Digital SLR 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.

Click on column headings to sort the table.

Resolution	Brand / Model	Coverage	Magnification	Crop Factor	Effective Size
	Canon EOS 1D Mark II	100%	0.72	1.3	0.553
	Canon EOS 1D Mark II N	100%	0.72	1.3	0.553
	Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II	100%	0.7	1	0.7
	Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III	100%	0.76	1	0.76
	Canon EOS 20D	95%	0.9	1.6	0.562
	Canon EOS 30D	95%	0.9	1.6	0.562
	Canon EOS 40D	95%	0.95	1.6	0.593
	Canon EOS 5D	96%	0.71	1	0.71
	Canon Rebel	95%	0.88	1.6	0.55
	Canon Rebel XSi	95%	0.87	1.6	0.544
	Canon Rebel XT	95%	0.8	1.6	0.5
	Canon Rebel XTi	95%	0.8	1.6	0.5
	Fuji Finepix S2 Pro	92%	0.75	1.5	0.5
	Fuji Finepix S3 Pro	87%	0.8	1.5	0.533
	Fuji Finepix S5 Pro	95%	0.94	1.5	0.626
	Konica-Minolta Maxxum 5D	95%	0.83	1.5	0.553
	Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D	95%	0.9	1.5	0.6
	Nikon D200	95%	0.94	1.5	0.626
	Nikon D2H	100%	0.86	1.5	0.573
	Nikon D2Hs	100%	0.86	1.5	0.573
	Nikon D2X	100%	0.86	1.5	0.573
	Nikon D2Xs	100%	0.86	1.5	0.573
	Nikon D3	100%	0.7	1	0.7
	Nikon D300	100%	0.94	1.5	0.626
	Nikon D40	95%	0.8	1.5	0.533
	Nikon D40X	95%	0.8	1.5	0.533
	Nikon D50	95%	0.75	1.5	0.5
	Nikon D60	95%	0.8	1.5	0.533
	Nikon D70	95%	0.75	1.5	0.5
	Nikon D70s	95%	0.75	1.5	0.5
	Nikon D80	95%	0.94	1.5	0.626
	Olympus Evolt E-3	100%	1.15	2	0.575
	Olympus Evolt E-300	94%	1	2	0.5
	Olympus Evolt E-330	94%	1	2	0.5
	Olympus Evolt E-400	95%	0.92	2	0.46
	Olympus Evolt E-410	95%	0.92	2	0.46
	Olympus Evolt E-420	95%	0.92	2	0.46
	Olympus Evolt E-500	95%	0.9	2	0.45
	Olympus Evolt E-510	95%	0.92	2	0.46
	Panasonic Lumix L1	95%	0.93	2	0.47
	Panasonic Lumix L10	95%	0.92	2	0.46
	Pentax K100D	96%	0.85	1.5	0.566
	Pentax K10D	95%	0.95	1.5	0.633
	Pentax K110D	96%	0.85	1.5	0.566
	Pentax K200D	96%	0.85	1.5	0.567
	Pentax K20D	95%	0.95	1.5	0.633
	Pentax *ist DL	95%	0.85	1.5	0.566
	Pentax *ist DL2	95%	0.85	1.5	0.566
	Pentax *ist DS	95%	0.95	1.5	0.633
	Pentax *ist DS2	95%	0.95	1.5	0.633
	Sigma SD14	98%	0.9	1.7	0.529
	Sony Alpha A100	95%	0.83	1.5	0.553
	Sony Alpha A200	95%	0.83	1.5	0.553
	Sony Alpha A300	95%	0.74	1.5	0.493
	Sony Alpha A350	95%	0.74	1.5	0.493
	Sony Alpha A700	95%	0.9	1.5	0.6