Other forms: viewfinders
The viewfinder is the window you look through to frame a shot. Through the viewfinder, an optical viewfinder, the electronic viewfinder.
The optical kind shows the scene through the lens itself; the electronic kind shows the sensor's own image, so you see the exposure before you take it. Phones dropped the viewfinder for the screen entirely.
1nounviewfinderThe window you look through to frame a shot.
“She peered through the viewfinder and waited for the bird to land.”
viewfinder is a window.
View plus finder, from finding the view the camera will take.
From view + finder.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA