Olympus Electronic Viewfinder VF-3 Announced and Compared

Yesterday Olympus announced a new electronic viewfinder, the Olympus VF-3. This viewfinder comes at the heels of the VF-2, which is a widely popular accessory for the PEN system, including the new PEN E-P3, as well as the extremely popular XZ-1 high-end compact point-and-shoot.

Olympus VF-3 Electronic Viewfinder - Launched Yesterday

Quick side note: The PEN E-P2, E-PL1, E-PL2 and XZ-1 will require a firmware update to properly operate the VF-3. This will be available soon.

The VF-2 features a very high-resolution display with excellent magnification and 100% image coverage. With such a high-quality, successful finder, why would Olympus bother to come out with the VF-3? Our best guess is price. The VF-2 retails for $249, while the VF-3 is just $179. Customers purchasing an XZ-1, which retails for around $500, have a hard time swallowing a $250 accessory finder (half the price of the camera itself). In addition, the more value conscious PENs, like the E-PL2 and the newly announced E-PL3, aren’t much more than the XZ-1 in price too. If the VF-3 is less money, what’s the catch? Less resolution and less magnification are the two biggest features to be compromised. Still the VF-3 has 920,000 pixels of resolution, 100% frame coverage, and .97x magnification. The competing Panasonic finder at the same price only has 220,000 pixels, but does have greater magnification. The performance should therefore be adequate for even more critical work required of the accessory VF-3 finder.

We thought it would be useful if we published the full specifications for the two Olympus viewfinders here, and also published the specifications for the Panasonic DMW-LVF1 too, for a full comparison. This will give you an idea of how each finder stacks up against the other in what is becoming a very popular micro four-thirds market.

Olympus VF-2 Electronic Viewfinder

 Price: $249
LCD Resolution: 1,400K dots
Field of View: 100%
Magnification: 1.15x
Eye-Point 18mm
Diopter Adjustment: Yes, -3.0 to +1.0 m
Shoe-Lock: NO
Articulating Body: 0-90 Degrees
Optional Eye-Cup: YES, EP-9

Olympus VF-3 Electronic Viewfinder

 Price: $179
LCD Resolution: 920K dots
Field of View: 100%
Magnification: .97x
Eye-Point 17.4mm
Diopter Adjustment: Yes, -3.0 to +1.0 m
Shoe-Lock: YES
Articulating Body: 0-90 Degrees
Optional Eye-Cup: NO

Panasonic DMW-LVF1 Electronic Viewfinder

 Price: $179
LCD Resolution: 220K dots
Field of View: 100%
Magnification: 1.4x
Eye-Point 17.5mm
Diopter Adjustment: Yes, -4.0 to 4.0 m
Shoe-Lock: NO
Articulating Body: 0-90 Degrees
Optional Eye-Cup: NO