Fujifilm May Introduce a Zooming Optical Viewfinder

Last Updated on 06/30/2014 by Chris Gampat

Fujifilm has been knocking out great viewfinders on its cameras, from the hybrid optical sight on the X100s and the incredibly large EVF in the X-T1. Now it seems Fujifilm is looking into patenting an optical viewfinder that zooms in to match the focal length of the attached lens. Fuji is calling this technology a “real-image zoom viewfinder” and supposedly it will come with optical elements in at least three groups that allows the viewfinder to change its focal length.

In the patent drawing, the Fujifilm camera has two optical elements labeled Sb and Sc that move back and forth to magnify the optical image. Supposedly this real-image zoom viewfinder will be able to match what the image sensor sees through the lens. Despite the extra bits of glass Fuji claims this new viewfinder will remain compact without sacrificing the optical performance of the viewfinder.

The zooming optical viewfinder is a very interesting piece of technology we imagine to would be a shoe in for the rumored X-Pro 2. Currently the X-Pro 1’s OVF can only magnify its viewfinder magnification from 0.37x to 0.60x when using a 35mm or 60mm lens. With a hybrid system that zooms, the viewfinder could be a much more effective framing device as the current technology only overlays a smaller highlighted box denoting the focal length.

Of course there’s still a lot of complexity behind this system that ultimately could make it amazing if it all works. We’ve got our hopes up Fujifilm will find some way to create something awesome out of this patent, but we’ll hold off believing in it too much until we’re actually holding it in our hands.

Via Photography Bay