As almost all of the modern digital camera users probably agree, the LCD screens on those cameras are in some lighting environments excellent to use, but in some other situations are at best, awful, and at worst, impossible to use. That applies to my Olympus PEN E-PL3’s LCD screen, too; for quite a long time I have considered buying one of the available add-on viewfinder models (VF-1 to VF-4) for it, and a few days ago I finally settled on a black version of VF-2 viewfinder:
So, why did I choose the VF-2 model?
Starting from the oldest Olympus PEN viewfinder model, the VF-1 is an optical viewfinder only, meant for use with 17mm pancake lens.
The newer VF-3 is cheaper than the VF-2, but its much lower screen resolution means worse image quality on the viewfinder. The difference between VF-2 and VF-3 screen quality is really noticeable, I had the opportunity to test both models on my E-PL3 at the local camera shop. Besides, VF-3 comes only in silver…
The screen of the new VF-4 is much sharper than VF-2, but it is also some 100€ more expensive, and at the time I ordered the VF-2, Olympus hadn’t yet released the firmware update for the older PEN models to support the VF-4. (Actually, just today I learned that the firmware update has been released).
Additionally, I think that with its rounded appearance the VF-2 is the best looking of all the Olympus viewfinders…
