D700 Viewfinder Coverage - 90.25% of the Full Image
Ok- based on the great comments by you guys, I think I’ve gotten what Bjorn’s saying when he refers to linear vs planar.
After many hours of work, I have come up with a picture to demonstrate the difference:
(I don’t have my normal graphics tools with me, so MS Paint is what you get today- and
yes, it did require quite a lot of effort to not draw boobs and planes dropping bombs.)So basically- the outer red box is a 100% viewfinder image- you see everything. The inner red box is what Nikon claims to be a 95% viewfinder coverage. In reality (per Bjorn), if both sides of your rectangle are 95% of the full image, then you’ve really got 90.25% coverage of the full viewfinder image because that 90.25% is the full surface area of the sensor.So this means that (presuming Bjorn is correct, and who am I to question?), the D700 sacrifices ~10% of the total image in the viewfinder in order to give you a sensor cleaner.
This isn’t a great thing- if the cleaner works, I need it, but I also need the full image in the viewfinder- I hate having to guess what I’m going to get in a shot with other cameras I have that don’t show you 100% of the image in the viewfinder.
I’m betting we’ll eventually (D3x? D4? F7?) see a huge viewfinder with both sensor cleaner / shaker and 100% coverage.
This is the only camera store that NikonWatch trusts- never any hassle, gimmicks, or problems:
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July 20th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I’d be interested to know if anyone has ever had to bin a great shot because of an incursion into the ‘lost’ 9.75%. With 81,141 shots on my D200 I can’t think of any instances
The tight clustering of the AF sensors seems to me to be the greatest shortcoming of both the D700 and the D3, particularly for composing around dynamic action sequences.
As a possible work around, live view provides a 100% image, as well as ultra accurate auto or manual focus. Alternatively, you could just wiggle the camera a bit before every shot to check your borders…
July 21st, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Except that the drawing was not drawn to scale and it grossly exaggerates the lost area. We’re talking millimeters here.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:28 pm
[...] saw my attempts at showing you the difference in viewfinder coverage between the Nikon D3 and the D700 and thought that he might be able to better. I’m still [...]
July 21st, 2008 at 11:34 pm
yes, definitely not to scale!