Cameras two basic kinds of viewfinders. These are through the camera and through the lens.
Through the camera viewfinders are simply holes cut through the camera body. While these viewfinders do show you approximately what you will capture on film/digital, they are not very precise. Because these viewfinders are usually placed above or above and to the side of the lens, what you see in the viewfinder will be either higher or higher and to the side of what the lens sees. This is a major cause of "cut off heads" in photographs. You saw the person's head in the viewfinder but because it was higher than the lens, the lens captured only the person's body. With this type of viewfinder it is vitally important to:
- Practice Framing
Take some test images to see how much your viewfinder is out of line with your lens. Then take a few more test images while trying to adjust your focus point for the offset. A 4x6 ratio test pattern printed onto a sheet of letter paper should give you a good test target so that you can make minor adjustments. Once you have the basic adjustments down, take more practice shots on objects around the house. The offset adjustment you will need to make will be larger or smaller depending on the size of the subject and your distance from the subject. - Leave Some Extra Room
Because of the uncertainty of making adjustments for viewfinder offset, it is advisable to leave some room around your subject to prevent accidental crops. You can always have your image cropped properly later. Whether you use film or digital, cropping after the image is taken is an option. With film you can either have your images scanned to digital and crop from there, or you can ask the lab to crop the image for you. With digital you can crop the image yourself at home, or you can use the cropping function of your photo lab's software. Either way, it is best to leave some breathing room around your subject.
