One disadvantage of viewing with a rangefinder digital camera is that the eyepiece may see differently than the sensor, especially on close-ups.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Not applicable
• D. Sometimes

Answer: (A)

The main idea is parallax between the viewfinder path and the sensor in rangefinder cameras. Because the eyepiece looks through an optical path that is offset from the lens axis, what you see in the viewfinder is not exactly the same image the sensor records. This difference becomes noticeable at close distances, where even a small angular offset translates into a visible shift in composition or framing. So what you frame or focus through the eyepiece can differ from what the sensor captures in the final image, especially on close-ups. That’s why that statement is true. At longer distances, the parallax effect is much smaller, which is why the issue is most evident up close. Some cameras offer parallax-correcting framelines or rely on live view to check the sensor view, but the basic discrepancy remains a characteristic disadvantage of rangefinder viewing.