Compositional Tools: Have we come full circle?

I've taken a trip back in time as a result of my newest camera.

When I'm out in the field shooting with (usually) one of my 35mm-format digital cameras or (occasionally) our Mamiya 645 medium-formal camera, I like to take along a pocket-sized digital camera as well. This is for several reasons: I generally have my serious camera gear in a photo backpack, which means it takes some time to get a camera out and ready to shoot. Having a small camera in a pouch on my pack strap or belt means I can grab it anytime for a quick shot that I otherwise might miss. Second, I'll use it to record information about where I'm shooting: an interpretive sign or an interesting side detail that doesn't warrant a "formal" picture. Third, when we're in a new location, or hiking in to a shoot, I'll take pictures behind us as we hike in, so we can see what the trail should like on the way out!

I've had a couple of small Canon Elphs which I have enjoyed, but they were relatively low pixel-count cameras and didn't have much in the way of manual controls. For Father's Day I received a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5. This is a compact body digicam with an amazing 10x optically stabilized zoom (28-280mm equivalent, f/3.3-4.9 Leica glass), 9.1 effective megapixels, and the ability to shoot 720p-HD video. It has some good manual-override controls for its automatic settings, and lets you choose an aspect ratio (4:3, 3:2, or 16:9) for your still shots. All it's missing is the ability to shoot in RAW, but it has a high-res, low-compression JPEG setting that produces shots that Photoshop can handle well.

I was concerned about one design choice that Panasonic (I would usually show my cultural superiority at this point and say "Matsushita" but the shareholders approved a change of the company name to Panasonic last month) made: no optical viewfinder! Coming from the TTL viewfinder world, I was really not sure if I liked having only an LCD display for composing shots. I've seen too many weekend snap-shooters holding their digicams at arm's length and wondering why the pictures are off-center and blurry....

Then I actually started using the TZ5. The display is a huge, 406,000-dot, 3-inch LCD that covers 80% of the back of the camera. It's bright, clear, and very sharp. You can superimpose a live histogram, have room for several data elements to be displayed, and still see a huge image on the LCD. After shooting in several locations, I began to realize I was experiencing a technological deja vu.

The classic view camera uses a large ground glass screen, with the photographer (hidden under the dark cloth) able to compose the image on that large palette (albeit reversed and upside down.) Ground glass screens were also used in reflex cameras - the twin-lens Rolleis, Mamiyas, Minoltas, and Seagulls - but in a smaller size. Aficionados of those cameras point to the continuous viewing (unlike mirror-based SLRs) and the large image provided on the ground glass, so unlike peering into the "porthole" of a viewfinder. They also suggest that the abstraction of the image caused by the reversed view lets the photographer concentrate on composition without being distracted by the details of the scene.

It took a few dozen shots, but I slowly began to realize that what I have in the TZ5's large and bright LCD screen is the modern implementation of the classic ground glass, lacking only the reversal of the image. I was able to compose on this generous "glass" with both eyes, no squinting, no diopter adjustment to get clear focus, and still see the overall scene "around" the image I was composing.

Frankly, I was hooked! I really like the different way the TZ5 lets me set up a shot. While the LCD does not articulate, it does have a setting to let you view the screen at an extreme angle, as when shooting overhead or at ground level. I find the freedom to place the image with a very large viewing ability quite helpful, as I try out different compositions of a scene.

Canon is now putting a "live view" feature on some of their DSLRs - the 450D/Rebel Xsi, 40D, and the 1D/1Ds Mk IIIs got the feature first, and my 5D MkII has it, too. "Live view" locks the reflex mirror up and opens the shutter. The image output from the CMOS sensor is then displayed in real time on the LCD monitor, either at 100% or magnified by 5x or 10x. I thought this was just a marketing gimmick when I first read about it, or an attempt to ease the transition of users from "point and shoots" to a "real" cameras.

Now I see the value. Having the ability to use either the viewfinder or the LCD opens up new possibilities: fast action tracking and grab shots still done easily through the viewfinder, but slow and careful field composition now aided by the large LCD and the ability to really study the image being set up without the squint-and-peer aspect of viewfinder work. I am looking forward to that flexibility, and I expect we'll see more DSLRs going "back to the future" with similar capabilities.