Last Updated on 07/29/2011 by Chris Gampat
The other day I had mentioned that I tried out the Olympus PEN VF-2 electronic viewfinder which you can buy to be used with the Olympus PEN E-P2
Why Use a Viewfinder at All?
Not only can a viewfinder help a user to compose their images better, but holding the camera in closer to your body also ensures better stability—therefore preventing the effects of camera shake. I noticed that when I use the viewfinder as opposed to using the LCD screen my shots come out sharper, less blurry. The simply act of focusing just became a simpler experience as well thanks to the very high resolution VF-2.
Advantage Vs Optical Viewfinders
The VF-2 is a lot different from an optical viewfinder which I have on my Olympus E-510 DSLR. The first thing I noticed was the information presented in the viewfinder is the same as the information on the LCD screen. Everything from the f-stop, exposure, ISO, Aperture, etc is there and you can even roll through the system menus while looking into the viewfinder. What this translates to is not having to remove your eye from the viewfinder in order to change settings.
Another noticeable feature is the ability to switch between the LCD screen and the view finder. What caught me off guard at first about using the electronic viewfinder is that the shots you take no longer appear on the LCD screen for preview for x amount of seconds. Instead, as stated before, everything that was shown on the LCD is now done through the viewfinder.
This is something I am not too much of a fan of since I like previewing on a larger screen and call me lazy but I find it a little tedious to have to switch back and forth between LCD and viewfinder just to preview the pictures I have taken.
One other feature I do like is the ability to adjust the viewfinder up and down. This makes taking waist shots, or low shots a breeze to take and I can see it being very useful when using the camera in video mode.
So while I do appreciate the electronic viewfinder for the PEN E-P2, I just wish I could preview shots on the LCD screen. To be honest though, its not worth complaining about that when you have a viewfinder that’s as versatile as this one.
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