Viewfinder Vs LCD.

[Tadhg]

Well im a n00b to photography so correct me if anything is wrong. Also, i searched to see if this has been answered which i'd imagine it has, but nothing showed so bear with me!

Im a iXUS 40 user at the mo, with the intention of getting a digital rebel in the near future to break the ice regarding slr's and advance photgraphy wise. Recently a friend of the family who is also a great photographer advised me that using a viewfinder. e.g an SLR will not give you the full picture. In other words, you wont get exactly what you see. Now, im very used to using the LCD to compose photos so i was wondering, is this really the case. What are the trade of's of using a DSLR over say, a G series camera. He swears that using an LCD is the better way to go and you don't need SLR.

I was arguing that you can't beat the control you have with an SLR + the interchangable len's.

I was all set on getting a DSLR and now im starting to reavaluate.

The only thing that backs me up, is seeing some of the great photos taken with DSLR's on this site!

So basically, are DSLR's the superior camera.
(i have a feeling this may be a touchy subject!)

[Longwatcher]

Several things
1. Some (actually most) viewfinders will not give you 100% percent of the view, there are a small number that will though.
For example the 350D has a 95% viewfinder, but the 1D series (at least the 1DsMkII I have) has a 100% viewfinder.

2. While having a LCD is nice, either you need a second sensor for live preview or you are exposing the active sensor more often. good for fixed lens cameras, not too good for interchangeable lens cameras.

3. While an interchangeable lens camera does not have to be an SLR, that format is easiest for the engineers to work with and people are more comfortable with it.

4. Remember that an interchangeable lens system gives you a potential zoom of over 200x with a high quality lens system (currently 12mm (assumes Sigma) to 1200mm lens plus 2x extender). The best zoom for fixed lens is 12x, but you trade quality for zoom in that case. You also gain some specialty lenses such as the tilt-shift, fisheye and macro lenses that are highly unlikely to be produced for a fixed lens camera system.

5. An SLR "looks" more professional then a fixed lens camera, which while it shouldn't be a factor, is.

6. And lastly although it doesn't have to be true, all of the DSLRs have larger better sensors then their fixed lens MP equivilants, thus providing more overall quality and capability.

DSLRs at this time are significantly better then fixed lens cameras, but in the future this does not necessarily have to be the case. Also if you are only printing 4x6 family snap shots, then almost anything available over 4MP is good including camera phones. But if you want to print 16x24 or larger you really should be getting a DSLR.

Just my experience and opinion,

[KelliShaver]

People have been using viewfinders and taking great pictures for about a hundred years now. I don't think you will find it particularly limiting. ;)

With the viewfinder on an SLR, you're looking right out of the lens. What you see is what you get (as far as I know... I could very well be wrong). With a point and shoot, the viewfinder may well be off, because you're quite often not looking through the lens, but through an area just above, and/or to one side, etc.

I was arguing that you can't beat the control you have with an SLR + the interchangable len's.

I tend to agree with you on this one.

Also, personally, the viewfinder just feels so much more natural, and I can hold the camera steadier with it right up next to my face and my arms in close than I can with my arms extended to hold it out away from me in order to look at an LCD.

[Curtis N]

The 90 or 95% area in the DSLR viewfinder is an advantage, for a couple of reasons:
1) It's better to have a slightly larger field of view that you can crop, rather than one that is too small to begin with. When you have a little extra room to play with, you can straighten it (level the horizon) and still crop without slicing off important pieces of the image.
2) When you order borderless prints, a small amount of each edge will get sliced off anyway. So the viewfinder is approximating what you will get in a borderless print.

I'm not a good enough photographer to get perfect composition every time, and frankly I'd rather keep my mind on the subject and squeezing the trigger at just the right moment. I have a hard enough time getting the exposure and focus right. Nearly every digital image I take to the lab has been cropped, leveled, or both. It's one of the ways digital helps you make better pictures.

A few other things to consider: Holding the camera up against your face as you look through the viewfinder helps keep the camera more steady than you could by looking at the LCD in front of you. Further, in bright sunlight it's pretty hard to see that LCD to begin with.

[David1943]

Next time you see a crowd of professional photographers at a sporting event or film premiere etc., try to spot one who isn't using an SLR. The fact is, you won't do.