(FT4) UPDATED: Olympus may working on an attachable electronic viewfinder for the E-P1
In the past forumfourthirds.de were right with all their “rumors”. Now it seems the administrator of the forum got the news from Olympus themselves that they are working on an attachable EVF for the . That would be a very good move from Olympus!
UPDATE: They confirm that the the E-P1 will be available in Germany late July
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yoshitoshi
June 25, 2009 |I’m a classic type of guy. It would be neat if they made a mechanical one for the m4/3 zoom lenses. They should take a page out of Leica’s book and make 1 master mechanical one that would throw up different guide lines depending on lens. I guess that would cost more than an electronic vf though but I dont need 2 lcd screens.
radis2
June 25, 2009 |I wouldn’t buy neither of them.
I simply just frame with an LCD , look over the camera, hold it still, wait for the moment and shoot…..but that’s really annoying and hard to master, but save money
( I did that with my P&S and managed to get SOME good shot with moving subject )
Joachim
June 25, 2009 |I am not surprised, that most people prefer an EVF. But personally I would prefer for focal length 17 mm the announced optical viewfinder VF-1, if it would get a focus indicator.
compositor20
June 25, 2009 |lets hope they make a new flash one that ataches to the hot shoe but you can put it to the side instead of up… it will be more portable that the fl-14 it would be enough for fill shadows
one that gets tight to the mode dial (it coul be made since the dial is turned at the back and not in the up side of the camera)=
Mike
June 25, 2009 |Just make both types of viewfinders and consumers will chose one. I prefer optical VF (classic) with some informations displayed on the bottom: like AF confirmation, shutter speed… Yes there is parallax issue but complex optical system in the VF can deal with it.
carlos
June 25, 2009 |So this means avaiable when?….2010?
admin
June 26, 2009 |No idea
Thyl
June 25, 2009 |Why would anybody prefer an EVF over a real optical viewfinder? Would you rather watch the landscape on TV than to look out of the window? Maybe there is a misconception on the capabilities of an optical viewfinder? It could be made a zooming viefinder for example, i.e. such a viewfinder would show the same scene as an EVF, following the set focal length. And it could be provided with additional information depiction, like focussing and exposure information. SLR finders also show a lot of information.
Lu
June 25, 2009 |@Thyl: a zooming viewfinder would be very expensive, I assume.
@Mike: “Yes there is parallax issue but complex optical system in the VF can deal with it.”
Do you really know this?
I doubt that there is so much that can be done but correct me if there are possibilites, I would like to know more about this.
I personally like optical viewfinders and think it would be good if future non-zoom lenses could be bought with fitting optical viewfinders.
But I think the future is EVF, sadly I didn’t even see the G1s EVF so I don’t know the state of the art.
Bu
June 26, 2009 |Playing catch up is admirable, but the idea of an attached evf seems a little silly, just another attachment to carry, making the device less pocketable. Olympus would do better to simply incorporate the evf/ovf into their next device; instead focus on delivering some decent primes with a f2 or faster.
Duarte Bruno
June 26, 2009 |Forget the OVF. It’s a near impossibility without a MIRROR!
Comparing it with the G1′s EVF, an OVF will not show you the true DOF, will not work under very low light nor show you a large enough image. It’s only advantage is the refresh rate.
I welcome the EVF if it is G1 comparable as it’s the best focus enhancer around.
Rob. S.
June 26, 2009 |What is a “classic viewfinder” with that type of camera?
It certainly isn’t an SLR-type reflex viewfinder, which wouldn’t be possible without the mirror anyway, although the Pen F/FT had one, while an SLR finder used to fit into even smaller and lighter film cameras (56mm x 99mm x 45mm, 172 grams: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentax_Auto_110).
A classic rangefinder, on the other hand, would be too much effort for a camera which will be used with AF most of the time, and probably wouldn’t be possible as an attachable device, either.
Which would leave a primitive seethrough-viewfinder without features except maybe marks for the frame of the attached lens. Or, even better, a zoomable optical viewfinder like they used to build them into digital compacts – but that, again, would probably be difficult to build as an attachable device.
Personally, I’d find something like the latter nice, although I’d prefer a good EVF – but actually neither, if it would hog the flash shoe, especially since there’s no built-in flash. Besides, it would make the already not-too-small camera (looking at the Pen F/FT, which includes a complete porro slr viewfinder system) even larger. I’d probably rather buy an E-620 instead…
Cheers,
Robert
luis
June 26, 2009 |@Thyl: “Why would anybody prefer an EVF over a real optical viewfinder?”
I think in your question you’re missing a few crucial factors: size, brightness, coverage and price point. Certainly, if we keep all of those factors equal, it would be kinda silly to pick an EVF (even the DMC-G1′s) over an otherwise equivalent OVF. Optical has more resolution and is real-time.
The problem is that not all else is equivalent. The G1′s viewfinder is bigger and brighter than other cameras in its price range, is pretty sharp, and allows some really cool features to be implemented that an OVF cannot match (live histogram, full-brightness DoF preview, shutter speed blur preview). It also has some significant disadvantages (gets grainy and slow in low light), so it comes down to a set of tradeoffs, but at that price point, it’s absolutely competitive with comparably priced OVFs.
It can’t compete (yet!) with the OVF on a full-frame DSLR, but those cameras cost about 5x as much as a G1!
Thyl
June 27, 2009 |So, we can agree that both kinds of viewfinders are needed, since each type has its specific applications. Now that has been clarified: Olympus, go!
Thyl
June 28, 2009 |After having reviewed the operating manual, I believe that serious obstacles wuld have to be overcome and Olypmus had not really planned for additional, more “active viewfinders. E.g., when connecting a monitor to the HDMI output (but not the AV output), picture cannot be taken. And there is presently not possibility to manually set the focal length of a manual lens attached to the E-P1.
So maybe the best compromise for the EVF right now might be to offer a hybrid of a LCD hood and a waistlevel finder as known from MF cameras, i.e. a light, collapsable plastic contruction that nevertheless has included a magnifier lens (not a fresnel lens) and is easily detachable. Unfortunately, there is no mechanical mechanism whatsoever on the E-P1 that would indicate that Olympus had planned at least therefor.
Thyl
June 28, 2009 |Pls accept my serious apologies for the spelling errors in my above posting. Too tired?
bob m
July 1, 2009 |Well this camera will take any olympus lens made in last 30 years (with adapter) No OVF can cover this range…In bright sunlight it is impossible to view using a LCD…Also it isnt to easy to focus manually with LCD..This is main reason why I would not buy this camera..If they bring out a EVC .then I will reconsider.A nice solution that would work would be a viewfinder that you slide over the LCD.. As in old medium format camers you would look down into it…As the image would be upside down a simple switch on camera that flips image when this viewfinder is used..Just a sealed box with a viewfinder.. and a mirror at 45 degrees.. Simple Idea that would be perfect for me..