Fujifilm X-E1: judging exposure in viewfinder

I am trying to determine if the XE1 has a feature I use with the VF2 viewfinder on my Olympus epl1. With the Oly in manual mode, over-

and under exposure shows in the viewfinder - the image gets darker or lighter as i adjust aperture or shutter speed. This allows me to see

if I'm overexposing clouds in a landscape for instance, or if I'm losing detail in the shadows. But, in playing with an XE1 in the shop today,

I could not figure out how to set the camera to emulate this behaviour. In full manual operation, the viewfinder always showed a well lit

image, no matter over or underexposed the settings were.

 

I've downloaded the XE1 manual but can't find any mention of this type of operation. Do any xe1 or X-pro1 users know how to turn this

on? Neither the shop guy nor me could figure this out.

 

BTW, I was in the shop to specifically check on how the xe1 viewfinder magnification felt to me. Well, the .6x magnification of the XE is

definitely less appealing than the 1.15x magnification of the VF2. It almost does not make up for the higher resolution. I am so wanting to

move to this fuji camera with its great lenses, but at that price I'm wanting to make sure everything I need in a camera is in it.

<p>As far as I know, the feature you mentioned is not available.</p>

<p>And you will probably have to make some compromises, unless you are prepared to wait some more years until technique is so advanced that a lot more is possible... and yes, it's a neat little thing...</p>

<p>And...does the viewfinder get lighter or darker when +/- is applied in Program mode. THIS is the greatness of electronic viewfinders in my opinion.</p>

I will return to the store today and check if +/- does affect light/dark in the viewfinder. I do believe it did, but could not

recall last night.

Here's what the manual says:

 

"Rotate the exposure compensation dial to adjust exposure when photographing very bright, very dark, or high-contrast

subjects. The effect is visible in the display."

 

That's good! I'll test that today. Does anyone know what that actually does? Do aperture and shutter speed the same and

electronics chane the exposure, or what?

Well, i spent time with the xe1 in the store today, and it works the way the manual says it works. When in P, S, or A

modes, +/- adjusts aperture or shutter speed, and you can see the LCD or VF image get darker or lighter. But in manual

mode, auto-gain is constant, and +/- adjustment is essentially ignored. So no way to visually preview exposure. Even the

histogram refuses to give you any useful information. It stays in the middle of the range no matter how much or little light

you let in. Weird. It ssems to just be showing distribution of light/dark pixels in the world, not on the sensor. Not as

informative as the Olympus VF2 viewfinder, but I could live with it.

 

Two more observations. VF magnification data I find on the web says the VF2 magnification is 1.15x and is .6 for the

XE1's VF. But I set both lenses (Oly 14-42, Fuji 18-55 at 50mm equivelant lengths, and the apparent image magnification

was practically identical. I'd worried the XE1 image would look small, but it was fine. The other thing I looked for was how

much sharper the higher res XE VF would be. Surprise - not all that much. Brighter, better colour, but only a bit sharper to

my eyes, with careful attention to diopter adjustment on both finders.

 

Sadly, time to sell up on some beloved 35mm gear to finance an XE purchase. Film will now be just for MF and LF work

from now on.

<blockquote>

<p>the image gets darker or lighter as i adjust aperture or shutter speed</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>But later you're talking about exposure compensation. That's two different things. Nice to see that it works, though.</p>