Digital or SLR??

Why are the ground glass screens adjustable to make the focus correct then?

If they weren't adjustable the focus on every camera would be way off. With
digital you are looking at the film image.

The resolution of that "ground glass" is less than the LCD image anyway.

"Chuck" <cdkuder.RemoveThis@nspmmsn.com> wrote in message
news:Fwuie.41586$gc6.22253@okepread04...
 > The films distance from the lens and thickness of the film is fixed. The
 > focus screen on an SLR usually includes a "bullseye" and a split image
 > bubble. Both are more precise than the plain ground glass are. In
addition,
 > focusing is usually done with the lens wide open. The Digitals LCD focus
 > arrangement on many of the camera is harder to use, at least in "normal"
 > light levels. In low light leves, the LCD focus may be easier to use than
 > the SLR glass screen.
 >
 > "John P Bengi" <JBengi(spam)@(spam)yahoo,com> wrote in message
 > news:_LydnV1AtdPkxhffRVn-iw@golden.net...
  > > How would you know if your snadblasted glass screen has the same focus
as
  > > your film does? This is totally reliant on how acurate and how recently
  > > your
  > > camera was set up. With an LCD screen the focus is exactly what you will
  > > get
  > > for an image.
  > >
  > > "Chuck" <cdkuder.RemoveThis@nspmmsn.com> wrote in message
  > > news:u2die.41513$gc6.41011@okepread04...
   > >> One advantage of the true SLR film camera is that the viewfinder
usually
   > >> includes a focus aid that can be extremely effective when used with
   > >> manual
   > >> focus. The typical digital cameras LCD screen is not nearly as precise.
   > >>
   > >> "BucketButt" <bucketbutt.RemoveThis@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
   > >> news:3e5p5tF1akriU1@individual.net...
   > >> > Mike wrote:
   > >> >> can anyone ell me what the difference is.
   > >> >>
   > >> >> SLR seems more expensive but im not sure what SLR means
   > >> >
   > >> > There are three important differences between digital SLRs and
advanced
   > >> > compact digital cameras that look a lot like SLRs ... but only the
   > >> > first
   > >> > one is actually part of the SLR design.
   > >> >
   > >> > SLR stands for "single-lens reflex", and describes the type of
  > > viewfinder.
   > >> > An SLR uses a mirror directly in front of the shutter that bounces
   > >> > light
   > >> > to a prism which in turn directs it to the eyepiece where you see it.
   > >> > Since the mirror intercepts the light coming through the actual
   > >> > picture-taking lens, you see what the film or digital image sensor
will
   > >> > see; when you press the shutter release the mirror flips out of the
way
   > >> > just before the shutter opens, and the light coming through the lens
   > >> > passes through to the film or sensor. The eyepiece blacks out until
   > >> > the
   > >> > shutter closes and the mirror returns to its original position.
Since
  > > an
   > >> > SLR's viewfinder is strictly optical, it doesn't drain batteries.
But
   > >> > because you cannot see what the camera sees during exposure --
meaning
  > > you
   > >> > can't adjust focus, exposure or even aiming --
   > >> > no digital SLR includes a "movie" mode.
   > >> >
   > >> > Some advanced digital compacts use electronic viewfinders (EVFs) that
   > >> > essentially use a tiny LCD display in the eyepiece and show you
exactly
   > >> > what the image sensor sees -- it's very SLR-like, since it also shows
   > >> > exactly what the picture-taking lens sees. The EVF may or may not
   > >> > black
   > >> > out during the time that the image sensor is recording the image into
   > >> > memory. Some cameras that use EVFs can send the sensor's image-data
to
   > >> > the eyepiece and memory simultaneously in "movie" mode. But EVFs
  > > require
   > >> > power continuously when in use, not just when you're actually taking
   > >> > pictures. This may result in fewer shots per battery charge; you may
  > > need
   > >> > to carry a spare battery or two, although that's usually a good idea
  > > with
   > >> > any digital camera. (For obvious reasons, film cameras don't have
  > > EVFs.)
   > >> >
   > >> > Other compact cameras use a simple optical viewfinder that has its
own
   > >> > tiny separate lens mounted near the picture-taking lens. While these
   > >> > viewfinders don't drain batteries, neither do they show exactly what
   > >> > the
   > >> > picture-taking lens "sees". Most of them work well enough for casual
   > >> > snapshooting, but they can't be as precise as a viewfinder that uses
   > >> > the
   > >> > actual picture-taking lens.
   > >> >
   > >> > The second big difference between digital SLRs and non-SLRs is that
  > > every
   > >> > digital SLR I've heard of uses interchangeable lenses while nearly
all
   > >> > non-SLR digitals have permanently-attached lenses. If the lens that
  > > comes
   > >> > with your digital SLR can't quite get that particular wide-angle or
   > >> > telephoto shot you want, you can remove it from the camera body and
   > >> > replace it with one that's better suited to the task; you can't do
that
   > >> > with a fixed lens, although some of the better digital compacts
   > >> > accommodate adapter lenses that help extend the fixed lens's
  > > capabilities
   > >> > a bit.
   > >> >
   > >> > The third important difference actually has more to do with the size
   > >> > and
   > >> > price of the camera than anything else -- and digital SLRs are
   > >> > generally
   > >> > both larger and more expensive than digital compacts. As a rule,
  > > digital
   > >> > SLRs use physically larger image sensors than compacts; the more
  > > expensive
   > >> > (and usually larger) SLRs usually have larger sensors than their less
   > >> > expensive kin. When everything else (including the number of pixels)
   > >> > is
   > >> > the same, a larger sensor means less digital noise in the captured
  > > image.
   > >> > This may not matter much if your primary interest is taking snapshots
  > > that
   > >> > won't be printed any larger than 4x6 or 5x7, but it's a very
important
   > >> > consideration if you need high quality that lets you see fine detail
or
   > >> > make large prints.
   > >> >
   > >> > No one camera has the perfect combination of features for every
   > >> > photographic situation, which is why there are so many different
   > >> > cameras
   > >> > to choose from. It's your job to decide just which features are most
   > >> > important to you, then find the camera or cameras that best fit your
   > >> > requirements.
   > >> >
   > >> > --
   > >> > Walter Luffman Medina, TN USA
   > >> > Amateur curmudgeon, equal opportunity annoyer
   > >>
   > >>
  > >
  > >
 >
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->

Walter has given a good summary of the differences between SLR and non-SLR
digitals.

I would add that digital SLR's are attractive to people who already have a
large investment in Canon or Nikon compatible lenses and want to keep using
them. For many people lenses represent an investment of several thousand
dollars or more, and for them it is economically unwise, as well as
understandably painful to walk away from that sort of legacy.

Shutter lag is generally much slower for non-SLR digicams, mainly due to
focus delays. Autofocus can be almost instantaneous with an SLR because the
focus pathway uses specialized electronic optical sensors that are directly
in the optical pathway. Non SLR digicams use the CCD image for focussing,
and this is inherrently slower - still taking a second or so, for example,
even on my relatively state of the art coolpix 8700.

Personally, I've gone with non-SLR because my investment in lenses was very
small, and I value the lower price, smaller size, and dustproof lens-CCD
assembly of the non-SLR digicams. An EOS with zoom lens is larger and
heavier than my old 6x6 twin lens reflex camera!.

You'll probably be happy with whatever your choice is. There are several
good web pages comparing camera models in great detail, with discussions of
features and full-size downloadable images from each camera for comparison -
one such is www.imaging-resource.com . In the end, the satisfaction lies in
getting good results with whatever equipment you have. A few days ago I got
a reasonably good picture, handheld in low light at 1/7 second exposure,
with my coolpix's BSS feature, after a Canon EOS 20 owner refused to even
take the picture because of the slow shutter speed - and his lens probably
cost more than my camera
--

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com