A History Of View Finders

Reflex, electronic, optical, hybrid – a fascinating look at the expanding world of viewfinders

In the beginning, most cameras didn’t have a separate viewfinder. In the early days of plate cameras a ground glass plate was placed where the sensitized glass plate would eventually go, and the scene was composed on that – the photographer’s view being shielded from the ambient light by a cloth at the rear of the camera. Composition was slow and methodical – but so was picture taking.