Digital cameras forum: WHY can't I get a point-and-shoot with a VIEWFINDER?

Their Customer Service paints a bleak future for the serious small camera enthusiast needing lower cost equipment.

The fact that they say that people want more megapixels, shows that marketing is still deciding future cameras.
Very much like American truck manufacturers continuing to increase the horsepower in the trucks.
How many people need 400 horsepower engines in their pickup truck?
How many people need 14 megapixels in a small camera?

..

Well...I get a little sympathy, but no overwhelming degree of support for point-and-shoot digitals retaining a viewfinder at the expense of rear LCD real estate. Thanks all for the replies. I think I will just buy an A1100 to replace my A540. (Assuming I can get something other than the pink!) I would have liked to have been able to get 5X or 6X optical zoom. (I actually considered just giving up the viewfinder, in which case I might have considered other than Canon - something like Fuji's EXRs (Z700EXR or F70EXR or F200EXR) which seem pretty fast.) It's just too much effort....marketing geeks always seem to know what I want more than I do. I do want the viewfinder and I have been living with the 4X zoom until now and I do like the AA batteries so the A1100 will have to do.

It may ahave been my imagination, but it seemed that I could get more shots per charge if I left my LCD off, and relied on my viewfinder.

Your question really is, "why can't I find a cheap camera that's small and has a lot of features." Camera makers have decided that they should offer a limited feature set in your price range. The important things in a <$150 camera: small size and big rear screen, both important for the target market of school kids without a lot of space or cash but a need to impress their friends with the pics they take.

If you want a semi pro feature like a viewfinder, it looks like you'll have to spend more money to get out of the cheapie student market. You'll also have to accept a bigger camera frame because most camera makers are not going back to small LCD screens now that big ones are popular, and you need another 3/4" of vertical space to get the viewfinder window added to whatever frame is necessary for the back screen.

I'm pretty sure that in the $250-300 market there are plenty of excellent cameras from Canon, Nilkon, Sony, etc. that include a zooming viewfinder and high megapixel count. Good luck!

The film cameras had to have viewfinders and LCD screens were pretty bad on the older digital cameras, such as the ones you used as examples. Today is different than the film or poor LCD screen digital age. You should have given some examples from today and not 5-50 years ago, thus it makes your rebuke of the previous poster silly.

Viewfinders serve a necessary purpose. How else can you see focus, depth-of-field,and exposure results? If you want a point-and-shoot, get a box-brownie from the antique shop. (I always find it amusing to see people holding a camera in mid-air. My first thought is "$10"?)

My Sony Cybershot, while not a true point-and-shoot, both a smaller LCD screen & a viewfinder. It also can be left in the "auto" setting to be used as a point-and-shoot.

I WAS a "CANNON GIRL" but have learned to live outside the label.

Thanks, all, for the comments and suggestions. cmac1 (from the UK, bless our big brother's hearts!) suggest some fujis...fine cameras - the finepix 2000 and the s5800 - just too big to fit in my pockets, though the pockets would certainly be emptier if I paid the +/- $350 these models cost in the ole USofA. Nice cameras though. Thanx. skigirl - who's claiming to be a former "CANNON girl" suggest the Sony Cybershot, but which one? (Don't like the thought of gravitation from SD memory cards to the proprietary Sony memory, and the only Cybershots I see - older ones! - seem to only have 3X optical zoom. (Remember: My current Canon A540 (with 6.0 megapixels) has 4X optical zoom.) My criteria was that I wanted more optical zoom 5-6X...but 8X would be nice, but I DIDN'T want to forgo an optical viewfinder. A "preference" is AA batteries - thoug expensive, I find that new lithiums work GREAT! - and I seem to have lots of SD cards kicking around. I am not a Canon diehard...but I do want to be able to just put it in a front pocket sometimes...and I'd like to see a price - though I'll pay upward of $200 if I have to - something south of $200...say $160 or so. So far, I still think that though its not much of an upgrade (just newer), the Canon A1100 - only a 4X zoom - is a good candidate. ...And still shopping. (Is Canon, Fuji, etc. listening?)

I just purchased the A1100IS to replace my A590IS (I dropped it) and although the A1100 has a viewfinder, I don't believe you can see all of the settings inside the viewfinder. You need to look at the LCD to see the mode, exposure, flash settings, focus lock, etc. Also, the viewfinders I've had on my point-and-shoot digital cameras do not show you the exact composition that what you will be shooting, especially when you are shooting Macro. You need to look a the LCD to see the exact composition, framing, etc. The viewfinders work nice when I want to turn off the LCD to conserve battery life, but in reality I need to use and view the LCD. I purchased another Canon because of the ability to use AA batteries. I've been caught with dead lithium batteries on camping trips and I'm too cheap to spend another $40 for another battery.

I have a Nikon Coolpix P50 and it has a viewfinder. I also have a Canon SX120 IS, which doesn't. So far the photo quality is very similar if not undistinguishable. The P50 is out of production so it might be difficult to "test drive" one. It doesn't have the long zoom the Canon has but is quite adequate for everything else. Maybe successors to the P50 have a viewfinder. I haven't looked.

It is wonderful that the LCD screens work better in bright sunshine, but that doesn't help any of us who wear reading glasses and can't see the blankety blank sceen anyway if we don't have our glasses. By the time I find my glasses and put them on, the photo opportunity is long gone. Please bring back the viewfinder -- or lose the 'over 30' demographic.

It seems that the new small digital cameras don't have viewfinders. Well, I can't operate one without it and it seems I am not alone. Maybe if people stopped buying the ones without viewfinders and complained more, the camera manufacturers would get the message. I for one am going back to my old 35mm camera - I'd rather take good pictures than have pictures with peoples limbs cut off because I can't make them out on the LCD screen.

I purchased a digital camera a while ago but returned it after returning from a trip to Spain. It was very frustrating trying to take pictures but being unable to see anything on the LCD screen.

I'm searching for a point and shoot with a viewfinder and optical zoom - to replace my broken HP Photosmart R707 (the LCD screen cracked on a backpacking trip so the camera is now unusable).

I don't know about the new and improved LCD screens referenced in the Canon response, but I can say with confidence that my new iPhone screen certainly doesn't cut it in the sunlight.

There's another reason people want/need a view finder: Many aging people require reading glasses to read a handheld LCD screen. A view finder eliminates the need to don reading spectacles just to take a photo (my far vision is fine).

Finally, I believe another advantage of the viewfinder is that the feature enables better pictures. With my iPhone, I have to hold the camera at arms length (so I can see what's in the frame without my reading glasses). That shooting posture is prone to camera jitter. With a viewfinder and the ability to steady the camera close to my face, it's much easier to hold the camera still.

This is just another request to the point and shoot product managers and the CNET folks to help us lobby.

Yea, don't you just hate not being able to see the screen when it is bright outside.
I am a photographer and I use a DSL and a high end point and shoot. There are several point and shoots that have EVF. Fuji Fine Pix HS10--Highly rated--$425 and up.
Panasonic Fz35--great review--$300 and up. Panasonic Lumix FZ100--$400 and up.
Nikon CoolPix P100 (26zoom) $300.
Nikon CoolPix P100 $275.00

There that ought to get you started.....