http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/nikons-coolpix-frenzy-continues-with-l14-l15-s700-and-s510/ Engadget Comments for Nikon's Coolpix frenzy continues with L14, L15, S700, and S510 http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2010 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/nikons-coolpix-frenzy-continues-with-l14-l15-s700-and-s510/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/nikons-coolpix-frenzy-continues-with-l14-l15-s700-and-s510/Aug 30th 2007 9:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/nikons-coolpix-frenzy-continues-with-l14-l15-s700-and-s510/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/nikons-coolpix-frenzy-continues-with-l14-l15-s700-and-s510/
]]>Aug 31st 2007 7:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/nikons-coolpix-frenzy-continues-with-l14-l15-s700-and-s510/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/nikons-coolpix-frenzy-continues-with-l14-l15-s700-and-s510/
who? anyone who realizes a camera can be held much more steadily in an elbows-tucked, camera-to-the-eye position than in an arms-extended-in-order-to-view-an-LCD position. it's pretty common knowledge and many sites advise to use the optical viewfinder when sharpness is particularly critical, or in low-light situations where slow shutter speeds will be used. the WSJ's Walt Mossberg has complained about the diminishing number of models with optical view finders for this very reason, though as these models show, he's not had a lot of impact.

the problem is that manufacturers know they can cut costs and perhaps reduce size by eliminating the feature, because too many uninformed buyers don't know why the absence matters.

fwiw: Canon's SD800-IS still has the optical viewfinder AND one of the widest-angle focal length zoom lenses* of any compact/pocket digital camera, making it an excellent choice. My hope is that if/when canon refreshes that wide-angle model it'll retain the optical viewfinder.

terry
*--so why's the wide-angle feature matter? a couple of examples: a) it makes for great scenic shots outdoors; b) indoors, you can capture much more of a full-room view; c) on flash shots, you can capture the same image area--say a group of people--from a closer position, allowing the flash to better illuminate the scene than if you had to back farther away "to get everyone in the picture"; d) there's greater depth-of-field at wider focal lengths, so for closeups, for example, where there's often a very narrow field of focus, more of your subject will be sharp if you shoot at the widest focal length.]]>Aug 31st 2007 11:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/nikons-coolpix-frenzy-continues-with-l14-l15-s700-and-s510/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/nikons-coolpix-frenzy-continues-with-l14-l15-s700-and-s510/
"Canon included an optical viewfinder, which is nice if you prefer to ... save on battery life ... "]]>Aug 31st 2007 12:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/nikons-coolpix-frenzy-continues-with-l14-l15-s700-and-s510/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/nikons-coolpix-frenzy-continues-with-l14-l15-s700-and-s510/Aug 30th 2007 1:40PM