What is the best EVF out there?

Spartacus

Spartacus

Veteran
Most cameras would benefit from a great EVF, but to me this segment seems to evolve only slowly...?
I`m looking forward to the upcoming offerings from Zacuto, but as of now, Cineroid, Alphatron and the Kinotehnik still seem to be the only choice for the budget restricted shooter.
"Only choice" as in "kind of up-to-date IQ wise".
Although with another purpose, most would rather go for a monitor-recorder from Atomos or CD, before spending that much on "just" an EVF.
So, IBC is coming, anything else out there?
What do you use?
What would you buy first?
 
Like you, I'm looking forward to the upcoming Zacuto (graticule). I saw it at NAB and it's beautiful.

Those that take the attitude "it's just a VF" obviously don't understand how important a VF is or are cash strapped and don't really deem it worth spending money on because it's not as "sexy" as a "vintage" 1902 uncoated Russian lens or the latest DSLR… :cool:

Your VF is as important as anything else in your camera package. It's how you see. Heck, I have more tied up in EVF's than some people do in cameras. They are an essential component that shouldn't be overlooked, in my opinion, and I will spend thousands if I have to, to get a quality one. If I can't see to focus, expose or frame properly, then the rest of the camera package is pointless.

And I use the Alphatron on my C300 and the Panasonic CVF-15G's on my 2700's.
 
While I don´t think vintage lenses are more sexy than a EVF, I´m one of those people who has so far cheaped out when it comes to monitoring. I totally get why you spend so much on EVFs, but I still find it strange, that we have to at all.
Small LCDs have come down in price over the years, the more expensive "indie" ones get close in quality to the major players monitors or even added recording features, but EVFs kind of stay expensive boutique items.
Now every DSLR shooter out there could use one, all "larger-sensor" pro cameras can use one - still this market seems to be silent.
Anyhow, so besides the Zacuto announcements nothing new on the horizon...?
 
I throw this in here as a point of curiosity and not as a realistic option due to the likely expense. But I just love to point out that the OLED EVF for the ARRI Amira uses an HDMI input.

Plug 'er in to your 5D and see what happens!!
 
Virtually no talk any more about optical viewfinders - presumably a cost issue? The camera would need a rotating mirror shutter as part of its design yes?
Steve
 
To me optical VF's are an anachronism on a digital camera. I'd rather see what the sensor is actually seeing and the quality of recent small displays has gotten very good. They give you so much more information too these days.
 
Kinotehnik announced a new more compact version of their EVF without internal batteries and option of adjustable or fixed diopter eyepiece. 720p upgrade coming next spring.
 
Razz16mm said:
To me optical VF's are an anachronism on a digital camera. I'd rather see what the sensor is actually seeing and the quality of recent small displays has gotten very good. They give you so much more information too these days.
Click to expand...

Have you used one?
I've not used many of these new viewfinders but lots of reports from the field that I've heard have verged on the virtually unusable - certainly where fast-moving subjects and long lenses are concerned.
As for information, you could certainly have an optical viewing system but still have an electronic link to the camera to provide information.
Steve
 
Interestingly the "budget friendly" EVF brands tend to get more expensive with each new release.
It used to be that technology evolved and you get more "power" for less or at least the same amount as the previous version...
 
What about the Cineroid? They have one with a Retina display. It has some nice features SDI through, the eyepiece pulls back, waveform, vectorscope, peaking, false color. I've got to buy one this year. This sells for around $1K which is definitely reasonable. Anyone use one of these?
 
steve phillipps said:
Have you used one?
I've not used many of these new viewfinders but lots of reports from the field that I've heard have verged on the virtually unusable - certainly where fast-moving subjects and long lenses are concerned.
As for information, you could certainly have an optical viewing system but still have an electronic link to the camera to provide information.
Steve
Click to expand...

I've used optical finders on film cameras and digital still cameras, but have never used one on a video camera.
 
steve phillipps said:
And you didn't like them?
Click to expand...

Big optical finders on FF35 or medium format still cameras in good light are fine. 16mm film camera optical finders I always found difficult to focus accurately with and were terrible in low light. The high resolution monochrome CRT EVF's on broadcast cameras were the best all around to me. Crisp high contrast images, no lag, easy to focus with no need for assists.
 
hscully said:
What about the Cineroid? They have one with a Retina display. It has some nice features SDI through, the eyepiece pulls back, waveform, vectorscope, peaking, false color. I've got to buy one this year. This sells for around $1K which is definitely reasonable. Anyone use one of these?
Click to expand...

I had the Cineroid retina and sold it..... honestly, I think it's a bad product in so many ways.

First the Cineroid website is (or at least was) a mess. The so-called user forum was useless, if they responded at all they were slow.
Their website which hosts the firmware software was immensely slow.......
The firmware could only be installed through a pc, and the software was buggy, so I had to try several times to get the monitor to connect.
And then there was something about connection issues with shooting 50fps or something like that.

Anyways, I'm never buying Cineroid again.

After that, I invested in TV Logic instead, since that is what the typical rental house here uses, and I haven't been happier. Quality product with plenty of options and in full HD. I would recommend them anytime. A bit pricey though.... but you get what you pay for.
 
Agree about Cineroid. Offered to update a colleagues Retina EVF as I had a windows distro and he didn't. It was a battle trying to find the updater and the firmware, the websites featured help article was about how to meet women haha! In this case I chose to continue looking for the firmware, when I downloaded it it took me several attempts to get the software to successfully installed. For the longest time after each update the unit would just refuse to turn on, slightly worrying when I had to hand it back to my friend in the morning.

On top of that the build is cumbersome and poorly thought out.
 
I was happy to find this thread! I use a SmallHD DP4. Not thrilled with it never have been from day one. I will say that they offer good customer service however, because they replaced my eye piece after it had issues with one email no hassle. My issue with the DP4 is it is not sharp. I don't trust it for focus. I have recently been using an external 15" monitor for lighting and focus and the DP4 just for framing. I am now in the market for a smaller than 15" monitor that will give me an accurate color image for lighting and sharp focus. Here we move to the +$1500 range. Has anyone found a comparison between monitors out there? I have watched the NewsShooter item on the new Ikan 7" & 5" that have the scopes I am looking for. I see Mitch has contributed to this thread and some friends of mine are suggesting the Odessy 7 as an option other say wait for the Shogun with these you get a recorder too. I would rather just a monitor but would take one if it rated highly as a monitor and sell one of my Ninja's.SmallHD,Marshal, Tote Vision, Oricon, FV,Flanders, TV Logic.???? As much as I am not a fan of the rebranders at Ikan I must admit their 7" does look nice, though the review on NewsShooter is more like a commercial.
Thanks
Brian
 
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