Sensors getting.....smaller?

pez · Sep 19, 2008

Bifurcator said:
If the EVF is even as good as my Minolta A2 I'll like it MUCH better any of the dSLR pentaprisms I've used! :thumbup:

I think in a few years time most dSLRs will have a EVF. They're cheeper to make, better to use, remove the lame mirror that limits the camera's actuational life-span and again reduces costs, and brings these beasts into full compatibility with Live View and the coming wave of video acquisition!

LOL I posted a similar opinion in another thread recently (can't find it right now)- so I agree. :lol:

I still have a Minolta A1, which is a great camera with a very nice EVF.

Joe S · Sep 19, 2008

this is where I nod my head and pretend to understand

THORHAMMER · Sep 19, 2008

Will you be able to see whats going on in regards to aperature and DOF through the LCD screen before you shoot ?

prodigy2k7 · Sep 19, 2008

Yes most likely thor

Bifurcator · Sep 20, 2008

THORHAMMER said:
Will you be able to see whats going on in regards to aperature and DOF through the LCD screen before you shoot ?

Yes. Mine does. In several ways. You can set it for full-time/part-time DOF preview and full-time/part-time pre-exposure preview. I have mine set for full-time DOF and part-time pre-exposure.

So I see the DOF the image will be taken in but fully bright. Then with a 1/2 shutter press I see the actual darkness or lightness (exposure) that the shutter+aperture+ISO with produce. After I take the shot I see the results immediately in the EVF without having to remove my eye. I can look at the results for 0sec (feature turned off), 2sec. or 10sec. each of which can be immediately terminated (returning me to live view) by a shutter 1/2 press. Additionally while it's showing it to me a single button press will delete it if I choose - so it becomes a keep-or-kill decision phase if I wish to look at it that way.

This is actually very nice as I can see the DOF and/or zoom up on a focus point in manual focus to nail it in lighting conditions where if I pick up my F3 and look through the pentaprism the view is so dark I can't see squat.

The EVF on the A2 can and very often does actually amplify the available light. For night photography it automatically goes into a high-gain B&W mode which is fairly close to my night vision goggles in terms of brightness and resolution.

The one place I might prefer to use a pentaprism over an EVF is outdoors bright daylight sports photography. Fast moving cars, following a soccer ball in a down-field kick while standing on the side-lines, etc. My EVF is 30fps at about 1 million pixels or 60fps at 1/2 that - but there are some things I think the human eye performs better at when dealing with natural light frequencies. I don't get any of the advantages of an EVF that way but it might occasionally be slightly more comfortable. It's only a comfort thing for the most part though where my EVF is darker than the BRIGHT daylight and human eyes need about 1sec. adjustment time. I guess other EVFs may not suffer from this depending on the design. I know my expensive video cameras didn't.

pez said:
LOL I posted a similar opinion in another thread recently (can't find it right now)- so I agree. I still have a Minolta A1, which is a great camera with a very nice EVF.

Yeah, from the outside that looks like the same EVF as the A2. If it is then yup, it's pretty nice! :thumbup: It's nowhere near as good as a broadcast camera's EVF though! So even as good as it is there's lots of room for improvement! The new Micro4/3rds camera... what is it, the Panasonic LUMIX G1 or something, begins to bring some of that technology into the dSLR arena. Personally I think they should make them detachable so that I could put my $3,000 EVF from my video camera on it if I wanted.

Garbz · Sep 20, 2008

<Puts on tinfoil hat>

It all makes sense now. Viewfinders used to be great and bright. The Nikon FE made me wow, then I saw the FE2 and I WOWed. But the DSLRs for all but the top of the top pro cameras have these horrible little dark viewfinders, the cheaper the smaller and darker, now EVFs to the resuce. This would have never worked without the APS sized microviewfinders of the current DSLRs. It is all coming together. Damn those marketing departments.