[Laurentiu Cristofor]

Do you happen to know the name of this type of bird?

It is a red winged blackbird. I will add a tag for that.

[Marc Sabatella]

You are talking about presbyopia, but that is a process that peaks at 60, not at 40.

Peak, schmeak. I'm telling you from experience that was well under by age 40, bad enough to be a problem right now at 47, and in fact most people I know in my age bracket report the same thing.

Look around at how many people hold their cell phones at arms length to read their messages - if the situation would be as you describe it, everyone would walk around with their arms stretched.

People my age don't send a lot of text messages. But yes, when someone does, rest assured I need to adjust accordingly.

everyone know that the most stable position is on a tripod.

Duh. But I'm talking about handheld shots - 99% of what most people take. And in any event, any crowded situation where I'm concerned about the amount of space I take up is a situation where a tripod is likely out of the question.

Down at crotch level or down at chest level was the question I asked.

When looking down to review shots, waist level is about where I can focus. Looking forward to actually shoot, forearms fully extended and neck tilted backward to give me a few extra inches. At that distance, a 3" LCD registers a magnifcation only a fraction (maybe around 10%?) as that of the OVF on my K200D for any given AOV. And I'm still not as stable as with the camera against my face, especially with telephoto lenses.

If you're mostly shooting in relatively bright light (but not so bright it makes the LCD hard to see), mostly with very fast shutter speeds, mostly with plenty of room around you, mostly at relatively wide angle FOV, and mostly with AF, an LCD can be fine, especially if you are young enough to successfully focus less than a couple of feet away. And I don't doubt this is true for a lot of pople. Please, take me at my word when I say it just isn't the case for me. Nothing in my life is likely to change to make this suddenly become true, nor coupld any possible advance in LCD technology change it. LCD'swill never be a serious option for me. An EVF, on other hand, may well become one someday. At the rate things are advancing, I might predict round 5 years from now.

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

Please, take me at my word when I say it just isn't the case for me.

My argument was always general, not specific. I understand very well that for you, specifically, an LCD screen may not be useful, perhaps not even usable. But that is a different point than the one I was making.