06-04-2010, 05:33 AM
About three years ago I've had my eyes tested, as a result of some suspicious headaches. The results were absolutely perfect; 20/20, and a bit more than 180 degrees for the visual field. No traces of retina damage, no nothing.
Still, I feel the same as wim about the tunnel vision in 7D. I used a fair bit of cameras, film and digital: an old Praktica, Canon 500N-QD, 5DmkII, 1DsMkII, 350D, 40D, Nikon D300, D700, and the 7D is the only one that somehow restricted my field of vision. It's not about magnification and it's not about the real or apparent size of the viewfinder; maybe, just maybe it has something to do with eyepoint relief, but even there 7D has one of the biggest distances. I've tried removing the rubber eyepiece and it made no difference; it looks almost like the outer frame is too small for the actual image produced by the pentaprism; under no circumstances I could see both sides (left/right), no matter how far or close was my eye; without glasses, of course.
I had to constantly scan the frame in the viewfinder, which was quite disruptive; I was doing the 7D test during a race... While for all practical purposes I felt that the 7D was a better fit for me, even above the 1DmkIV, the viewfinder issue continues to bug me; for action pictures it can be annoying 'cause you simply don't have the time to intently stare at the extremes of the frame. For this kind of shooting, the 100% viewfinder has no value over the 98 (or even 95) percent ones.
Still, I feel the same as wim about the tunnel vision in 7D. I used a fair bit of cameras, film and digital: an old Praktica, Canon 500N-QD, 5DmkII, 1DsMkII, 350D, 40D, Nikon D300, D700, and the 7D is the only one that somehow restricted my field of vision. It's not about magnification and it's not about the real or apparent size of the viewfinder; maybe, just maybe it has something to do with eyepoint relief, but even there 7D has one of the biggest distances. I've tried removing the rubber eyepiece and it made no difference; it looks almost like the outer frame is too small for the actual image produced by the pentaprism; under no circumstances I could see both sides (left/right), no matter how far or close was my eye; without glasses, of course.
I had to constantly scan the frame in the viewfinder, which was quite disruptive; I was doing the 7D test during a race... While for all practical purposes I felt that the 7D was a better fit for me, even above the 1DmkIV, the viewfinder issue continues to bug me; for action pictures it can be annoying 'cause you simply don't have the time to intently stare at the extremes of the frame. For this kind of shooting, the 100% viewfinder has no value over the 98 (or even 95) percent ones.