How do you deal with viewfinder eyestrain?

[masp]

So I went to the big camera store today and tried out all their cameras. Seriously, I tried out all of them. :D I noticed almost all of the sub $1000 cameras had pretty dim viewfinders. Even the more expensive models with pentaprisms weren't that much brighter, though they were a little bigger. To my surprise, the micro 4/3 cameras with the electronic viewfinders caused the least eyestrain because they were so much brighter and easier to see.

I want to be able to take wildlife photos, so a conventional SLR design seems like it would offer better performance than m4/3, but I'm not sure how to reduce the eyestrain from a small dim viewfinder. Olympus has the best lenses in my price and size range for telephoto, but also the worst viewfinder due to the 4/3 design. Oh well.

Anyway, does using your camera ever cause eyestrain and how do you deal with it? I've been looking around at some of the viewfinder magnifier and Hoodman accessories, but they don't usually let you try these on the cameras.

[Bambi]

well I love my nikon viewfinder and find I can see it on even bright days. However, most of the time I look through the eye piece.

[masp]

Hmm, which model of Nikon do you have and what shooting conditions do you usually have? I have a feeling the indoor lighting in the store was the issue. Or maybe it was because I was squinting too much. Or maybe I'm just trying to talk myself into believing there is no problem because I really want my DSLR...

[AntZ]

Someone may correct me here, but doesn't view finder brightness also depend on the maximum aperture of the lens you have fitted. That't is also why when you press the DOF preview button if your body has one that the viewfinder goes darker...unless you are using the max aperture.

And to answer your question, its not a problem for me with the Canon 40D.

[JAS_Photo]

Antz is correct. Faster lenses have a larger maximum aperture and therefore you have a brighter viewfinder. I think basically, you have to just learn to not squint all the time. I try to not squint except when I am doing fine focusing. I also discovered I was not using my dominant eye and when I switched over I was squinting way less.


How to Determine Your Dominant Eye - wikiHow (http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-Your-Dominant-Eye)

Some cameras have a built in diopter thingy that lets you adjust it for your own eyesight. That's the official name of it by the way. :) I have astigmatism and nearsightedness and old eyes so all I can say is thank god for auto focusing. I have been on a bit of a Joe McNally kick lately and in one of his videos, he was doing a shoot with a skate park skater who was coming up over the edge of the bowl. Joe was shoving the Nikon D3 at him and basically letting it find its own focus. That's how good these cameras are now. He was using a wide angle which has a lot of depth of field but still.

Oh, yeah, it was in my effort to try and be all cool like Joe that I discovered that I was using the wrong eye. ;)

[masp]

Interesting. Perhaps switching eyes will help. Too bad it's a bit more cramped to try to use your left eye with most of the smaller entry level DSLRs. I think I squint more when trying to manually focus in the VF.

Do all DSLRs lose a lot of AF performance when they are composing in live view? I hear Sony is slightly better in this regard, but I'm not sure if slightly better is good enough to shoot wildlife.

Also, is using a faster lens basically the only way of increasing the brightness of a viewfinder (aside from buying a more expensive camera with a better viewfinder)?

[Wicked Dark]

adjusting the diopter to your vision is key no matter what. ditto finding your eye dominance. I'm cross dominant, so don't be surprised if the eye that is most comfortable is the opposite of the hand you write with.

Funny thing about viewfinders. I bought the camera I currently use primarily because I wanted a better OVF to use with my manual, legacy lenses. But since I work so much with a tripod in a position lower than my head, I end up using Live View almost 100% of the time (that swivel/tilt screen is a lifesaver), thus bypassing the OVF. When I do use it though, the improvement over my old camera is marked, but it's nothing compared to my OM-1. : )

[AcadieLibre]

I don't wear glasses and I use a viewer extender for glasses it seems to make it more comfortable to shoot and my face is not pressed against the camera and it cuts down on eye strain. I thought I would try one after a shooting a concert once and I spent the entire time looking through the viewer and my eyes were bothering me. So I looked through the camera store for some sort of solution having no idea what I was looking for and saw an extender and thought hmmmm, that may help so I bought it and found it makes a big difference since it moves the camera away from my face more. I use both eyes depending on what one feels better on different days and times of days. Most camera stores have a return policy, I would try it out and see if that helps. One of the best things I have bought for my camera, when I got my second body and started to use it I found it not as comfortable then I realized I did not have an extender for it, so I bought a second and then all was well with the world.

[masp]

Wicked Dark: Are you referring to the E-620? I'm a bit disappointed in how dim the viewfinders are it seems to be a design limitation of the system. Hopefully Olympus is working on something to improve the situation.

AcadieLibre: Which viewfinder extender do you use? Does it magnify and or crop the viewfinder image? I've been browsing the B&H catalog and I see that they make magnifying eyepieces and negative and positive diopters for Nikon and Canon cameras, but I haven't found any for Olympus cameras or the other brands.

I found the Xtend-a-View (http://the-gadgeteer.com/2010/01/17/xtend-a-view-digital-camera-lcd-viewfinder-extender-review/) which is basically a Hoodman for the LCD screen. Not sure using live view is a good idea for wildlife photos though. Hoodman also makes the HoodEYE (http://www.hoodmanusa.com/products.asp?dept=1061) which might be the viewfinder extender you referred to, but it's only for Nikons and high end Canons.

[Wicked Dark]

No, I have the E-30.

Pretty much all digital SLR viewfinders suck. Pick up an old F-series Nikon, A-series Canon or OM-series Olympus and you'll see. But with Live View being incorporated into so much of what I do, it doesn't really matter, plus a person gets used to whatever they work with most.

[masp]

Pretty much all digital SLR viewfinders suck.

Hah. Thanks for confirming my suspicions. :D I thought it was just me for a while. Any idea why DSLR viewfinders are so bad? Is it a design limitation, or are the manufacturers just being cheap?

This is the main reason I started looking at the electronic viewfinders on the micro 4/3 system. But I think the AF performance on those systems is not quite there yet, at least for Olympus.

How much of a performance hit do you take when using live view for action or wildlife shots? Is there increased shutter lag or decreased AF speed? I read in a review somewhere that switching the AF mode may still result in acceptable AF speeds while using live view.

The thing is, if I'm in live view most of the time, I guess I may as well be using micro 4/3.

[Marko]

Antz is mostly correct AFAIK. There are viewfinder brightness differences between dSLR models regardless of the lens attached. I believe this is due to how the viewfinder itself is made in different models.