[luftfluss]

Strange to me that an article lamenting the demise of the OVF in favor of a technology that the author feels is not superior is getting so much criticism on this forum.

[Medex]

You Tube

You Tube

[c.a.m]

Strange to me that an article lamenting the demise of the OVF in favor of a technology that the author feels is not superior is getting so much criticism on this forum.

I don't think the lament is the issue. Clearly the author favours an optical viewfinder over an EVF.

However, I think the article misses the mark by a wide margin and it's difficult to understand its point. Lamenting the general withdrawal of OVF cameras amongst major manufacturers (e.g., Nikon, Canon) is one thing, but the lament is premature: The article fails to mention Ricoh Imaging, their unique philosophy towards DSLRs, the new K-3 Mark III Monochrome (a novel DSLR with an OVF!), or even the dedicated community of Pentax DSLR users. So, in fact, the OVF is not "dead." The author is well aware of Ricoh Imaging and Pentax -- he's written a slew of articles on various Pentax products.

Specifically, the article contains several weird statements:

"The fetish for mirrorless cameras has closed off an entire evolutionary arm of camera design"

"...you don’t have a dirty great mirror clanking up and down every time you press the shutter release." (this might have been satire, but hard to tell)

"With a DSLR, or any camera with an OVF, such as a Leica M or a Fujifilm X-Pro, when you put the camera to your eye, what you see in the viewfinder is what you saw the instant before." (Not sure what this means.)

"Anyone remember the TLR? A unique and beautiful instrument for taking pictures that's now consigned to history." (Is the author comparing DSLRs to TLRs?)

"And yet it’s as if no one cares about the shooting experience any more, only the relentless binary logic of marketing and tech talk." (Yet, Ricoh Imaging seems very focused on the shooting experience, as are many Pentax users.)

- Craig

[devouges]

Hi Everyone,
What could be cool is to have both. We currently have OVF or live view. How about OVF __or___ EVF !

just my 2 cents

[StiffLegged]

Strange to me that an article lamenting the demise of the OVF in favor of a technology that the author feels is not superior is getting so much criticism on this forum.

It might have been more interesting had the writer bewailed jet airliners hastening the end of the horse-drawn Zeppelin.

/leg-pull off

[pschlute]

We currently have OVF or live view. How about OVF __or___ EVF !

I am furiously scratching out a design

[KiloHotelphoto]

As far as the clutter in the viewfinder, once again, the benefit is overstated. Yes, you can have a histogram and blinkies and all sorts of stuff, but most amateurs aren't concerned with that stuff and a lot of professionals turn it off as distracting.

I would argue the histogram in the view finder is a huge selling point for amateurs because it lets them know real time if their exposure is correct. And I would love to know where you are getting your info about professionals turning it off as it’s distracting.

[JohnMc]

I would argue the histogram in the view finder is a huge selling point for amateurs because it lets them know real time if their exposure is correct. And I would love to know where you are getting your info about professionals turning it off as it’s distracting.

That's only true if they know how to read/interpret it, same as with any exposure system, no?

[BarryE]

I would argue the histogram in the view finder is a huge selling point for amateurs because it lets them know real time if their exposure is correct. And I would love to know where you are getting your info about professionals turning it off as it’s distracting.

What is correct exposure?

[sb in ak]

"And yet it’s as if no one cares about the shooting experience any more, only the relentless binary logic of marketing and tech talk."

Not really sure I agree with him here: film has seen a pretty solid resurgence, and part of that is driven I think by more than just the film itself, but the tactility of older cameras and the shooting experience it brings. Focusing on the shooting experience and less on the tech (both digital and film) is probably the biggest opening for Pentax IMO. I feel like Fuji has seen this to some degree with the X100 series. Pentax's weakness is often on the marketing end too-- they could be doing a lot more partnering with good photographers, for example.


Obviously EVFs to bring a new shooting experience to the table too often for the better, even if part of the reason they rolled out with as much hype as they've had is to sell entire systems of lenses again from scratch (to the benefit of every blog and YouTuber out there that gets referral $). It's complicated.

[beholder3]

What is correct exposure?

And how do you do a correct exposure based on a JPG preview histogram? Ignore the nerds who adjust JPG settings to some Frankenview.


Histograms are completely useless compared to simple overexposure-blinkies ("zebras") if the latter would be raw based (today they are not).

The selling-points of DSLM are mainly a) full sensor AF grids and b) video through the viewfinder surrogate. Nothing much else.

Entry and mid level amateurs couldnt care less about stuff cluttering the viewfinder surrogate.

[biz-engineer]

I am furiously scratching out a design

It's not necessary. I have a solution: flipping the mirror 60 times per second so that to see live view (EVF) and OVF simultaneously.

---------- Post added 27-05-23 at 19:31 ----------

The article fails to mention Ricoh Imaging, their unique philosophy towards DSLR

Within the last couple of years, Pentax is often being ignored in articles, market figures, reviews, even Ricoh financial reports forget to mention how important Pentax is to Ricoh. Only now dying DPR mention Pentax as an act of redemption, hoping that they won't go to hell after the final judgement.

[StiffLegged]

It's not necessary. I have a solution: flipping the mirror 60 times per second so that to see live view (EVF) and OVF simultaneously..

Now biz, you’re just not taking this seriously!!

[northcoastgreg]

I would argue the histogram in the view finder is a huge selling point for amateurs because it lets them know real time if their exposure is correct. And I would love to know where you are getting your info about professionals turning it off as it’s distracting.

I don't know about whether the professionals are turning this features off, but every amateur I've ever spoken to isn't using it. Many of them don't even know it exists. Now of course that's anecdotal, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's more general. The reason for using histograms (or zebras) in the EVF is to more easily achieve exposure to the right. I suspect most amateur photographers don't care that much about achieving such a immaculately "perfect" exposure. They shoot in one of the automated modes and are generally pleased with how it turns out. I remember some years ago writing an article for a camera club about exposing to the right. No one in the club cared a fig for the article. A lot of amateurs just want to have fun taking pictures and they don't want to be over burdened with technical stuff.

[BigMackCam]

I have a solution: flipping the mirror 60 times per second so that to see live view (EVF) and OVF simultaneously.

Nice... and the draught from the mirror would cool the sensor, which would keep long-exposure and video enthusiasts happy too. I think you're onto something here

Within the last couple of years, Pentax is often being ignored in articles, market figures, reviews, even Ricoh financial reports forget to mention how important Pentax is to Ricoh. Only now dying DPR mention Pentax as an act of redemption, hoping that they won't go to hell after the final judgement.

In no small part, I think that's Ricoh's fault (see, guys, I'm not a "fanboi" after all ). IMHO, its marketing and user engagement outside of Japan has been pretty dreadful for years... which is a real shame, because - in a not entirely dissimilar vein to Leica - Ricoh has in Pentax an increasingly unique, undeniably quirky but highly capable product range and value proposition on offer. Of course, even with better marketing there'd be armchair experts and YouTubers who'd laugh and poke fun, comparing K-1II and K-3III specs to the big brands' latest high-tech mirrorless offerings and obsessing over the time gap between new models... but there'd be more than enough serious photographers who would "get it".

Still, you'd have to be living in a big-brand-only echo-chamber to miss Ricoh / Pentax' continuation of the DSLR-with-OVF format...