Viewfinder, LCD and Live View
As already discussed, the hybrid viewfinder allows images to be composed using either the 1.44-million-dot EVF or the optical view.
When using the optical viewfinder a wealth information can be overlaid, including gridlines and all the shooting and AF information. This makes the optical viewfinder an extremely useful tool, and perfect for using in bright sunlight.
As the optical viewfinder is offset, the lens can often been seen in the bottom-right corner of the frame. A white digital image frame is overlaid on the optical image, and it changes in size depending on the lens currently in use. The viewfinder also has a 0.6x magnifier, which slides into place when a telephoto lens is used. This makes sure that the digital image frame doesn’t become just a tiny square in the centre of the optical viewfinder when longer focal lengths are used.
The digital overlay also has an advantage in that it allows the photographer to see exactly what is going on outside the image frame. This is very useful if you wish to time a shot of something entering the frame perfectly.
The X-Pro1 EVF is also excellent. It is bright and detailed, plus it has the added advantage of allowing a magnified view to be shown for even more precise focusing. However, there is a slight lag in the display when locking the autofocus.
The 3in, 1.23-million-dot screen is very detailed and perfect for reviewing images, but I prefer holding a camera up to the eye where possible.
Video capture in the X-Pro1 is something of an afterthought, and although it is capable of recording HD video at a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels at 24fps, I doubt it will be more than a handy addition for most photographers.
Overall, with the choice of an optical or electronic viewfinder and a live view screen, the X-Pro1 gives photographers a lot of freedom when composing their images.
