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I used the wrong wording.  By electronic view finder I was not referring to the little LCD on the back of the camera; rather I was thinking about connecting a wire to a computer monitor for viewing the actual results.  I do most of my photography indoors using electronic flash with modeling lamps.  The ability of the photographer as well as the subject to look at the actual picture before taking it would seem to me to be an extraordinary advantage. Yes, many cameras let you do this in two different ways: 1) NTSC output that can be attached to a TV for a live review of what's just been shot. Not the highest quality, but better than nothing. 2) USB/Firewire connection to PC, with the appropriate software can achieve the same thing. Allows a high-rez, color calibrated view of what's just been shot. A third option requires more hardware: 3) There is a device that uses blue tooth or similar that replaces the CF card and transmits the shots to an external device attached to the camera (like a grip). It in turn sends the shot to a PC for storage (not certain how - 802.11g wireless maybe). No doubt, live reviewing could be done here too.

The topic was Digital Camera Drawbacks I've listed features that MOST digicams lack. You may find individual exceptions..... But, overall, in spite of the high price tags, I think that camera manufacturers are producing cute shiny, digital snapshot cameras..... And that's probably OK too, because the average buyer will use it for birthdays, weddings, and vacations. ie... as a snapshot camera. ( chances are, their batterys will be dead too ) <rj Somehow I find the concept that taking 'snapshots' is demeaning, and makes a person inferior to be very insulting, and somewhat arrogant. People take pictures of what is important to them, and birthdays, weddings, and vacations ARE that.  People who must evacuate their homes carry out their pictures, not their clothes, or their jewels. And my batteries may be dead, but I can still point, even if I can't shoot. Grin.

7.   No means of connecting an external flash. There are many reasonably priced digicams that have a hotshoe.  If you need this feature you should ensure you buy a camera that has a hotshoe.   If you don't need this and are unlikely to ever buy an external flash, then you don't have to worry about it.  I can't see how this is a drawback to someone that has no external flash.

Frankly, i can think of only one reason to shoot film: when you're shooting a nuclear war or other atomic explosion. Film cameras keep working. We used 'em back in spring of '55 when the government ran Operation CUE. Several of the film cameras survived the blast and we got good footage. Had they been digital, we'd have no footage at all, most likely. Interesting point, but wrong, I believe. The camera itself can be shielded from the EMP, heat & blast, but what about the sensor? A _meta_l-coated lens? It's been done in many applications. EMP's not that much of a factor in nuclear blasts unless they occur at very great altitude. That's why it wasn't even known to exist until the Starfish shot almost 20 years after Trinity. From http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/emp.htm: Source Region Electro-magnetic Pulse [SREMP] is produced by low-altitude nuclear bursts. An effective net vertical electron current is formed by the asymmetric deposition of electrons in the atmosphere and the ground, and the formation and decay of this current emits a pulse of electromagnetic radiation in directions perpendicular to the current. The asymmetry from a low-altitude explosion occurs because some electrons emitted downward are trapped in the upper millimeter of the Earth’s surface while others, moving upward and outward, can travel long distances in the atmosphere, producing ionization and charge separation. A weaker asymmetry can exist for higher altitude explosions due to the density gradient of the atmosphere. Both occur.

I bought an upper end digital camera, and there are several deficiencys; 1.  No screw-thread on the lens.      Can't attach filters, closeups, polarizers, etc. 2.  No provision for bulb      Even on a tripod, you've gotta press the damn button. 3.  The uncertainty of the battery life. 4.  'Til now, all digcams look like a compact from a womans purse.       No ones come up with a tough knock-around plastic shell. 6.  Tho the shutter's electronic, and there's a USB connection,       no provision for triggering via USB. 7.   No means of connecting an external flash. Sorry to hear that.  Presumably you should have thought about those requirements before buying the camera.  For the record, my E-1 doesn't have any of those deficiencies (though it would be nice if there was free software that did #6 without paying for Olympus Studio like there was on previous Olympus cameras), and I'm sure there are many cameras that also solve those problems.