Advantages of having a view finder with a digital camera

One of the great things about digital cameras is that they allow you to view the picture after you have taken it; with traditional cameras you looked through the view finder, took the picture and then hoped it turned out. Because you are able to look at the picture after you have taken it many people think that you no longer need to use a view finder, not only that but digital cameras come equipped with a LCD that allows you to see what you are taking the pictures of. But just because the digital camera has these features that doesn't mean that not having a view finder is a good thing, having a view finder on your camera has many advantages.

One advantage to having a view finder on your digital camera is that you can conserve your battery use. If you rely on the LCD to see and take pictures you are going to be using more of your battery than you would if you had the LCD turned off. While this might not be a problem if you carry batteries with your camera, it can be major problems if you use rechargeable batteries because once the battery is worn down you have to wait until the battery is charged again to begin use.

Another advantage of having a view finder on your digital camera is that you can see what you are taking a picture of in bright light. If you use the LCD as a view finder you will discover that you can not see the LCD in bright light or that the picture looks different in different types of light. By using the view finder you can see exactly what picture you are taking and what it is going to look like. Not only do you have to worry about not being able to see the LCD in bright light, but at night the LCD is so bright that you can have problems seeing anything without enough ambient light. But if you had the view finder on the digital camera you could turn off the LCD at night and still see what you are taking a picture of.

A third advantage to having a view finder is that it is easier to hold the camera steady while you are waiting to take the picture, and while you are actually taking the picture. It is too easy to move the camera just an inch or so when looking through the LCD to take the picture, the reason behind that is there is usually a very tiny delay in taking the picture and the digital camera capturing the picture and if you turn at the wrong moment you will end up moving the camera as well.

The fourth advantage to using a view finder on your digital camera is that you can take pictures of things in motion and be able to capture the motion, or in other words give your picture the illusion of movement. The way this is accomplished is using the view finder and panning the camera to follow the action, which is pretty much impossible to do with a LCD. The reason for this is that it is hard to follow the action while panning your camera if you are using a LCD. Many of you might be thinking that it shouldn't be that hard but if you think about the LCD you will know that it has a time delay which makes it harder to follow movement and when you are panning the camera with a LCD you end up with jerky movements rather than a blurred background.

These are only a few of the advantages of having a view finder on your digital camera, but it all depends on your personal preferences. If you prefer the LCD than not having a view finder is fine, but if you like to be able to capture certain things than you should look for a camera that has a view finder.