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EYE BALL VIEW FINDER VS. LCD SCREEN

PETENOW
Contributor

I don't know what they called it but in the old days when you wanted to take a picture you put the camera up to your right (or left) eyeball. You looked at your subject and you took a picture. With most of todays cameras there is an LCD screen on the camera. Now you hold the camera away from your head and take the picture. While there are advantages to this like being able to view the image from remote locations and also being able to work controls on the same screen, there is a big disadvantage that makes me want to go back to the eyeball view finder. 

 

The first is that on a bright sunny day with an eyeball VF you can see the subject. With the LCD screen the sunlight and glare hits the screen and it's anybody guess what the camera is pointing at. My wife took a picture of me and all she got of me was my hat. I stared at the picture a long time until I figured out it was a picture of me. 

 

Also with an eyeball VF it is easier to hold the camera steady. Since it's braced with at least one arm and my head there is very little camera shake as apposed to holding the camera out about a foot away from my face. 

 

Since both have advantages I want to see more cameras with both eyepieces. I will settle for a  camera with a eyeball VF and use it for the bright sunlight while I use my Canon Vixia HFS200 video camera for all other uses. 

 

Any comments on this would be appreaciated. This is my first post and I don't know how I will know if anybody responds. My email is [Removed personal information per Forum Guidelines]

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION


@PETENOW wrote:

I have an idea about some kind of attachment that would hook up to the lcd  screen. It would taper off to an eyepiece that is adjustable. I have to find the eye piece and and the material and somehow make it stick to the lcd screen.


there are companies that make these.  

 

There are LCD "hoods" (to protect the LCD from getting washed out with the sunlight)

There are also LCD "viewfinders" (covers the LCD but provides an eye-cup and loupe so you can put your eye up to it and treat it like a viewfinder on cameras that only have an LCD screen.)

 

I've seen versions of the "hood" that are hinged so you can swing them out of the way when not using it.  Typically they attach to the tripod socket.

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da

View solution in original post

18 REPLIES 18

I will read this article with much interest. 

 

Thank you

 

John_SD
Whiz

If you are an outdoor photographer (not just shooting at the bird bath or hummingbird feeder), you will demand an articulating screen. When it is time for me to upgarde my camera, you can be sure I'll have that feature.

 

Many a time while shooting wildflowers, lizards, snakes, scorpions, insects, etc. which I prefer to do eye-to-eye, requiring me to shoot on my belly, I wished that I had an articulating screen. I am not interested in shooting such things from a standing position and the articulating screen would allow me a greater range of position as well as a more convenient view, if you will. Till then I will continue on with my lowly T6, from which I have learned much -- both in making the best use of what I have and also what I would like to have next time around. YMMV.

I am really kicking myself for forgetting about the how the lcd screen get washed out in sunlight. I made a big deal about a camera that could take in audio for a source other than the internal mic but I comletley for got about the view finder. I have an idea about some kind of attachment that would hook up to the lcd  screen. It would taper off to an eyepiece that is adjustable. I have to find the eye piece and and the material and somehow make it stick to the lcd screen.


@PETENOW wrote:

I have an idea about some kind of attachment that would hook up to the lcd  screen. It would taper off to an eyepiece that is adjustable. I have to find the eye piece and and the material and somehow make it stick to the lcd screen.


there are companies that make these.  

 

There are LCD "hoods" (to protect the LCD from getting washed out with the sunlight)

There are also LCD "viewfinders" (covers the LCD but provides an eye-cup and loupe so you can put your eye up to it and treat it like a viewfinder on cameras that only have an LCD screen.)

 

I've seen versions of the "hood" that are hinged so you can swing them out of the way when not using it.  Typically they attach to the tripod socket.

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da

Could you tell me the vendor or make and model of these hoods? That would save me gobs of money buying a camera just to get an eye piece. 

Thanks

I received an email stating that somebody replied today..  but I don't see anything new or dated today. 

I suspect the move to elimenate the viewfinder from many cameras is because so many users are used to using a cell phone and don't feel comfortable or consider using the viewfinder.  I experienced this one day when I was shooting some wolves in a reserve.  I was using a EOS 60D DSLR equipped with both a viewfinder and a LCD,  a lady beside me was using a Powershot SX50HS, which has both an EVF (Electronic View Finder) and a LCD, but she was using the LCD exclusively.

 

We were both shooting fairly long and I was not filling the frame (I was using a EF 70-300 MkI).  She was shooting around a 500mm Equivalent and was frustrated by her results because they were all blurred.  A quick look at her images told me her problem was camera shake, which I believed was her holding the camera at arm's length.  So I explained how to use the camera with stable posture and the viewfinder, and immediately her images improved dramatically.  She had never even considered the viewfinder before and confirmed she had only had previous experience with cell phones.

 

One way I explain the need to users to brace properly is to get them to hold a broom by the bristle end, and not let the tip of the handle move. Holding the broom like a cell phone was not very effective, and quickly they move to bracing the camera by the handle (like holding a rifle).  If one considers the broom handle to be the line of sight of the camera, and considering that long lenses can weigh a bit, this is a simple demonstration that is pursuasive.

 

With that thought in mind, if people are going to use the camera using the cell phone technique, it makes sense they would not bother with the expense of putting in an EVF.   This will be ok for people taking shots at shorter focal lengths, but for me, as a wildlife photographer, I could never take the camera away from my eye because (hand held) I need all the stability I can get.

 

For that reason I find it frustring that Canon's mirrorless offerings have so few models with an EVF.  I have got a EOS 5M which DOES have an EVF.


cheers, TREVOR

"All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow", Leo Tolstoy;
"Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not by purchase" Percy W. Harris

I found a vendor that sells hoods so I am going to give that a try. It's not the eye piece that I want but I can alway use a mono pod or the stabiling feature which works quite well 

 

Thanks for all the replies. 

 

When I get the hood. I will give a review. 

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