Which is Better, an Optical or a Digital Viewfinder? The downfall of electronic viewfinders is that they consume battery power, which shortens the amount of time that you can shoot, and if the resolution of the digital viewfinder doesn’t match the resolution of the camera, you might not be seeing an accurate image of the scene you are trying to photograph.Īs mirrorless cameras become more popular, digital viewfinders are becoming more commonplace because mirrorless cameras do not have optical viewfinders. Instead, it is a digital representation of that image. That’s because pentamirror systems have a mirror located directly in front of the image sensor, and it has to flip up and out of the way for the image to be captured.īoth types of optical viewfinders work very well for capturing accurate images as long as the diopter, which is the lens in front of viewfinder, is adjusted properly for the photographer’s vision.Įlectronic viewfinders work in a similar fashion, except the image that is reflected into the viewfinder is not the image that travels through the camera lens.
These mirrors are often plastic, and can be heard moving when the camera shutter button is pressed.
#DIGITAL VIEWFINDER SERIES#
Lower-end and entry-level DSLR cameras typically use the pentamirror viewfinder system, where the image traveling through the lens is reflected into the viewfinder using a series of mirrors. This is often how high-end DSLR camera viewfinders work. If the optical viewfinder uses a pentaprism, then the image is reflected through the prism. An optical viewfinder uses either a pentaprism or a pentamirror to reflect the image traveling through the camera lens up to the viewfinder. How a viewfinder works is determined by the type of viewfinder you’re using. For example, if you’re shooting in a place where it’s awkward to hold the camera to your face, the viewfinder screen may help you focus better, especially if it’s an articulating screen that can move left and right as well as up and down. This screen, which is usually about two to two and a half inches square, can also be used to frame a scene and focus the camera.Īnd, in some cases, the viewfinder screen is a better option than the optical or digital viewfinder located on the body of the camera. This is the screen on the back of most DSLR cameras where photographers can change settings, scroll through captured images, and in some cases, make some minor changes or corrections to the image. There’s also another type of viewfinder, though it is often lumped into the digital viewfinder category: the viewfinder screen. For example, a digital viewfinder may show a more accurate representation of the lighting conditions for the scene that is in focus. Digital viewfinders do have some advantages, though.
This means the image you see through a digital viewfinder may not be exactly the view that the lens is capturing.