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Live Preview in DSLR's

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Personally I don't find it a desireable feature, but I can see that somebody else might have uses for it. But if I get to choose between a body that has liveview and costs a little more (or might even compromise something in handling/usability), and a cheaper body without liveview, I would definatedly stick with traditional ovf and no liveview option.

--
Matti Takasuo
http://www.pbase.com/mtakasuo
 
Exactly. Also: with the monopod/tripod you can instantly change point of view in radius 6 - 8 feet and have access to the spots, where you do not want to put at risk your head. In many situations, the photographing subjects may tolerate proximity of the camera, but not the photographer's body.. Many creative opportunities unthinkable in the traditional cameras.
 
chuxter said:
CharlieDIY said:
I think most of what you lsit will happen, but it will no longer be
an SLR...maybe an ERF, electronic rangefinder, without the defects
a rangefinder currently has (limited lens choice because of
parallax, among other things). I don't know if DSLRs will still
exist, and, by the time it all happens, I probably won't care.
Click to expand...
All these legacy initialisms are getting really useless. Soon,
there won't be any reason to use them for the new, fully electronic
DCs that are arriving. "Reflex"? "Rangefinder"? They should be
reserved for the occasional camera that is obviously "retro"...
Click to expand...
"What ifs" are useless until they actually get here.

Mark
 
rsn48 said:
When I'm stopped by the hoards of tourists that come here to
Vancouver BC and want me to shoot their picture, I find a lack of
harmony between me, the camera and the scene photographed. I find
I look from the live preview to the scene and back; this bothers
me. I experience a disconnect in the photographic experience by
having to move my eyes from camera to scene and back to camera.
Click to expand...
You described it quite nicely (and politely!). Personally, I cannot imagine any situation where live preview would be preferable to the clear optical viewfinder of an SLR. I cannot compose a picture, I think that there is a "disconnect in the photographic experience by having to move my eyes from camera to scene and back to camera" - exactly !

The only reason I can think of would be marketing. But then again, today with digital photography there are much more occasional snapshooters than before (with film). Serious photography probably tends to be the minority. And all these cellphone cameras and pocket sized cameras do not have enough space at the back for an optical viewfinder....
regards,
George
 
...but FIRST, work on getting our optical viewfinders as good as they can be, and NEVER switch them to EVF's!!!

Live view would be great for shooting over a crowd, or down in the dirt, but my optical viewfinder is just something I'll never give up for the rest of the time.

I stare at a compter monitor and TV screen enough already; when I look into my camera viewfinder the LAST thing I want to see is another LCD screen!!!

--
Take care!



http://www.matthewsaville.com
 
I think the EVF is not good enough. I will switch to EVF for a lot of reasons, like seeing the WB and the exposure of the picture you are going to shoot, having an interchangeable lens (EVIL) camera without mirror and moving parts, etc.

Some of us remember the old folder cameras with the small viewfinder that we look downside.
  • The LV is wonderful underwater when you don't have to look through the viewfinder.
--
Regards,
Zeev

http://public.fotki.com/zeev-simon/
http://picasaweb.google.com/zeev.simon
 
George said:
imagine any situation where live preview would be preferable to the
clear optical viewfinder of an SLR. I cannot compose a picture, I
think that there is a "disconnect in the photographic experience by
having to move my eyes from camera to scene and back to camera" -
exactly !
The only reason I can think of would be marketing. But then again,
today with digital photography there are much more occasional
snapshooters than before (with film). Serious photography probably
tends to be the minority. And all these cellphone cameras and
pocket sized cameras do not have enough space at the back for an
optical viewfinder....
Click to expand...
Think about things like low level shots where it impossible to get one's eye to the viewfinder. That is one place where an EVF would be handy IF it swiveled. Of course, just as handy instead would be a slide off pentaprism like the one my Canon F1 35+ years ago.

I'd like one or the other the next time I pop for new bodies.

By the way, what is serious photography, in your opinion?
--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com
 
CharlieDIY said:
Think about things like low level shots where it impossible to get
one's eye to the viewfinder. That is one place where an EVF would
be handy IF it swiveled. Of course, just as handy instead would be
a slide off pentaprism like the one my Canon F1 35+ years ago.
Click to expand...
Ok, I will agree with you on this one! And, I forgot to add that with live preview, you should also be able to record videoclips.
CharlieDIY said:
By the way, what is serious photography, in your opinion?
Click to expand...
I feel that it is difficult to define such general terms, but If I had to define serious photography, I would say that it is the kind of photography involving, at least some thinking (planning) on composition, lighting, exposure, moment of shutter release, etc.

And justifying my opinion, I feel it is difficult to compose a picture with a digital compact using its live preview. Equally difficult is to time the moment of shutter release.
regards,
George
 
He may be talking about waist-level cameras that had that little "folding" viewfinder cover at the top? I don't know, I'm only 23, so my knowledge only goes back to Hasselblad's and TLR's nd 4x5's... (twin lens reflex, with the same wasit-level viewfinder lying flat on top of the camera.)

--
Take care!



http://www.matthewsaville.com
 
CharlieDIY said:
...just as handy instead would be
a slide off pentaprism like the one my Canon F1 35+ years ago.
Click to expand...
Or a lift-off pentaprism, like the one on my Nikon F, 40 years ago. :-)

But, am I the only one to notice the confusing mix-up in terms? The OP said "LivePreview". Somebody else says "LiveView". You and I use "EVF". If you read the associated text carefully, it seems that some people are confused! There are multiple types of cameras that have these important features:

1. Optical dSLRs with mirror-up mode to drive the LCD with primary sensor data and an OVF.
2. Optical dSLRs with secondary sensor to drive the LCD and an OVF.
3. Electronic eSLRs that drive both the LCD and EVF with primary sensor data.

4. Electronic prosumer/super-zoom DCs that drive both the LCD and EVF with primary sensor data.

5. Electronic compact DCs that drive the LCD, and which have a separate optical VF.
6. Electronic compact DCs that drive the LCD.

There are also multiple variations on these 6 "themes". For example, the location of the LCD and the degrees of freedom of movement of the LCD. And the variation in the design of the pentapriism/pentamirror, which affects the quality of the image in the OVF. And the design of the EVF which affects resolution and brightness.

There are so many variations. I'm sure that each of us has a different experience, so come to the discussion with vastly different ideas about what is good/bad & right/wrong. Combined with those different terms (LivePreview vs EVF), we are talking about quite different things, I believe. And doing so passionately! And occasionally getting upset (that someone doesn't seem to understand and agree with what we say).

--
Charlie Davis
Nikon 5700 & Sony R1
CATS #25
PAS Scribe @ http://www.here-ugo.com/PAS_List.htm
HomePage: http://www.1derful.info
'I brake for pixels...'
 
Er... those are 'small' viewfinders??
matthew saville said:
He may be talking about waist-level cameras that had that little
"folding" viewfinder cover at the top? I don't know, I'm only 23,
so my knowledge only goes back to Hasselblad's and TLR's nd
4x5's... (twin lens reflex, with the same wasit-level viewfinder
lying flat on top of the camera.)

--
Take care!



http://www.matthewsaville.com
Click to expand...
 
You sometimes look at your lcd after taking a picture right?, well, why not sometimes look at it before you take a picture? - Perry
 
Patrick T. Kelly said:
[I presume that ...] you will buy one of the cameras with "live-view". Sounds like Olympus or Leica or Panasonic is the way to go. Enjoy.
Click to expand...
Or a Canon 1DMkIII, which also has Live View. Or perhaps another Canon model with Live View? I expect some such announcement this year, since I doubt that Canon will keep its Live View only for the 1D series. The main virtues of Live View (in current versions at least) are slower paced manual focus work, where other Canon models are probably more often used.

Or a Fuji, though for now Fuji's DSLR Live View is far more limited than the Four-Thirds and Canon versions.

--

With larger pixels and sensors you must choose between bigger glass, longer exposure times, lower resolution, or higher ISO speeds that neutralize the noise advantages of larger pixels.
 
rsn48 said:
I can understand newbies who have come from a point and shoot
background wanting live preview, but do many of you experienced
D/SLR photographers really want "live preview?"
--
The answers are always inside the problem, not outside. Marshall
McLuhan
Click to expand...
I do. I want live preview.

I shot with 35mm SLR's since 1972 and yes i want live preview.

I also worked professionally with large format view cameras since 1980, you could say live preview is a digital form of that.

Framing a shot with an electronic image never bothers videographers...so why should it bother still photographers.
 
You don't put the eye to that! Is a waist-level camera so you look from the top. The viewfinder is a small reflex one with a lens in front, a mirror and a lens on the top. Before the top lens is a frame for "portrait and landscape view". If you shoot "landscape" direction you have to turn the viewfinder 90 degree. The image is clear and very small, is barely possible to frame the picture.
--
Regards,
Zeev

http://public.fotki.com/zeev-simon/
http://picasaweb.google.com/zeev.simon
 
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