For purist photographers, there is no alternative to the optical viewfinder. Current LED screens are, by comparison, like looking though the bottom of a bottle. But could this tiny, high-res display change that?
This new MicroOLED display, originally developed with military and medical heads-up displays in mind, can deliver a fairly impressive 5.4MP (2560×2048) monochrome image on its 0.61-inch diagonal screen.
Obviously the resolution drops if you want more than monochrome, to just 1.3MP in full 16-million colour. Either way, that’s pretty impressive pixel density, and that fact that it only draws 0.2 watts means it’s well suited to portable devices.
Can it replace the optical view finder? In honesty, most professional photographers won’t be convinced to switch. But as this kind of display improves, expect to see a new generation of cameras and photographers who don’t need optical viewfinders any more. [MicroOLED via Engadget]
light487
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 8:28 AMAdmittedly, I don’t have one of these in my camera but I do have an attachable viewfinder that has a LCD screen in there.. looks pretty cool, especially when you can’t see anything on the 3″ LCD display due to the sunlight behind you..
Timmahh
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 9:44 AMI think the idea with digital cameras is that the view finder mimics exactly what the main censor is seeing. Unlike with regular view finders on digital that show an approximation of the image. Sides of the image in particular.
geekface
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 9:48 AMI BLOODY WELL HOPE NOT
Ben
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 10:05 AMExcept that a sensor can’t see anything like the same kind of dynamic range your eye can.
I’ll stick with optical thanks.
light487
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 10:30 AMI hear what you’re saying but how does that help you when the sensor can’t reproduce what you are seeing with your better-than-digital eye? I’m not a professional photographer.. so I don’t understand all the ins and outs but I’ve always wondered things like that..
Also, I always wonder why, if the sensor can display on my LCD screen a preview of a well lit scene, when I take the shot.. it ends up being dark.. why does it limit itself to trying to reproduce what a non-digital camera would produce.. yes, you want it to do that sometimes.. but for point-and-shooters like me.. we just want “what you see is what you get”..
Gino Rodrigo
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 11:14 AMOn point-and-shoot digital cameras? Yes.
On a DSLR? Never.