comparison of pentax/canon viewfinders

[raz]

Two weeks ago I played a little with a Canon 20D and I remained surprised that the viewfinder on the 20D didn't look bigger or brighter than my K100D.

Before that I always had the impression that Canon higher line (20D,30D) had bigger and brighter viewfinders than entry levels like my K100D..so today I thought to make some calculations and see if this is true or I was to dizzy in that night when I played with the 20D

Here is what I discovered:



if I did the calculations right, the viewfinder in k100D is actually bigger than the one in 30D!

Here are my calculations, maybe I did something wrong ? Or isn't this the right way to calculate ?

k100 d
---------
23.5 mm x 15.7 mm =368.95 mm ^2

• Magnification approx. x0.85 = 312 mm ^2
• 96% frame coverage =301 mm ^2 = 21.27 mm x 14.15 mm


K10D
---------
23.5 mm x 15.7 mm CCD sensor =368.95 mm ^2

Magnification: 0.95x =350 mm ^2
95% frame coverage =333 mm ^2 =22.36 mm x 14.89mm

canon 30D
----------
22.5 mm x 15.0 mm = 337.5 mm ^2
• Magnification: 0.9x = 303 mm ^2
• 95% frame coverage = 288.5 mm ^2 = 20.81mm x 13.86mm

canon 400d
----------
22.2 mm x 14.8mm = 328.56 mm ^2
• Magnification: 0.8x = 262.4 mm ^2
• 95% frame coverage = 249.7 mm^2 =19.35mm x 12.9mm

[Cideway]

The interesting thing is that the Pentax DS, K10 etc all have a bigger VF then the EOS 1D models (the original + Mark II and MarkIIIs)

[hyson]

+1 for Pentax. Good work!