
Despite affecting battery life, electronic viewfinders present a more accurate representation of what you’re photographing. It’s basically the “What You See is What You Get” view. The EVF shows you dynamic range, depth of field, white balance, contrast, saturation and more. It also allows you to look at the end picture before you click the shutter button. Instead of getting 90% or 95% frame view of an OVF, you get 100% of what the camera’s sensor is going to capture. Much of the excitement over EVFs is in the experience it delivers to photographers. This also means that manufacturers are able to create more compact, lightweight camera bodies, as it’s not relying on that mirror. What’s an electronic viewfinder?īecause there’s no mirror in a mirrorless camera, the EVF has replaced the OVF. OVFs also take up space - hence one of the reasons why DSLR bodies are considerably larger than mirrorless bodies. This makes it difficult to see the end result in terms of brightness and contrast. OVFs can also be dimmer on entry-level cameras, versus what pro-grade cameras might have. However, over time and with new camera developments, the amount shown has gotten larger and larger. On the downside, OVFs oftentimes do not show the entire frame of your photograph. The optical viewfinder, found in cameras like Nikon’s DSLRs, is tried and true, relying on mirror technology in the camera. OVFs also save on battery life, and they’re often recognized as being easier to use in low light situations (though I personally believe that to be personal preference). The advantages here are that there’s no time lag and the clarity and resolution is perfect. What’s an optical viewfinder?Īn OVF works by reflecting the image coming through the lens off of the DSLR’s mirror into the viewfinder, and thus, to your eye.

But once I got used to it, I never looked back. It took me a bit to get used to the new look through my viewfinder. As a person who ditched the world of full-frame DSLRs nearly two years ago for a mirrorless, micro four-thirds sensor, I had the same worries. Those of us who have been mirrorless users for a while have surely gotten used to our EVF, but it’s one of the biggest concerns I hear from those photographers who have a DSLR system, which employs an OVF.Īnd I hear those concerns. optical viewfinders (OVF) came up in a lot of my conversations. When the Olympus OM-D E-M1X was announced, the argument over electronic viewfinder (EVF) vs.
