Originally posted by RobA_Oz So, no they're not, but yes they are? Well, mirrored cameras are through an eyepiece, then a pentaprism (or pentamirror), then a focussing screen, then a mirror, and only then through a lens. That's a count of five things, too.
The light doesn't get interrupted with OVF. With mirrorless the light stops at the sensor. The image that hits the eye isn't real. So, it's not seeing through the lens. A bunch of elektronics and software interprets what's supposed to hit the eye. The displayed image doesn't match reality, nor matches the eventual output image dat is saved to the card.
Originally posted by RobA_Oz Sadly, Liveview is a problem when it comes to autofocus (it isn't fast, and Pentax doesn't give us any AF in video mode). Liveview's great for some things, like fine manual focus, particularly with macro work, but it's not fabulous elsewhere. Choice? It's a bit of a furphy in this context.
The autofocus in my NEX5n wasn't any faster then autofocus in the liveview of my K5. Why? Because the slow AF is inherent of contrast-AF. The K5 liveview uses the slower but more accurate contrast-AF, whilst the OVF uses Phase Detection. The NEX is limited to contrast-AF only.
So "no", not very furphy at all.
And as for video mode: That's what videocamera's are for. The video-mode is a nice-to-have by-product, but can be stolen for all I care. Personally, I would even have preferred a CCD instead of CMOS: No video or liveview, but better IQ.