Shooting mirrorless - viewfinder/lcd switch?

I've never shot a ML camera underwater before, but I'll be using my Z9 next week there.

Testing in my house I found an issue.  The housing doesn't allow eye-detect to work, so either the viewfinder or the monitor is active, and I have to manually swap between them.

This is a clear disadvantage compared to my D850.  There, of course, the viewfinder always works without having to switch a lever to it, and the menu and playback are always on the back panel monitor.

Is it typical that ML cameras (like the Z9) require one to manually switch the display from the viewfinder to the monitor?  I'd like at least playback to default to the back panel, though I can see times where it would be handy to see it in the viewfinder.  It just takes extra time to constantly hit a monitor lever to swap displays.

Unlike a DSLR, you don't need to switch. You can equally well review shots in the viewfinder, without taking your eye off the camera, or compose through the LCD, without ever using the EVF, and not suffer any degradation in performance.

I guess I need to get used to doing things a different way here.   I would prefer the playback to be on the LCD monitor though, if only for the size, plus the convenience of not having to look through a 45 degree viewfinder while studying settings.

I might be in the minority but I tend to shoot with my LCD.  I have my camera set to sleep after 60sec to save battery.  I will capture a few images then review them with a push of a button on my LCD then proceed to capture more or move on if I'm happy.   I just got a 90dep viewfinder but I haven't tried it out yet.

You might be able to set a custom button to make the switch?

Dann-Oh wrote:

I might be in the minority but I tend to shoot with my LCD. I have my camera set to sleep after 60sec to save battery. I will capture a few images then review them with a push of a button on my LCD then proceed to capture more or move on if I'm happy. I just got a 90dep viewfinder but I haven't tried it out yet.

You might be able to set a custom button to make the switch?

There is already a dedicated lever.  No need to customize a button for it.  I just need to limit selection to viewfinder only and monitor only so I can toggle between them.

I've shot with a 180 degree viewfinder for 7 years, except in the few times I've done video.  I generally like it because pressing the viewfinder against my mask adds a 3rd point of contact that stabilizes the camera.   It's also very easy to take a landscape shot, then spin the camera 90 degrees and get a portrait shot.

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

Dann-Oh wrote:

I might be in the minority but I tend to shoot with my LCD. I have my camera set to sleep after 60sec to save battery. I will capture a few images then review them with a push of a button on my LCD then proceed to capture more or move on if I'm happy. I just got a 90dep viewfinder but I haven't tried it out yet.

You might be able to set a custom button to make the switch?

There is already a dedicated lever. No need to customize a button for it. I just need to limit selection to viewfinder only and monitor only so I can toggle between them.

I must have miss understood your original question/comment.

I guess I should specify what I want, or at least what would be acceptable.

Since the auto-detect feature doesn't work in a housing to switch between viewfinder and monitor, I think I have two choices (theoretically):

My 'requirement' is not having to push another button other than the playback button. I want the playback to be on the monitor. So...

1. Have an option to specifically direct playback to monitor, while leaving active viewing to the viewfinder, or

2. Duplicate everything on both monitor and viewfinder at the same time. Let me pick. Obviously a battery drain, but in my case a useful option.

Another option might be to somehow combine the function of the monitor or playback button so that using either switches to the monitor and then displays the image.

The whole point of this is that I want the bigger size of the monitor for playing back images, and I kind of like having them pop up there automatically, the way my DSLR's have done since the D70s.