Viewfinder

A viewfinder is a helpful tool on a camera. It shows where the camera is pointed and helps you see what will be in your photo. Viewfinders come in different types. Some are simple and show just the direction. Others have special parts that give a clearer view. With digital cameras, viewfinders can show the exact picture that will be taken. This helps photographers get their pictures just right before taking them.

View camera

Older cameras called view cameras did not have a special viewfinder. Instead, photographers looked at the exact image they would capture. This image appeared upside-down and reversed on a special glass screen called ground glass. This glass screen was placed where the photograph would normally be taken. Larger cameras often had a black cloth to help see the image better.

Mechanical finders

Some cameras used a simple way to show what will be photographed, called a "sports finder." This was useful for fast-changing scenes like sports or news. It did not use lenses. Instead, it had two rectangles made of wire—one small near the eye and one larger further away. The small rectangle was centered inside the larger one, helping the photographer see what part of the scene would be captured. Even though these cameras had this simple finder, they often also had regular optical finders for other uses.

Simple optical viewfinders

A single lens near your eye can work as a viewfinder. It helps you see where the camera is pointed. Adding another lens makes a small telescope that shows an upright picture. For cameras with swapable lenses, marks on the viewfinder show the different areas each lens captures.

More about telescopes

Waist level (reflecting) viewfinders

Simple reflecting viewfinders, also called "brilliant finders," had a small lens that looked forward. They had a mirror placed at a 45-degree angle behind it and another lens on top. The user would hold the camera at waist level and look down into the top lens to see a small image. These viewfinders were built into box cameras and attached to the side of folding cameras. They were used on cameras that didn’t cost much money.

Twin-lens reflex viewfinders

Twin-lens reflex (TLR) cameras have a special lens that shows exactly what the camera sees. This lens is the same size as the main camera lens, so it shows the same view and focus. A mirror inside the camera helps show a clear picture on a screen that you can see from above. This lets you hold the camera steady at your waist. These cameras work well for taking photos at events like dances because they don’t have delays that other types might have. The idea for these cameras came from a soldier’s experience during a war in 1916, leading to a popular camera model in 1929. Some cameras that look similar are actually simpler cameras with a viewfinder at waist level.

Twin-lens reflex (TLR) cameras use a viewfinding lens with the same focal length as the camera lens, so it has the same field of view and focus properties. With a mirror, of similar size to the film, held at 45°, it projects an upright image onto a focusing ground glass screen viewable from above. The camera can be then be held steady at waist level. Although the viewfinder lens was similar to the camera lens, the optical quality was less important and so the cost is reduced. TLR viewfinders do not have the interrupted viewing and shutter lag of the SLR type and so is preferred for dance photography. Reinhold Heidecke cited his experience with periscope focusing from the German trenches in 1916 as the inspiration for the Rolleiflex line in 1929. Some similar-looking cameras are actually simple box cameras with a waist-level viewfinder.

Single-lens reflex viewfinders

Single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras use the same lens as the camera to show you exactly what will be captured, without any change in what you see. Early SLR cameras used a mirror to display the image on a screen. When you pressed the button to take a picture, the mirror moved away. Later cameras used a special mirror system to show the image right at your eye level. One big advantage of SLR viewfinders is that changing the camera lens or focusing the camera does not change how correct the view is.

Rangefinders

Some older cameras had special tools called rangefinders. These tools helped photographers see exactly where the camera was pointing. These tools were sometimes separate from the main viewfinder but later were built right into it. Cameras that could change lenses needed to show the correct view for each lens, so sometimes special viewfinders that matched the lenses were used instead.

Leica IIIf viewfinder camera, 1951



German Tewe 35 mm to 200 mm zoom viewfinder



Early 21st century digicam with viewfinder

Contemporary viewfinders

Viewfinders can be optical or electronic. An optical viewfinder is like a reversed telescope. It shows what the camera sees and doesn’t need power. It works well in sunlight. Modern electronic viewfinders (EVF) are screens made from LCD or OLED. They can show pictures you’ve taken and help you use the camera’s menus.

Cameras often have small screens around the viewfinder. These show important details like how fast the picture will be taken and how the camera is focusing. Digital cameras might also show settings like brightness and how many pictures you can still take. Some cameras have two viewfinders, like one that you look through and another bigger one on the side.

Viewfinders are used with almost every type of camera, whether for still pictures or videos. Some smaller digital cameras don’t have a separate viewfinder and instead show the picture on a small screen. Devices like CCTVs and webcams don’t need a viewfinder.