James Mok’s Soliloquy

Electronic Viewfinder Mirrorless DSLR and Eectronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens digital cameras has became quite popular in the past year and many think that EVF would replace optical viewfinder very soon.

When they (Panasonic G1 then Olympas Pen E-L1 and and then Panasonic GF)1 first came out people thought they are the greatest for being small and compact and therefore much more portable than conventional DSLR. Judging by the film era cameras such as Pentax’s ME Super/ LX1 and Olympus’ OM series, I didn’t think those EVF Mirrorless DSLR and EVIL cameras were all that small, and I tried to explain to many that it could have been even smaller even in fullframe 135 format but no one would listen. Then came Nikon D5000 and other brands counterparts which is even smaller than Nikon’s earlier small DSLR – the D40, and got really closed to EVF DSLR size; and then Samsung’s N10 and Sony’s NEX series that are much smaller proved me right. At APS sensor size, both the Samsung N10 and the Sony NEX are noticeably smaller than the Panasonic’s G1/2/10 and GF1 and Oly’s Pen series.

I was hoping if Nikon were to make an EVIL camera, it would be in fullframe 135 sensor size but it doesn’t look like they would make it in that size.

Sensor size and physical size is not the main problem with EVF.

When you shoot with conventional DSLRs, the only time you can’t see what you are shooting would be when the mirror flips up to allow light travel through the opened shutter to the sensor. This blocked time is only a fraction of a second and you would be able to see the live view right after and ready for the next shot and continuous shooting. Whereas with EVF, you get a much longer blank view during exposure, sometimes close to 2 seconds, and then default to displaying the shot on the EVF or LCD rather than the live view. Even with the live view option, if available at all, the image is so slow that any moving objects would be delayed and choppy on the EVF or LCD.

The second problem is more with the work flow but unfortunately no one gets this right and no one has any options to set their cameras right either. With optical finder DSLR, when you finish shooting with the optical viewfinder and press play to display the images shot, the display would show on the LCD screen. With EVF DSLR, like many Prosumer P&S cameras, one has to switch back to LCD display mode first by pressing a toggle button or else pressing play would only display the shot images on the EVF! Why in the world would I want to watch my shots on the EVF when there is a much bigger LCD display?!

While the newer EVF DSLRs have a proximity sensor to auto switch the display between the EVF and the LCD display, this creates yet another problem for there is no option to turn off the LCD display while leaving the camera on and ready to shoot. The LCD display is on constantly even when you are just walking around waiting for the next shot. This is not just battery eating, it is also very distracting for bystanders. Why would anyone want to leave the LCD display on during idle time anyway; and why don’t these manufacturers get it?

A small funny instant happened when one of the nice feature with EVF and EVIL cameras brought up the possibility to use almost any SLR lenses from any manufacturers ever made via extension tube adapters. Specifically this allow EVF and EVIL camera owners use some of the legendary lenses made by Leica. Despite the much smaller sensor size making these images being a cropped part of the much bigger 135 image size possible, people love the idea and marvel the image quality over standard lenses. The funny thing was, one of my friends was in a group of these people and one of them was so excited to see the image quality and sharpness of an image taken with a Leica lens attached, he was trying to show my friend just that…..

…..in the EVF! @_@

Get a life, you people.