Screen Glare and cameras/phones

[PGH1NC]

I see so many great pictures on various sites by hikers and others outdoors. I wonder how you deal with screen glare while trying to compose pictures outdoors. With most smart phones and cameras it is a guess as to the composition of the scene will be with glare on the screen. Can one even find a camera with a "viewer" on it?

[nsherry61]

Most phones suck in full sun. I've had great luck with my Samsung Galaxy S5. My son likes his S7's screen. Pick your phone carefully.

[Knee Jerk]

I was a professional photographer for 44 years - now retired for the past three years - and, just to answer your question, all my cameras have viewers on them. I have never taken a photo with a phone and, likewise, I've never made a phone call from a camera.

Of course, that's the wise-ass view.

The real-world view goes more like this: Any imaging device has limitations. (Nothing is as good as the human eye when it comes to capturing light.) Cellphone cameras have more limitations than most because of the crappy plastic lens and the tiny light capturing chip inside.

Internal software saves their bacon by processing the image to be acceptable for viewing on other digital devices. That image manipulation is really quite good because for all the shortcuts that manufacturers take, cellphone images should be positively awful. But they aren't. You'd really never want to make a large print from a cellphone image but most people don't make prints anymore, so there ya go.

Staring at a reflective screen from an arm's length away in the bright sun while trying to compose a photo is just another one of a cellphone's many limitations. (Not being able to control the shutter speed or f-stop or the white balance or a dozen other things are limitations as well.)

But cellphones make up for all their deficiencies by being handy.

The decline in what the general public considers to be acceptable image quality helps a bit, too. But that's the age we live in: Same thing goes with audio and roof repair and plumbing and landscaping and hip surgery and craft beers. (Especially craft beer.) Good enough is now suddenly good enough.

So you pick your poison.

[Venchka]

Lots of digital cameras have electronic viewfinders. B & H Photo sells all of them online. Best Buy sells a few in their stores.
For the price of an iPhone you can get a fairly small high quality digital Point & Shoot camera with sophisticated controls, viewfinder and tilt viewing screen.
They are not approved by the Ultralight Police.
Wayne