Optical V Electronic View finder

[Cameraboy]

Good day members,
Still in the selection stage of aquiring a new camera ... Old one is Oly 5050 with Canon T90 from eons ago.. Both good camers i must say..
What is the general feelings toward the Electronic viewfinders?? I shoot a lot of low light pics at dances and various jazz festivals using the eye piece .. I have tried friends older camers using EVF but only get to see an image of various shades of red etc.. Seems like a best guess when it comes to the composition .... and using the LCD screen is not any better, or an option for me... Remember these are models of 2yrs or more.... Note with optical i dont require glasses, but for LCD i require reading glasses . case of glasses on ... glasses off !!
All comments would be appreciated .. Experience does count.
Regards,
Michael ......:)

[RadAL]

you must be extremely near sighted or far sighted to need glasses to see a LCD screen... vs an extremely smaller view finder (compared to the LCD screen) on a compact...

[Wilt]

Plus it is exceeding difficult to estimate focus precisely with an electronic display.

[spur]

I like the EVF on the S3. I find it much better than the optical view finder on my old S 30. Having all of the shooting information I want in the EVF is a big plus. Also it has a Diopter Adjustment so you can use it with or without glasses. As for estimating focus, the S3 is better than on the S 30 because what you see on the LCD or the EVF is what the camera can see. The optical on the S 30 and other point and shoots is not what the camera can see.

The S3 not a DSLR but it is the next best thing at a fraction of the cost. Only YOUR EYES can make the choice.

[Jon]

EVF like the LCD screen lags behindf when you're shooting action, especially in lower lighting conditions.

[lakiluno]

The optical viewfinder spur talks about is just a framing finder, and isn't TTL. I personally far prefer TTL viewfinders. Optical viewfinders are far superior to current EVF technology. The resolution and update speed means they lag slightly when it matters, and their low light performance leaves a lot to be desired (optical TTL viewfinders will never magnify the light, and show you exactly whats happening.)

[DavidW]

Electronic viewfinders aren't great, but they're really the only option for superzoom cameras like the S3 IS.

I think you'd struggle to get one of those rangefinder like finders used on many digital compacts (though they lack the rangefinder focussing part) to work on a camera with such a large zoom range, and, not being TTL, there's always the problem of parallax errors.

An optical TTL viewfinder is always preferable, but they add significant mechanical and optical complexity to the camera, which means extra cost and weight. You need a moving mirror for a start. In any case, it wouldn't work with a camera like the S3 IS - the image circle is so small that an optical viewfinder would be very dim. Some people complain that the viewfinders on the 1.6x crop factor DSLRs are dim, and there's nothing like that much light coming through a superzoom compact's lens.

That leaves the EVF as the only option. It has its flaws, but it accurately represents the picture that you'll take throughout the entire zoom range at a light level that you can see.



David

[Cameraboy]

Well members, once again you all have come through Re Selection of viewfinder .. Yes it is strange that i can see perfectly thru an optical viewfinder (T90) but looking at the lcd screen is akin to reading a book .... require glasses..
Must say that i enjoy this site .; interesting posts and replies..
Regards,
Michael ..

[spur]

Silly me, I thought this was the "Small Compact Digitals by Canon Group". I had no idea Canon made any small compacts with TTL. I stupidly thought if you wanted to see what your lens saw in a small compact camera EVF was your only choice from Canon, I guess I stand corrected. Maybe someone could give me some model #'s that have TTL's in Canon compacts. Of course TTL is superior but I still say the EVF is much better than the optical veiw finders in Canon compacts. Please show me where I'm wrong, I am allways ready to learn something.

[dhbailey]

Okay, I'll bite -- I realize that EVF is an electronic viewer, but isn't it showing what is coming in through the lens? In that case, it is TTL, albeit an electronic version. "Viewfinder" usually refers to an ability to see essentially what the camera sees but not actually seeing exactly what is coming in through the lens.

I think that rather than making a differentiation between EVF and TTL, it ought to be that they're both considered TTL, and the differentiation ought to be Electronic or Optical.

Maybe rather than EVF and TTL, the terms should be ETTL (for what is now called EVF) and OTTL (for SLR-style optical TTL where mirrors are used to see through the lens)?

[DavidW]

I'm with David - an EVF is as much a TTL viewfinder as an optical TTL finder is.



David

[Transit]

I'd looked through a few EVFs before I got the A700...
they were terrible like TV when the aerials fallen off the roof :D
so I was very surprised to check out the S3 IS and find its viewer is actually quite reasonable. My eyesight has deteriated too so that might have something to do with it :)
The 700s optical viewfinder is a joke really, but the view is pretty sharp, no lag :)

Pete

[jennyb]

If I have this right, OVF is just a window to frame the subject. EVF is a window to frame the subject and also provides camera setting info. Since the LCD screen on both my Canon compacts is unuseable in bright daylight, some kind of VF is essential. On my S2-IS the EVF is the ONLY way I can see/change camera settings outdoors. Seldom need to change anything on my S400 so the OVF is all I need. Sooner or later someone needs to make an LCD that works in bright light.

[DavidW]

Optical TTL viewfinders on the EOS SLRs have a display at the bottom (and on some of the more expensive models, up the side) that show information such as aperture and shutter speed. There's also information relating to focus points and metering.

The optical 'rangefinder' type finders in many of the compacts have none of this refinement.


I think the ideal for msot people is the SLR type viewfinder - optical TTL. However, it can only be achieved with a moving mirror, and it requires a sensor size larger than that used in the S3 IS to collect adequate light. That's why I believe the S3 IS has an EVF - the 'rangefinder' type won't work that well over such a zoom range, and it's less featured anyway. The biggest snag with the EVF, as others have noted, is the lag.



David