Viewfinder comparison (report)

Just in case anyone cares, I just went to a local shop and compared (visually)

several viewfinders. Here are my observations:

 

Olympus E-500 is the smallest of all (really bad). Nikon D50 and Rebel XTi are

next in size (not big enough for my taste). Sony alpha and Canon 30D are

noticeably larger (acceptable). Nikon D80 is even larger, and by a good margin

(I don't know how Nikon does it). What is nice (IMO) about the D80 VF is that

the image is close (in your face), so that tunnel effect is gone. I don't know

how important VF is to most people, but to me that is in the top 3 features I

will look at when comparing/buying a dSLR.

 

I hope this helps someone.

If you have a chance to play with a Pentax K100D or K10D, it would be nice to hear what you think of it, especially in comparison to the models you listed above.

All is relative, if you ever use a leica RF or a nikon F3 HP then none of the above should be

acceptable. The D80 VF is great if you come from the d70/50 line...The pentaxes DSLR VF

are good as well.

 

My pentax 110 camera (better/bigger) VF put my d70VF to shame. There is no good reason

not to make bigger VF for dx cameras. How can they put a bigger VF on the 110 but not

dSLRs?#!^&! A freaking pentax auto 110!@#$%^&*(!

LOL! That is a good question.

Small viewfinders are bad enough but coupled to the tunnel effect it makes so many DSLR's,to me, unusable.

I settled on the Olympus E1. It does not have the largest VF but it is brighter than most & has little of the tunnel view.

As I still use Nikon film cameras I appreciate a good VF.

A poor VF on a DSLR makes it ,IMHO, nothing more than a point & shoot with interchangable lenses!

Next compare mirror slap!