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Am I the last one?

My photography journey started with P&S film cameras but I bought my first SLR in 1979 (Canon AE-1). I used EVFs starting in 1982 on camcorders and my first few digital cameras (Kodak, Nikon) had EVFs in the late 90s/early 2000s. I bought my first dSLR in 2004 (Canon 10D).

I just can't get along with shooting with an EVF. I mean, I can get some shots, sometimes, but the reliability of getting what I want is like 100x lower than with an SLR, and 100% of the enjoyment of shooting is gone when using an EVF.

People have been singing the praises of EVFs to me since around the Sony A33 or so (about 13 years ago). I've tried a lot of them, the most recent a Canon R6. From the point of view of being able to see the subject, capture what I want and enjoy the process, they really haven't improved much in the last 20 years. They're a little higher res (still lousy at about 1-2MP) and bigger but that doesn't help much with the actual problems (seeing the subject, capturing what I want and enjoying it), at least from my point of view.

I'm in my early 50s. I've had my 7D Mark II for about 7 years. Maybe it'll be my last camera? Am I really the last one who finds EVFs almost entirely unusable for successful and enjoyable photography? Are there settings I can change from the defaults to make them usable and enjoyable?
I'm in my early sixties, developed my first shots in the darkroom in the late 1960s but have been using EVFs for the past 12 years. I am genuinely curious about your preference.

But you mention 1. Seeing the subject, - I've not noticed a problem with this, 2. Capturing what I want, no, the framing is not an issue for me and 3. Enjoying it - hmm, I think this may be the subjective element where you are most unhappy.

Can you elaborate on how your experience is less than an OVF? What are your favorite subjects? Perhaps Birds? Or fast moving objects?

Just really curious.

Dan
 
I'm in my early sixties, developed my first shots in the darkroom in the late 1960s but have been using EVFs for the past 12 years. I am genuinely curious about your preference.

But you mention 1. Seeing the subject, - I've not noticed a problem with this, 2. Capturing what I want, no, the framing is not an issue for me and 3. Enjoying it - hmm, I think this may be the subjective element where you are most unhappy.

Can you elaborate on how your experience is less than an OVF? What are your favorite subjects? Perhaps Birds? Or fast moving objects?

Just really curious.

Dan
Most of the subjects I shoot (95%+) are either fast-moving or in difficult lighting (dark/high-contrast). Moving subjects are hard, boarding on impossible to accurately track when there's lag in the system. High-contrast subjects cause an EVF to have blow-out (all white) on the bright areas and crushed (all black) on the dark areas, making it really hard to see what you're shooting and properly frame. Some of my subjects have rapidly changing lighting. This messes with the automatic exposure the viewfinder/sensor/camera system uses, causing the EVF's brightness to trail the scene's brightness, which means the EVF is almost never at the right level. Finally, if the EVF is 4 stops darker than the real environment and I shoot with both eyes open, it's hard/impossible to see with both eyes - there's too much of a difference. Likewise in the dark when the EVF is many stops brighter than the environment.
 
My photography journey started with P&S film cameras but I bought my first SLR in 1979 (Canon AE-1). I used EVFs starting in 1982 on camcorders and my first few digital cameras (Kodak, Nikon) had EVFs in the late 90s/early 2000s. I bought my first dSLR in 2004 (Canon 10D).

I just can't get along with shooting with an EVF. I mean, I can get some shots, sometimes, but the reliability of getting what I want is like 100x lower than with an SLR, and 100% of the enjoyment of shooting is gone when using an EVF.

People have been singing the praises of EVFs to me since around the Sony A33 or so (about 13 years ago). I've tried a lot of them, the most recent a Canon R6. From the point of view of being able to see the subject, capture what I want and enjoy the process, they really haven't improved much in the last 20 years. They're a little higher res (still lousy at about 1-2MP) and bigger but that doesn't help much with the actual problems (seeing the subject, capturing what I want and enjoying it), at least from my point of view.

I'm in my early 50s. I've had my 7D Mark II for about 7 years. Maybe it'll be my last camera? Am I really the last one who finds EVFs almost entirely unusable for successful and enjoyable photography? Are there settings I can change from the defaults to make them usable and enjoyable?
I am 68, started with film SLRs in 1972, got my first DSLR in 2005 and have used a Nikon V1 since 2011 and a Z50 for the last 2 years. I have absolutely no problem going back and forth between OVF and EVF. However, I prefer EVFs as there are many features that are not possible with an OVF. Sorry you can’t adapt.
 
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