A viewfinder is a device on a camera that allows the photographer to see what the photo will look like before they capture it. It is a small window that the photographer looks through to frame and compose the photo. There are two types of viewfinders: optical and electronic.

• Optical Viewfinder: This type of viewfinder is built by a system of mirrors and prisms that allow the photographer to see what the lens of the camera is seeing. With optical viewfinders, the image may be different from the view because the photographer is not seeing the effect of the settings.

• Electronic Viewfinder: This type of viewfinder is a real-time view of what the cameras imaging sensor is seeing. Electronic viewfinders might be fitted to compact and mirrorless cameras and are essentially the same as what the LCD Live View screen shows.

Viewfinders are used in many cameras of different types: still and movie, film, analog, and digital. Some cameras, such as camera phones and mirrorless cameras, do not have viewfinders and display the image preview on a larger screen. Looking through the viewfinder helps the photographer stabilize the camera better, and when using the viewfinder, the camera is braced against the body with the arms tucked in, which adds up to taking sharper images.