Patent: Display Inside of the Viewfinder
Via PhotographyBay and Gizmodo-
Nikon is the owner of a US Patent Application Publication No. US 2008/0084484 (you can read the whole thing on uspto.gov - just do a search for the application number), which details an invention whereby a small display screen is visible through the optical viewfinder. The photographer can switch back and forth between the optical image and the digital display for a variety of purposes. According to the patent, one of the most prominent uses will be to enable a wide viewing angle when zoomed in tight on a subject.
Hopefully it doesn’t replace the optical image, but it looks like it does. I’d must rather have an overlay- show me the analog TTL image in the viewfinder and give me an digital overlay in areas so that I can see a real-time histogram get the areas where a channel’s blown out- basically like a live-view through the viewfinder.
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May 13th, 2008 at 12:05 am
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May 13th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Looks crazy for me…
And I have a guess for a new use for this “monitor inside a viewfinder”: imagine if when the mirror is up and the sensor is capturing the light the new display that is attached to the viewfinder displays the sensor image? If so, then you won’t have a blackout when the mirror is up. The best part is: if you leave the mirror up and continues to register a sequence of pictures you wont have the delay of the mirror going up and down and so can have an ultra-burst shooter. But this at the expense of AF… or maybe the contrast AF is improved… this is just my guess