All the photography purists that cringed, squawked, and moaned, when digital photography hit the scene, but now own and use digital cameras, should all take a seat in the back of the room. The same goes for the new round of purists, that are whining about how live view has no business in the hoity toity world of high end digital SLR, and should be sent back to the basement with point and shoot crowd.
Live view is here to stay, and has been for over a year now. I think it was Canon that first brought it out in their Digital Rebel XSi, and Nikon quickly followed suit. For those who are a unaware of what live view is, it means being able to frame your picture with the LCD screen. Something that has been common place in the lower priced point and shoot digitals forever. It used to be, with SLRs you could only do that through the viewfinder.
To further solidify the argument for live view, one needs to look no further than arguably the two best SLR cameras offered by Nikon. Specifically the D300, and the D700. While there is a big difference in price between these two suckers, there's good reason for it. Obviously live view isn't the reason, but lets have a look.
The D300 is meant for prosumer to semi pro digital photographer. That's just one step below the world of professional photographers. One of it's biggest claims to fame has to be it's speed. This camera is simply the fastest machine you'll find the in prosumer price range. How does snapping six photographs per second sound to you. Well, if that's not impressive, how about 100 pictures in a row. Now even I could find one good picture out of that bunch. Wiggly kids or not.
If your looking at the D700, and you don't know what full frame stands for, then put that wallet away boy, and do some more research. If you do decide to get this one, you can be rest assured it's the last camera you'll ever buy. For 00 I would hope you wouldn't be missing much. Of course, that won't stop you from buying a trunk full of lenses and accessories to play with.
