Building the Perfect Digital Camera, Part 2

By David Em

April 21, 2003

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As established last week, to achieve the Em Standard of Perfection, a camera must excel in the following categories: form, construction, lensing, resolution, shutter speed, light sensitivity, recording media, viewfinder display quality, menu design, and power management.

Viewfinders

Let's take a moment to discuss camera viewfinders and onboard displays. The Dimage 7 was the first still camera I tested that used an Electronic Viewfinder (EVF). EVFs are fine for video cameras, which are comparatively low-res to begin with, but in a high-res still environment, I feel they just don't cut it. EVFs are useful in situations where ambient light makes an LCD screen hard to see, but the EVFs I've seen to date are so tiny, it's awful hard to tell if you're even in focus.

Camera LCD displays represent a distinct advantage over traditional film cameras, especially for instant shot playback, but they're hard to see in broad daylight and deliver less than accurate color, particularly out of doors. The solution to this is Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) displays such as the one on Kodak's new $320 EasyShare LS633. These stunningly bright and beautiful screens offer lush color and a 170-degree field of view.

Another viewfinder of note is the "sports finder" design on Sigma's $1,800 SD9, which shows additional area to the left and right of the active image sensor coverage, so you can see what's coming into the camera's field of view from either direction. The extra viewing area has a neutral density gray transparency over it to distinguish it from the main picture area. This is tremendously useful for sports and nature photographers. Kudos to Sigma on this one.

Nikon's Coolpix 5700 and 4500

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