Canon EOS D30 Digital SLRCanon's first digital SLR packs 3 megapixels of CMOS sensor into a speedy, compact body! (Smallest/lightest digital SLR as of August, 2000)<<CMOS versus CCD & what's it all mean? :(Previous) | (Next): Optics>> Page 5:ViewfinderReview First Posted: 8/27/2000 |
Viewfinder
The D30's viewfinder is excellent on all fronts, providing great information,
easy use, and high accuracy. While we don't have a formal test for it, the "eyepoint"
of the viewfinder seemed quite high, making it comfortable to use with eyeglasses.
The dioptric correction is also excellent, covering a broad range from -3 to
+1 diopters. We measured its accuracy at 96%, agreeing well with Canon's official
specification of 95% frame coverage. The viewfinder display conveys a lot of
information about exposure and camera status, as shown in the illustration below.
(Courtesy Canon USA, Inc.)
Important to note in discussing the D30's viewfinder system is that the rear-panel
LCD display is not usable as a viewfinder, but optical viewfinder by
a mirror that intercepts the image on the way to the shutter and the sensor.
Thus, when the camera isn't actively taking a picture, the light from the
lens is directed only to the optical viewfinder, and so isn't available to
the sensor to drive a live viewfinder display on the LCD. With the exception
of the Olympus E-10 (which uses a beamsplitter prism instead of a mirror,
at some cost in light sensitivity), all digital SLRs operate in this fashion.
While
not strictly a viewfinder function, the capture-mode Info display shown on
the rear-panel LCD screen probably deserves mention at this point. The optical
viewfinder carries quite a bit of information about camera status as shown
above, but there's even more available on the rear panel, just by pressing
the "Info" button. Rather than the exposure settings shown in the
optical finder, this display shows shooting mode, autobracketing and flash
exposure compensation, shots and memory card space remaining, ISO setting,
and the status of all custom-function options selected, albeit in a very terse
numerical format. Between this screen, the optical viewfinder display, and
the LCD data readout on the camera's top, the D30 is one of the most "informative"
cameras we've yet worked with.
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