I can see again

The electronic viewfinder for the D-Lux 5- the Panasonic one, not the Leica (it’s identical except for the badge and £140 cheaper) – turned up just in time for me to take it on a trip to North Yorkshire for Christmas. I’d already found the D-Lux to be a fantastically capable camera and produced some nice pictures without the aid of a viewfinder, but what a game-changer getting one turned out to be.

Reviewers have been critical of the relatively low resolution of the LVF1, but when it’s hard to focus on a screen on the back of a camera, anything is better than nothing. Crucially, I can read the exposure information and see, clearly enough, the composition of the shot, even in low light – it’s made a world of difference to the picture taking process.

Using a viewfinder also changes the way you approach taking pictures, squinting at a little screen on the back of camera held at arms length, distances you from the process, but, looking through a viewfinder, electronic or optical, draws you in.

The frustration of downloading pictures and finding skewed horizons and unnoticed intrusions is now a thing of the past, now all I have to do is start making better pictures.

posted on 30 December 2010
category: photo links