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+ for EVF


Gary Naka

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I do not remember if it was this forum, where someone asked about the EVF.

Well I discovered another plus for the EVF.

 

I was shooting tennis, and the sunlight was so strong that I could not view the images on the back screen. No amount of shading was enough to do much good.

The images were a bit under exposed, but I could not tell, as the background was dark. All that I could see was there were no blinking highlights on the subject.

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Ooops

I realized the OP was not clear.

I was shooting with tennis with a dSLR, so I did not have an EVF, only the back screen to check the images that I shot.

 

The neat thing about the EVF is that I would have known that I was going to underexpose the subject BEFORE I pressed the shutter.

 

You are correct, I am pretty sure that I can salvage the images.

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I find the EVF on my little OMD em10 when combined with P mode a boon especially when photographing sports in changeable lighting conditions. It allows me to concentrate fully on exposing for the subject and not worry about changing exposures. It seems to work quite well for me.
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I had a job for half a dozen years which included photographing woodland areas under all kinds of weather conditions. Shortly after getting the position I was able to choose and have them purchase a big name all weather / underwater camera. A great idea, since temperature, rain, etc were irrelevant. An excellent camera,unfortunately, it had no finder, and I had not thought about light. When the light was "wrong" no kind of gyration made the screen on the back of the camera usable. It was guess, snap and hope. To the extent possible, I would time the photo sessions so that light would not be a problem. In a few cases, I had to return and take the shots again. I do not / will not own a camera without a finder.
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Your ability to judge exposure in an EVF is limited. The brightness adjusts to a wide range of subjects and settings. That makes it easy to judge DOF and various picture profiles, but not exposure unless it is several stops out of whack. Your best indication is the condition of highlights, and whether they contain detail. You can also refer to the histogram and color coding (I forget the exact term) which highlights parts too bright or too dark for capture. That's not something you would use in real time, however.
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The rear screen can be used in all kinds of light using a Hoodman viewer. The Hoodman has 1:1 magnification (no point in magnifying individual pixels) with your eye 3" from the screen, with a skirt to exclude ambient light. It's an essential tool for live view in a DSLR, but handy for extreme low or odd angle shots with an MILC too.
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Hoodman viewer

Awkward solution to a design drawback - shouldn't they be built in to cameras if they are a solution? Should they even be needed given adequate thought to camera usage and design? Nope, I'll take a VF or EVF simply because they solve the problems (as they always have) without cluttering up the camera.

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shouldn't they be built in to cameras if they are a solution?

A Hoodman is pretty bulky, certainly not amenable to being permanently attached. My rear screen folds out 90 degrees, so for extremely low positions, I can view from the top. The hood is detachable from the lens, and makes a reasonably good light shield used by itself.

 

Using live view, including video, with a DSLR leaves you no alternative to using the rear screen. Point and hope doesn't cut it. Many DSLRs don't auto-focus in video mode, and a Hoodman helps in focusing. (There's no magnification, buy your eye is only 3" from the screen, which makes it seem relatively large) .

 

I use a 7" monitor when shooting video with my Sony. Shouldn't that be built into the camera too ;)

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Using live view, including video, with a DSLR leaves you no alternative to using the rear screen. Point and hope doesn't cut it. Many DSLRs don't auto-focus in video mode

Since I don't ever use video or live view for that matter, the rear screen or monitor is only used on occasion to check shots and is not even particularly good for that. The issue is simply as stated in my previous comment, the hood is a marginal solution to a design drawback of the screen / monitor concept which is not present in viewfinders. I doubt I've shot with live view a dozen times.

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Y

Since I don't ever use video or live view for that matter, the rear screen or monitor is only used on occasion to check shots and is not even particularly good for that. The issue is simply as stated in my previous comment, the hood is a marginal solution to a design drawback of the screen / monitor concept which is not present in viewfinders. I doubt I've shot with live view a dozen times.

You don't use live view or shoot video. That's not particularly helpful, since many do, and this is one solution.

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I use a Hoodman folding cover for my "monitor". But the reason I asked (.~ is the emoji for irony, BTW) what the "screen" was, is that I turn mine off except when I need it for some particular reason.

 

I can't stand the darned thing blinking at me all the time, for one thing. It has its uses, but they are not a factor in most of my 'workflow'.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I had a job for half a dozen years which included photographing woodland areas under all kinds of weather conditions. Shortly after getting the position I was able to choose and have them purchase a big name all weather / underwater camera. A great idea, since temperature, rain, etc were irrelevant. An excellent camera,unfortunately, it had no finder, and I had not thought about light. When the light was "wrong" no kind of gyration made the screen on the back of the camera usable. It was guess, snap and hope. To the extent possible, I would time the photo sessions so that light would not be a problem. In a few cases, I had to return and take the shots again. I do not / will not own a camera without a finder.

 

Ran into the same problem with my little P&S.

On a sunny day, the rear screen was useless, as there was soo much glare on the screen.

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