather than magnifying pixels) ... the Minolta Angle Finder VN is an attractive enough accessory that while Kirk Enterprises doesn't make Arca-Swiss adapters for many Minolta cameras & lenses ("nobody uses Minolta") they do make adapters to allow other camera brands to use the Angle Finder VN.
