OMD with Sunglasses

I just received an Olympus OMD EM-5 yesterday. Awesome camera but outdoors I can't view the EVF viewfinder with the prescription polarized sunglasses I wear very well. It seems divided by dark lines. It works fine for me indoors and I have used a Sony NEX outdoors with no problem so I was surprised to have this problem.

I would really hate to send this camera back but if I can't use it outdoors it won't see a lot of use. I am trying to figure if my problem is the camera (design or malfunction) or my eyesight and sunglasses.

So if you wear sunglasses does the OMD EVF viewfinder work for you?

My guess would be the polarized sunglasses. I know at times when using polarized sunglasses I can't read the LCD screens on gas pumps at other times (different pumps) I can but not easy to see as without the polarized glasses.

as mentioned the sunglasses is the problem...i have the same with some screens and my prescription sunglasses. i switched to a yellow tint this year and they are not as bad as my darker green tinted pair.   if you hold the screen in front and rotate it with your glasses on you will see the effects.
doug

No viewfinder will look right with polarized sunglasses. that is the problem and it isn't just an OMD issue. When getting sunglasses or getting a prescription for corrective sunglasses, pilots and photographers need to get non-polarized ones.

The alternative with an EVF is to set the diopter if possible to match your eyesight without glasses.  I'd hate to give up my polarised sunglasses, I have smiths optics top of the line glasses, and could not go back to lesser glasses.  You may even be able to get a dioptric lens made up for the EVF.

Thanks for the replies. I really like the camera but here in the desert the sunglasses are a must. Olympus must have some cheap plastic screen in their EVF which makes it incompatible with polarized sunglasses. I say that because the EVF on my NEX 7 while not perfect is quite usable--I can even manual focus with it. Too bad. The OMD is a really nice camera with some features I would prefer over my Sony. Maybe next model...or when I change my prescription.

It has nothing to do with Olympus being cheap. All LCDs are polarized. What matters in whether or not you see it is if your sunglasses polarization aligns with your LCD. If you take, say, the rear LCD and rotate it around (as stated above), you'll see that it will darken and lighten as it aligns with your sunglasses.

Unfortunately, it seems like Olympus's LCD alignment matches your particular sunglasses in some way, and the Sony doesn't. But not all sunglasses are aligned the same, so trying a different pair may work fine if you're willing to do it.

LOL, it has nothing to do with cheapness. Please read up on how an LCD works :D  It uses polarization!  Rotate your head or don't use polarized lenses

Seconding what E.J. Just said, I fly fish (and thus virtually always wear polarized sunglasses), and am also plagued with eyesight requiring severely corrected prescription glasses.  Whether the LCD on a P&S or M4/3, or a polarizer on the front of a DSLR lens, neither "works" with polarized sunglasses.  I went for a very low tech solution, using slip over polarized sunglasses (e.g, Cocoons or FItOvers) that, well, slip over my prescription glasses, and simply pushing them to the top of my head when shooting photos.

I guess I should not have used the word cheap in my description but it seemed to me there I was something in there that is not finely optically corrected in the EVF. Polarized sunglasses tend to show patterns of dark areas when light comes through such a surface. If you have ridden in a car with tinted windows you may have noticed spots or lines in some types of light on the side windows. That's what I thought I was seeing.

That was my low tech reasoning. Maybe I do need to read up on it.

I didn't post to bash the OMD. I was just hoping that maybe it was just a defect of the one I received and that others were able to use such a combo. Guess I'll try again when I get new glasses.

Same thing happens when you use a polarizer on your lens. At a certain rotation, you get cross-polarization and everything goes dark if you are wearing polarized sunglasses.

SFJ

What I was suggesting was to push up your glasses when looking through the EVF and keeping your polarised glasses. Only work of course if the EVF has a diopter with enough range and you don't have too much astigmatism.

I did some more testing today and SantaFeJoe was right. What I was experiencing was cross-polarization and was specific to the light and not the camera.

Chris, I am going to use your solution. As long as I am wearing a hat it works. Long term I plan on changing sunglasses.

Thanks for all for helping me sort this out.

defgab wrote:I did some more testing today and SantaFeJoe was right. What I was experiencing was cross-polarization and was specific to the light and not the camera.

That is why I said you should turn your head!!!

E.J. Peiker wrote:No viewfinder will look right with polarized sunglasses.  that is the problem and it isn't just an OMD issue.  When getting sunglasses or getting a prescription for corrective sunglasses, pilots and photographers need to get non-polarized ones.

That first statement is incorrect.  No non-OLED viewfinder will work with polarized glasses in all orientations.  The OLED finders in the Panasonic, Fuji, and Sony products work fine with polarized lenses at any orientation as they are not made with a polarizing layer to get crossways (no pun intended) with..  You compromise some accuracy in color etc, but do get to use polarized glasses with those.