Olympus E-PL1 LCD and VF-2 Viewfinder
Sadly
as always with cameras, the rear LCD is hard to see for detail when
framing in bright sunlight, so the optional VF-2 electronic viewfinder
fixes that problem, spectacularly so. It is an excellent viewfinder and
makes optical viewfinders look silly. The later VF-3 is almost as good as the VF-2 for less cost. The
latest addition is the VF-4 which is the best EVF of the lot, but the
firmware needs to be updated to handle it. On the E-PL1 the VF-4 eye
proximity sensor does not function.
Some facts.......
The
rear LCD is quoted as 230,000 dots, that equates to about 76,666
pixels which means that is is a 320 x 240 pixel display - it could be
better.
The VF-2 is quoted as 1,440,000 dots which is 480,000
pixels and that results in an excellent 800 x 600 display with
extremely small pixels that can only just be seen as individual dots. The result is a smooth
image that is like looking at the real scene when previewing or
reviewing shots later.
The silver model looks decidedly clunky
but the black one, despite being exactly the same size, looks a lot
smaller. And it needs to be as it is an extra device perched on top of
the camera. Put the safety plastic covers in a safe place and then
slide the VF-2 onto the hot-shoe, to switch between LCD and VF-2 just
press the button on the VF-2. The menu has separate adjustments for the
colour temperature and the brightness for both LCD and for the VF-2.
By
default the VF-2 seems a little bright so I have set mine to minus 3
for the moment. Whereas of course my LCD is at plus 7 and is still hard
to see sometimes.
I find that being a left eyed viewer that
there is no nose rubbing on the LCD and it all seems away more
comfortable to use than my old E-300 DSLR. Being much higher than the
traditional built in viewfinder seems to be a benefit.
Keeping
both eyes open and comparing the VF-2 view to the real world seen by
the other eye, it seems that with a lens at about 40mm to 42mm it makes
the VF-2 view match the real view for size of objects.
The VF-2 is a highly recommended accessory.