Epson has today moved to clear up confusion caused by a statement the firm issued yesterday concerning its plans to make LCD viewfinder screens for ‘DSLRs’. It has now emerged that Epson was referring to screens for mirror-less interchangeable lens cameras, and not digital SLRs.
Yesterday we reported that Epson is poised to exploit the booming digital ‘SLR’ camera market by announcing mass production of ‘high-resolution’ LCD electronic viewfinder panels for ‘mid to high-end’ DSLRs.
The 1.44-million-pixel electronic viewfinder screen (pictured) is designed to replace traditional optical viewfinders in a move that Epson predicts will lead to ‘smaller, thinner digital cameras’.
However, confusion arose over Epson’s definition of a Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera after it issued a press release stating: ‘This panel will allow camera manufacturers to eliminate the mirrors and pentaprisms needed for optical viewfinders, enabling much smaller and thinner camera bodies and letting users capture the image they see.’
In technical terms, for a camera to be an SLR, it must have a mirror box.
Following an enquiry lodged by Amateur Photographer, Epson’s Japanese headquarters today issued this: ‘[Amateur Photographer] is correct in stating that a DSLR camera using Epson’s digital viewfinder would no longer be a DSLR. It would more accurately be described as a digital single lens (DSL) camera (no reflex).
‘However, as this expression is not used at all yet, we used the widely understood term ‘DSLR’. We imagine that DSL will become more widely used in the future.’
Epson’s HQ added that it did not want to use the term ‘Micro Four Thirds’, as this is not an ‘open industry standard’.
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