Panasonic DMW-VF1 External Optical Viewfinder

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Price: $139.95    

Product Feature

• Provides an external optical glass viewfinder alternative to the LCD while using the Panasonic Lumix DMW-LX3 digital camera
• Mounts into the hot shoe on top of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 digital camera
• Conserves battery power by allowing the LCD to be turned off while providing a viewing and compositional aid
• 46mm thread size
• It comes with a 24mm frame (35mm camera equivalent)

Product Description

DMW-VF1 External Optical Viewfinder

Panasonic DMW-VF1 External Optical Viewfinder Review

I wrestled with getting this external viewfinder. The friend of mine who seduced me into getting an LX3 had one. He loved it. I drooled over it. I put it on my wish list and no one bought it for me for Christmas, so I got it for myself.

The major reason to get it is that it's cool. If you put this on your LX3, you'll look like a baby Leica (which in fact you do have already). If you're shooting outdoors, it's a useful thing to have. It even saves you battery life.

If you're indoors, you don't need it. If you're up close, you'll have parallax.

Let's face it, it's just an optical viewfinder with frame etched in it and some ticks so you can estimate frame size when you have the zoom all the way out at 24mm mode. That's it. Don't expect magic.

On the other hand, if you want an optical viewfinder, then you want one. I searched around for other options. If you check photo sites, eBay, and other places, you can find optical viewfinders for other cameras. I suppose some of them will work fine, but they're not designed for this camera and I worried about how well they'd track the frame. If you were shooting with a Leica rangefinder, you'd have a set of these, one for each lens with the viewfinder matched to the lens.

Through my shopping, I couldn't find another option that was cheaper. I could find a few that cost less, but they were the ones I found to be the most dodgy. Either they were designed for something off-base, or they were for the wrong focal length lens, and they weren't -that- much less expensive. For example, 28mm viewfinder that was only about $100. Not bad, but the LX3 has a 24mm focal length at wide-angle, so it doesn't match. I think I found an even worse match for around $70.

And let's face it, it's not like $100 (or $70) is cheap. Sure, if I'd found one for a sawbuck or two, I'd have gotten that, but the options were not only misfits but more than I wanted to pay for a lark.

So ultimately after months of shopping, I took a deep breath and bought it. I cursed mildly because before the holidays there people who priced this (through Amazon) for $130 instead of the $160ish I got it for, and I should have bought it then. But I didn't, because I hoped someone would get it for me. They didn't, so I forked out the money.

I love it. It's what I wanted. It looks cool, it saves some battery life, it does what I expected. It has a five star review from me because I agonized over the purchase and looked at all the options, and frankly, if you want one of these you are not going to do better than just getting it. Yeah, it's expensive for a piece of glass. But it's a piece of glass that serves a purpose and the other pieces of glass that serve not quite the same purpose aren't so much cheaper that it's worth getting something that almost works. You're better off with nothing than the other options. If you don't believe me, search eBay yourself.

On the other hand, there's another gentleperson here who has rated it two stars for some very good reasons. Read his review, too, because if you don't really want this, then there are better things to spend the money on. I empathize with his disappointment. If you're like him, don't get it, at least not until the price drops by a lot. If you're like me, and you want one, you know the options, you know the limitations, you'll be happy with it.

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