I think actually the thing that has disappointed me most is inaccurate colour.
This is my number one gripe about the phones I've used. Not that I can't mitigate it with pro modes and OpenCamera or fix it in post but it's nice if the SOOCs are reliably close.
The couple Fujis I've had actually did ok. Had a Canon body for a while where the AWB was just clueless. About as clueless as my current phone, actually, but with different kinds of errors.
A gorgeous multicoloured C shape with zigzag markings. If it didn't get in the way of seeing anything else, it would be quite lovely.
The scintillations I get tend towards C shaped as well but are more pointillistic than zigzag. They move around some but tend to track across the fovea, which can make it pretty hard to do things for half an hour or so sometimes. Hurry up and wait.
I also sometimes get circular patches of dark spots which stream into the centre of the patch. They're not nearly as disruptive, though.
Apologies for asking, but isn't smartphone shooting, which doesn't have the viewfinder optics, rather similar to LVF shooting, which is why many in this thread prefer to have an eye-level TTL viewfinder as it is a completely different experience neurologically?
I think there's probably a lot of things going on here and I also think it would be good to hear from those with strong preferences for viewfinders why they feel that way. It's not something which seems to get discussed that much and this seems like a good opportunity.
Some observations as a starting point,
- Photography forum participants tend to be older and often have followed the SLR-DSLR-mirrorless technology arc. While a common theme in camera form factor discussions is desire for (D)SLR style ergonomics, nobody I know outside of the enthusiast community shares the preference.
- With long glass there's a subject acquisition and tracking advantage to being able to sight over the lens and then drop to a centered EVF/OVF that's been hard to replicate with ILC LCDs. My experience with the popup finder phones show to mitigate this is pretty decent for static subjects.
- Phones have a larger display surface than rear LCDs, providing a less cluttered view (something I see as in the same direction as @gordo's observation on match needles) that's a bit easier to work with as a touch surface.
Personally, across SLR, 6x7, 4x5, DSLR, compacts, mirrorless, and phones I've used 15 different cameras extensively along with occasionally other SLRs, 645, 6x6, and a rangefinder. So my photography's never emphasized the sort of intensive training and muscle memory which seems to bind photographers to (D)SLR style layouts.
I'm primarily a nature and outdoor photographer and, for ultrawide through short tele, don't find the immersiveness of EVF/OVF to be an advantage. With LCDs it's easier to view your composition in context, plus LCDs give a better view without worrying about lens scratches or marks if you wear glasses.
I just need to remember to shut that mode off when I edit my photos, which is about a 50/50 that I do.
I'm pretty good at forgetting entirely, both night mode and changing to glasses without the blue coat.
Of course, it is also something that you can do yourself.
I've changed focusing screens on a couple (pre-AF) Nikon SLRs. Easy and worthwhile.