07-01-2011, 12:04 PM
[quote name='Martin_MM' timestamp='1309512321' post='9680']
Well, not ready to die yet. It will take a long time I believe. Just like you have suggested, there is very crutial reason for a mirror viewfinder today: Quality of the view. Despite all the improvements having been done recently, even the best EVF is still behind the optical VF as far as the view quality is concerned. Hope you won´t question that ;-).
[/quote]
Right now it doesn't seem to be dying, I agree. But I expect at some point it will, and it will be dying quickly over the period of at most 2 years. Same story as with film. Once DSLR were in the 700€$£ range it went quickly and film became a niche product.
I assume the same will happen with the DSLR. A good optical finder will always cost money and require a lot of precision in moving parts (e.g. mirror). It is easier to get a decent magnification from an EVF, something which APS-C and even more FT SLRs struggle with. On top of which are all the neat things you can do in an EVF (superimposing info, marking problem areas, live histogram).
I think in not so far a time, the remaining quality gap will have closed, the EVF will be cheaper and better for many applications.
Having written all this, I sometimes still wonder whether to upgrade my DSLR. I am still using an old Olympus E-300 and a E-P1 for my more serious projects. I sometimes wish for a look in finder on the E-P1 in bright sunlight, which this one doesn't support <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />.
Well, not ready to die yet. It will take a long time I believe. Just like you have suggested, there is very crutial reason for a mirror viewfinder today: Quality of the view. Despite all the improvements having been done recently, even the best EVF is still behind the optical VF as far as the view quality is concerned. Hope you won´t question that ;-).
[/quote]
Right now it doesn't seem to be dying, I agree. But I expect at some point it will, and it will be dying quickly over the period of at most 2 years. Same story as with film. Once DSLR were in the 700€$£ range it went quickly and film became a niche product.
I assume the same will happen with the DSLR. A good optical finder will always cost money and require a lot of precision in moving parts (e.g. mirror). It is easier to get a decent magnification from an EVF, something which APS-C and even more FT SLRs struggle with. On top of which are all the neat things you can do in an EVF (superimposing info, marking problem areas, live histogram).
I think in not so far a time, the remaining quality gap will have closed, the EVF will be cheaper and better for many applications.
Having written all this, I sometimes still wonder whether to upgrade my DSLR. I am still using an old Olympus E-300 and a E-P1 for my more serious projects. I sometimes wish for a look in finder on the E-P1 in bright sunlight, which this one doesn't support <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />.
enjoy