Fujifilm X-T1 review – Advanced electronic viewfinder
While the thought of an electronic viewfinder (EVF) might be offputting for many, the X-T1’s EVF is so advanced, and so large when it is held up to the eye, that it’s good enough to change even the most traditionalist photographer’s perception. It’s not too dissimilar to the EVF in the Olympus OM-D E-M1 in that it features a similar 2.36-million-dot resolution, but it has a higher magnification ratio of 0.77x, supported by a newly designed graphic user interface (GUI) that’s designed to relate to the camera’s autofocus and manual focusing options.
The camera’s full mode makes use of the high magnification ratio, displaying a full field of view with shooting information displayed above and below the frame on a black background. I found it to be the best choice for composing expansive landscape scenes. There is also a normal mode that squeezes the image into a tighter area of the EVF with a black border at the sides as well as at the top, and a vertical mode whereby the EVF is intelligent enough to determine when you’re shooting in the portrait orientation, rotating the shooting information fittingly to make it easier to read.
Switching from AF to manual focus instantly applies the viewfinder’s dual mode that cleverly splits the screen in two, offering a view of the full image on the left and a smaller magnified view on the right. What’s more, this dual mode ties in well with the camera’s focus peaking and digital split-image focus options, to ensure that when the camera is used with manual-focus lenses only, optimum sharpness is achieved with every shot.
The dual mode proved to be invaluable when testing the X-T1 with the Leica Summicron-M 50mm f/2 lens that was coupled using an M-mount adapter for X mount. Although the magnified view could be improved by being proportionally larger and making use of the black void above and below it, this is still an excellent feature for pulling focus quickly and accurately when the X-T1 is used with lenses that may not benefit from autofocus functionality.
Image: When used in the portrait orientation, the shooting info that’s viewed through the EVF automatically rotates for easier viewing. The electronic level was also used in this shot to ensure the horizon was perfectly straight
