Future of DSLRs - hybrid viewfinder?

I WAS RIGHT

fotocrack wrote in post #15365019
The feature I wished the 5D3 had is the ability to see the histogram in the ViewFinder.

I would absolutely love this.

I'm sure plenty of other people who aren't ninja exposure experts would too!

Yogi Bear wrote in post #15367590
I don't see why it should be 'costly'. The 7D, 5D3 and 1DX all have active matrix, transmissive LCDs in the OVFs. If focus points can be 'overlaid', why not histograms and other data too?

Agreed, although blinking a few focus points is probably a lot simpler than showing a histogram that consists of lots of little dots that change every few seconds.

Also, I don't think the cost and complexity is necessarily in the display. It's in how to gather the information. Normally, the mirror directs all light to the view finder for you to see. Then it flips down to take the shot. In Live View, all of the light goes to the sensor to show the Live View information. To show both requires the light path to be split, some to the viewfinder and some to the sensor. Obviously, Sony has done it, but that doesn't mean it's easy or that there aren't trade offs.

EVF could be the way to go, but for me, for very different reasons than above:
Speed: I would assume that with that no mirror, higher burst rates may be possible
Quietness: Sometimes when shoot my kids concerts, I should in liveview simply because of the
noise of the mirror flip
Steadiness: for macros, or extreme steady conditions, there no need for "mirror lockup"
Custom screens: when doing 8x10 portraits, you wouldn't have to guess at the 8x10 cropping. I'm
someone could create a custom screen app (it's all now just software)
View video thru the viewfinder - remember the old camcorders? Ever use liveview outside?
My 2 cents.

The most recent EVF I have looked through is on the Nikon 1 V1, and it is just as aweful as the one that was on my ancient 2MP Olympus C2100 UZ.

Yuck.

Before the 10D came out, I had an old Canon Pro90 (non DSLR).

http://www.dpreview.co​m …0/images/allrou​ndview.jpg

Besides having an articulating rear LCD panel, it also had a traditional SLR style eyepiece with a diopter adjustment. Rather than having a frosted glass focus screen, it had a mini LCD screen instead. So it can be done. I guess advancements in LCD technology could result in a better mirror-less camera with a proper eyepiece..

I don't know. Maybe look through the OVF and focus on composition? Exposure is easily determined with the meter at the bottom. WB is for post, not for shooting in my experience. That is much easier to fix than lousy composition.

A hybrid viewfinder would be fantastic and I would love all of its benefits as long as the lag times are very short.

LostArk wrote in post #15792249
I WAS RIGHT

If I'm reading that correctly, which is a wee bit hard to understand due to the translation, using that system it sounds like when the mirror is up, you get to see what you normally would in live view through the viewfinder. And be able to zoom in to check/adjust focus, check an electronic level and view exposure, WB etc etc. When the mirror is down, you get a normal OVF, and also get to see AF points as well as a histogram and other details/information. That sounds absolutely brilliant to me.

the only thing I want makers to put back in the viewfinder is a manual focus guide.

I've got nothing against electronic viewfinders in principle, but I've yet to see one I like. Of course this will change as designs improve.