A decent black and white CRT viewfinder can easily resolve more than 400 lines, assuming the little picture tube is in focus. Higher frequencies in the video signal are responsible for higher resolution, with both Hi8 and S-VHS formats boasting the ability to cleanly record 400 or more lines from left to right across the screen. Higher resolution appears to the eye as increased sharpness and greater detail. Measured in lines per picture height (or width), resolution is the ability to separate and display, or resolve, small details. Several models give you two viewfinders–a conventional fixed-eyepiece model as well as a fold-out color LCD display. Available on Sony and Nikon 8mm camcorders, these viewfinders flip out when your need them and fold back in when you’ve finished shooting. Large side-mounted color LCDs could be the latest craze. In some models, the camera lens tilts up or down or flips 180 degrees so that it points directly at its user–perfect for self-portraits. While you cant move most of these larger flat viewfinders, the manufacturers often compensate with a movable lens assembly. These models often have shapes more like a still camera than a traditional camcorder. These models, as well JVC’s GR-SV1U and a few others, integrate their liquid crystal display (LCD) viewscreens right into the back of the camcorder. Large-screen (two- to three-inch) viewfinders have appeared in the last few years, noticeably on Sharp’s ViewCam VL-HL100 or Sony’s Handycam CCD-SC7. On this type, if you dont like where it is, you just have to live with it. On some camcorders, manufacturers permanently affix the viewfinder within the camera shell. The more flexible designs are the ones in which the entire viewfinder can move easily from one side to the other by swinging it up and over, or by unscrewing the mounting bracket and reattaching it. While you can move the eyepiece in and out and slide the finder laterally, its basic location, to the right or left of the camera’s body, doesnt change. The majority of camcorders do not offer fully adjustable viewfinders. If you favor one eye over the other, you’ll want the viewfinder to cooperate and be there for you, left or right. Sometimes it has to do with dexterity–whether you’re right handed or a lefty. Everyone has their favorite viewfinder location–on the left or right, in the middle or on top of the camera. By sliding lens elements in the viewfinder either closer or farther away from the eye, the diopter lens can help many a camera person to shoot comfortably without glasses or contacts. If your eyesight isn’t 20/20, or if you’re farsighted or have to wear glasses, you need an adjustable viewing lens called a diopter. This takes the form of magnifying lenses mounted in the eyepiece–the hole into which you peer. Small viewfinders require optics to increase the apparent image size and to help you focus your eye. The traditional viewfinder, with its black rubber eyepiece and recessed image, ranges from about 1.5 inches across down to less than a half inch. Both kinds exist in monochrome or color, although miniature color CRTs are extremely rare.Ī CRT display uses a miniature picture tube that glows when an electron beam hits it from inside LCDs have a flat screen made up of tiny crystals that go from transparent to opaque on (electronic) command, letting light (from a source behind) shine through. There are two basic designs: cathode ray tube (CRT) and liquid crystal display (LCD). Here are a few ways in which they differ: As with most things, one person’s favorite viewfinder can be another’s cursed device. Whether color or monochrome, camcorder viewfinders come in different styles with different features. To view in color, we take advantage of the latest in liquid crystal technology, microscopic transistors and compact optics. While black and white viewfinders are indeed miniature TV monitors (picture tubes shrunk down to under an inch across), color models work on a very different principle. Although color TV has existed since the early 1950s, color made its way into the tiny viewfinder only recently. Monochrome means black and white, the way television was in the beginning. Viewfinders come in two flavors: monochrome and color. You aligned your right eye with the little picture tube while balancing the whole thing on your right shoulder. Once upon a time, most video cameras came with a black & white viewfinder mounted on the left side of the camera. So–what’s inside a viewfinder? How do they work? And which one is best for your videomaking? In this article, we’ll look at the basic types as well as the latest options to make you more of a viewfinder expert than (perhaps) you were before.
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