# Anyone using the EVF-DC1 Electronic Viewfinder on M3???



## Mr_Canuck (Oct 20, 2015)

I'm looking for the ideal hiking setup, and the M3 with 11-22mm seems like the jig. But I'm a viewfinder kinda guy and wondering how the DC1 works in real life. Sounds like the quality is there, but having that appendage on top of the camera seems dodgy. Any personal experience you can tell me about?


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Oct 20, 2015)

Mr_Canuck said:


> I'm looking for the ideal hiking setup, and the M3 with 11-22mm seems like the jig. But I'm a viewfinder kinda guy and wondering how the DC1 works in real life. Sounds like the quality is there, but having that appendage on top of the camera seems dodgy. Any personal experience you can tell me about?



The actual EV-F functions well, although frankly I don't know if its necessary with the 11-22mm. I find it most beneficial in two situations:

1) Using a telephoto (I don't find using the LCD particularly efficient with telephoto focal lengths).
2) Using a manual focus lens (seeing true DOF, being able to use focus peaking, and being able to magnify within the EV-F are huge helps in accurately focusing).

I'm very glad to have it, but don't keep it mounted on the M3 all the time.


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## sunnyVan (Oct 20, 2015)

I had the evf for a couple of weeks, then sold it. Didn't find it particularly helpful. The 11-22 efm stays on most of the time and i don't use tele on m3.


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## Mr_Canuck (Oct 20, 2015)

Interesting comments about the EVF being more of a lens-specific benefit. I'm not too jazzed about the 55-200, and I can't see there being lots of benefit in an adapter and my 70-200/f4 vs my dslr. So I'm thinking likely that the M3 and 11-22 with the flexible LCD might suffice. I will say that using a tilting LCD at belly button height is quite effective for me.


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## dcm (Oct 20, 2015)

I settled on the M and 11-22 as my standard hiking set when they first came out. I acquired the remaining EFM lenses since then and sometimes pair my EF lenses with the M. I now have the M3 and EVF. The M3/11-22 is my basic carry for hiking. I add the EVF and 55-200 to shoot distant peaks, wildlife, etc. when I'm on the trail.

I find the EVF is not really required for the 11-22 or 22 which I often shoot waist level with the LCD on the M3 tilted for increased stability and foreground in the image. 

I use the EVF with any telephoto lens mounted on the M3. I even find the EVF useful with the EF 50 1.8 STM or FD 50 1.8 (MF/peaking). You might find it useful with your 40 STM. I find it extremely useful with the EFM 55-200, Tamron 150-600, other long lenses or MF lens.


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## smozes (Oct 25, 2015)

I find it useful when going somewhere specifically to shoot, and the camera is hanging off my hand or on a tripod. The EVF doesn't fit neatly in a pouch so you either mount it as needed, or you carry it in a camera bag. It's not really a spontaneous shot while hiking type of usage.


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## AlanF (Oct 26, 2015)

I use it for 600mm on the G3 X, where it is excellent. Like the others, I use the EOS M without it.


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## ninjapeps (Oct 26, 2015)

You probably won't need it unless you have a hard time seeing what's on the lcd screen.


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## Ivan Muller (Nov 16, 2015)

I am old school and one of the main reasons I bought the M3 was the possibility of adding the EVF. In fact if it didn't have that capability I would not have bought it.

Having said that I used the M3 extensively as a travel camera in Europe over three weeks without the EVF because I couldn't get one before my trip and it worked well especially as a'street' camera where I used it hanging at my waist and using the tilt screen at horizontal position. People didn't actually realize that I was taking a pic because I was looking down instead of at them...

But I think the EVF transforms the slightly disappointing M3 into something much better. I have found that my EF tele lenses are just so much easier to use with the EVF, especially when using MF which I surprisingly use a lot because the AF is so iffy. There is just something very 'wrong' in using a tele lens at arms length imo!

This is my first experience in using a EVF and visually it was a seamless transition and I am actually quite impressed at how clear and 'optical' it looks. And personally the EVF on top looks kind of cool to me and I carry it with me everyday and it just works well. It is very light yet feels well build with a lock mechanism so it cant fall of...it would have been nice if the tilt mechanism was a bit stiffer but I cant say it has been a bother so far...

so yes I feel it is a must have, I use it all the time even with wider lenses and with my tele lenses it is just perfect!

Enclosed a shot from my kitchen window of a Grey go away bird eating a plum blossom using the EVF. Manual focus on my 70-300L at Iso 800 and about a 50% crop....now I am not a birder at all but I was quite impressed how easy it was to get this shot with the M3 and how good the quality of the sensor is...makes it easier to forget the negatives of the camera...

http://thelazytravelphotographer.blogspot.co.za/2015/09/canon-eos-m3-review-third-time-lucky.html


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## axtstern (Nov 16, 2015)

I upgraded from the M to the M3 simply for the viewfinder, believing this would solve most of M issues.
While it does what it should doin regards helping with Tele llenses it is still disapointing in many ways.

My biggest worry in the beginning was that it might become crowded on the hotshoe did not materilize as the crappy M3 does no longer support the Canon GPS reciever (the M did) and the build in Flash together with high ISO does not require me to carry an external Flash anymore.

Where the view finder is a complete Desaster is any Situation with something moving fast. There is a delay and once you misfire (shoot to fast) the blackouts drive you insane. My Canon DSLR allow me to follow with clear view as fast as the sutter allows while the M without viefinder is anyway not in front of your eyes. With the eye on the viefinder however you are missing seconds out of reality (or worse if you have not realized that you are looking at your last Picture rather than the real Scene unfolding). You learn how to deal with this but if a DSLR is your main tool and you only occasionaly switch to the M3 than you might get disapointed by the Limits of the Technology.

(As always please forgive the starnge spelling, forced German spellchecker on English typing)


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## Ivan Muller (Nov 16, 2015)

Agreed, its not a optical viewfinder and a lot of the issues you mention I think is just part and parcel of an EVF...for wildlife or 'action' i use it on continuous shooting and fire off bursts - The blackout decreases a lot...but remember the EVF just mimics whats happening on the rear LCD anyway...it doesn't give you 'more'..

Just to be sure, the M3 is not an action camera, especially re the AF but I have had good success using longer lenses on MF shooting wildlife birds etc. Of course trying to capture very fast action is futile and i cant even capture my dogs running around on the lawn...but that's not the fault of the EVF

the EVF is also good in the studio and I use the build in flash to trigger my main flashes. For me it makes the M3 much more usable - not perfect, which it isn't.....

I think this camera would have been a lot more responsive with the 70D/7D2 sensor technology....

My EVF stays on the camera all the time....


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## jolyonralph (Nov 16, 2015)

Well, I love the EVF with the M3, for me it's one of the best features of the camera. I especially like that it can be angled. I find it works well, but I do often disable image review after shoot so that I can shoot more rapidly.

It's absolutely essential with any lens if you're shooting on a bright sunny day.


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## kel1ng (Nov 22, 2015)

AlanF said:


> I use it for 600mm on the G3 X, where it is excellent. Like the others, I use the EOS M without it.



I am also using the evf on g3x. Does anyone know if the evf dc1 weather sealed?


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## Random Orbits (Nov 27, 2015)

Pulled the trigger on the M3 + EVF for < 450. I wasn't expecting much from the EVF, but I find that I like shooting the M3 with the EVF better than without it. It gives me more stability because I'm not holding it away from the body.

On a separate note, have others noticed that pics played back on the LCD are not sharp when magnified? I shoot RAW only, and all my pics were blurry at the pixel level. I thought it might be high ISO noise because I was testing it indoors at night, but then I looked at the pics in LR, it was pixel-level sharp. It's not a deal-breaker but knowing that now, I won't make decisions on toss away/keepers if it is "close".


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## koenkooi (Nov 27, 2015)

Random Orbits said:


> On a separate note, have others noticed that pics played back on the LCD are not sharp when magnified? I shoot RAW only, and all my pics were blurry at the pixel level.



All the EOS cameras I've worked with so far seem to have that problem when shooting exclusively in RAW.


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## Random Orbits (Nov 27, 2015)

koenkooi said:


> Random Orbits said:
> 
> 
> > On a separate note, have others noticed that pics played back on the LCD are not sharp when magnified? I shoot RAW only, and all my pics were blurry at the pixel level.
> ...



Interesting. I never noticed it as much on the 5DIII. The effect is a lot less at lower ISOs, but it's still more than the 5DIII.


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## koenkooi (Nov 27, 2015)

Random Orbits said:


> koenkooi said:
> 
> 
> > Random Orbits said:
> ...



I suspect it's not doing any sharpening or denoise on the RAW data during playback. But that's just a suspicion, I haven't bothered to verify that


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## tan oak (Dec 9, 2015)

A friend let me experience the tiltable built-in EVF on his new $1200 Panasonic GX8 MFT camera before I bought my M3+EVF. His EVF image quality deteriorated severely as I panned his camera slowly around the room. His EVF image lagged behind camera position and parts of the image degraded into noise pixels. A panning pause allowed the EVF image to recover. He is delighted in his camera's EVF technology and considers it "good enough". In contrast the Canon EVF-DC1 maintains image quality and does not appear to lag when panned similarly. I have not shown him how the Canon EVF performs...it would ruin his day!


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## jypfoto (Dec 13, 2015)

tan oak said:


> A friend let me experience the tiltable built-in EVF on his new $1200 Panasonic GX8 MFT camera before I bought my M3+EVF. His EVF image quality deteriorated severely as I panned his camera slowly around the room. His EVF image lagged behind camera position and parts of the image degraded into noise pixels. A panning pause allowed the EVF image to recover. He is delighted in his camera's EVF technology and considers it "good enough". In contrast the Canon EVF-DC1 maintains image quality and does not appear to lag when panned similarly. I have not shown him how the Canon EVF performs...it would ruin his day!



The Panasonic camera use a different type of EVF technology that induces 'tearing' in the corners and when panning, which is probably what you noticed. A simple google search of GX7 and tearing will explain it much better than I could. Most EVFs (Sony, Canon, Fuji) don't use this technology


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## tan oak (Dec 13, 2015)

Yes jypfoto, "tearing" seems apprropriate to describe how the GX8 EVF image breaks down if the camera moves. I would be very annoyed if the Canon EVF did that.


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## Quackator (Jan 1, 2016)

When shooting candids in low light, the viewfinder
will not make you the guy in the spotlight, as the
back LCD will do.


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## neuroanatomist (Jan 1, 2016)

koenkooi said:


> Random Orbits said:
> 
> 
> > koenkooi said:
> ...



Nope. You never see the RAW image on your camera. For every RAW shot, the camera also creates a small JPG image using whatever settings you have applied (picture style, ALO, NR, etc.), and stores that JPG preview inside the .CR2 file container. The JPG image is what you see on the camera LCD; it's also used to generate the histogram(s) and highlight warnings ('blinkies'), meaning you may have more latitude than you think. 

That JPG preview is also why many RAW converters show an image first as 'low res' then a clean image – the initial view is the JPG scaled up and shown while the RAW image loads.


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## WorkonSunday (Jan 2, 2016)

quality is good, but im a glasses wearer and i found the additional tilt always get caught by the glasses frame/edge when i bring the camera up towards my eye. i end up have to re-adjust and make sure it doesnt tilt.


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## Ivan Muller (Jan 6, 2016)

Because I often view the images on my ipad via the wifi I have got in the habit of shooting RAW plus a low res jpeg. The jpegs load a much quicker on the Ipad than the Raws. I suppose that the jpegs will also then be the ones that I see in the viewfinders...


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## ashmadux (Jan 21, 2016)

Ivan Muller said:


> I am old school and one of the main reasons I bought the M3 was the possibility of adding the EVF. In fact if it didn't have that capability I would not have bought it.
> 
> Having said that I used the M3 extensively as a travel camera in Europe over three weeks without the EVF because I couldn't get one before my trip and it worked well especially as a'street' camera where I used it hanging at my waist and using the tilt screen at horizontal position. People didn't actually realize that I was taking a pic because I was looking down instead of at them...
> 
> ...




This is what i thought at first, and i still like the evf- but i think its a negative more than a positive. its great that it can tilt upward, but then when handling it, it becomes a problem that i can tilt upward unintentionally.

ill keep the evf, get rid of the body.

I am also totally not impressed with this sensor. And for some reason, it makes the 22f2 create large amount of chromatic aberration and green fringing. Not so on the M1.

I want to love it..but it think i just cant.


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## Ivan Muller (Jan 21, 2016)

yes the M3 was not Canon's best moment...but I am keeping mine as a backup because it can use all my EF lenses and because I am, contrary to your experience, actually quite impressed with the image quality and because I can carry it with me all day long because of its small size...and at the moment in my valley its the cheapest mirrorless around....and I shoot a lot of B&W and I sort of quite like the files I am getting from it...

But this new fuji XPro 2 sure looks like a nice camera and I just cant understand how Fuji can do it and Canon cant (or wont)...


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## melbournite (Jan 21, 2016)

My EVF came as a free rebate when I purchased the camera. It's still in it's original box on my shelf after having tried it once.


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## rrcphoto (Jan 25, 2016)

Mr_Canuck said:


> I'm looking for the ideal hiking setup, and the M3 with 11-22mm seems like the jig. But I'm a viewfinder kinda guy and wondering how the DC1 works in real life. Sounds like the quality is there, but having that appendage on top of the camera seems dodgy. Any personal experience you can tell me about?



I don't notice it when it's on. having the ability to tilt the EVF and look down into it, is amazing.


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## rrcphoto (Jan 25, 2016)

Ivan Muller said:


> yes the M3 was not Canon's best moment...but I am keeping mine as a backup because it can use all my EF lenses and because I am, contrary to your experience, actually quite impressed with the image quality and because I can carry it with me all day long because of its small size...and at the moment in my valley its the cheapest mirrorless around....and I shoot a lot of B&W and I sort of quite like the files I am getting from it...
> 
> But this new fuji XPro 2 sure looks like a nice camera and I just cant understand how Fuji can do it and Canon cant (or wont)...



the Xpro2 is $1600 .. the M3 was what? under $500?


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## Ivan Muller (Jan 26, 2016)

Yes but isn't it time we start buying M's because they are the best, rather than just because they are cheap?


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## Krob78 (Jan 26, 2016)

I keep my evf in my M3 gear bag at all times. I'm in Florida and I do find myself using it often, when I'm outside. Never use it inside or in shade... That said, I feel like it works very, very well when I do use it. I bought mine with my 3-ef-m lenses on Amazon Japan and only paid around $650 US at the time for the M3, M11-22m, M55-200, M18-55 and the EF adapter and the evf. It was a great deal but I don't use it often, as it doesn't often work for some of the low light situations I find myself in. I will say that I love the flash as well. I slip my finger under it and use it as bounce flash off the ceiling. For what it is, it's pretty capable but shooting more often with my 5D3, it's hard sometimes looking at the IQ and the noise.. But I like it okay. Hoping Canon comes out with that landmark full frame mirrorless! :


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## sunnyVan (Jan 26, 2016)

Krob78 said:


> I keep my evf in my M3 gear bag at all times. I'm in Florida and I do find myself using it often, when I'm outside. Never use it inside or in shade... That said, I feel like it works very, very well when I do use it. I bought mine with my 3-ef-m lenses on Amazon Japan and only paid around $650 US at the time for the M3, M11-22m, M55-200, M18-55 and the EF adapter and the evf. It was a great deal but I don't use it often, as it doesn't often work for some of the low light situations I find myself in. I will say that I love the flash as well. I slip my finger under it and use it as bounce flash off the ceiling. For what it is, it's pretty capable but shooting more often with my 5D3, it's hard sometimes looking at the IQ and the noise.. But I like it okay. Hoping Canon comes out with that landmark full frame mirrorless! :



Could you share how to order on Amazon japan and get it shipped to outside of Japan? Don't you need a Japan address? I couldn't find a way to do that.


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Jan 26, 2016)

I've just got in the new Rokinon primes in an EF-M mount for review (21mm f/1.4 and 50mm f/1.2). The EV-F is a joy to use with wide aperture MF lenses because you can see true DOF, enable focus peaking and/or magnification in the EV-F, resulting in great focus results every time.


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## Ivan Muller (Jan 26, 2016)

I look forward to your review!

The one major advantage of mirrorless so far has been the ease of using MF lenses.


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## brad-man (Jan 26, 2016)

Ivan Muller said:


> I look forward to your review!
> 
> The one major advantage of mirrorless so far has been the ease of using MF lenses.



I'm rather fond of the size and weight as well...

The Rokinons look interesting, but MF lenses just can't keep up with the speed of the mighty M. Eventually, Canon has to release some fast primes to go with the surprise mirrorless that's going to be released someday, right? I also like the articulating and detachable EVF.


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