live view, does it work?

This will not come as much of an surprise to some but I am looking at getting a new camera again, not camcorder . As I have recently purchased a plate for the tripod that allow you to use two cameras, ok camcorder and camera at the same time my options have improved. In an Ideal world I would use an SLR, but they make lot of noise which is not good for the sound on the camcorder, so what do you think of live view?

I hear auto focus can be slow, so I figure it would mean using a manual focus on a set point. To some extent I have had to do this anyway as I have to plan where I am going to take the photo before to set up the camera and then line up the camcorder from that starting pint, planning when I have to switch over to press the shutter and back again to the camcorder.

 

How about bridge/zoom camera these seem to work well. I have a Kodak zoom camera quite and takes half decent photos they have a good quality lens on but you can't change it.

http://shop.kodak.co.uk/store/ekcon...parentCategoryID.28927200/categoryID.28927400

That the one i am looking to upgrade to

http://shop.kodak.co.uk/store/ekcon...a/baseProductID.147404500/productID.147404600

 

My experience of using live view with my Nikon D5000 is that autofocus is very slow, so I almost always focus manually, however this seems to be the only real drawback to using live-view. If you lock the mirror up with a D-SLR then you obviously have to use live view, but it also results in quite pictures and as there is no movement in the camera when you press the shutter, less wobble with long exposures. My D5000 also has a flip out LCD screen, which while being a bit of gimmick, can be useful when the camera is on the tripod, as you don't have to bend over to compose, just look down at the screen. If I were going to be using a camcorder and D-SLR at once I'd probably get myself a cable release for the camera, so I didn't have to actually press the shutter button on the camera, so that I could keep half an eye on both the camcorder and camera at the same time, rather than having to abandon one for the other. If you allow yourself enough time to line up the shot and focus, you should be able to work out where the train will be when you want to take a picture on the camera and perhaps not keep your eye on the camcorder the whole time. Burst mode on the camera perhaps would increase your chances of having the train in the right place.

 

True DSLRs eg Nikon D5000 upwards, are very fast with regards to normal focus, but live view is still rather in it's infancy.
It is indeed rather slow on my Nikon D3, but, the big but (ahem) is that I don't use live view for anything other than still life work, or indeed landscapes. It's great cause you can zoom in on screen to check focus and really allow time to compose, like an old view camera I suppose. But beyond that I wouldn't be using it for other types of shots, the focussing and the process of actually pressing the shutter is too slow for anything else.

Certainly, it's not the gimmick I thought it was initially. But to use DSLR Live View for moving trains is a no-no, the normal focussing is designed for that.

Live view on a Micro 4/3 camera eg a Panasonic G1/GF1/GH1 is different, since it's more like a bridge/compact camera, where live view is all it does. In fact the panasonic G range is extremely fast in normal lighting conditions if you don't want a true optical viewfinder, and a very light camera.

Now, have you considered a Panasonic GH1? It strides the line between video & stills better than most cameras out there and is highly thought of, even amongst well known pros. Not cheap, but you're buying a very nifty lens, and 720p video.

The Micro 4/3 cameras do away with the true DSLR pentaprism (the bit of clever glass that allows one to see through the lens optically), so are therefore lighter and smaller.

Just a thought (and you're right, I slightly upset a chap at the NYMR gala last year cause my beast makes a heck of a shutter noise, and it was interrupting his video... much apologising ensued!)

 

due to noise and live view issue I opted for the next best thing, Fuji S200exr, performance is close to an slr, behave like an slr, 30-430 lens, and since it is not a true slr, the live view type performance is perfect. Used it for the first time at GCR gala last week.