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A Close Look at Viewfinders

It's hard to imagine a camcorder without some kind of viewfinder. Some low-cost, no-frill camcorders come equipped with a simple optical viewfinder, which functions like the peephole on a snapshot camera. You observe your intended scene through an opening or frame, sometimes with the aid of a lens to help make sure the view matches the video image as you tape.

But with an optical viewfinder, what you see isn't what you get. You might be out of focus or out of gas (dead batteries), or the scene could be too dark for a decent picture. In all of these instances, the optical view would remain the same.

Enter the electronic viewfinder. Besides letting you know where you’re aiming your camcorder, most electrical viewfinders offer helpful information that may include battery reserves, color settings, tape remaining (or elapsed time) and more. And the latest full-color viewfinders help you see more accurately just what you're a…

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Glenn Calderone | August 1995

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