Live Preview in DSLR's

[Joe0Bloggs]

For me the main difficulty is (was) having to look through the viewfinder at the same time as working the controls on the tripod. This feels awkward even when I put the viewfinder at eye level (without concern for how changes in height might improve composition...)

But my DSLR gear had just been totalled (as in TOTALly smashed) yesterday, so that's not my problem anymore! Good news that.

Some people have mentioned Macro photography, not crawling in the
mud anymore. But when I tested the E-330, I found one type of
photography was much more enjoyable with Live View: Tripod
photography. Landscape, flora and fauna was much more enjoyable and
easier than peeking through the window. It was more like using a
medium format or even large format camera. I could see DOF exactly
like it was, composition was much more 'abstract'. And no aching
back of bendings to look into the viewfinder.

What no one seems to have mentioned here is how useful an angle
finder is for close-up work and yes, also even for tripod work. Nikon
makes the DR-4 and DR-6, but there are cheaper versions by off-brands.

You shouldn't have to lie on the ground any longer--just stoop a bit.

--tom

 

[Jay Turberville]

In another thread, some one suggested that "live preview" will
become dominant in the wish list of DSLR's purchasers, but I
wonder.

Who knows. The feature does make up for a number of typical DSLR OVF deficiencies.

I must admit I'm biased as I "grew up" around SLR view
finders.

Me too. But todays optical viewfinders are typically not as functional as the ones I grew up using.

I find when I use a D/SLR camera there is something
satisfying about looking through the view finder. I feel "at one"
(okay don't roll your eyes now) with what is happening in front of
the camera and what's going on in my brain.

Remember one of my first lessons was to understand that the image that I captured on film could easily differ significantly with what I saw in the camera's finder. I seldom really feel "at one" with the camera. And if I do, I get suspicious since I know I need to be actively interpretting the expected results.

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.

Every time I look through the OVF of my DSLR I'm concious that the screen will have the effect of dropping the perceived DoF to be the equivalent of about an f/4 DoF. And if I use DoF preview for apertures slower than f/4 or so, I'm quickly reminded how unnaturally dim the finder gets. These things tend to keep me from a sense of "oneness."

OTOH, when I use my E-330 in Liveview Mode B, I get to see an excellent representation of focus and DoF by simply pressing the DoF preview button. I also have that set up so that pressing the DoF preview button when not in Liveview Mode B will temporarily cause the camera to switch to that mode to give me accurate DoF preview. This still doesn't give me "oneness," but at least the camera gives me a really good idea of what kind of picture it is about to take.

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?"

Me. I use it, love it and prefer it. It isn't something that most will want instead of an OVF, but most should find it useful in addition to an OVF.

Traditionally, top end pro film SLRs had many finder options. That has largely gone away in modern times. I see the Liveview feature as something that not only restores some of that functionality, but also adds some new capabilities.

--
Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com

 

[Anastigmat]

Give me interchangeable viewfinders instead of live preview. It appears that interchangeable viewfinder 35mm SLR cameras are a dying breed, if not dead already. The only way to resurrect the ability to shoot at odd angles and/or with the eye away from the viewfinder may be live view. It is a feature you can turn off, so it is no big deal having it.

In another thread, some one suggested that "live preview" will
become dominant in the wish list of DSLR's purchasers, but I
wonder. I must admit I'm biased as I "grew up" around SLR view
finders. I find when I use a D/SLR camera there is something
satisfying about looking through the view finder. I feel "at one"
(okay don't roll your eyes now) with what is happening in front of
the camera and what's going on in my brain.

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.

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

 

[Jay Turberville]

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.

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.

And then there is the ability to get super accurate focus - especially important when shooting with very fast lenses. Now add to that accurate DoF preview - something you really don't get with the typical optical DSLR finder. Oh yeah - if you shot on a tripod, its nice to postion the camera where you want and not have to contort your body to see your camera's framing. This is just a variant on the point you already agreed with, but it really is amazing how quickly one starts to appreciate a tiltable liveview LCD once the camera gets afixed to a tripod.

A few other areas of interest might be IR photography (and focus for IR photography) and black and white previews. And it would be nice having a live histogram on liveview with a movable spot like my C7070 has. Way cool for dialing in exposures. And finally, its nice having the ability to have a remote finder.

And justifying my opinion, I feel it is difficult to compose a
picture with a digital compact using its live preview.

Actually, I find the wide view of my older film SLRs to be worse for composition. They made me have to work more conciously at noticing the framing. The smaller DSLR screens of today work better for me and so do liveview screens. I do most of my bird photography with a liveview screen showing an upside down image. I find the inverted image is also an aid to composition - perhaps because it makes the image more abstract. These things are, of course, highly variable from person to person.

Equally
difficult is to time the moment of shutter release.

Yes. The current typical delay for the liveview is about 1/10 second by my measurements.

--
Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com

 

[Jay Turberville]

No problem getting dirty

The desert ground is often inhabited by a variety of thorns and often a number of ants. I prefer to keep my distance.

--
Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com

 

[Jay Turberville]

Why get on the ground when you don't have to?

Cuz its more cooler.

--
Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com

 

[Simon Zeev]

Maybe the term "reflex" is not quite right. I call it so because the small mirror. I draw a small skech of this viewfinder. Is very small and the image is very small and only for framing. There are not a matte screen. The lenses are clear. I hope this link will work, if not you can see the pictures in my fotki link.



--
Regards,
Zeev

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

 

[Simon Zeev]

PS:

The green lines are the mask for horizontal and vertical viewing (landscape & portrait)
--
Regards,
Zeev

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

 

[CharlieDIY]

I don't get what is so hard about it.

I've already written that I have problems getting down and up because of age and knee surgery. That's what is so hard about it.

Now, my other problem, one that the old slide off pentaprisms allowed, is getting ground level shots. I don't mean the level I can lie down to and still get an eyeball on the OVF and frame the shot, but down, at 2-1/2" (my Pentax DSLRs are actually about 2-7/16" tall to the viewfinder), to shoot.

You need an almighty skinny head to do that, as well as knee pads and the kind of clothing you don't mind getting dirty.

ack when I was limber enough to get down, and when I did get down and shoot a lot, it was still far easier to slide the pentaprism off for those true low level shots than it was to dig a hole for my head.

--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

 

[Ominous]

I don't get what is so hard about it.

Or are you above getting on the ground to get the shot?
--

Why get on the ground when you don't have to?

--
shinndigg
http://www.pbase.com/shinndigg

Why climb a mountian when you don't have to? Just hook your camera up to somone else and use remote capture to take your shots!

--
http://www.pbase.com/ewhalen

 

[chuxter]

Well, at 68, I do, but if you can get your eye down with 2-1/2" of
the ground and compose and shoot photos, more power to you. I
couldn't do that 35 years ago when I was limber.

--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

No problem getting dirty

Dirt? What you need is a real skinny skull.

Which requires a small brain cavity... ;-)
Naw, you wouldn't have suggested that!

--
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...'

 

[Ben Herrmann]

that view point, although personal, would not hold up after practical experience with this feature. As I alluded to several times above, once you wind up using liveview on a DSLR, you now have options and an increased level of flexibility that was heretofore missing. And at that point, you will thank your lucky stars that somebody thought to put it on as an additional feature on the camera.
--
Have a great day!

 

[BobTrips]

Well, at 68, I do, but if you can get your eye down with 2-1/2" of
the ground and compose and shoot photos, more power to you. I
couldn't do that 35 years ago when I was limber.

--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

No problem getting dirty

Come with me to the streets of Old Delhi.

Where cow poop is only one of the interesting substances in which you'll have the opportunity to fling yourself prone.

I'll take a picture of you when you get back up.

--
bob

Sleepers
http://picasaweb.google.com/Bobfwall/Sleepers

The Blind Pig Guild - A Photo/Travel Club
http://www.jeber.com/Clubs/Blind-Pig/

Travel Galleries
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips

 

[Jay Turberville]

Now IMO, having liveview is nice - but without an articulating
LCD...well, it's kind of limited to say the least. I will
certainly be looking forward in the next several months or so when
Olympus releases the much awaited successor to the E-1 - a
weatherproofed magnesium body that will have both live view (with
an articulating LCD) and in-body mechanical image stabilization.

Yep. Twice now, I've been doing closeup photography and really missed the second axis of rotation that my C7070 and CP8400 have. In fact, in one case I brought out the CP8400 to shoot the vertical orientation shots that were a pain with the E-330.

So for all of the other naysayers out there...keep on discounting
the cameras that have this new feature - because I will be smirking
at ya...that liveview feature is that addicting.

Yep. It is simply an additional tool that is better than the OVF in some situations and worse in others. SLRs have always been about having options (Well, that and looking like a "pro" photographer.) That, surely is why Canon added it to the 1D MIII. I don't think they were adding a gimmick to attrack newbies used to using compacts. Nor are they a bunch of numbskulls. That camera is all about versatility.

--
Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com

 

[BJL]

I find DOF especially difficult to judge on the LCD. I'm not sure how well you can judge focus, either.

When you can zoom the LCD and move around the enlarged image, focus and DOF are probably easier to check than with an OVF, because you are effectively looking at part of larger, and more detailed image than the OVF shows (OVF resolution is far less than sensor resolution!) And at high f-stops, DOF preview on the LCD can avoid the severe dimming that your get with OVF preview.

As Phil says in the preview

One advantage of Live View is that you can get an exact representation of focus point and depth of field on the LCD screen.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/olympuse410/page7.asp

Note: 7x zoom on a 2.5" LCD shows a window of an image at a size corresponding to looking at a small part of the full image on a 17" monitor.

--

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.