Using an external monitor instead of a viewfinder

44 minutes ago, Architeuthis said:

It is certainly depends a lot on the individuum, what is regarded the optimum...

 

As far as I am concerned, I have my 45° viewfinder always on the housing, regardless whether I shoot macro or WA. It took me few dives to get familiar with the 45° and point the camera roughly to the right direction. Now seeing through 45° and pointing the camera to the right angle is just normal for me. It would confuse me, when I had to change from 45° to 180° inbetween dives. I find it also impracticable to exchange the viewfinder every dive...

 

Regarding other issues:

#1.: I was using the back LCD for long. 45° viewfinder is not only much better for neck muscles, but when I was near the surface and the sun was shining, I had problems to see anything on LCD (I guess a monitor without hood may behave similar).

#2.: Regarding presbyopia: I am now over 66 and did not have any problems until 60. After 60 it started to progress rapidly and is becoming worse now every year. I have lenses, glued into my mask (multifocal, astigmatism and short sightedness). The adjustable optics of the viewfinder is very useful to correct for the annual increase of presbyopia and has saved me already money (a mask of this kind costs 600-700 Euros, but I will buy another mask of this kind, if required, without any hesitation). Last year I tried contact lenses (negtive dioptries, astigmatism plus multifocal): I could see a little better near and also far, but there was not a single region where I could see really good, comparable to the mask and the spectacles that I wear over the water - not an option for me, personally...

 

=> For me the 45° viewfinder in permanent use is the optimum, but it may be different when one produces video...

 

Wolfgang

The Shinobi is 1000 nits you can see the screen in daylight without hood is not comparable to a 100 nits LCD screen

You can put the monitor any angle you like not just 45 and I found out the A1 has a viewfinder mode for the LCD where I can see all settings on the LCD and the histogram and a clean screen with the picture on the monitor

The key issue is drag in the water and then of course packing but to be frank I have come this far I pay for extra luggage no problem

You are correct that for video this is almost a must but I have survived so far with just the camera LCD for both

Some findings using the shinobi for photos

1. You need to set the camera in display settings mode otherwise you dont see where the camera is focussing

2. You can have on the same screen histogram the view from the camera and focus peaking so you see real time the focus plus zebra

3. If you deactivate live view for example because is dark and you want to see the effectivness of the exposure tools on the monitor goes away as the screen is always balanced

4. You can get a nice analysis screen with waveform, histogram and vectorscope however the latter is not useful for photos

I think the combination of focus peaking, RGB histogram (not monochrome) and zebra is very useful when you use the exposure on screen. When you are in DSLR mode and you don't you have focus peaking which is useful

In terms of screen the LCD is 6 cm wide the image on the monitor is 9.6 cm wide

checking for focus etc is not an issue at all

Now my next question is how easy is to remove the viewfinder if I fit one if this is not an easy job it will be painful as I swap between video and photo so I think I need to make a choice and stick to it probably the monitor

Update

Today I measured the HDMI lag on the A1

I am in shock and horror that this is higher than the Panasonic GH5/GH6 that usually takes the beating and an additional testimony to the fact that with all due respect Sony users are clueless and get fobbed off easily

Not only I have discovered that the LCD runs only at 30fps there is not faster 60fps option as in my Panasonic camera

Trivial to say this destroys the idea of using a monitor for photos as the lag is hear me now >130 ms

So it will be viewfinder not only that the EVF as 50/100/200 fps and at 200 fps is practically real time

I need to find a way to use the viewfinder in video now....