how important is the live view feature in a DSLR ?

[alfa147x]

how important is the live view feature in a DSLR ?

I think i would have to put it as a 2

it would be nice to have but would not sway any way between 2 cameras

the scale is:
1 = not important
5= important

 

[randomlinh]

Me personally, I could care less. I'm sure if I had it I'd make use of focusing. But even then, it'd have to be nikon's screen... I nearly cried when I saw them compared to canon's screen.

Throw in a tilt/rotating LCD, I'd go from 2->4 in importance. That feature is very damn nifty in tight shots.

 

[Jawo]

I say its not very important. IMO it would be hard to take the slower pics (below 1/20) if you relied on the live preview and held the camera in front. The last two point and shoots I had purchased (a95 and a620) have the tilt/rotating LCD and it has its time a place, and helpful in crowded spaces or to see above/below you. On a dSLR I think it's another example of feature bloat, and another method to drain the batteries even quicker.

 

[Heidfirst]

Personally I think that it's fairly unimportant but there are definitely some areas where it could be very handy particularly if it's combined with a tiltable/swivelling screen - so to an extent it depends where your interests lie.

 

[alfa147x]

I would have to say that every feature has its place in time but the whole 'live view' thing blown way out of proportion

 

[soydios]

Live View would not be useful at all for me during 99% of my shooting. The AF is just too slow (either contrast-detect via sensor or phase-detect via AF module). But, for astrophotography and tripod shots of stationary objects, two things which I do rarely, but still do nevertheless, Live View would be indispensable.

 

[ElFenix]

at the moment it's not something i couldn't live with. but i imagine that in time the implementation will get better and we'll figure out more uses for it. some smart person will figure out how to use phase detect AF to get close and then contrast to get perfect.

 

[OdiN]

It's awesome for macro work - and probably great if you are into stacking photos.

critical focusing at 10x zoom is great - you can position your DOF very acurately.

Other than macro, not as useful, but in some situations it still can be.

 

[Aharami]

now that it's readily available on many DSLRs, I will not buy a DSLR that doesnt have it. I'll only use it 5% of the time, but it is nice to have

 

[dug777]

Not that interested, tbh.

 

[corkyg]

I don't have or have ever had it on my DSLRa. But, my Canon S3 IS has it in the optical finder, and I grew to find it rather useful, especially for macros & closeups.

But - I don't yet consider it a deal breaker one way or the other. I expect my next DSLR will have it.

 

[Fardringle]

For me it would be an almost critical feature. I have a problem with my right eye that makes everything blurry and distorted if I just have that eye open so I can't use a normal optical viewfinder, especially not with manual focus. It's one of the reasons I bought my Fuji S6000 instead of a true SLR last year. I take all of my pictures using the LCD on my camera except in situations where a bright LCD wouldn't be allowed and a live view on the LCD of an SLR camera would be a huge draw for me when I'm ready to replace my Fuji.