Originally posted by Lowell Goudge I have a question here, and please don't mistake this as a hijack attempt.
Hijack? It seems to be the very subject of this thread.
Originally posted by Lowell Goudge So, after a long preamble, the question is, what is the real purpose of live view? does it exist because it can?
Here are a number of reasons:
- it is more comfortable/convenient for some shots - low/high angle perspectives, for example. Also, you can't really use a VF underwater.
- it provides a larger view of the scene than you can see on a viewfinder
- it can be more discrete - keeping a camera over your face tends to attract the attention of people - not so much if you fiddle with it at waist level
Then there are advantages over an OVF that are shared with EVFs - they matter in the OP scenario where the choice was between LCD and OVF:
- you can see DOF effects better
- you can see exposure effects better, including over/underexposed areas
- you can have various manual focusing aids available - zooming in, focus peaking, embossing (Ricoh has that)
- you can get more overlays displayed - histogram, for example
Originally posted by Lowell Goudge certainly, unless i am tripod bound and not needing instant response, I don't use it. lets imagine my K300/4 plus 1.7x AF TC (i know at 1 kilo this is light compared to some other 500mm options) Just hold that stable and point it at anything when at arms length.
That is true, but it is also a corner case. Few people own and even fewer use on a regular basis a 300mm lens. Even those that use one with a camera with a VF have a hard time getting sharp shots without a tripod. So it's not like a VF solves the problem, but I agree that it helps and it's the main reason that at one point I'll invest in an EVF or in a camera with a built in one - so I can use my long lenses more easily.
Originally posted by Lowell Goudge Live view is NOT an effective way to shoot.
And what is the argument for that? The only one that you brought up was a corner case. If that is all you had, then we generalize from a special case. This is a "
hasty generalization" type of
fallacy.