Avoiding EVF frame blackout

[mike in london]

I have been a Nikon Pro for 40 years and want to get rid of my multitude of heavy bodies and lenses and get just one decent light weight mirrorless setup

I still shoot available light portraits and sports professionally occasionally and I tried a friends A7RV but was surprised at the EVF blackout during high speed tracking/shooting meaning I’d miss the shot now and then

my research seems to point to the technology in that camera and it being unavoidable. Is that correct? It seems you can avoid it using a camera with a stacked sensor like the A9 or A1 is that also correct? Sorry I’m new to all this technology!

My light weight set up to cover 24-200 was going to be a 24-50 f2.8 and a 70-200 f4 which would be significantly lighter than the Nikon Z8 equivalents

does this sound like a good lightweight set up pairing with an A9 or A1?

 

[Interceptor121]

If you shoot with mechanical shutter you will see a blackout

the only way to have none is to have a camera shooting with electronic shutter and be fast enough to provide a dual stream to the EVF in the processing

Currently Sony, Nikon, Panasonic, Canon offer models with no blackout the A&R V is not one of those

All No-Blackout Viewfinder Cameras in 2025

Filter and sort all No-Blackout Viewfinder cameras.

cameradecision.com

Not completely up to date but you can see they are all stacked

Panasonic recent S1R II has no blackout but is not stacked which confirms as long as you have ES and have enough bandwidth to feed the EVF indepedently you can achieve no black out EVF

 

[jhunna]

If you shoot with mechanical shutter you will see a blackout

This isn't completely accurate. If he slows the shooting rate down to Hi, instead of Hi+ he can get blackout free shooting. If he has a requirement for Hi+ then yes, he will get the blackouts.

And by no blackouts, I don't mean he won't see the shutter, but that the camera can keep up with his shooting well enough that he will not miss seeing what the camera is seeing.

the only way to have none is to have a camera shooting with electronic shutter and be fast enough to provide a dual stream to the EVF in the processing

This may work too, but see above.

Currently Sony, Nikon, Panasonic, Canon offer models with no blackout the A&R V is not one of those

https://cameradecision.com/top-cameras-with-No-Blackout-Viewfinder

Not completely up to date but you can see they are all stacked

Panasonic recent S1R II has no blackout but is not stacked which confirms as long as you have ES and have enough bandwidth to feed the EVF indepedently you can achieve no black out EVF

This is good to know and thanks for the list...

 

[Interceptor121]

If you shoot with mechanical shutter you will see a blackout

This isn't completely accurate. If he slows the shooting rate down to Hi, instead of Hi+ he can get blackout free shooting. If he has a requirement for Hi+ then yes, he will get the blackouts.

And by no blackouts, I don't mean he won't see the shutter, but that the camera can keep up with his shooting well enough that he will not miss seeing what the camera is seeing.

the only way to have none is to have a camera shooting with electronic shutter and be fast enough to provide a dual stream to the EVF in the processing

This may work too, but see above.

Currently Sony, Nikon, Panasonic, Canon offer models with no blackout the A&R V is not one of those

https://cameradecision.com/top-cameras-with-No-Blackout-Viewfinder

Not completely up to date but you can see they are all stacked

Panasonic recent S1R II has no blackout but is not stacked which confirms as long as you have ES and have enough bandwidth to feed the EVF indepedently you can achieve no black out EVF

This is good to know and thanks for the list...

When you have EFCS or mechanical shutter you will have a blackout I don't believe the chart is accurate and the reasom is that the shutter goes down unless the camera manages to skip that frame somehow you will see it no matter what

 

[jhunna]

I have been a Nikon Pro for 40 years and want to get rid of my multitude of heavy bodies and lenses and get just one decent light weight mirrorless setup

Assuming you had mechanical shutter, and you are ok with seeing the shutter during your shooting. You just don't want to miss seeing what the camera is capturing correct?

I still shoot available light portraits and sports professionally occasionally and I tried a friends A7RV but was surprised at the EVF blackout during high speed tracking/shooting meaning I’d miss the shot now and then

The latest 7R sensor isn't really meant for sports, although I have used it for collegiate sports both indoors and out, and have captured some good shots. I used a few tricks to increase my hit rate:

1. Shoot in Hi, not Hi+ when shooting in FF mode. The evf/screen does not blackout when shooting this way, so you will see every shot the camera captures.

2. Shoot in apsc mode. You get a longer time before the buffer is full.

3. Shoot in compressed raw, not lossless compressed or uncompressed.

my research seems to point to the technology in that camera and it being unavoidable. Is that correct? It seems you can avoid it using a camera with a stacked sensor like the A9 or A1 is that also correct? Sorry I’m new to all this technology!

Unavoidable is relative. You can do quite a few things to get shots of a game if you are willing to accept some compromises. (I am an amateur, so I don't need perfect shots). But I have pulled great action shots from 4k60p video, and that's no blackout, 60fps. You are left with 8MP jpegs as your output, but even that file can be worked in post if needed. (obviously not up to raw standards).

My light weight set up to cover 24-200 was going to be a 24-50 f2.8 and a 70-200 f4 which would be significantly lighter than the Nikon Z8 equivalents

That's a solid pairing, but I think I would go with the 2070G over the 2450G. Again a few reasons.

1. They share the same filter size.

2. You will get a lot more shots with the range. I love taking an establishing shot of the venue which is easier to get with the 20mm.

3. If you shoot apsc with the 7R sensor, you can get 26MP photos at 105mm, which matchs up well if you need to use the 1.4TCL on the 70200/f4 (assuming you mean the latest 70200/4).

does this sound like a good lightweight set up pairing with an A9 or A1?

It does with the above caveats. Also if you aren't shooting video and don't need high MP, go with the a9. It will give you everything you described here without my workarounds.

 

[QuietOC]

If you shoot with mechanical shutter you will see a blackout

This isn't completely accurate. If he slows the shooting rate down to Hi, instead of Hi+ he can get blackout free shooting. If he has a requirement for Hi+ then yes, he will get the blackouts.

And by no blackouts, I don't mean he won't see the shutter, but that the camera can keep up with his shooting well enough that he will not miss seeing what the camera is seeing.

At Hi+ there are no blackouts because the camera just shows a stream of the previously taken images. Below Hi+ there is a live-view with blackouts.

 

[jhunna]

If you shoot with mechanical shutter you will see a blackout

This isn't completely accurate. If he slows the shooting rate down to Hi, instead of Hi+ he can get blackout free shooting. If he has a requirement for Hi+ then yes, he will get the blackouts.

And by no blackouts, I don't mean he won't see the shutter, but that the camera can keep up with his shooting well enough that he will not miss seeing what the camera is seeing.

At Hi+ there are no blackouts because the camera just shows a stream of the previously taken images. Below Hi+ there is a live-view with blackouts.

Depends on how you define blackouts.

I could be wrong, but since the OP has shot for 40 years, I assumed he knew the screen would blackout because of the shutter. Since the OP mentioned missing shots, I defined it as not seeing what the camera is capturing in real time. That's what HI+ does, sure the screen may have a picture, but it isn't always the live shot.

Conversely, shooting with a shutter will always produce a blackout, but you will always see what the sensor is recording when using Hi or slower frame rates.

 

[Interceptor121]

If you shoot with mechanical shutter you will see a blackout

This isn't completely accurate. If he slows the shooting rate down to Hi, instead of Hi+ he can get blackout free shooting. If he has a requirement for Hi+ then yes, he will get the blackouts.

And by no blackouts, I don't mean he won't see the shutter, but that the camera can keep up with his shooting well enough that he will not miss seeing what the camera is seeing.

At Hi+ there are no blackouts because the camera just shows a stream of the previously taken images. Below Hi+ there is a live-view with blackouts.

An electronic EVF is always lagging at least one frame from reality there is no such a thing as live view that is really live that only exists with an optical viewfinder

That said if you use the mechanical or efcs shutter you will have a blackout no matter what

this is why all cameras that have no blackout have stacked sensor that have fast readout and the nikon cameras dont even have a shutter box

In order to provide a blackout free you need to have the EVF not to black out when frames are read and a sufficient readout rate to continue feeding the evf on a separate data stream

In particular the sensor needs to have a technology comparable to SLVS-EC with sufficient speed and bandwidth to provide the blackout free

https://www.sony-semicon.com/en/technology/is/slvsec.html

The sensor of the A7R V reads at 9 fps so it is unsuitable to blackout free because the evf runs at 60 fps minimum

the cameras that have a stacked sensor all read faster and therefore support it and then the other two sensor one for MFT and one for full frame can read 60fps at 12 bits

Those are the IMX 272 which was used in the previous generation of MFT camera (Panasonic GH5 Olympus EM1-MK II and III)

And the IMX366 used in the Panasonic S1R II which however cant support 60 fps at 12 bits but only 47 fps so it will slow down to 30 fps which is not amazing but still useful

All the other non stacked sensors that we know of cant provide a blackout free and as you can see the panasonic S1R II has significant limitations as 30 fps is slow for burst shooting if your subject is moving fast and there will be rolling shutter well explained by Petapixel review of said camera

Hi+ is electronic shutter only with no blackout and therefore will work with the limitation above of low frame rate in the s1rII obviously sony cameras wont do that

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[UncleVanya]

I have been a Nikon Pro for 40 years and want to get rid of my multitude of heavy bodies and lenses and get just one decent light weight mirrorless setup

Certainly possible within specific performance envelopes.

I still shoot available light portraits and sports professionally occasionally and I tried a friends A7RV but was surprised at the EVF blackout during high speed tracking/shooting meaning I’d miss the shot now and then

Looking at your current gear - nothing you have is able to shoot at > 9fps, and most of the time it would be more like 7fps. You should be able to accomplish that with the A7RV without any greater blackout than what you have on your DSLR's from the mirror/shutter. You can't get fully blackout free without going with something like the a9 or A1 series - the sensors are designed differently. The a1 was very expensive on initial release due to the very high resolution (for a camera that can shoot essentially using electronic shutter constantly). Since the initial release there are now 45mp cameras that are similar in capabilities. The a7R V sensor at 61mp has been made without these enhancements and this keeps the cost down. (Hard to believe that a camera this expensive has cost savings but look at the cost of an A1mkII or the A1 when introduced).

https://www.alphashooters.com/sony-a7rv-fps/ Try Hi (not Hi+) You may have to tinker with the file format to get what you want. I would also advise if you need these speeds to look at CFExpress A cards.

my research seems to point to the technology in that camera and it being unavoidable. Is that correct? It seems you can avoid it using a camera with a stacked sensor like the A9 or A1 is that also correct? Sorry I’m new to all this technology!

Yes. There are also Nikon Z's that will do this also.

My light weight set up to cover 24-200 was going to be a 24-50 f2.8 and a 70-200 f4 which would be significantly lighter than the Nikon Z8 equivalents

Other options:

Tamron 28-200 + Samyang or Tamron 24mm. The Samyang 24/1.8 is particularly nice.

Tamron 28-200 + Tamron 17-28

Sony 24-105 + Tamron 70-300 RXD or 50-300 VXD

Sony 20-70 + Sony 70-200/4 G II

Loads of options.

I personally own the 20-70/4 and 70-200/4 G II Macro

I also own the 24-105/4 and the 70-300 Tamron RXD

Many ways to skin this cat so to speak.

does this sound like a good lightweight set up pairing with an A9 or A1?

 

[UncleVanya]

If you are really wanting to drop the size and weight - look at the OM-1 also. The equivalence f stops will be an issue if you want shallow dof - but if you really want that blackout free with tons of reach and a light package - m43 will give it. My dad is 85+ and he uses OM-1 after leaving Sony FF.

 

[Interceptor121]

I have been a Nikon Pro for 40 years and want to get rid of my multitude of heavy bodies and lenses and get just one decent light weight mirrorless setup

Certainly possible within specific performance envelopes.

I still shoot available light portraits and sports professionally occasionally and I tried a friends A7RV but was surprised at the EVF blackout during high speed tracking/shooting meaning I’d miss the shot now and then

Looking at your current gear - nothing you have is able to shoot at > 9fps, and most of the time it would be more like 7fps. You should be able to accomplish that with the A7RV without any greater blackout than what you have on your DSLR's from the mirror/shutter.

wrong a dslr will blackout only during shutter open close around 5ms with the a camera reading at 9fps this will be 111ms of hold that’s why people that shoot wildlife have been hanging on to dslr for a while if you have not shot one you dont know

You can't get fully blackout free without going with something like the a9 or A1 series - the sensors are designed differently. The a1 was very expensive on initial release due to the very high resolution (for a camera that can shoot essentially using electronic shutter constantly). Since the initial release there are now 45mp cameras that are similar in capabilities. The a7R V sensor at 61mp has been made without these enhancements and this keeps the cost down. (Hard to believe that a camera this expensive has cost savings but look at the cost of an A1mkII or the A1 when introduced).

https://www.alphashooters.com/sony-a7rv-fps/ Try Hi (not Hi+) You may have to tinker with the file format to get what you want. I would also advise if you need these speeds to look at CFExpress A cards.

my research seems to point to the technology in that camera and it being unavoidable. Is that correct? It seems you can avoid it using a camera with a stacked sensor like the A9 or A1 is that also correct? Sorry I’m new to all this technology!

Yes. There are also Nikon Z's that will do this also.

My light weight set up to cover 24-200 was going to be a 24-50 f2.8 and a 70-200 f4 which would be significantly lighter than the Nikon Z8 equivalents

Other options:

Tamron 28-200 + Samyang or Tamron 24mm. The Samyang 24/1.8 is particularly nice.

Tamron 28-200 + Tamron 17-28

Sony 24-105 + Tamron 70-300 RXD or 50-300 VXD

Sony 20-70 + Sony 70-200/4 G II

Loads of options.

I personally own the 20-70/4 and 70-200/4 G II Macro

I also own the 24-105/4 and the 70-300 Tamron RXD

Many ways to skin this cat so to speak.

does this sound like a good lightweight set up pairing with an A9 or A1?

 

[moficera]

If you shoot with mechanical shutter you will see a blackout

This isn't completely accurate. If he slows the shooting rate down to Hi, instead of Hi+ he can get blackout free shooting. If he has a requirement for Hi+ then yes, he will get the blackouts.

And by no blackouts, I don't mean he won't see the shutter, but that the camera can keep up with his shooting well enough that he will not miss seeing what the camera is seeing.

At Hi+ there are no blackouts because the camera just shows a stream of the previously taken images. Below Hi+ there is a live-view with blackouts.

Depends on how you define blackouts.

I could be wrong, but since the OP has shot for 40 years, I assumed he knew the screen would blackout because of the shutter. Since the OP mentioned missing shots, I defined it as not seeing what the camera is capturing in real time. That's what HI+ does, sure the screen may have a picture, but it isn't always the live shot.

Conversely, shooting with a shutter will always produce a blackout, but you will always see what the sensor is recording when using Hi or slower frame rates.

Did you ever shootaction with a stacked and a nonstacked camera? This difference alone (less viewfinder lag due to faster sensor) makes a difference in framing (and missing a shot or not).

 

[jhunna]

If you shoot with mechanical shutter you will see a blackout

This isn't completely accurate. If he slows the shooting rate down to Hi, instead of Hi+ he can get blackout free shooting. If he has a requirement for Hi+ then yes, he will get the blackouts.

And by no blackouts, I don't mean he won't see the shutter, but that the camera can keep up with his shooting well enough that he will not miss seeing what the camera is seeing.

At Hi+ there are no blackouts because the camera just shows a stream of the previously taken images. Below Hi+ there is a live-view with blackouts.

Depends on how you define blackouts.

I could be wrong, but since the OP has shot for 40 years, I assumed he knew the screen would blackout because of the shutter. Since the OP mentioned missing shots, I defined it as not seeing what the camera is capturing in real time. That's what HI+ does, sure the screen may have a picture, but it isn't always the live shot.

Conversely, shooting with a shutter will always produce a blackout, but you will always see what the sensor is recording when using Hi or slower frame rates.

Did you ever shootaction with a stacked and a nonstacked camera? This difference alone (less viewfinder lag due to faster sensor) makes a difference in framing (and missing a shot or not).

I have only shot action on non stacked sensor at the fastest 11fps. I didn't miss any shots, and I didn't want to cull through that many pictures. I know my sports well enough to know when to press the button to capture the moment.

I also trust my camera enough to catch focus, so even if I don't have the perfect framing what I need to capture will be in focus, even if I need to clean up the framing.

In short, even at HI+ WITH BLACKOUTS I get my shots. I can only imagine what people did with manual advance, manual focus slr's before all of this black out issues...

All of that said, I can imagine once you get used to using a stacked sensor it would be hard to go back, but I am just getting used to 11fps... so I am good.

 

[UncleVanya]

I have been a Nikon Pro for 40 years and want to get rid of my multitude of heavy bodies and lenses and get just one decent light weight mirrorless setup

Certainly possible within specific performance envelopes.

I still shoot available light portraits and sports professionally occasionally and I tried a friends A7RV but was surprised at the EVF blackout during high speed tracking/shooting meaning I’d miss the shot now and then

Looking at your current gear - nothing you have is able to shoot at > 9fps, and most of the time it would be more like 7fps. You should be able to accomplish that with the A7RV without any greater blackout than what you have on your DSLR's from the mirror/shutter.

wrong a dslr will blackout only during shutter open close around 5ms with the a camera reading at 9fps this will be 111ms of hold that’s why people that shoot wildlife have been hanging on to dslr for a while if you have not shot one you dont know

I have certainly shot both DSLR and Mirrorless. I have also shot birds, running dogs, and people. But I haven't often used high frame rates frequently. So saying "I don't know" is a bit presumptive. Also if the lag you mention is still updating then it is not blackout in the sense that I don't see the frame totally freeze up or stop displaying - it may be lagging - which the optical viewfinder certainly won't do on the DSLR. But blackout and lag are not the same.

The highest frame rate mirrorless action shooting I have done was with my a6600. I shot some little league last year. The camera on 8fps seemed a little laggy in the viewfinder and so I shot at the next rate down or only in short bursts where I was pretty sure the action was. Tracking complicated movements wasn't required - the action is very predictable.

My a7Riii had a lot more difficulty. My a7RV is new to me. From other discussions and many online wildlife shooters it is clear that people are taking excellent images in sports and wildlife with this camera. My assumption is that they either are good at prediction of where the action is going; or they are using slower frame rates. Given the ability to heavily crop the 61mp, the accuracy of placement within the frame is less important than the ability of the tracking to keep the image subject in focus which appears to be quite good even in action.

 

[UncleVanya]

I have only shot action on non stacked sensor at the fastest 11fps. I didn't miss any shots, and I didn't want to cull through that many pictures. I know my sports well enough to know when to press the button to capture the moment.
I also trust my camera enough to catch focus, so even if I don't have the perfect framing what I need to capture will be in focus, even if I need to clean up the framing.
In short, even at HI+ WITH BLACKOUTS I get my shots. I can only imagine what people did with manual advance, manual focus slr's before all of this black out issues...
All of that said, I can imagine once you get used to using a stacked sensor it would be hard to go back, but I am just getting used to 11fps... so I am good.

Like this guy:

My First 3 Months with the Sony A7R 5 | Matt Kloskowski

mattk.com

 

[Interceptor121]

I have been a Nikon Pro for 40 years and want to get rid of my multitude of heavy bodies and lenses and get just one decent light weight mirrorless setup

Certainly possible within specific performance envelopes.

I still shoot available light portraits and sports professionally occasionally and I tried a friends A7RV but was surprised at the EVF blackout during high speed tracking/shooting meaning I’d miss the shot now and then

Looking at your current gear - nothing you have is able to shoot at > 9fps, and most of the time it would be more like 7fps. You should be able to accomplish that with the A7RV without any greater blackout than what you have on your DSLR's from the mirror/shutter.

wrong a dslr will blackout only during shutter open close around 5ms with the a camera reading at 9fps this will be 111ms of hold that’s why people that shoot wildlife have been hanging on to dslr for a while if you have not shot one you dont know

I have certainly shot both DSLR and Mirrorless. I have also shot birds, running dogs, and people. But I haven't often used high frame rates frequently. So saying "I don't know" is a bit presumptive. Also if the lag you mention is still updating then it is not blackout in the sense that I don't see the frame totally freeze up or stop displaying - it may be lagging - which the optical viewfinder certainly won't do on the DSLR. But blackout and lag are not the same.

The highest frame rate mirrorless action shooting I have done was with my a6600. I shot some little league last year. The camera on 8fps seemed a little laggy in the viewfinder and so I shot at the next rate down or only in short bursts where I was pretty sure the action was. Tracking complicated movements wasn't required - the action is very predictable.

My a7Riii had a lot more difficulty. My a7RV is new to me. From other discussions and many online wildlife shooters it is clear that people are taking excellent images in sports and wildlife with this camera. My assumption is that they either are good at prediction of where the action is going; or they are using slower frame rates. Given the ability to heavily crop the 61mp, the accuracy of placement within the frame is less important than the ability of the tracking to keep the image subject in focus which appears to be quite good even in action.

This is not about taking good images is about blackout while the A7R V is almost on par with the Nikon D850 on frames per second the user experience is very different

The Nikon with optical viewfinder will give you almost blackout free experience because your eye does not even see the shutter going up and down and readout rate matters nothing as you will see through the mirror

With the A7R V your camera will blackout i.e. you will loose track of your subject for more than 11% of the time. So you will loose track of your subject easily

This does not mean you will take bed pictures but you will have blackout the two experiences are uncomparable

This is why people go from DSLR straight to stacked sensor if they really want their viewfinder to track the subject

 

[UncleVanya]

I have been a Nikon Pro for 40 years and want to get rid of my multitude of heavy bodies and lenses and get just one decent light weight mirrorless setup

Certainly possible within specific performance envelopes.

I still shoot available light portraits and sports professionally occasionally and I tried a friends A7RV but was surprised at the EVF blackout during high speed tracking/shooting meaning I’d miss the shot now and then

Looking at your current gear - nothing you have is able to shoot at > 9fps, and most of the time it would be more like 7fps. You should be able to accomplish that with the A7RV without any greater blackout than what you have on your DSLR's from the mirror/shutter.

wrong a dslr will blackout only during shutter open close around 5ms with the a camera reading at 9fps this will be 111ms of hold that’s why people that shoot wildlife have been hanging on to dslr for a while if you have not shot one you dont know

I have certainly shot both DSLR and Mirrorless. I have also shot birds, running dogs, and people. But I haven't often used high frame rates frequently. So saying "I don't know" is a bit presumptive. Also if the lag you mention is still updating then it is not blackout in the sense that I don't see the frame totally freeze up or stop displaying - it may be lagging - which the optical viewfinder certainly won't do on the DSLR. But blackout and lag are not the same.

The highest frame rate mirrorless action shooting I have done was with my a6600. I shot some little league last year. The camera on 8fps seemed a little laggy in the viewfinder and so I shot at the next rate down or only in short bursts where I was pretty sure the action was. Tracking complicated movements wasn't required - the action is very predictable.

My a7Riii had a lot more difficulty. My a7RV is new to me. From other discussions and many online wildlife shooters it is clear that people are taking excellent images in sports and wildlife with this camera. My assumption is that they either are good at prediction of where the action is going; or they are using slower frame rates. Given the ability to heavily crop the 61mp, the accuracy of placement within the frame is less important than the ability of the tracking to keep the image subject in focus which appears to be quite good even in action.

This is not about taking good images is about blackout while the A7R V is almost on par with the Nikon D850 on frames per second the user experience is very different

He has the D810 listed in his gear. That's a 5fps camera not a 9.2fps camera like the D850. At 5fps you are saying the blackout on the a7RV is seen?

The Nikon with optical viewfinder will give you almost blackout free experience because your eye does not even see the shutter going up and down and readout rate matters nothing as you will see through the mirror

With the A7R V your camera will blackout i.e. you will loose track of your subject for more than 11% of the time. So you will loose track of your subject easily

At what rate? It's not the same at all frame rates is it?

 

[Interceptor121]

I have been a Nikon Pro for 40 years and want to get rid of my multitude of heavy bodies and lenses and get just one decent light weight mirrorless setup

Certainly possible within specific performance envelopes.

I still shoot available light portraits and sports professionally occasionally and I tried a friends A7RV but was surprised at the EVF blackout during high speed tracking/shooting meaning I’d miss the shot now and then

Looking at your current gear - nothing you have is able to shoot at > 9fps, and most of the time it would be more like 7fps. You should be able to accomplish that with the A7RV without any greater blackout than what you have on your DSLR's from the mirror/shutter.

wrong a dslr will blackout only during shutter open close around 5ms with the a camera reading at 9fps this will be 111ms of hold that’s why people that shoot wildlife have been hanging on to dslr for a while if you have not shot one you dont know

I have certainly shot both DSLR and Mirrorless. I have also shot birds, running dogs, and people. But I haven't often used high frame rates frequently. So saying "I don't know" is a bit presumptive. Also if the lag you mention is still updating then it is not blackout in the sense that I don't see the frame totally freeze up or stop displaying - it may be lagging - which the optical viewfinder certainly won't do on the DSLR. But blackout and lag are not the same.

The highest frame rate mirrorless action shooting I have done was with my a6600. I shot some little league last year. The camera on 8fps seemed a little laggy in the viewfinder and so I shot at the next rate down or only in short bursts where I was pretty sure the action was. Tracking complicated movements wasn't required - the action is very predictable.

My a7Riii had a lot more difficulty. My a7RV is new to me. From other discussions and many online wildlife shooters it is clear that people are taking excellent images in sports and wildlife with this camera. My assumption is that they either are good at prediction of where the action is going; or they are using slower frame rates. Given the ability to heavily crop the 61mp, the accuracy of placement within the frame is less important than the ability of the tracking to keep the image subject in focus which appears to be quite good even in action.

This is not about taking good images is about blackout while the A7R V is almost on par with the Nikon D850 on frames per second the user experience is very different

He has the D810 listed in his gear. That's a 5fps camera not a 9.2fps camera like the D850. At 5fps you are saying the blackout on the a7RV is seen?

The Nikon with optical viewfinder will give you almost blackout free experience because your eye does not even see the shutter going up and down and readout rate matters nothing as you will see through the mirror

With the A7R V your camera will blackout i.e. you will loose track of your subject for more than 11% of the time. So you will loose track of your subject easily

At what rate? It's not the same at all frame rates is it?

fps mean nothing in a DSLR because you have an optical viewfinder the only moment where the camera blackouts is when the shutter goes down that takes 5ms which is exactly the same experience of a Sony A1 with 1/200 readout rate

The sensor readout does not stop the optical viewfinder this is why a DSLR user that can keep the subject on the focus points will always beat any slow readout mirrorless

While the mirrorless camera is reading the sensor no function works autofocus or else while the DSLR will keep focusing pretty much all the time

A 10 fps DSLR beats a 10 fps mirrorless hands down when it comes to no blackout experience and if the user can pan with the subject it will get photos of any fast moving subject and the same will be through for 5 fps it will always be better

With a stacked sensor reading at 1/200 and potentially higher fps you beat a DLSR because your readout time is the same as the old mechanica; shutter but the camera can also write higher fps so you win on all fronts

If you have a hardcore bird shooter or you need no black out

Stacked sensor >> DSLR >> Non stacked Sensor mirrorless

 

[dazzerfong]

If you shoot with mechanical shutter you will see a blackout

This isn't completely accurate. If he slows the shooting rate down to Hi, instead of Hi+ he can get blackout free shooting. If he has a requirement for Hi+ then yes, he will get the blackouts.

And by no blackouts, I don't mean he won't see the shutter, but that the camera can keep up with his shooting well enough that he will not miss seeing what the camera is seeing.

You're misappropriating the term - blackout means a black frame when you're taking a picture. Anything less than HI+ will have blackout (a black frame when the shot is taken), HI+ instead turns your EVF into a slideshow of your most recently-acquired picture.

If you don't want to see black at all when you're taking a picture, only certain cameras do that. The majority of them are stacked sensor cameras, except for the recently-announced S1RII.

 

[AlephNull]

I have been a Nikon Pro for 40 years and want to get rid of my multitude of heavy bodies and lenses and get just one decent light weight mirrorless setup

I still shoot available light portraits and sports professionally occasionally and I tried a friends A7RV but was surprised at the EVF blackout during high speed tracking/shooting meaning I’d miss the shot now and then

my research seems to point to the technology in that camera and it being unavoidable. Is that correct? It seems you can avoid it using a camera with a stacked sensor like the A9 or A1 is that also correct? Sorry I’m new to all this technology!

My light weight set up to cover 24-200 was going to be a 24-50 f2.8 and a 70-200 f4 which would be significantly lighter than the Nikon Z8 equivalents

does this sound like a good lightweight set up pairing with an A9 or A1?

Just responding to your OP - I'm not going to get involved in the arguments that followed.

The A7RV has a very slow sensor - it takes almost 1/10s to scan the entire sensor, making electronic shutter suffer from awful rolling shutter if anything in your image is moving. That's also the cause of the issues with the EVF - if the camera is busy scanning the image on the sensor, it's not going to be updating the EVF. Unlike the DSLRs you are used to, there's no separate optical path to the viewfinder while the image is being read from the sensor.

I own an A7RV, and use it for things like studio work, but as far as I'm concerned it's a mechanical shutter camera, and I don't shoot bursts on it - just single frames. For that, it's excellent.

I have both the current A9 and A1, and the EVF is blackout free and continuous on both. The A9 III is a superb camera for shooting high speed action with tracking. The global shutter is a bonus when shooting action, because it really does have zero rolling shutter. In fact, I think the images from the A9 III are a tiny bit sharper, because every pixel in the plane of focus is captured simultaneously.

The 70-200 f/4 G II is a fine lens, and the macro feature is a bonus. I have the 20-70 f/4 G with it, and they work well together. For a (MUCH) less light alternative, the 28-70mm f/2 GM is a delight for portrait work - the 28-70 is a fine lens with both the A9 and A1.