I'm not totally convinced that you cannot get good compositions with an LCD on the back of a Digital Camera (well, non SLR ones ;) ). I used both the LCD and the viewfinder on my Sony 717 and got some good compo's with both methods (well, IMHO anyway :D ). I'd agree that using the viewfinder is definately better most of the time though - but I do find my DSLR more restrictive at times because I cant angle up or down the LCD, and take images easily at floor level or at arms length over my head. I knew that when I changed from the 717 (a prosumer) to the 20d (a DSLR) I'd actually suffer a DROP in quality! The 717 is alot easier to use, even in manual mode, than a DSLR. I beleive SLR's require different technical skills than digital compacts, but the composition skills required are the same. So yes, take heart if you cant afford a DSLR. You can still achieve really really good images and compete with SLR owners using the most basic of camera. Anyone thats been watching the BBC series "A digital picture of britain" will have seen this. 3 professional photographers are given 3 different cameras. One a top of the range DSLR, another a mid range compact digital and the last a 2 megpixels camera phone. All of them get good results, and even those using the camera phone get images comparable to the those of the DSLR - from a composition point of view at least.