Digital SLRs

[NetSquirrel]

For a long time I've been wanting to sell my digital camera and replace it with something like a Canon 300D or similar.  Now I find out that the LCD screen on these SLR-type cameras cannot be used as a viewfinder when composing the shot, and instead you have to look through the little eye-hole.  (I am used to using the screen.)

What I'd like to know is: why is it that the LCD screen can't be used as a viewfinder, and what do you see when you look through the eye-hole - another screen or the actual scene the camera is looking at, reflected?  Is it more difficult to set up and take a photograph when using the eye-hole as opposed to a screen, and is it still possible to take action or awkward shots, where getting the aperture and shutter speed right must be done quickly and you might not always be able to have your eye pressed against the camera?

[GuavaHalf]

Firstly I have a canon 300d and it's fantastic - would never go back to film.

With an SLR (Single Lens Reflex) what you see through the viewfinder is the actual scene - not on a screen. I suspect that the reason that SLRs do not allow you to use the LCD screen for composition is that the light could not easily be split between the viewfinder and a detector for the display. The image is rfleced up by a mirror and passes through a pentaprism (or pentamirror in the case of the 300d) which ensures that the view you see is the right way up.

When you take a shot the mirror which relects the light up to the viewfinder flips out of the way.

The aperture and shutter speed, as well as other information is displayed through the viewfinder so, once you are used to the controls you do not need to take your eye away to make settings.

Go to a decent camera shop like Jessops and try them out. Don't go to dixons, the staff there don't know the difference between a 300d and a kodak disposable.

[Fitzer]

I've also got the 300d and agree with Guava, framing a shot through an SLR viewfinder is the most accurate way of doing things, far better than the LCD on most compact digital cameras as these tend to only show 'most' of the scene being viewed. It must be said that the ability to hold my Ixus at arms length over a wall and see the shot on the LCD was quite nice but you're talking about moving to a 'pro' form of photography here and you do what the pros do, you stick the camera up and take as many shots as possible.

Also Canon are doing �100 cashback on the 300d if bought before Jan 31st.

[NetSquirrel]

Thanks - your answers are very encouraging - I'll definitely be going for a 300D now.  I particularly like the idea of seeing a real-time image through the viewfinder rather than a jerky LCD picture.  Presumably it is fairly easy to operate with both eyes open as well, so if you're trying to track a moving subject you can see it when it moves off-screen with your free eye.