The vast majority of people who are taking photos take in the view of the camera by looking at a display, be it from a smartphone or a compact camera. But when it comes to DSLR and mirrorless cameras, photographers will often pull in the camera real close to their eye and see through what’s called a “viewfinder”.
And while most of us may be accustomed to using screens, you’ll soon find that there are many cases where a viewfinder is necessary.
In this article, you’ll discover:
- What is a viewfinder?
- Why use a viewfinder instead of your display?
- What’s the difference between electronic & optical viewfinders?
- How to get better photos with a viewfinder
What is a Viewfinder?
When referring to photography, a viewfinder is that tiny little window that you can commonly find in DSLR and mirrorless cameras.
You can use a viewfinder to get the view of your camera before taking the shot, and usually very basic information, such as focus confirmation, your battery level, how many pictures before you run out of memory, exposure, aperture, and shutter speed.
But now the question is: Why not just use the display of the camera? Most of us have been shooting like that with smartphones since forever anyway, right?
Viewfinder VS Live View: What’s the Benefit?
The viewfinder isn’t just a fancy way to shoot photos and look like a pro. In fact, you’ll find it offers plenty of benefits over the live view, aka, shooting via your camera’s display.
More specifically:
- Perfect visibility under sunlight
- More stable/sharper shots
- Faster autofocus (For DSLR cameras)
- Much less battery consumption (Depending on camera)
Let’s dive a little bit deeper as to why that is.
Benefit 1: Visibility Under Sunlight
The thing about digital displays is that the brighter it is outside, the harder it is to see. Some displays perform better at this than other, depending on how bright they are and whether they use anti-glare coating.
But all viewfinders, on the other hand, perform superbly under sunlight. Since you are placing your eye directly above the viewfinder and blocking the sunlight, it won’t really matter whether your viewfinder is optical or digital, bright or dim.
All viewfinders provide great visibility under sunlight.
Benefit 2: Stability and Sharpness
Unless you have super steady hands, and most of us often overestimate how steady our hands are, chances are you’ll be able to hold your camera steadier if it’s resting on your face.
Now, shooting via the viewfinder doesn’t have a direct impact on sharpness, but it does on stability. That leads to sharper images in certain scenarios.
Shooting at high shutter speeds obviously negates that advantage. But when you need to go below 1/60, you’ll appreciate the extra stability a viewfinder can provide.
Benefit 3: Battery Life
Viewfinders require significantly less power to operate. Depending on your camera, you can get anywhere from 10% to double, triple, or sometimes even quadruple the battery life you’d get with the display.
The Canon 70D, for example, typically gets around 200ish shots when on live view, but more than 900 shots with the viewfinder! That’s more than 4x the shots.
It is only in rare cases where the viewfinder consumes more battery life. The Canon R10, for example, goes from 350 shots via the rear screen to 210 via the viewfinder, presumably because it uses a digital viewfinder with a high refresh rate of 120Hz. More about the technical aspects further below.
But in most cameras, the viewfinder simply provides better battery life, especially in DSLRs.
Benefit 4: Autofocus Performance (Exclusive to DSLRs)
DSLR cameras use a dedicated phase detection autofocus system when you are shooting via the viewfinder. And in most DSLR cameras it is so much faster than the live view alternative that it can make or break a shot, particularly when it comes to fast action, such as wildlife or sports photography.
This is particularly apparent if your camera is using contrast detection autofocus when on live view. Contrast detection may be more accurate and the closest accuracy you can get compared to manual focus. However, it’s also significantly slower, with cheaper/older DSLRs taking well over 2 seconds to focus even on a still subject.
A viewfinder, by comparison, typically focuses in a fraction of a second, even on some of the oldest and cheapest DSLRs.
This doesn’t affect mirrorless cameras as they use the same autofocus system regardless of if you are shooting via the rear display or the viewfinder.
Optical VS Electronic Viewfinder
Not all viewfinders are the same. Some have bigger coverage, more focus points, better magnification levels, different features, etc.
But the biggest differentiator that’s worth keeping in mind is optical vs electronic viewfinders.
As the name suggests, optical viewfinders allow you to peek directly through your lens via a mirror that reflects light from the lens back to the viewfinder. This is what DSLR cameras use.
An electronic viewfinder, on the other hand, is practically the same as any other display, just smaller. This is what mirrorless cameras use.
Both options have their own pros and cons, as you can see in my mirrorless vs DSLR comparison. It’s not like there is an option that’s objectively superior.
You’ll have to look into the advantages yourself and judge what suits you best.
Optical Viewfinder (OVF)
Optical viewfinders, found in DSLRs, are effectively a window to the outside world through your lens. They require little to no power and give you an unaltered image of your lens is seeing.
But because there is zero processing in the preview you are looking at, it’s harder to judge how the final image is going to look like, such as its colors, exposure, and focus accuracy.
And while you do get an exposure meter, cameras can’t always accurately judge exposure. If they did, we wouldn’t need advanced exposure modes or manual mode.
Pros
- Extremely power efficient
- Gives you an unaltered view of the lens
- Image is as sharp as your lens
- Zero lag
- Super smooth
Cons
- No preview of image exposure
Electronic Viewfinder (EVF)
Electronic viewfinders, commonly found in mirrorless cameras, are practically small displays that give you a direct preview of what your sensor is capturing.
The benefit of this is you’ll know how your picture will look like before you take it. Furthermore, because you are looking at a display, if your sensor can adequately boost light levels, you’ll be able to see better in the dark than you’d otherwise with the naked eye and an OVF.
Also, mirrorless cameras use a single autofocus system. So you won’t have to worry about your autofocus performance and settings when switching from the viewfinder to the display.
The downside is that displays and processing require power, so you get significantly less battery life when comparing two identical cameras with an OVF VS an EVF.
Another downside is that displays basically show you multiple frames per second to deliver the false sense of motion, which is very identical to how videos work.
This means that the smoothness of motion via your EVF will depend on the refresh rate. The higher the refresh rate, the smoother the live preview will be, but also the higher the battery consumption.
Last, but not least, keep in mind the sharpness of a display depends on how close you are looking at it and the number of pixels. And since viewfinders, by design, are super close to our eyes, it’s nearly impossible to get an EVF that’s as sharp as an OVF.
In summary, electronic viewfinders are superior in some core ways compared to optical viewfinders, and they are no doubt the future. But they also have numerous disadvantages that are not going to be resolved any time soon.
Pros
- Gives you a preview of the picture before you take it
- Great for night shots (Heavily reliant on your sensor and ISO noise levels)
- Autofocus performance and settings not affected by the viewfinder
Cons
- Uses more power
- Sharpness depends on resolution
- Smoothness depends on refresh rate
Wrapping Up
That’s all there is to know about viewfinders, the advantages of using one, as well as the different types with their own pros and cons.
If you have a question or if you think an important piece of info is missing from the article, feel free to drop a comment and I’ll get back to you ASAP.