Photography is a wonderful hobby and profession. It should come as no surprise, but I love it! It’s also an absolute privilege to write about cameras for a living. But the part of my job that I hate most is how sedentary it is and that’s largely due to the high levels of screen time. I reckon I spend a minimum of six hours every single working day, looking at my computer screen. That’s not even counting time spent on my phone, watching TV, playing video games, and capturing photographs with my mirrorless camera.
A recent IPA survey put the average British adult’s daily screen time at nearly 7.5 hours. I nearly hit that at work! Let alone all the other screens that are vying for my attention. Now, in the grand scheme of things, my mirrorless camera’s EVF is a drop in the ocean. But my unhealthy obsession with screens might go some way to explaining why I lament the death of the optical viewfinder.
It’s not the EVF’s fault, but I find myself, especially later in the day, feeling screen fatigue. And honestly, when I’m taking a few fun snaps on a dog walk or during a day out, sticking my retina millimetres away from yet another screen can feel like a headache-inducing drag. I’ve said it before, but I miss optical viewfinders. And it’s not like the industry hasn’t come up with a solution, and by industry, I mean Fujifilm…
What’s a hybrid viewfinder?
A hybrid viewfinder is both an optical and electronic viewfinder, allowing the user to switch between the two. Fujifilm debuted the technology in 2010 with the Fujifilm FinePix X100 and thus kickstarted the legendary X100 series of fixed-lens compact cameras that has, thus far, culminated with the ever popular Fujifilm X100VI.
Fujifilm’s X-Pro series of cameras also features hybrid viewfinders. Both the X-Pro and X100 series are rangefinder-style cameras, but the X-Pro range features interchangeable-lens cameras. Fujifilm’s solution to a fixed rangefinder style optical viewfinder when changing lenses was to introduce digital rectangular indicators as a visual aid to illustrate the new focal length’s parameters.
Fujifilm managed to advance its hybrid viewfinder tech even further with the Fujifilm X100T by introducing a third option, Electronic Rangefinder Mode. This merges both technologies by providing an optical view with a small, picture-in-picture EVF, so you get the best of both worlds.
This is exactly the kind of innovation I like to see from an industry where technical specs are beginning to feel oversaturated and therefore underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that a workhorse mirrorless camera like the Canon EOS R6 Mark III, Sony A7 V or Nikon Z8 should have a hybrid viewfinder.
The EVF has transformed the pro-grade sphere for the better, but for enthusiast-level cameras, especially retro cameras, where nostalgia is king, I’d love to see more manufacturers experimenting with hybrid viewfinder tech. And if it gets my screen time down just a little bit, well, that’s just a healthy byproduct.
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