Originally posted by kristoffon This really puzzles me. The greatest advantage of DSLRs is the mirror and viewfinder. I can't understand people who think live view is even remotely close to replacing the real thing.
Originally posted by Blue But then would it be a dslr?
you two must be of the sentimental type..
one of the greatest DISadvantage's of an SLR camera IS the mirror.
lets break it down to the basics.
one, the object of photography is to take pictures.
two, to take a good picture using available tools, the user must see what he is taking pictures of
three, the medium for image recording of the past required that said medium be encased in darkness and was shown light for only a brief period in time, that and the fact that we very well cant SEE through the film.
ergo, to compose our images and adjust focus we must divert the image through any means possible
you have 3 ways of doing this.
one, blind guestimation and math, like my russian Смена-2 camera, where the viewfinder is just a hole used for composition, and focusing would have to be done by actualy measuring the distances...
two, rangefinder design
three, slr design
(i'm not a camera-cologist, so if there are other ways please enlighten me)
overtime, it seems the SLR prevailed, because you got to see through the lens, you got to see the image, the focus, the depth of field, everything was right there, right before your eyes.
what do we sacrafice?
one, space (for a range finder the limiting factor is pretty much the size of the film canisters)
two, durability (whats better than a little bit of moving parts... NO moving parts!)
three, cost (someone hast to build that mirror mechanism)
since we get alot of utility out of this arrangement, everyone shrugs their shoulders and life goes on.
fast forward Y2K, technology improves, say hello to the digital sensor.
the constraints are pretty much the same, we cant see through the sensor, so we need to diver the light, well, we have a good thing going with the mirror, lets do that, okay.
more time goes on, someone says, well, since the digital sensor can showcase the image almost instantly, why dont we just put it up on the LCD screen?
one guy says "there will be overheating problems affecting image quality", another girl says "there isnt enough processing power to do it fast enough", third guy says "our battery power will be compromised", fourth guy says
"thats no longer a photo camera, thats a video camera" or "thats not classic photography" or "screw that i'm gonna climb under my rock and use my analog light meters and spend all day long sniffing chemicals because thats REAL photography"
well guess what?
batteries are being made smaller, and last longer
processors are being made smaller, and computer more power
LCD's are made bigger, cheaper, with higher quality
digital light senors are made bigger, cheaper, higherquality, requiring less voltage, producing better results, etc etc etc.
there are already enough threads where people are explaining to the rest of you that Live View has merrits, i know i have used it with great success where "looking through the view finder" would have resulted in me covered in dirt and probably a bad picture.
other advantages, if you're going to allow technology to prosper, you HAVE to allow it to do things its way
autofocus
face/smile recognition
live histogram (why take a picture and chimp on it when you can see it right there before your eyes)
imagine your K20D no more than an inch thick, with a 4X5" LCD on the back at a resolutiong of 640X480 or 800X600! with a 60-70 refresh rate, hardly draining power, with anti glare technologoies.
is this really that bad?
after all, photography is about taking pictures
photography is not about sticking your eye in a little hole and ruining your vision.
*having said that i wont deny that i do enjoy looking through my Super Program
** having said that, i also enjoy drinking beer and spending time with women, if i can sacrifice looking through a large view finder for better images and a smaller camera that offers more versatility for image taking and is bullet proof, i will agree to that sacrifice.