100% view finder

What is meant by a 100%viewfinder on Pentax DSLRs?
I assumed that it meant that what you see in the viewfinder is exactly what you get. Am I right? Pentax says that the K3 has a 100% viewfinder, this is what I saw through it,



This is what I got,



Have I misunderstood the situation or is somebody telling "porkies"?

Apologies if in the wrong forum.

It means that what the sensor sees is exactly the same as what the viewfinder sees. 100% of what is recorded is shown in the viewfinder.

The magnification at which it is shown is 95%, which means the picture you see is the same but slightly smaller than real life. However, 95% is actually very good indeed and there are many cameras that don't get anywhere near this.

In the case of cameras with IBIS and composition adjustment, the OVF sees what the lens sees, NOT what the sensor sees. Here is where slight differences could occur with the recorded image
Only an EVF displays what the sensor receives.

► http://snapsort.com/learn/viewfinder/coverage

I understand the distinction that you are making Steve, but that's not really right either. The lens sees a circular image.

The real point is that what we see in the viewfinder is 100% what we see in the recorded image.

The OVF crops the circular 'image' to represent the area to be recorded.

Surely so does the sensor?

The sensor does nothing but 'sense' the light which falls into it's buckets.

I think the OP wants to know why the photo is wider than what he's seen in viewfinder, not technical explanations what is 100% viewfinder.

Bottom photo got more scene on the left side than top photo. If viewfinder is 100% they should be the same. So is it 100% or not then?

The circular image projected from the lens clearly needs to be a little bigger in total area than the sensor and viewfinder image ... Just because of the differing shapes. But, to repeat John's point, a 100% viewfinder displays the total edge to edge image exactly as the sensor records. The .95x magnification means that the perspective effect of the viewfinder image is a little 'set back' from that of the projected focal length.

A 90% viewfinder would not display the actual edges of the sensor recorded image, and whilst cheaper to make, would mean accurate composition around the edges is difficult.

We've got two images there, both recorded by the sensor ... So the viewfinder would have showed the same for each. If the images are different then the camera must have moved between them, or zoomed.

Or the first one is a crop of the second one. The first image is not some clever projection of what was actually in the viewfinder, despite the suggestion that we accept it as that.

It is common to not see everything at the edges of a viewfinder ... My suspicion is that the first image here represents what the photographer THOUGHT he was taking ... But he did not notice the extra around the edges in the viewfinder .....

The first image is what I saw through the viewfinder. The second image is what I got. Obviously I have cropped the first to get the second.

It's very imprecise though walkeja. You need a much more accurate method of measuting this to establish what you are trying to. A grid with markers on it would be more appropriate.

If you make a mark at the edge of your field of vision through the viewfinder on all four sides and the corners, you should see those marks at the same places in the image you shoot. Needless to say, you would also need to do this on a solid tripod with SR switched off. Using the delayed action would be ideal.

And my suggestion, a possibility, is that your re-created cropped version represents what you imagined was in the viewfinder when you framed the image ....

No, I didn't imagine it as I did not want the wind turbine blades in the photo! I zoomed them out, took the photo and hey presto, there they were!

Fair enough ....it's what you believe. The problem you have is proving it. As it stands, it's more logical to assume you just missed that object, took the photo mistakenly, rather than believe that your viewfinder is faulty or not as specified .