LCD screens

[soufiej]

Can LCD screens be counted on as accurate views through the lens? Do they always show correct exposure? DOF?

 

[Designer]

Can LCD screens be counted on as accurate views through the lens? Do they always show correct exposure? DOF?

Your camera processes the image to make it viewable as a JPG on the LCD display. Even a RAW converter does some processing to produce a viewable image. The image that appears on your LCD screen will not show over or under exposure. For that you will have to visit the histogram.

 

[photoguy99]

Can LCD screens be counted on as accurate views through the lens? Do they always show correct exposure? DOF?

No. The degree of inaccuracy will of course depend on the camera model.

 

[soufiej]

Can LCD screens be counted on as accurate views through the lens? Do they always show correct exposure? DOF?

No. The degree of inaccuracy will of course depend on the camera model.

? Don't suppose you could be a little more specific?

 

[photoguy99]

No, and in fact I'm not sure how one could be more specific. You asked a yes/no question. I haeve you an answer. 'No'

Details of how the LCD does a poor job will depend, as I have already noted, on the camera model.

 

[TreeofLifeStairs]

Can LCD screens be counted on as accurate views through the lens? Do they always show correct exposure? DOF?

I have a Sony NEX-7 (a mirrorless camera) and both the LCD screen on the back of the camera and the electronic viewfinder show me essentially the same thing. In my case it does show the exposure and the depth of field correctly and can be counted on. There's quite a debate over TTL viewfinders and EVF's though. There are drawbacks to each and you need to decide for yourself what is important to you.

 

[soufiej]

Thanks.

 

[dennybeall]

In order to show the picture so that the user can see it, the iris (f-stop) is locked fully open until the shot is taken. That's what you see through the viewfinder or on the rear screen.

 

[pgriz]

Can LCD screens be counted on as accurate views through the lens? Do they always show correct exposure? DOF?

NO.
No.
No.

For composition, the LCD screen is fine, but not exposure.
For exposure, you're much better off looking at the histogram.
For DOF, depending on the camera model, you'll need to activate the DOF preview button (at least on Canon cameras - don't know if Nikon uses a different approach), since most DSLR's show the view wide open, and close down to the chosen aperture only at the time of the actual exposure..
For focus placement, assuming you're not in AF mode, the LCD is excellent, especially in 5x or 10x view.

 

[KmH]

Rear LCD screen basics:
The math is easy. Lets consider Nikon's rear LCD specification of 920,000 dots (not pixels - Nikon calls them dots). 640 horizontal dots x 480 vertical dots x 3 dot colors (RGB)= 920,000 dots. This is an accepted method of describing LCD resolution within the LCD industry, and it is approved by CIPA.
The resolution could be considered equivalent to - 640 x 480 = 0.3 MP - a bit less than 1/3 of 1 MP.

What it means is the rear LCD on a DSLR camera is near useless for gauging exposure or DoF.
It gets worse. The ambient light falling on the rear LCD changes and is sometimes so bad we can't see much on the rear LCD.
The brightness adjustment for the rear LCD is crude and has limited range, which is also part of why the rear LCD can't be used to accurately evaluate exposure.

We can use the rear LCD to evaluate composition, and with most DSLRs we can 'zoom in' to check focus.

 

[runnah]

I do find the live view exposure simulation on my Canon very helpful.


Dof simulation never works IMO.

 

[soufiej]

Thanks to all. I appreciate the information.

I was considering a Canon G-1X. Apparently the EVF has a 70% view of the focal area. Seems to make it a waste for most functions. That can't be common.

 

[Tinderbox (UK)]

I have been looking for a mirror-less camera with and evf and lcd that show the same image, and i have been though quite a few, some camera`s have an oled evf and the back is an lcd, now an oled and an lcd look very different and it`s not easy to get them to look the same as the subject you are taking a photo of, so you can be sure what your seeing is what you get, my Nikon V2 which and an lcd evf and lcd back display and they both show virtually the same image so i can reasonable certain what i see is what i get, the sensor in my V2 is only 1" so it`s a bit small for most peoples requirements.

On histograms i find it difficult to read them, i have read many guides on how this is done but i still find it a pain that`s why i prefer a mirrowless camera with an evf i can see what the camera sees in real-time and know what the photo will look like, at least as much that is possible for such a tiny display.

John.

 

[soufiej]

Appreciate the input, tinderbox. I hate to sound curmudgeounly, but it almost seems the manufacturers with several dozen models in their line rather intentionally make the choice more difficult. So many features but no one camera with everything you would prefer in one piece of equipment. Then when you find this model that says it has, say, an EVF, it turns out the EVF is basically useless for framing a shot. And it seems that's seldom covered in sufficient detail by the reviewers. If something doesn't fall off in their hands, they don't mention it.

Price appears to gain you features in many cases. Some useful, some not so much. I've been reading the owners manuals for the few cameras I've narrowed the search to but the manuals give three sentences telling me how to turn on a feature and fifteen sentences telling me it won't work that way in 80% of the other settings I could select. I tend to look at menus as logic systems where one thing is based upon another. Not that way in cameras as far as I can tell. Too many buttons do duplicate functions until you want them to to the function you need then it's another button or menu that has to be involved. I'm accustomed to identical integrated circuits used in equipment which will cover several models and the price determines which features of the ic will be turned on. I don't see how that could be the case with the cameras I've looked at. Shopping for cameras is worse than going down the cereal aisles in the grocery store.

I would agree with the histogram comments. It's been a while since I have been involved in cameras but I remember when I was reading tutorials on histograms they were a bit mysterious. They read sort of like I hear friends talk about racing forms; if it's muddy, it's this, if it's rainy, it's that, if it's sunny, it's something different and if it's rainy and the horse had too many oats this morning or your subject has on light colored clothing but no hat, it's something entirely different than the rest. Again, there's a logic to them, just not one that suddenly pops out and says, "Look, dummy ... "

In the end, I would typically set my camera to bracket the exposure and hope I had some sort of clue about what the camera was telling me.

 

[The_Traveler]

Understanding and using modern digital cameras is quite a bit like learning to fly a helicopter.
At first glance, the instrument panel seems like a maze and it would be impossible for an average human to read and respond and use all four limbs separately and make the damn thing stay flying. Eventually it becomes intuitive and both the helicopter and the camera works.
What are useless functions to one person are totally required to another.

As far as buttons duplicating functions, I don't remember that happening to me and it seems counter-intuitive that manufacturers would use a scarce commodity - buttons - in an inutile way.

Histograms are interesting and useful and they will keep you from bracketing needlessly and allow you to make better exposure. - Understanding Histograms is a marvelous tutorial on histograms.