What is "view finder magnification"?

[EJW]

Hi all, just wanna find out what "view finder magnification" means? Say a camera has a view finder magnification of 0.85, does it mean things appear smaller in the view finder, only 0.85 times the original size? Is it better if the number is larger or smaller? Does it indicate the size of the view finder and its brightness? Thanks for all the helps in advance.

 

[philliptan]

Ya, 0.85 means the picture you view is 85% the size of the actual view. You can test it out by opening both eyes and comparing the views.

 

[EJW]

Ya, 0.85 means the picture you view is 85% the size of the actual view. You can test it out by opening both eyes and comparing the views.

Thanks

 

[d7t3]

usually the magnification is when used with a 50mm lens, and when focused to infinity. as long as this is constant, you can compare between cameras which gives a larger view. i assume bigger is better! the canon 20d (0.9x) and 5d (0.7x but full frame!), and the dynax 7d, are some good ones. the nikon d70 (0.75x) gives a tiny view.

but u must also keep in mind the viewfinder *coverage*. this means how much you can see of the actual scene that will be recorded. while we would expect 100% coverage, only pro models offer that. the rest are 90+%. usually if you get 100%, the magnification is a bit lower, but the viewfinder is still large. e.g. the nikon d2x, 100% coverage at 0.86x.

the figures above have nothing to do with brightness. manufacturers don't state that.

 

[EJW]

Thanks a lot for the information.