It is a 2.5x viewfinder which attaches to the back of the lcd. They are $250 or so.
The reality that you can flip the mirror up and get some sweet mirrorless action...
...held up 12" from your face like an iPad user = fail. Not for me.
...with an ergonomic turd blossom of a Z-finder, loupe, etc. = DOA. Not for me at all.
...on a tripod = fine I guess for landscape/macro work, but I don't really need DPAF or peaking for that if I'm manually focusing 10x.
...with a tilty-flippy shooting high above a crowd or from a really low/odd shooting position = strong. That is a nice upgrade for me, who still uses a 5D3.
But all the above means that I largely
won't get the sweet mirrorless action out of an SLR in the manner which I prefer to shoot. I'd like to do all the following in handheld shooting with the VF up to my eye:
- Get massively expanded AF point coverage across the frame
- Get histo info through the VF in realtime
- Accurately and quickly manually focus large aperture glass (since focus screens are RIP in all but 1-series products)
- Amplify light in dark rooms (for composition, focus assist, etc.)
And with EF, a proper 50 prime may never arrive.
So for me, that means that as much as I
should be in the market for a 5D5 as an OVF devotee, I probably will be getting some future variant of an R instead. Whatever percentage better a 5D5 would be to my 5D3, it pales in comparison to what unlocking those four bullet points above would represent. Unlocking what I can't do today is likely more useful than improving what I can do today.
- A