Comparing external VF with EX3's viewfinder

[Cees van Kempen]

I try to compare the specs of EVF's with my EX3's viewfinder. I see numbers of pixels H and numbers of pixels V, but there is also the RGB multiplication in some cases. Like for the EX3 the specs are 640 (H) x 3 (RGB) x 480 (V), But what does this x3 (RGB) actually mean? How does it compare to viewfinders that only indicate HxV pixels and no xRGB ?

[Jack Zhang]

There are 480 horizontal lines in the LCD, but the x3 is 3 pixels vertically for Red, Green, and Blue. (RGB)

Imagine if you have a 2 (H) x 3 (RGB) x2 display, it would be laid out like this:

RGBRGB
RGBRGB

If you count the colors as individual pixels, you get 6x2 pixels

To compare to other EVFs, just disregard the x3 RGB as it all depends on how many pixels with RGB combined.

[Alister Chapman]

I think (but am not sure) that what it means is that the pixels are laid out with 640 horizontal columns of pixels laid out like this:

R
G
B

And that there are 480 of these 3 pixel groups vertically.

But only one of the colours is illuminated at a time, so you see just the red pixels then all the green pixels then all the blue pixels and your brain then combines the three separate images into a colour view of the screen. This is why you get strange rainbow effects when you blink or move your eye around with the Sony EVF's, an effect not seen with most LCD as they illuminate all 3 colours at the same time.

That's what I think it means, but I'm not sure.

[Cees van Kempen]

What I wonder is if/why the x3 (RGB) viewfinders are better. I believe that my EX3 viewfinder is better for focussing than my FS700 viewfinder. Not only because the much shallower depth of field of the FS700, but just because I feel the picture in the viewfinder of the EX3 is clearer/sharper. Is that my imagination, or do others feel the same?

The specs say:
EX3: 640 (H) x 3 (RGB) x 480 (V)
FS700: 1920 (H) x 480 (V)

Are these different screens? Or is it the same and am I seeing things wrong?

[Alister Chapman]

Uh, my mistake. I was confusing the LCD with the EVF on the EX1R/F3, silly mistake as the EX3 hasn't got a small EVF!

The EX3 LCD displays all three colours at the same time, it is the EVF on the EX1R/F3 that shows them one after the other. The EVF on the EX1R and F3 is 852 (H) × 480 (V)

I believe the LCD panels on both the FS700 and EX3 are the same panels and are laid out as Jack describes only with 640 pixel groups of RGB horizontally. 640 x 3 = 1920 and I think the spec difference is just a different way of describing the same thing.