Our reader “Billy” made that first Olympus VF-3 viewfinder unboxing video. What I forgot to tell you is that the VF-3 is now also in Stock since a couple of days!
It is in Stock in US stores like Amazon US (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Amazon Germany (Click here), Amazon France (Click here) and Amazon UK (Click here)
41 Responses
“this video is private” :^\
Have there been any reviews yet? Its on my list.
can’t watch it. It’s labeled “this video is private”
Anyone now if like the VF2 the VF3 also uses a polarized element?
(hence making it unusable with polarized glasses)
Tried using the VF2 while wearing polarized shades and its basically unusable 🙁
LCD’s Polarize the light before it passes through the screen, so all of them use a polarizer.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/816863-REG/Olympus_V329110SU000_VF_3_Electronic_Viewfinder_Silver_.html has it for 179
The LCD on current GPS devices usually can be viewed just fine with polarized glasses.
you can’t watch it.
What’s the point of the VF-3? It’s only 10% cheaper than the VF-2 here in the UK.
How about looking pictures on dpreview forum?
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1041&thread=39143600
Cost reductions are common in the tech industry. Olympus may have reduced the cost of manufacturing by 50% but only reduced the sale price by 10% which leads to increased profits.
Sorry about that. Working now.
Sorry about that, didn’t realize i placed it on private. My appologies. I’m a noob at youtube.
Thanks for the video Bill.
BIG. UGLY. LO-RES.
did I say its HUGE?
The way it points out, its just waiting to get broken off…
Besides that…
Bill, I do hope you’ve got some MF glass not just that AF Pany, cause if not, I really don’t get why you bought that.
Yeah i bought a MF nikon 50mm 1.8 on ebay and a Konica 57mm 1.4 also it’s way. I find the panny a pain to mf on.
I meant to say it’s on it’s way from Ebay.
Nikon 50mm f1.8 AF-D or AIS? Autofocus lens’ focus ring is too slippy for manual focusing. I have OM 50mm f1.8 and Nikon 50mm f1.8D, than I can say OM is good for manual focusing.
If I can buy VF-3 at next month, I may like to compare VF-2 in some lens like… Nikon 105mm f2.8D Macro?
Yeah it’s AI-S 3xxxxxxx series one. I was going to get another nikon lens before but it was the pancake version and thought it may be difficult to manually focus.
Oh boy. I did kind of envy the Olympus VF-2 after using Panasonic´s less than ideal EVF (I should have said “crappy” – I have it btw..).
It´s nice to know Olympus is downgrading some products so we Panny users don´t need to envy anymore. A sad example of underestimating the consumers buying these products.
Let´s just hope Oly keeps VF-2 in production if I ever decide to get EP-3 or something..
Checked the specs of the two: according to those it is actually worse than Panasonic LVF1.
I have no idea why Olympus made this new LVF…what problem did it solve or need did it fill. It isn’t any cheaper really..and it isn’t any smaller…and it is a drop in quality…so who is going to buy it?????? I own the Panasonic LVF1 (why there is no 2?)….
I don’t mind the LVF1…would it be better with higher rez…yes..but I like the MFT form factor for its smallness…so the LVF1 rocks on my GF1….I am so glad that it is not a giant tumor on my camera like the Olympus models…
And just think of all the envious NEX users when I am on the beach next to them as them monkey with their cameras…but can see NOTHING….
….so hey …I think Panasonic has a winner with that…especially after the price dropped.
Now…when are we REALLY going to get a new sensor…????
I agree. If anything, the VF3 should be the improved version with higher resolution, like the same 3MP OLED EVF Sony is using for their NEX7/A77, which is rumoured to be made by Samsung: http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr3-new-sony-a77nex-7-evf-made-by-samsung/
Maybe, they could have created a VFL2 – a smaller VF2 with the same resolution but without the hinge. It would have a lower price because of the simpler construction and cheaper electronics due to improvements to technology.
Oly, I love my VF2 but what were you thinking when you designed the VF3?
You’re kidding right? Where do you find that info?
LVF1:
202k dot equivalent
Magnification: Approx. 1.04x / 0.52x (35mm camera equivalent) with 50mm
VF-3:
920k dot, 0.97x magnification
I wondered about that spec.???
The Pany is great for composing and letting the camera autofocus. All I really need in a small form factor. Compared to no viewfinder…it is Indispensable. I would never have bough the GF1 if the viewfinder was not available.
Thanks for setting the record straight.
VF-2 1,440,000 dots $238.00 B&H
VF-3 920,000 dots $179.99 B&H
So much for relying on someone else’s post for good data. There is a significant price difference and the viewing quality must be close.
Both of them demolish my Panasonic dotwise 202,000 dots….but mine is really small and pivots too for ground shots…and is cheap. $145.99 B&H although I have seen this on sale on Amazon occasionally.
Comparison link: http://www.thephoblographer.com/2011/07/27/which-one-olympus-vf-3-or-vf-2 for Oly fans.
Thx for correction, see my post below..
Why would you say it’s worse?
Panasonic Type: Live View Finder (field sequential, 202,000-dot equivalent)
Olympus : 990,000-dot equivalent
Sorry, I didn´t refer to dot account, but magnification & diopter adjustment. I use glasses so those things have more impact on me.. I missed the pixel count, so thanks for correcting that one.
Still, I see VF3 as pointless addition on Olympus part..
Sorry, anyone else hates unboxing videos?
Yep! Kind of consumerist porn 😉
Billy,
Thanks for sharing.
Guys have not seen any significant optical advantage of either one, but have not tested them side by side. The Ef3 might just be a manufacturing replacement or second source for the prior one. Its not likely that Olympus really makes either one in house.
I’m glad I’m not the only person who ran into the polarized sunglasses problem. It has never even occurred to me that it would be an issue and I wondered if it was just one things that everybody knows (that photographers never wear polarized sunglasses).
Yes, the polarized sunglasses are a problem for me with the VF-2. The VF-2 with polarized glasses is fine in portrait orientation, and unviewable in landscape orientation, while the E-P2’s LCD is just the reverse (ok in landscape, not ok in portrait). I wonder which orientation the VF-3 has?
For me, I bought a clearviewer, and that works well enough in bright light in landscape mode, but if the VF-3 is polarized in the opposite direction from VF-2, I could suspect some people would buy both, and then use which ever one suits their format.
look ugly… but want to see the review of it in low light condition.
VF2 = 1.44 mpx finder 2009
VF3 = 0.93 mpx finder 2011
VF4 = 0.44 mpx in 2013???
the newer model is a step back, will next years model be one more step back??
sony = 3.0 mpx finder 2011
oly progress is great, and keeping the fan-crowd busy with mainly ‘WAITING’ for what they really want, the evolution with oly is in the wrong direction
Unboxing videos, whether they are the first or last, are STUPID!
If you live in Europe it really is ridiculously expensive compared to the VF-2
I suppose the locking hot shoe feature of the VF-3 is a very costly addition! 😉
Well, I have been waiting for the release of this VF3, as I considered the cost of the VF2 to be too high.
I stand corrected. 🙂 Maybe I should not have tried the VF2 first, lol, but I did, then compared it with this VF3, and I’m sorry Olympus, but the lower cost does not justify the drop in resolution! The VF3 would have been “adequate” and served it’s purpose as an EVF to correct the obvious limitations of using the LCD to compose in harsh sunlight, but the VF2 is still such an amazingly high quality EVF that the price difference (which was not that huge) meant that after waiting quite some time for the new model, I walked out of the shop today with a new VF2.
And I recommend to anyone considering this – either try it without testing the VF2 first 😉 to see if it meets your needs, or spring for the extra cash and buy the much superior, brighter, clearer, better definition VF2, and then you will not be disappointed!