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Sony’s Electronic Viewfinder FDA-EV1MK and the RX100 M2 are a Great Pair and this is why.

I got the Sony RX100 M2 as an alternative to having my Canon 5DMkIII strapped to me all the time. In between times of serious shooting I still want a camera with me (all the time) but without the strap and weight. In other words a pocketable camera. I go into why I got this camera here .

So I am happy with it…. right? Well mostly. But I have never had a camera without a viewfinder. And I was having trouble getting used to taking shots at arms length (bent arms) while looking at the LCD. In addition, the diopter adjustment on my DSLR took care of my reading glasses problem. But now for the LCD…. I have to have the glasses on when I normally do not wear them unless I am reading or on the computer. Add to that you can’t really hold the camera as steady if you don’t have it against your head.

But… a Sony EVF would fix that….

But I still wanted the pocketablility that the camera gives me. Put a EFV on it and its not pocketable any more.

A couple days ago was a very bright day and I had a problem reading the LCD. I had to use one hand to shade the screen. And I was constantly putting the LCD to my face….. Old dogs……

I called my local shop and they had a really good deal on the EVF’s.

I went down and checked it out. It actually looked smaller than I thought. And the screen was brighter with higher resolution than I was imagining. So I got it.

I spent the afternoon shooting. Here are some of my thoughts.

1. I had no problem with the bright conditions. I can shoot in any light now

2. Shots are steadier because you are resting the camera on your face. It made a big difference. I am guessing a full stop, maybe more.

3. It feels more natural with the EVF.

4. It feels like its better for composing shots. There is something about a viewfinder that makes you pay more attention to the composition

5. With or without glasses and with some diopter adjust I had no problem seeing 100%. Some have complained about this but I did not see it.

6. Some have complained about how its a slip fit on the camera with no lock. Well mine felt pretty tight. Its not going to come off unless you really knock it against something hard.

7. It is too high priced. It should only be about $200.

8. With the small eye guard on it will fit in my pocket….. But I would not do that on a regular basis.

So lets take a look at it. BTW these shot were done with my iphone and I apologize for the dust. I guess my bags need to be washed.

Here is the EVF with no eye guard. Its really pretty small like this. I thought I might work for me in this configuration. But without the eyeguard there is still an issue with bright conditions.

Here it is with the big eye cup or guard. I think it takes up too much volume and the smaller size was just fine .

So here is a side view with the dipoter slider and the smaller eye guard.

The diopter can be set for normal eyes, I set it to work without my glasses and without. Very handy. Some have complained that this slides to easily and moves. I have not seen that so far.

Here is the other side with the on manual button. I am not sure if I will use this as there is a neat little sensor in the upper left of the eye opening that senses that you are there and will turn off the LCD and turn on the EVF. And when you pull away… the LCD comes back on.

(Aghhh… cant believe the dust…. gotta stop that)

Here is what it looks like from the eye side.

I could not show you with a picture but the view in the EVF is very clear, bright, and high resolution. You can do manual focus easily with the DMF function. And I also had good luck focusing without it. Its not quite as good as the LCD in normal light conditions. BUT… in bright conditions it was great!

So here it is on the camera.

Oh… and the EVF can be rotated all the way up.

So it has the same capability as the LCD for those low shots. It will not help with over the head shots… only the LCD can do that…. but hey You have that already!

Here are some shots of the EVF in the Sony case and the case closed. Its a well made case with a cool magnetic latch. But…. its too big. Where am I supposed to put it. It would look odd in a pocket. Its much larger, I think, than it needs to be.

So how did I deal with pocketabilty. Well I already talked about how I do the camera here .

So why not do the same with the EVF when it is not in use. Here it is sitting on another smaller eyeglass bag.

And here are the EVF and the camera in their bags.

Here is my conclusion. This EVF will provide a lot of good use for me. My plan will be to have the EVF off of the camera most of the time. So EVF will be in a separate small bag in the same or different pocket. All casual shots, where there are going to be just a few shots,….will be without the EVF. Easy out of the pocket and easy back in.

If am at a location where I know I will be there a while and will be taking lots of shots…. On goes the EVF until the camera goes back into the camera.

If I am going to be at a location for a much longer time and/or I will be taking shots primarily for microstock then the DSLR comes out.

As to the price…. well. Its a great compact camera. I think its the best pocketable camera with zoom capability and a 1″ sensor!. I already spent $750… whats another $430 ( yea I got a good deal). Even $430 can be a lot of money. BUT… when you do microstock and its extra income….. Then $430 is not so bad anymore.

I think there is a chance that the images from this camera may be good enough for microstock. I think my next blog post will be on how that works out.

I was going to make this a DP Review post but …. I have enough to say I thought it was worthy of a post. So this is Why and How I took and made a Sony RX100 M2 Dust, Scratch, and Dent Protection and STILL Pocketable.

I talk a lot about why I got this camera in my previous post here . So I won’t go into that again. So I got the Sony RX100 M2 and I love it. I still love my Canon 5D Mk III but for different reasons. The Sony can do 90% of the stuff that the Canon can do but with a much smaller sensor. However that sensor is still much larger than almost all the other compacts. But enough about that.

The camera was over $740. Add in another charger, battery , and some SD memory cards and you getting close to $800. The main reason I got this is that I can slip it into my pocket and carry it ALL the time. But here is the problem. Try as hard as I can. I still will screw up and drop some coins in that same pocket…. or my set of keys….. or a pockect knife. My pocket, even when I am being careful, can be a dangerous place for a nearly $900 camera.

So the first thing I did was get some protection for the LCD screen. It came down to a couple. The Sony PCKLM15 screen protector and the Expert Screen Protector (links to both at end of post). I found that the Sony seemed to have more good reviews…. although both got good reviews. I put it on after one week. While I was putting it on…. I found a tiny scratch in the black border of the LCD screen…. And I KNOW that camera never came in contact with anything hard. Well at least I thought I knew. This is another good example of the danger zone of my supposedly empty pocket. So I put the Sony LCD protector on. It went on easy and I am happy with it.

But what about those flimsy lens blades.

I know several people, inlcuding myself, who have dented or dirtied blades like that in other digitals and caused them to freeze and not work anymore. This seems to be another weak point for my pocket danger zone.

There is a nice Sony leather form fitting case and others will likely come out. They look great but I think they would fail the pocketablity criteria of easily slipping in and out of my pocket. In addition that adjustment screw knob on the bottion will not allow you to set the camera down evenly unless you take the case off. I also looked at small camera bags but they add too much bulk to the camera and again fail in pocketability.

Then my DSLR brain kicked in. It needs a Lens CAP!!!! I measured the outside ring on the front of the camera and its about 58.13mm. So I order a cheap 58 lens cap. Well it turns out that a 58mm DSLR lens is really something larger than that. I don’t have any 58mm lenses handy but based on the 58mm cap I got… a real 58mm lens must be about 59+mm in dia. The cap fit the Sony but was too loose for my taste. So I lined the ID of the cap with a couple of circumferential strips of black electricians tape about 3mm high.

The reduced ID of the cap now fits snugly on my Sony.

But what about scratches and misc. dirt and lint on the other parts of the camera. Well I did a search on this camera and bag alternatives. I found one guy who used a soft cloth case that came with sunglasses. Turns out I have the same case. So you can see what I have here:

And here it is in the Bag.

The camera goes into and out of the bag easily. And the bag goes into and out of my pocket easily. I can put the cap back in the bag and then put the bag back in the pocket if I will be shooting for a while. AND…. the bag can even be an emergency lens cleaning cloth!!

So my $900 investment is nearly 100 % safe from the dangers of my pocket and I am carrying now every day without fear!

Sony’s Electronic Viewfinder FDA-EV1MK and the RX100 M2 are a Great Pair September 21, 2013

Sony RX100 M2 Dust Scratch and Dent Protection and STILL Pocketable! September 17, 2013

Best Compact Digital Camera for a Full Frame DSLR Owner Is…….. August 5, 2013

Micro Adjustment Auto Focus Calibration Techniques Compared March 7, 2013

How to drop a DSLR – Brand New Canon 5 D Mark III November 30, 2012

Bags, Bags, Bags, My Journey to the best DSLR Camera Bag October 30, 2012

FocusTune by Michael Tapes Design- Review October 27, 2012

My Microstock Sales October 26, 2012

How to Buy DSLR stuff September 23, 2012

Sigma 70mm f2.8 Macro Lens and my journey to get there September 7, 2012

Sony’s Electronic Viewfinder FDA-EV1MK and the RX100 M2 are a Great Pair

Sony RX100 M2 Dust Scratch and Dent Protection and STILL Pocketable!

Best Compact Digital Camera for a Full Frame DSLR Owner Is……..

Micro Adjustment Auto Focus Calibration Techniques Compared

How to drop a DSLR – Brand New Canon 5 D Mark III

prakash on Reikan’s Focal System- DSLR Autofocus Microadjustment Calibration

bobbyk on About Me

Satheesh on About Me

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