Viewfinder or Live View

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Count one more for arm's length not being long enough to see the Live View clearly.

Just out of curiosity does anyone know what the focus of the viewfinder is distanced to? I never have a problem seeing it, so it must be at least a little more than one arm-unit :/

Are you asking about eye relief? Its about 21mm for a 5D MK IV. As far as your eye focusing on the viewfinder, it depends on your eye as to how far away you can focus on it. The eyepiece itself is focused on the ground surface of the focus screen just below the pentaprism. Its like a movie screen, its not focused to your eye, its your eye that focuses on it. There is a adjustable diopter which compensates for those who are near or far sighted, but not for astigmatism.

 

[bholliman]

I answered viewfinder, since that is how I do the majority of my shooting, but I use Live View quite a bit as well. I'm glad I have both options.

I almost always use live view when shooting on a tripod. When hand holding, almost always the viewfinder with my 5DsR. I can only remember using live view hand held with my 5DsR once - when we were returning from a boat tour of the Na Pali coast of Kauai and a spectacular sunset was behind us and I was sitting at the front of the tour boat with many people behind us. I shot a number of LV shots over my head, behind. Some of the shots actually turned out OK.

With my M5, I shoot with the viewfinder except when I used the articulated lcd to shoot with the camera over my head or down low. Probably 85% VF 15% LV with the M5.

 

[FTb-n]

Viewfinder, of course. The point of using a DSLR is that you can see the same image in the Viewfinder that you going to capture. LiveView is for point and shoot and mirrorless cameras.

+1
I use a 5D3 and a 1Dx mostly for sports where AF tracking in varied lighting conditions is critical. There are occaisions where the Live View feature is handy, but the true benefits of a 1Dx are only available with the viewfinder. Plus, I find it far easier to hold a DSLR steady when using the viewfinder.