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    New MicroOLED viewfinder aims to blur the line between OVF and EVF

    New MicroOLED viewfinder aims to blur the line between OVF and EVF

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    French company MicroOLED launched a new electronic viewfinder this week, which could bring the image quality of EVFs closer to an optical viewfinder.

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    MicroOLED EVF
    MicroOLED EVF

    Electronic viewfinders have some advantages, but they've always lagged behind optical viewfinders in sheer image quality — it's the difference between looking at a picture on a TV, and looking through a window. French company MicroOLED thinks it can narrow that gap: the company launched an OLED microdisplay this week, with 5.4 megapixels crammed into a tiny 0.61-inch display. The huge megapixel numbers come in the monochrome version of the display, but there's also a full-color (16 million of them, to be exact), 1,280 x 1,024 version — that's only 1.3 megapixels, but it's still a lot sharper than the OLED viewfinders we've tried and liked on cameras like the Sony NEX-7. The tiny new display is incredibly high-contrast, which makes a big difference in the dynamic range you see as you frame your shot; it's also quite power-efficient. Only problem is, you won't be seeing it in your DSLR anytime soon: MicroOLED says the new viewfinder is being marketing to surgeons (as a heads-up display), the military and others in need of night vision, and professional-level cameras.