I see this as a self fulfilling prophecy. Put a squinty lousy optical
finder on a camera and few people will use it. Since so few people use it
put cheaper even worse finder on the next model. After a few iterations
of this, no one is using the optical viewfinder, so obviously no optical
viewfinder is necessary.
Eh, I don't know, the viewfinders in the small cameras aren't really that
bad. They just seem small, like the cameras they're built into. I doubt
there's a way to build larger ones. I've never had a problem using
viewfinders (even with my glasses) in current digital P&S cameras, though I
admit I'd never use one when I can use the screen instead.
Anyway, according to market research I was able to read a year or so ago,
the majority of P&S camera owners stopped using viewfinders as soon as they
figured out what that little screen on the back of their camera was for.
It's really about convenience, as far as the consumer is concerned, and the
camera manufacturers have picked up on that. They're probably happy to get
rid of viewfinders, since removing those small moving parts that no one uses
probably increases their profit margin and reduces their rate of defective
units.
And with the way the market has been going lately, most camera makers could
really use the extra profit.
John Celio
--
http://www.neovenator.com
AIM: Neopifex
"Hey, I'm an artist. I can do whatever I want and pretend I'm making a
statement."
