Features

The Best Viewfinders You Can Find on Digital Cameras

Chris Gampat
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03/06/2023
8 Mins read
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There are lots of cameras on the market these days. But as the LCD screens more or less stay the same in resolution, the EVFs are getting much better. In fact, a lot of them are more detailed than the LCD screens. So we’re taking a moment to roundup the best viewfinders on digital cameras that you can find. And we’ve tested them all too!

The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear we’ve fully reviewed in these roundups. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

How to Use This Guide to the Best Viewfinders

Here are our tips on how to use this guide to the best viewfinders on cameras:

  • Our editorial policies don’t allow us to speak in length about products that we haven’t done full reviews of within these roundups. But with that said, we’ve tested pretty much every camera on the market. And we can say without a double that these are the best viewfinders on digital cameras.
  • We’re focusing on mirrorless cameras and not DSLRs here. The best viewfinders give photographers a lot more information these days like exposure preview, white balance rendering and more.
  • We’re also of the belief that these cameras have the best viewfinders because of the diopter adjustment options. Our Editor in Chief is legally blind and pretty much most of the staff wear glasses. We know that these will work.
  • At the moment, Sony has the highest end viewfinder in a digital camera.
  • This roundup has links to our full reviews as well as product links to make a purchase.

Leica SL2s

The Viewfinder

The Leica SL2s has a 5.76 Megapixel EVF. That’s incredibly well detailed. Combine this with the fact that it also has a very adjustable diopter and it’s a combination that’s fantastic for folks with visual impairments or that need to wear glasses.

In our review we state:

PROS

  • The fastest autofocus on a Leica ILC I’ve seen. It’s now on par with Canon and Sony.
  • Autofocus profiles are cool!
  • Solid build quality
  • Easy to use
  • Beautiful image quality
  • People detection is wonderful.
  • Functionality-wise, the buttons are fantastic with a good layout and give you everything you need.
  • A camera that you truly want to carry around with you everywhere
  • Both Panasonic and Leica lenses have comparable autofocus speeds.
  • Raw files are pretty versatile in Lightroom.
  • FANTASTIC high ISO print capability
  • The autofocus has really improved

CONS

  • A tad pricey. But when you consider the weather sealing, it’s not bad.
  • I wish it did Qi wireless charging.
  • I wish this had dedicated animal face detection
  • There should be an option to never let the display time out. This is especially true for the EVF-Extended mode.
  • It needs the right strap to be comfortable for long photo walks
  • Still no multiple exposure mode
  • I wish the menu was touch-capable and that it either flipped or tilted/pivoted.
  • Still not as smart as an autofocus system as Canon or Sony.

Buy Now

Sony a7r V

The Viewfinder

The Sony a7r V has a class-leading (for the moment) EVF with 9.44 million dots. That’s insanely well detailed.

In our review, we state:

PROS

  • Beautiful colors and lovely contrast
  • New OLED screen and 2nd main menu
  • Very accurate metering
  • Improved dust protection
  • Autofocus is impressive
  • New Vehicle/Train, Airplane, and Insect tracking
  • Improved auto white balance
  • Images are sharp without being too much for women’s portraits.
  • Comfortable grip
  • You can skip editing altogether if you want.

CONS

  • Subtle low ISO sensor noise
  • Camera menus would benefit from further indexing
  • Imaging Edge needs to come into the 21st Century

Buy Now

Sony a1

The Viewfinder

The Sony a1 has a 9.44 million dot EVF. And in our review, we really loved it. That much details makes it a whole lot easier to see what you’re shooting.

In our review we state:

PROS

  • Sony’s a1 shows that stacked sensors are the future
  • Detail rich images with great dynamic range
  • Excellent ergonomics (the best Sony camera to date)
  • The a1 features the new touchscreen menu system
  • Fantastic overall autofocus performance
  • 30 frames per second with the electronic shutter with virtually no rolling shutter or banding issues
  • 1/400th mechanical shutter speed with compatible TTL flashes and triggers
  • Sony’s 9.44 million dot EVF is a work of art
  • Excellent build quality
  • Good battery life
  • 8K video
  • Excellent performance with CFexpress A cards

CONS

  • It has the same old 1.44 million dot LCD
  • The LCD is not fully articulating
  • Bird AF is a work in progress
  • Multi Shot mode is inconsistent
  • Autofocus suffers a little in very low light situations
  • It’s $6,499

Buy Now

Canon EOS R3

The Viewfinder

The Canon EOS R3 has a 5,760,000 Dot EVF. It’s not Sony’s for sure. But it’s one of the best that Canon has to offer. What’s very innovative here though is also the fact that it can do Eye Detection autofocus; which means it can follow your eye as you put it to the camera’s EVF.

In our review we state:

PROS

  • Impressive autofocus performance with both action and low light
  • Face recognition works phenomenally, even on birds and in dark scenes
  • Reduced rolling shutter distortion and 1/180 flash sync with electronic shutter
  • Excellent noise reduction at high ISOs
  • Eye Control AF
  • Built-in vertical grip
  • Lots of great controls
  • Weather-sealed

CONS

  • Resolution is lower than competitors (but this is partially why low light quality is so great)
  • Higher learning curve
  • Hot shoe adapter recommended for weather-sealing with older flashes
  • Heavier and larger than the R5 and R6
  • Pricey

Buy Now

Canon EOS R5

The Viewfinder

The Canon EOS R5 has a 5,760,000 Dot EVF. It looks really nice for sure!

In our review we state:

PROS

  • Well built
  • Excellent battery life
  • So intuitive for a Canon shooter
  • Feels very good in the hand
  • Image stabilization is pretty much second to none
  • Wonderful menu systems
  • Excellent details
  • Weather sealed
  • Reliable
  • Canon’s Mobile App connection setup is as simple as ever
  • Doesn’t overheat with short clips
  • Wifi sending of full HD video is pretty fast
  • High ISO RAW files hold a fair amount of data. There’s great dynamic range and colors, but the noise is a bit painful.
  • Wireless RAW file transmission with Capture One 22

CONS

  • The joystick is in an odd spot
  • In some ways feels like an old 60D, but it’s totally not
  • I personally feel the magnification button is in an odd spot
  • Can’t transfer 8K video via Wifi
  • 4K movie clips shorter than 30 seconds take a while to send, and then ultimately don’t end up on your phone
  • High ISO Raw files above 12,800 tend to get a bit messy
  • The price is a bit high at $3,899

Buy Now

OM SYSTEM OM1

The Viewfinder

The OM SYSTEM OM1 has a 5.76MP EVF. When it comes to focusing on birds and animals, this is one of the best viewfinders you can have. Combine it with the simulated OVF function for a great experience.

In our review we state:

PROS

  • This new menu system is amazing
  • So much autofocus versatility with scene selection!
  • So small and well built!
  • A great amount of buttons, but it probably could’ve done with even more
  • There’s finally an rating system that’s easy to access!
  • Weather sealing is some of the best on the market.
  • An incredibly lightweight camera with OM’s lenses
  • When the autofocus sensitivity is increased, this camera is a beast at photographing and locking onto birds. But it’s still not on par with Sony and Canon.
  • Autofocus is better for moving vehicles than flying birds simply because birds are a smaller part of the frame typically.
  • Dramatically improved high ISO output
  • Autofocus tracked a cat walking towards me pretty well. It works but it’s buggy at times just like Sony, Canon, and Nikon.
  • The cameras computational photography capabilities are so incredibly fun.
  • The cleanest high ISO print we’ve ever gotten from a Micro Four Thirds camera at ISO 6400.
  • Face detection is better than Nikon, Fujifilm, and Panasonic. It’s not quite on par with Canon, Sony, and Leica.
  • Low light AF sensitivity works well, but that’s because it negates the exposure preview setting after a while.
  • THEY FINALLY FIXED FOCUS PEAKING ZOMGWTFBBQ!!!!
  • Capture One support is absolutely incredible.

CONS

  • Olympus went and made an awesome menu system but didn’t make it touch compatible.
  • Separates bird and animal detection
  • Bird detection is very difficult to use when a teleconverter is attached. (fixed)
  • Animal and bird detection is a bit better than with Nikon and Panasonic, but still behind both Canon and Sony.
  • No sensor protection when the camera is turned off. Come on, folks! How do you make a camera with an insane IP durability rating and not protect the sensor?
  • C-AF with Tracking isn’t the best. Tracking moving birds is tough and almost impossible.
  • Image stabilization at very slow shutter speeds doesn’t seem as great as previous Olympus cameras, but is still very good.

Buy Now

Fujifilm XH2

The Viewfinder

The 5.76 million dots OLED in the XH2 will help you see all those great film simulations with relative ease.

In our review, we state:

PROS

  • Very quiet
  • Fantastic image quality
  • High ISO images are fairly clean, or you can embrace the noise.
  • The best color from an APSC sensor in a while
  • Subject detection is great in sufficient lighting.
  • Weather resistant
  • Good for street photography
  • Alright battery life
  • Still works well with older lenses
  • Cropped shooting mode in continuous drive mode is brilliant. (Let me get it right in camera and frame it perfectly there rather than fixing it later.)
  • Continuous AF is great in good lighting.
  • Very good at 10pm for tracking birds

CONS

  • I miss the ISO dial so much.
  • Desperately needs to find a way to make switching between subjects faster
  • Rolling shutter in pre-shot ES
  • I wish it had more customizable buttons.
  • Fuji needs to update how their focusing modes work.
  • Star ratings don’t transfer over to Capture one or Lightroom.
  • Continuous AF isn’t so great in low lighting.
  • Fuji needs to update their AF-C customization modes.
  • Autofocus performance deteriorates with exposure preview on and lots of underexposure.
  • High ISO editing versatility isn’t all that great, but for wildlife it really needs to be.
  • Fuji currently lacks a major selection of fast telephoto lenses, and they really need them.

Buy Now

Fujifilm XH2s

The Viewfinder

This camera boasts a 5.76 million dots OLED finder that will make shooting pretty simple when you’re searching for wildlife.

In our review we state:

PROS

  • Lovely colors
  • Great image quality straight from the camera
  • Fast bursts at 15 fps mechanical and 40 fps electronic, with autofocus
  • Finally, Fujifilm has animal eye AF
  • No blackout viewfinder
  • Excellent low light autofocus
  • Durable build quality
  • Comfortable grip

CONS

  • AF is good, but there are better sports cameras
  • I miss the classic dials of the X-T series.

Buy Now

best viewfinders Cameras canon canon eos r3 Canon EOS R5 fujifilm fujifilm xh2 fujifilm xh2s LCD screen leica Leica SL2s ovf review sony sony a1 Sony a7r V
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.