Tom G Loc: Atlanta, GA

Sometime before the end of April, Sony will introduce their new P&S small camera, the HX 80, which will have an Electronic View Finder. Cost will be around $350.00, and it looks like the quality "shirt-Pocket" camera I've been looking for.

The next best choice is the Sony ZS 60 which is about $100.00 more.

As I've had no experience with an EVF, I am curious to know more about them.

If you have compared the two, I'd like to hear your evaluation and opinions.

Thanks

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

It hard to evaluate a camera that hasn't started selling yet, but an EVF is definitely different. If have a tiny Sony WX9 with no viewfinder, and an RX100 IV with one. I've also had a couple of their older NEX cameras. Shooting without a viewfinder is hit or miss, especially in bright light.

Sony has good EVFs. You can use the LCD if you want, or you can put your eye to the viewfinder, and the LCD turns off. One strange characteristic of an EVF is the tiny lag. When you pan the camera to frame the scene, the image in the VF lags behind just a bit - not enough to make a difference, but you will notice it and get used to it. If you have a camcorder, it does the same thing. In some cases, the EVF will show you how changes in exposure settings will affect the final picture.

Since the HX60V costs $100 more, I suspect it would offer more, but you'll have to wait and see. Read reviews and comparisons and decide what features are more important to you.

(Reviews) http://www.youtube.com/user/TheCameraStoreTV/videos
http://camerasize.com/
http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM
http://snapsort.com/compare
http://www.dpreview.com/products/compare/cameras?utm_campaign=internal-link&utm_source=mainmenu&utm_medium=text&ref=mainmenu
http://www.imaging-resource.com/cameras/compare/

EDIT: The HX60V looks good, at $85 less than the HX80.

http://snapsort.com/compare/Sony-Cyber-Shot-HX60V-vs-Sony-Cyber-shot-DSC-HX80/detailed. This is not a USA model, though.

Jim Bob

"It hard to evaluate a camera that hasn't started selling yet..."Jerryc41

Tell that to the posters on the Nikon D500 and D5.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Tom, before you decide on any P&S camera, check the aperture range. 30X is a nice zoom, but not when coupled with f/6.4. I'm no P&S guru, but surely you can do better than an f/3.5-6.4 lens. Ask yourself whether you want a long zoom or a faster lens.

pj81156 Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

I just spent more than two weeks in San Diego with a fine bridge camera with an efv. I wanted to travel light. Terrible mistake. The sun was always to bright to use the screen and the view through the efv just too small to compose properly. I'm heading for Florida on Saturday with my DSLR with a fine finder.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

As far as EVFs go, the viewfinder should offer ~1.4 million pixels and should have a refresh rate of 60 fps or greater. One can work with less than this, but the above specs will make it almost like an optical viewfinder. As far as the comparison of the two cameras, I will let others more familiar with them inform you.

Quixdraw Loc: x

Just received an EVF for a used Ricoh GXR I picked up. Previously the only flaw in the camera was having to use the screen to focus and compose. I had planned to buy an EVF before I put the camera to any serious use. The viewfinder works well in any light encountered so far.
If a camera has no viewfinder, you might as well save your money and use a phone.

TommiRulz Loc: Corpus Christi, TX

Hi - I live in a VERY sunny part of the world and I can never see my LCD on my P&S's, so I decided to sell my RX 100 (that took amazing pictures) and buy the RX 100 mIV with the evf. And -- I don't like it... It is just a personal thing, it seems to work just fine. But the image you get through the evf is fake, distorted and weird, and then my timing gets all wacked out. It will NOT be like your viewfinder on your DSLR. It looks weird !!
Make sure you look through one first - BUT the price on that new camera is not bad - so might as well get it and try it. Can't go wrong with a sony P&S -

TommiRulz Loc: Corpus Christi, TX

Did you end up buying this camera? The HX80? I have been thinking about buying one..... just wondering if you like it

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

Olympus has refresh rates of no slower than 60 fps (frames per second) and for the upper end cameras 120 fps with almost no lag time. My wife and I were driven nuts by her older camera's 30 fps and a lag time of about a 1/4 of a second (just try and take pictures of moving dogs - not a chance). Once we got her Olympus XZ-1, her first comment was "It took the picture!" of our fast moving dog (almost no lag time). EVFs are very good in low light situations and do not transmit permanent blinding sunlight to the eye. But if one is going to get a P&S with an EVF, one must make sure that the fps and lag time match one's shooting style.