I am sick to death of the view finder on my digital rebel. So I am searching for a new camera. I want a great view finder. I want good image quality as well but sense I only have the rebel kit lens, I am not tied down to Canon. So tell me what the best view finders are out today. I don't want to spend as much as say a 1ds Mark ll. But thats about it, I will sacrifice getting a new desktop to fund this purchase. All advice on this is helpful. I just need to see what I am shooting.
You can get a Hasselblad H1 system for under 6 grand and you certainly can't beat the viewfinder. Under 6 grand for everyone except students (4 grand for students)... You asked
Yes, But which one has the better view finder? I am looking for big, bright, and sharp. I have stopped comparing specs. Most Dslr's are competative with one another. And as far as glass is concerned most Camera companies have prosummer quality glass, so I am going to make my decision based on the cameras view finder.
When i went from a 10d to a 1d the difference in views was amazing. the 1d was bright and open. No longer did it feel claustrophobic, also seeing the ISO in the viewfinder was nice. I hear the 1Ds is another step up.
Can't comment on the DReb, although the penta-mirror must adversely affect brightness vs a glass prism. The D30 and 1Ds have the latter, and brightness is the same. What you get with a 1 Series EOS DSLR is a larger AFOV (apparent field-of-view), and a 100% VF. That Canon ships their prosumer DSLRs (like D30) with a VF crop of 95% linear is the height of cheesiness: we are not dealing with slide mounts!
Following is my office as seen through D30 and 1Ds VF: ignore nasty color, barrel distortion, uneven illumination and general blurriness (faults of my old P&S). Discrepancy of VF coverage is apparent in the lower frames (especially in the corners), as these were taken by the DSLR sensors. Test lens was EF 35/2:
My claim of equal VF brightness for D30 and 1Ds is based on the top frames: exposures were identical at f/2.4, 1/5 sec. Yes, several shots were required to limit effects of my unsteady hand.
The Canon 1Ds has slightly smaller AFOV compared to my Contax RTS III. Both have tunnel-vision compared to my Leica M, and are dimmer to boot.
Thanks for posting the comparison pics. I have been wanting a bigger, brighter viewfinder too, and am currently contemplating the move up to the 1D Mk I.
On a side note, it's also interesting to note the D30's higher (default) saturation and contrast compared to the 1Ds - I presumed these are the unprocessed images, right?
nutek wrote:
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On a side note, it's also interesting to note the D30's higher (default) saturation and contrast compared to the 1Ds - I presumed these are the unprocessed images, right?
Heavily processed, sorry. The two cameras, as currently configured, have markedly different notions about AWB. I just received the 1Ds, fired all of three frames, and have much to learn about the myriad settings. All good fun, of course!
Owning a 10D, and having used a 1D, I must say that the 1D is like looking through a picture window compared to the 10D.
Speaking of which, I have to agree with you on the importance of the viewfinder. I spent the day shooting film (remember that?) with an EOS 650, and I had fogotten how nice it is to look through a large finder. (I also had forgotten how nice it was to have a 28mm lens be a 28mm lens, but that's another topic.)
To the 10D's credit, I certainly didn't forget about how nice it was to have versatile AF and reliable metering... I guess until I drop the cash on a 1-series body, I'll live with the tradeoffs!
Having owned both a 1D2 and 1Ds and using them side by side, I never noticed any significant difference is the 1D2's viewfinder size compared to the 1Ds. They felt the same to me. The 1D2 did seem brighter, but that could be my imagination.
The AFOV is calculated from the sensor crop, the VF crop, and the VF magnification. The latter is slightly larger for the 1D2 at .72x as compared to the 1Ds at .70x. That gives the 1D2 a relatively more luxurious expanse in the VF (but a smidgen less bright). Brightness can be goosed by changing the screen, and sacrificing manual-focus effectiveness. Oh, those tradeoffs!
The 7D has a 1.6 crop and a pretty bad viewfinder. I didn't notice any improvement in the viefinder of the one I shot with compared to a 10D (which I don't think is very good but is an improvement over the rebel due to the design) The best viewfinder I have shot with in "prosumer" class was the Olympus E-1. It was 100% too. Not the same league as the 1 series though - nothing is.
One of the reasons that your viewfinder is dim is because your kit lens is also 'dim' (i.e. it's slow). Slap a 50/1.4 (or any f/2.8 "L" lens, for that matter) on there and see how much brighter it gets; it's not just the cropped viewfinder that is causing your problem.
Jeff wrote:
One of the reasons that your viewfinder is dim is because your kit lens is also 'dim' (i.e. it's slow). Slap a 50/1.4 (or any f/2.8 "L" lens, for that matter) on there and see how much brighter it gets; it's not just the cropped viewfinder that is causing your problem.
I agree, but my old AE-1's viewfinder is huge in comparison and brighter with equvilent lens, mainly I just want to be able to tell if the camera is in focus or not, because the autofocus is not always reliable, and my current viewfinder is too small for me to tell.
That is indeed a problem with small format sensors. For the life of me I can't figure out why camera makers don't simply change the optics to make up for the difference in sensor size. It wouldn't be any big technical challenge to make the viewfinder image appear larger...
I just received the 1Ds, fired all of three frames, and have much to learn about the myriad settings. All good fun, of course!