Viewfinder and LCD
The Natural Colour Solution does an impressive job of reproducing skin tones and textures in a lifelike manner
The HVD 90x viewfinder, which comes as standard on the H4D-31, offers an eye-level view with a 3.1x magnification and 100% field of view. It also has a much wider dioptre adjustment range than on 35mm-style DSLRs. The image is exceptionally bright and clear, making composing and focusing a pleasurable experience compared to the relatively small finders on SLR cameras. The prism head also incorporates the built-in flash unit. The alternative waist-level finder is available for £282, which includes a magnifier that can be flipped away for viewing from a distance.
The rear LCD is part of the sensor unit and, considering the specification of the sensor and age of the product, it is a little disappointing. It performs well enough for a quick view of the image as a whole, but when zooming in to check sharpness it fails to resolve as much as the zoom function allows, and takes a few seconds each time to load the image.
This may be as much down to the preview file from the raw data as the screen and it is not an issue if working tethered to a computer, but it was a concern when out in the field. The screen’s resolution is just 230,400 dots and, when considering entry-level DSLRs now offer more than one-million-dot resolutions, it seems slightly behind the times.
