Blurred Image In EVF View Finder Fix

If you've just bought a digital camera that has an electronic view finder (EVF), and you have looked through the electronic view finder and discovered that the screen is all blurred and out of focus, there is an easy fix. For someone new to cameras, they may think that what they have bought is faulty. However, most of the time this is not the case. This "problem" is usually down to the Diopter being in need of adjustment.

Some symptoms of this are: The EVF screen is blurry but the actual produced images, if shooting using auto focus, are still pretty sharp. But they won't be perfect if you are using the EVF when taking pictures because you are working with an out-of-focus inner screen. Even worse, taking pictures using manual focus will be a disaster, all of them will be out of focus.

What and where is the Diopter


The Diopter is a little dial / wheel type scroller that sits to the side of the electronic view finder. It controls the sharpness and focus of what you see when looking through the view finder. The size and location can differ slightly between camera makes and models. See the picture below for the location.

Diopter-Camera-Location-EVF
This is the Diopter location on a Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ50 Bridge Camera

How to adjust the Diopter to sharpness


Turn the camera on and put it on auto focus. Point the camera at a subject with a lot of detail, preferably in the day time outdoors. To confirm that the auto focus is locked and loaded on the subject half press the shutter to make sure. 

Move the Diopter wheel up and down while looking through the view finder and adjust as necessary until you hit the sharpest, most in-detail EVF screen image that's right for you. And that's it, nothing else is needed. Just leave the dial alone and in place once you have found the sweet spot.

All people have different levels of vision. Many wear glasses. So, if you borrow your camera to someone else, be sure to check the Diopter on return. Even if the person doesn't know the purpose of the Diopter, they may have moved it on accident.


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