Camera Displays

The invention of the camera display—that little video monitor on the back of your camera—is one of the most welcome innovations in all of digital photography. There are various types to choose from, and each delivers useful and unique benefits.

LCD & OLED
Two of the most common types of displays are LCD (liquid-crystal display) and OLED (organic light-emitting diode); the former is the more common of the two. OLEDs offer better black levels and contrast as well as a better viewing angle. They also tend to add cost to a camera, so cameras with LCDs are usually less expensive.

Touchscreen
These days touchscreens are common on many devices and some digital cameras are no exception. Touchscreens can eliminate the need for navigational buttons on the back of a camera, thus allowing the display itself to be larger. Some cameras even enable on-screen actions such as cropping, so you can quickly edit your shots.

Tilt & Swivel
Commonly found on handheld digital camcorders, the tilt and swivel display has made its way to some digital cameras. Select models can tilt their display 45 or more degrees, rotate out 180 degrees from the camera body, and then twist and flip to suit the orientation you prefer for taking photos.

3D
Yes, 3D on a camera display is available. A 3D model has a pair of lenses that function in a similar way to our human binocular vision—they take images from slightly different angles simultaneously, and the camera combines them to form a 3D image. So you can view snapshots on the camera’s display in 3D, it uses the same technique.