Digicam fun quiz

<p>Need some help actually...</p>

<p>Curent or discontinued, what digicams can you shut off the rear LCD and still shoot beside the Nikon P7000 and the Canon G series?</p>

<p>*Bonus*: Out of those, are there any but w/o an OVF? Thanks!</p>

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<p>My current Canon G12 can shoot without the LCD and also without the OVF. Prevously I had a Minolta DiImage 7 that could shoot without the LCD on. </p>

<p>On my severely aging Sony DSC-W30 (circa 2006) you can do that, but it has a tiny VF.</p>

<p>[[what digicams can you shut off the rear LCD and still shoot]]</p>

<p>Any that also have an optical viewfinder. There are many, many, many cameras that do/did this.</p>

<p>By many I meant this: dpreview.com returns<strong> 576</strong> compact and ultra-compact cameras with optical viewfinders. </p>

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<p>Any that also have an optical viewfinder</p>

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<p>Rob, yeah I know...I was more interested in my *bonus* question which is what one(s) without a VF can do it. Sorry, I should of made it more clear. I'm after (relatively) recent digicams that are not too big btw. I'm not sure how to use the DPR feature function if I took out VF feature.</p>

By no VF, I guess you mean neither OVF nor EVF. The Canon SX30 is so listed on dcrecource.com's cameraList, but that seems to be a mistake. Possibly Casio TRYX, but I do not understand how it works from the pictures. The Samsung TL500 (EX1) screen can be rotated 180 degees, but not folded back on itself. My F550EXR can turn LCD brightness down for concerts, but it never goes blank. Maybe the LX5 can be rigged to believe it has EVF mounted.

 

Aha, according to a Flickr post (LX5: Issues with being unable to turn off the LCD display) the Ricoh GRD can do this.

<p>Yes, neither EVF nor OVF, Bill. And to makes things even more difficult...Cross off the Ricohs, Samsung TL500 and the LX3/5. Any other model? </p>

<p>My Nikon 5700 and Panasonic FZ20/30/50's can shut off the LCD when viewing through the EVF. None have an optical viewfinder thank goodness :-) I guess you want a camera that appears to be 'dead' but actually is ready to go :-) I'd put a piece of thick black electrician's tape over the EVF? Answer your need? :-)</p>

<p>My old Canon S70 has a OVF and the LCD can be turned off to shoot. The S70 was the last S-series camera that had an OVF. Beginning with the S80 none have an OVF. Basically any camera that has an OVF will allow the LCD to be turned off.<br>

By the way, turning off the LCD to shoot by turning off the LCD on cameras like the Canon G12 or Nikon P7000 is a bad idea as the OVF is just terrible to the point of being useless. I have a Nikon P7000 and cannot believe how bad it is compared to my old Canon S70. The S70's OVF is useless for macro only but pretty decent otherwise. The P7000 is bad in all shooting conditions.</p>

<p>I will be amazed if there is a camera that lets you turn off the LCD and doesn't have any other viewfinder. How would you know what you you are taking?<br>

Guess I guess!</p>

<p>You would be amazed, Geoff. As mentioned, some ricoh models are. As for why? that's the mystery isn't it;)</p>

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<p>My ancient Leica D-lux let me turn the LCD off and continue shooting. It has a viewfinder. BTW, I still think it is a beauty.<br>

http://www.dpreview.co.uk/news/0304/03041502leicadlux.asp</p>

<p>That would be handy for point-and-guess shooting where you don't want to attract attention with a glowing LCD screen. I do that occasionally at the theater, ballet and opera with my old Olympus C-3040Z, but it has an optical finder. I'll prop it on my knee to snap pix of family and friends while they're watching the show. Far less distracting to other audience members than lifting the camera to my eye. Hadn't occurred to me that any digicams without optical or EVF finders might offer a way to disable the LCD screen.</p>

<p>My little Panasonic FX35 doesn't allow the LCD to be turned off. It does have a sleep mode that can be enabled, but as soon as the shutter button is pressed, the LCD comes on again. I used my old Canon A620 with the LCD off a bit, but the viewfinder was so poor it was only for very casual snapshots. Same with my Nikon P7000, the viewfinder is so poor, with maybe 65% coverage, it is utterly pointless to use it. Plus I like to check the results of the photo on the LCD screen when I am using the +- EV control. Seems the Nikon P7000 metering often results in a slightly over exposed shot. But good idea Lex, for use in a dark theater so as not to disturb other patrons. My little Panasonic throws out a red beam for focus when it is dark, which usually catches the attention of some people. I think that is called "Active AF" vs the passive mode, which doesn't do that. My old Canon Pro1 had the passive AF.</p>

<p>i'm so bummed i can't play this game. i was going to say TL500 (you can flip the screen so that it's covered), but it's been eliminated from consideration. oh well...</p>

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<p>Hehe;) Eric is right...TL500 is indeed one but I already knew that. </p>

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<p>, the viewfinder is so poor, with maybe 65% coverage, it is utterly pointless...</p>

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<p>Is the OVF really that bad on the P7000? 65%, really? </p>

<p>Base calumny! Imaging-resource says the P7000 viewfinder is 84%, and it is better centered than the G12 viewfinder.</p>

<p>I have the Nikon P7000 and I can tell you that the OVF shows nowhere near 84% of actual scene coverage. I agree with Dave Lee that the OVF is really pointless on the P7000. What you see through the viewfinder is very different to what you actually record. It is not well-centered at all which is the biggest problem. I haven't handled a Canon G12 so I cannot compare the P7000 to it. My old Canon S70 is perfectly centered and shows over 90% of coverage. Excellent OVF. Too bad they don't make OVF like they used to.</p>

Imaging Resource measured the S70 viewfinder at 82%.

<p>I have both the Canon G12 and S70 and the differences between their optical viewfinder accuracy is huge. I'm not sure about the Imaging Resources measurements but to me the big difference is that the S70 is well-centered which makes it very usable while the G12 is off-cenetered by a lot making it totally useless in my opinion. Personally I am surprised that the IR measurements show the S70 at 82%. They may well be right but I still find the optical viewfinder to be very good. For macro, both these cameras and all P&S cameras have optical viewfinders that are unusable.</p>

<p>Ricoh GRD, Ricoh GXR, Sigma DP-1. All have a hot-shoe and a matching optical finder can be attached to it. Electronic finder can also be connected to GXR. The rear LCD consumes a lot of power. It can be useful to be able to shut it off even in a camera without any other finder, to save power when camera is for example on a tripod and pointed to a night-time cityscape.</p>