The world is divided in two… always, that is why there is people making a lot of money selling t-shirts for opposite points of view!

The users of mirrorless camera are not different, photographers loving the optical viewfinder and photographers loving the electronic viewfinder and hating each other.

Since Fujifilm introduced the hybrid viewfinder with the X100 and the XPro we can have the best of both worlds and decide what to use for every picture.
It is surprising for me to see, on various blog posts and comments, Fuji users hoping to have a future release of those cameras without one or the other option when Fuji made the most intelligent move leaving the choice to us. But this is not the point of this article, here I want to concentrate on what I think is the philosophical difference between the OVF and EVF.

Personally, on my Fuji XPro1 I use both but mostly the OVF.

When we look at an EVF we look at the camera representation of the subject on a display, when we use the OVF we look at the framed reality. Basically people that like to preview and create the image in their mind before taking the picture prefer the OVF, people that like to see the world as is seen by the camera choose the EVF.

The mental process is very different. Seasoned photographers that learned to shoot with film are not very influenced in their mental workflow by the camera because they formed it before the existence of the displays, but younger photographers are forming their workflow based on what the camera offers.

Saint Pierre Castle, Aosta Italy. Linhof Master Technika 4×5 with Ilford FP4

The EVF shows the picture with the dynamic range, color balance and contrast of the camera, and gives to us a filtered scene. With the EVF we are looking at a display and the image is already done, we can take it but we do not make it because we are no more looking at the reality and having feeling and emotions created by the real moment.

The dynamic range of reality can be 100,000:1, the best displays can give 400:1 and a print is around 100:1. The art of photography is not only composition but also to interpret the reality so we can communicate the feeling of the very high light differences and the very subtle shades on a medium with a very limited dynamic range.
The same applies for the color gamut and contrast.
Looking at a display or EVF we limit ourselves to its specific characteristics.

Some time ago I was watching the sunset from a pier, I step few feet back from the railing and observed all the people, specially young, looking at the sunset in their smartphone, ready to click every few seconds. They forgot the reality around, what they were watching was a limited frame of reality interpreted by their phone.
There were two groups of teenagers, one males and the other females, spring, beach warm weather and small swimwear at the age when hormones are crazy and they were so concentrated to watch the sunset in the display and share the moment on the social media with their distant friends that they forgot to look around at each other, share the moment with the real people, smile, know each other and have the option to meet and perhaps fall in love!

I see the same limit in the images created by the display/EVF extremists, they forget the reality and what can make a picture great just because is out of the frame or out of the characteristics of the display. This is absolutely evident in prints because the image is not taken thinking at the final printed result but the click is created on the display. You see the images in small size on the social media and are very good, when printed become ugly and boring with a lot of defects and the limits of the display transferred to the print.

Personally I use the OVF to frame the image I had in my mind watching the reality and I use the EVF only sometime to check some parameters as the histogram or the precise composition in case of situations that can procure a parallax problem.

My preference come form the way I learned to photograph with film and my preferred cameras: Linhof Master Technika and Hasselblad SWC. Both of them had an external viewfinder I used to frame the subject and there was not a way to see the final image until the film was developed and printed.
My usual workflow was to walk in the scene, look around from many different point of view, than get the viewfinder from my pocket (yes was detachable from the camera) to refine my choice with the angle of view of the lenses I had in the bag and only then taking the camera off the bag and positioning it in the right place.

Grandparents kitchen, Occimiano, Italy. Hasselblad SWC with Ilford HP5 film

With the Fuji my workflow is the same, just more comfortable in size, weight and speed.

The average person spends 4 hours a day on internet watching at their computer or smartphone display. Photographers now spend a lot of time watching a display to elaborate pictures. We are modifying ourself to adapt to a display and a virtual reality. As photographer we are looking to produce images that will be good on the social media and will produce a lot of “like”.

The mental process used to create photographies is changing and images are no more created by the mind and sensibility of the photographer but by the camera. Blog articles and tutorials talking about the tools get more views and likes than articles and videos talking about the philosophical and aesthetic aspects.
Take a look at the B&H Youtube channel (I love their event space and the quality of the speakers and content!) a lesson of Sam Abell, one of the best photographer and speaker that made a very inspiring class, has around 22 thousands views in 11 months, the first look at different tools have more than 40 thousand views in 2 or 3 months. If we look at less known speakers (most of the time equally interesting) the difference is even wider.

My suggestion for the new “always digital” photographers is simple: sometime use the OVF, cover the display and take pictures in the old school way. You will improve, discover a real world and make your life better, and perhaps you will be able to see the woman/man close to you looking the sunset and exchange a real smile.

Last year I bought a new Fuji X-Pro-1, it was a great deal few days before the XPro2 was on the market, I bought it as a camera to keep in my pockets not really as a serious option but I loved it since I started to take the first pictures. I even bought a second one used and converted it to infrared.

The quality of the RAW file is incredible and so the quality of the lenses. I really enjoy the OVF and the option to switch to EVF sometime. Low or high ISO the quality is superb and I started to bring the camera with me always, something that I was not doing with the much bigger and heavier Canon 1DSMkIII I own. Every single time I develop the RAWs I like it a little more.

So I cannot be happier and I hope I will get the X-Pro-2 very soon.

But… I hate absolutely all the buttons and wheels that get pushed and moved anytime I take the camera in my hands from the bag. The macro function seems made only to make me worry that the OVF/EVF switch is broken every time I push it accidentally and I get stuck in EVF. The exposure compensation get always out of the zero and I under or over expose pictures because I do not like to have always the display on to check… all the buttons soon or later get pushed accidentally. It makes me crazy!

So, dear Fuji, why you do not put an option in the firmware to disable the buttons and dials? I know, I’m a dinosaur in the modern photography because I need only shutter speed, aperture and ISO, 90% of the time. But Leica made money with a model without even the display!
Some line of code in the firmware and we will be able to personalize the camera, turning off all the buttons we want and the camera could go back and forth, from normal to limited function, with something simple as pressing one of the annoying buttons for more than 3 seconds or something similar.

Personally I would be happy with all the buttons and dials inactive but play, shutter speed and aperture. Other people can have other needs but I think that can be easy to customize with a menu similar to the menu used to choose what to display in the OVF.
The fun part is that this can be done on all past, present and future models.

Dear Fuji, I already love you but with that option you will save me a lot of money for couple therapy because I start to curse when I accidentally push you the wrong button!

Please, dear Fuji, listen to me… I even have a ring ready for you to make this relationship stable in time!

Whit love and a little hate.

A little update few days later… someone made me notice that pressing the OK/MENU for two seconds lock the selector avoiding to go accidentally in macro mode. I missed that in the manual, my fault ooooops, but still I would love to turn off also the other buttons and the exposure compensation dial… but this is better than nothing.