DSLR Viewfinder Sizes

The size of a camera's viewfinder can greatly affect its usability. The larger the viewfinder, the easier it is to judge focus and to see subject detail. The greater a viewfinder's coverage, the easier it is to precisely compose photographs. With modern DSLR cameras, viewfinder size varies more than image quality. So, once image quality is good enough, why not select a camera based on its viewfinder? The more you use your digital SLR, the more you will notice the viewfinder - and its limitations.

The table below shows the specification of each DSLR camera's viewfinder. Coverage is measured as a percentage of the full image captured. Therefore, a viewfinder with a coverage of 100%, shows the entire image to be captured. Magnification is a relative measure which compares the size of what we see through the viewfinder to what we would be seeing without looking through a viewfnder. For cameras with the same crop-factor (focal-length-multiplier), magnification can be used to compare viewfinder size. Magnification is relative because manufacturers all use the field-of-view obtained by a 50mm lens as their basis. Since a 50mm lens gives a different field-of-view depending on the crop-factor, the measured magnification differs too. For reference, the crop factor and resolution of each camera is also shown. The effective size should be used when comparing viewfinders of cameras with different crop factors.

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	Brand / Model	Coverage	Magnification	Crop Factor	Effective Size
Medium 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 and 100% coverage.	Canon EOS 1D Mark IV	100%	0.76	1.3	0.58
Large 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size over 0.7 and 100% coverage.	Canon EOS 1D X	100%	0.76	1	0.76
Large 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size over 0.7 and 100% coverage.	Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III	100%	0.76	1	0.76
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Canon EOS 50D	95%	0.95	1.6	0.56
Large Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.6 and 0.7 with less than 100% coverage.	Canon EOS 5D Mark II	98%	0.71	1	0.7
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Canon EOS 60D	96%	0.95	1.6	0.57
Large 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.6 and 0.7 and 100% coverage.	Canon EOS 7D	100%	1	1.6	0.63
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Canon EOS Rebel T1i	95%	0.87	1.6	0.52
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Canon EOS Rebel T2i	95%	0.87	1.6	0.52
Small Viewfinder: Effective size below 0.5 with less than 100% coverage.	Canon EOS Rebel T3	95%	0.8	1.6	0.48
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Canon EOS Rebel T3i	95%	0.85	1.6	0.5
Small Viewfinder: Effective size below 0.5 with less than 100% coverage.	Canon EOS Rebel XS	95%	0.81	1.6	0.48
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Canon EOS Rebel XSi	95%	0.87	1.6	0.52
Large 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size over 0.7 and 100% coverage.	Nikon D3	100%	0.7	1	0.7
Large 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.6 and 0.7 and 100% coverage.	Nikon D300	100%	0.95	1.5	0.63
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Nikon D3000	95%	0.8	1.5	0.51
Large 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.6 and 0.7 and 100% coverage.	Nikon D300S	100%	0.94	1.5	0.63
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Nikon D3100	95%	0.8	1.5	0.51
Large 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size over 0.7 and 100% coverage.	Nikon D3S	100%	0.7	1	0.7
Large 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size over 0.7 and 100% coverage.	Nikon D3X	100%	0.7	1	0.7
Large 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size over 0.7 and 100% coverage.	Nikon D4	100%	0.7	1	0.7
Small Viewfinder: Effective size below 0.5 with less than 100% coverage.	Nikon D5000	95%	0.78	1.5	0.49
Small Viewfinder: Effective size below 0.5 with less than 100% coverage.	Nikon D5100	95%	0.78	1.5	0.49
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Nikon D60	95%	0.8	1.5	0.51
Large Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.6 and 0.7 with less than 100% coverage.	Nikon D700	95%	0.72	1	0.68
Large 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.6 and 0.7 and 100% coverage.	Nikon D7000	100%	0.95	1.5	0.63
Large Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.6 and 0.7 with less than 100% coverage.	Nikon D90	96%	0.94	1.5	0.6
Medium 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 and 100% coverage.	Olympus E-3	100%	1.15	2	0.58
Medium 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 and 100% coverage.	Olympus E-5	100%	1.15	2	0.58
Small Viewfinder: Effective size below 0.5 with less than 100% coverage.	Olympus Evolt E-30	98%	1.02	2	0.5
Small Viewfinder: Effective size below 0.5 with less than 100% coverage.	Olympus Evolt E-420	95%	0.92	2	0.44
Small Viewfinder: Effective size below 0.5 with less than 100% coverage.	Olympus Evolt E-520	95%	0.92	2	0.44
Small Viewfinder: Effective size below 0.5 with less than 100% coverage.	Olympus Evolt E-620	95%	0.96	2	0.46
Large 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.6 and 0.7 and 100% coverage.	Pentax K-5	100%	0.92	1.5	0.61
Large 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.6 and 0.7 and 100% coverage.	Pentax K-7	100%	0.92	1.5	0.61
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Pentax K-r	96%	0.85	1.5	0.54
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Pentax K-x	96%	0.85	1.5	0.54
Large Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.6 and 0.7 with less than 100% coverage.	Pentax K10D	95%	0.95	1.5	0.6
Large Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.6 and 0.7 with less than 100% coverage.	Pentax K20D	95%	0.95	1.5	0.6
Large Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.6 and 0.7 with less than 100% coverage.	Sigma SD1	98%	0.95	1.5	0.62
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Sigma SD15	98%	0.9	1.7	0.52
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Sony Alpha A100	95%	0.83	1.5	0.53
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Sony Alpha A200	95%	0.83	1.5	0.53
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Sony Alpha A290	95%	0.83	1.5	0.53
Small Viewfinder: Effective size below 0.5 with less than 100% coverage.	Sony Alpha A390	95%	0.74	1.5	0.47
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Sony Alpha A450	95%	0.8	1.5	0.51
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Sony Alpha A500	95%	0.8	1.5	0.51
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Sony Alpha A550	95%	0.8	1.5	0.51
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Sony Alpha A560	95%	0.8	1.5	0.51
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Sony Alpha A580	95%	0.8	1.5	0.51
Medium Viewfinder: Effective size between 0.5 and 0.6 with less than 100% coverage.	Sony Alpha A700	95%	0.9	1.5	0.57
Large Viewfinder: Effective size over 0.7 with less than 100% coverage.	Sony Alpha A850	98%	0.74	1	0.73
Large 100% Coverage Viewfinder: Effective size over 0.7 and 100% coverage.	Sony Alpha A900	100%	0.74	1	0.74