Vewfinder image size vs actual pic size?

[muscleflex]

Is it me or the actual picture is bigger than the view you see from the viewfinder?
i've only just had my 20d for 3 days and i have noticed this right from the start.

how do you guys frame your subjects when the the actual picture is not the same size as what you see on the viewfinder?

[MTalley]

The review on dpreview.com lists the viewfinder at 95% coverage, which I think is typical for Canon DSLR's. I just mentally remember that the resulting picture will encompass a little more of the scene than what I see in the viewfinder.

Plus, it leaves room to crop once you get it on the computer.

[lancea]

This is very common in pretty much any camera (not just recent digitals). The bits around the edges are free! :) On the other side, when photos are printed they usually loose a bit - so it sort of evens out in the long run ...

[tim]

Yes, this is true for the 20D. The viewfinders on the 1 series cameras are more accurate.

[Hellashot]

Drebel viewfinder: 92%, EOS-3: 97%, 1series: 100%, compact digital cameras: usually 70-80%

[ron chappel]

While i'm familiar with the concept of non-100% viewfinders.....

How do they measure it? Is the (let's say 95% ) measured along the sides -which would be 0.95x0.95 to get the total area.

Or is the 97% quoted the whole reduced area allready?

Hope that makes sense.I know what i'm talking about but may not have worded it correctly :):)

[ssim]

Yes, this is true for the 20D. The viewfinders on the 1 series cameras are more accurate.

I don't know how much more accurate they are tim. I find that on my 1DMKII there is certainly more image in the final output than what I am seeing in my viewfinder. I hadn't really paid much attention to this until one day I was shooting something that wouldn't fit in the viewfinder but shot anyway. I was surprised to see that it all fit nicely when I downloaded the images.

It's really just a matter of getting used to your own equipment and knowing little intricacies such as these.

[lancea]

How do they measure it? The tests in the magazines of my younger days (e.g. the UK magazine "Amateur Photographer") included a picture in all the tests which showed the area covered by the viewfinder. If I recall correctly, the figure was always expressed as a percentage of the area captured by the film. Of course some non-SLRs showed more than 100% in the viewfinder.

[muscleflex]

wow thanks! i thought my camera was defective! i was starting to get worried as i bought it off eBay from the States! :-)
thanks for all the replies!

[BDM]

Actually I wouldn't be too concerned about this. Viewfinder accuracy was more important with film cameras and transparency film when the resulting slides were to be projected. You didn't have any opportunity to crop after the fact and so you sometimes were surprised by what crept into the edges of an image when you saw the slide which wasn't apparent in the viewfinder at the time of shooting.

Bruce

[muscleflex]

so you mean the film slr's also have this problem? i never noticed it as...well, it used to take me a couple of days at least before getting the prints and or slides from the developers...and by that time, i'd forgotten what i'd taken pictures of... :-P