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An electronic viewfinder (EVF) is a camera
An electronic viewfinder (EVF) is a camera viewfinder
In photography, a viewfinder is what the photographer looks through to compose, and, in many cases, to focus the picture. Most viewfinders are separate, and suffer parallax, while the single-lens reflex camera lets the viewfinder use the main ...
where the image captured by the lens is displayed on a small screen (usually LCD or OLED
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED or organic LED), also known as organic electroluminescent (organic EL) diode, is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light i ...
) which the photographer can look through when composing their shot. It differs from a live preview
Live preview is a feature that allows a digital camera's display screen to be used as a viewfinder. This provides a means of previewing framing and other exposure before taking the photograph. In most such cameras, the preview is generated by m ...
screen in being smaller and shaded from ambient light, and may also use less power. The sensor records the view through the lens, the view is processed, and finally projected on a miniature display which is viewable through the eyepiece
An eyepiece, or ocular lens, is a type of lens that is attached to a variety of optical devices such as telescopes and microscopes. It is named because it is usually the lens that is closest to the eye when someone looks through the device. The ...
.
Digital viewfinders are used in digital still camera
A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...
s and in video camera
A video camera is an optical instrument that captures videos (as opposed to a movie camera, which records images on film). Video cameras were initially developed for the television industry but have since become widely used for a variety of other ...
s. Some cameras (such as Panasonic, Sony, Fujifilm) have an automatic eye sensor which switches the display from screen to EVF when the viewfinder is near the eye. More modest cameras use a button to switch the display. Some have no button at all.
While many cameras come with a built-in EVF, this is fixed in place and can only be used while holding the camera to the user's eye, which may not be convenient. Other cameras don't come with an EVF at all, or come with a low quality one. It is sometimes possible to get a separate, attachable EVF to use in these cases.
Comparison with optical viewfinders
Whereas EVFs use a digital screen to display a representation of the scene captured by a camera, an optical viewfinder (OVF) typically uses a prism and mirror to direct the image coming through the camera's lens to the viewfinder. An EVF enables the user to view previously taken photographs and use the camera's menu system while looking through the viewfinder, which is not possible with an OVF. It also allows the use of features such as focus peaking (colourful lines displayed on screen to indicate which parts of the scene are in focus which helps with focussing and composing a shot) and zebras (which help with setting exposure by indicating on screen when a part of the image will be overexposed with the current camera settings). The digital preview shown in an EVF incorporates the camera's settings (including exposure, white balance, etc.) and so the image seen can be an exact preview of what the taken photograph will look like, which is not possible with an OVF. OVFs may be better suited to use in low light or situations with very big differences in brightness due to the dynamic range limitations of an electronic screen. There is also no time lag with an OVF, whereas an EVF might take a bit of time to process the image and update the display (particularly when using longer exposure times). To get the advantage of both optical and digital viewfinders some cameras have hybrid viewfinders. These display the image in an optical eyepiece viewfinder, or digitally on an LCD screen. Examples include someFujifilm X-series
The Fujifilm X series is a line of digital cameras produced by Fujifilm. The series encompasses fixed lens and interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras and premium compact point-and-shoot cameras aimed at consumer, enthusiast and professional photo ...
cameras.
See also
*Digital photography
Digital photography uses cameras containing arrays of electronic photodetectors interfaced to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to produce images focused by a lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. The digitized image is sto ...
* Zoom-lens reflex camera
A zoom-lens reflex (ZLR) camera is a low-end single-lens reflex (SLR) camera having an integrated zoom lens rather than the interchangeable lenses found on other SLR cameras.
The term was coined by Olympus for thIS-seriesfilm cameras.
Olympus als ...
References