People are always talking about canon not having a high view point. Can somebody clue me in to what this means "high view point like nikon"?

Thanks Sam

-- Sam Gammo (sam@flightsuits.com), March 30, 1999

Answers

Sam, it means the camera has bigger prism making easier for people with bad eyes or people with glasses.

-- Chau Doan (ChauDoan@yahoo.com), March 30, 1999.

A viewfinder with a higher eyepoint allows your eye to be further from the camera (like and still see the entire viewfinder image at once.

If you find yourself mashing your nose up against your camera, or keep bumping your eyeglasses against the back of the camera, you might appreciate a high eyepoint viewfinder.

-- Geoffrey S. Kane (grendel@pgh.nauticom.net), March 30, 1999.

High eyepoint? Go to your local camera shop and pick up a Canon A2 or EOS 1n. Look through the viewfinder and notice if you can see the entire image at one time -- do you need to move your head to see the edges or corners? Then notice whether you can see the image and the data that the camera displays in the viewfinder at the same time.

Then look through a Nikon F5 or F100 or N90 or N70. You will see the difference immediately. That additional eye relief and the ability to see everything -- including the shooting data and the complete image at the same time -- simply by moving my eye around the viewfinder without having to move my head as well is that Nikon calls high eyepoint.

When I look through a Canon viewfinder with my glasses on, I cannot see all four edges and corners of the image at the same time. I have to move my head to move my eye to see everything. I can't see the shooting data being displayed either without moving my head and my eye.

I find this very annoying and distracting. Its one of the major reasons I use Nikon.

Minolta has good eye relief too. Not as good as Nikon -- to my eye -- but much better than Canon.

-- John Wall (john_wall@ncsu.edu), March 30, 1999.

It was Canon who pioneered the whole long eye-relief thing in the first place, with an accessory prism which could replace the standard prism on the original F-1.

-- Dave Jenkins (djphoto@vol.com), March 30, 1999.

Dave --

If Canon had persisted in offering high eyepoint viewfinders, I'd probably be a Canon shooter today. I can't imagine how pro shooters like George Lepp who use Canon and wear glasses can stand to use Canon gear. The EOS 1n is if anything worse than the A2e in this regard.

And the new Nikon F100 is probably the best Nikon viewfinder yet.

-- John Wall (john_wall@ncsu.edu), March 31, 1999.

For all of you that answered, I appreciate the information and the education.

Thanks Sam

-- Sam Gammo (sam@flightsuits.com), March 31, 1999.

Dave, I assume that you're talking about the Canon Speed Finder. Even though it's truly a great accessory, the Nikon F had an action finder with 60mm eyepoint 10 years earlier so I don't think you can call it a pioneer (of course Nikon didn't have an SLR that could meter with an action finder until the F3 came out in 1980 and Nikon still hasn't come out with a waist level finder that doesn't reverse the image).

However, I think the big deal with Nikon and high-eyepoint viewfinders is that it's been a standard item on their top SLRs since the F3HP was released (F3HP, F4, F5, N8008(s), N90(s) & F100).

-- Geoffrey S. Kane (grendel@pgh.nauticom.net), March 31, 1999.