ACES

The VF-1 has been attached to my GX200 for a fortnight by now. It becomes an integral part of the camera to my enhanced enjoyment. The individual benefits of the viewfinder are not huge but together they add an extra dimension to the joy of photographing with the GX200, making the experience more completed and closer to using a DSLR without the physical burden.

Let me give some final thoughts and a conclusion to this series of VF-1 review.

My deepest impression is that Ricoh should have bundled up the gadget with the camera at the same price. The gains will be three-prong: the joy afforded to the photographers, Ricoh's brand-name building and the sales of the GXs. A year after the release of the GX200, the latter two factors have taken greater importance in face of tighter competition in the niche market formally conquered by Ricoh notwithstanding its still lesser known existence in the present-day camera market.

As regards the VF-1 itself, the built is solid. The optical material looks good. The resolution is agreeable to me, which is however in the domain of forever-the-higher-the-better. But with the clever eyepiece-diopter-control and tiltable design plus its cool display showing all the shooting information as on the LCD screen, the electronic viewfinder is much better than a nice-piece-of-glass optical viewfinder. Previously I doubted using an electronic viewfinder. Not anymore now.

But Ricoh has to relocate either the slot for VF-1 or the in-camera flash so that the future GXs can use both at the same time, which is regrettably not possible with the GX200. This is my biggest complaint about the VF-1 on the GX200.

Otherwise, there is no obvious "thorn" in the VF-1. At least, I haven't noticed any.

The benefits of using the VF-1 can be summed up in one word: ACES.

A: Angles. Being tiltable, the VF-1 enables the photographer to use the camera in new viewing angles (face-down and camera at chest level plus lens pointing forward or sideward; at eye-level and lens pointing upward ) and for novel shooting angles (notably for shooting the sky, skylines and at near-floor level).

C: Calibration. The VF-1 gives the photographer a much better sense (which is more intuitive than looking at the histogram) in doing the composition and exposure, especially during daytime under the sky.

E: Easiness. The subjects focus themselves easily at the lens without feeling being monitored, while the photographers easily at the shooting without being noticed by the general passers-by and the more curious eyes peeking at the what-they-see-is-what-you-are-shooting LCD screen.

S: Steadiness. The camera with the VF-1 pressed against the eye gives the photographer extra elbowroom to drag the shutter speed to as far as eight to ten stops slower than the shake-correction-off safe speed.

Who is the VF-1 for?

I'd say from silly photographers (like me as maybe thought of by the anti-EVFers :)) to serious photographers (like most of you) who are used to using SLRs/ DSLRs with a viewfinder.

However, if you have a frowning wife to explain about it, some hungry kids to feed or more serious cameras than you can use, please take the calling of the VF-1 fictitious.

(All photos taken with the VF-1 attached to the GX200; I'd reverse the note from now on because the VF-1 will be on the GX200 unles otherwise)