Electronic Viewfinders - A Useless Feature?
Previewed on 18 September 2007

Picture this… you have just scurried off into the night for what should be a splendid session of photography. Everything seems perfect, but that is until you realize your night will be spent eyeing through an electronic viewfinder (EVF). An absolute eyesore, these horrid nights of shooting may sound all too familiar to some of us.

EVFs might prove their worth on a sunny day, but when shooting conditions are less than perfect, you can’t help but shudder at how hopeless EVFs can be. Squinting through a EVF, images tend to be coarse and often fail to give correct exposure or image brightness. EVFs also struggle to give the focus you need when taking macro or portrait photography. In dark lighting conditions, EVFs tend to get even darker and while an ISO boost may forcibly brighten your image, the noise would surely have become an issue. Eyeing through a SLR viewfinder, a demanding photographer will be able to accurately perceive shifts in colour and subtle changes in focus – something which EVFs are unable to do.

Given the bombardment of criticisms, should that make EVFs an object to shun and SLRs an object to crave? Not quite. Provided that you are a photographer who rarely uses manual focus, photographs in the dark or feels the need to switch lenses, a SLR camera might not be the obvious choice for you. Compared to SLRs, prosumer cameras with EVFs are generally more affordable, lighter and have a more compact body featuring extra functionality that SLRs lack. One can also expect a larger and better LCD display on EVF cameras that offer greater shooting flexibility. Despite not giving as precise an image compared to SLRs, EVFs nonetheless give a through-the-lens view of your whole image frame which not all SLRs are capable of. Although not giving as true an image as SLRs, they do provide a clear enough image on a bright sunny day, enough to deliver you satisfying results.

At the end of the day, EVFs are no more than a miniature-sized video display and hardly rivals the supreme clarity of an optical SLR viewfinder. Given the quality of EVFs in the market today are mostly sub-par, it is an area that definitely needs extra work and improving. However, with the continuing advancements made in camera technology today, we have faith that camera makers are progressing and pulling EVFs closer and closer towards the likeness of a SLR. EVFs might never quite reach the standard of quality produced by a SLR, but once they reach a quality that's respectable, you simply can’t deny the benefits they bring.