I've just realized that Enivob's idea also provides a way of moving the camera closer to the scene (zooming) while retaining the view through the camera.  Even better!

Thank you Enivob and oldskoolPunk,

All three of those ideas are extremely helpful.  I should have thought of Enivob's idea myself. It seems so obvious now that I've read it. I would not have thought of oldskoolPunk's ideas, though.

Thanks again!

Quote - I accidently discovered the fly mode one day and I've been using it since then to fine tune my camera position. I usually Drag, Grab and Rotate it the normal way first to get it close. Next, I switch to Camera View mode by pressing '0'. Then, press 'Shift-F' to switch to fly mode. The scroll when on your mouse will accelerate forwards and backwards, while moving the mouse simulates pitch and roll. I usually keep the camera selected as an object at the same time so if I get into trouble, I can press "ESC" to get out of fly mode then Grab,move and rotate the camera the regular way while still viewing from the camera (0).

Thank you reddog9. That is the type of mode I was looking for.  There is only one aspect which is not quite like holding a real camera in my hands. In fly mode the camera keeps moving after the mouse movement has stopped. As, you say, coming out of fly mode and using GKEY to grab the camera solves that problem, except for one type of movement. Grab mode does not enable zooming the camera while viewing through it. Fly mode does, but as I mention above, it keeps zooming after the mouse has stopped.

I have another question for anyone. Is there a way to select the camera while viewing through it? If I select another object while in camera view, I do not want to have to exit camera view to select the camera again so that I can use GKEY to grab and move the camera.

Thanks very much, haloedrain.

That solves my problem. And your tip about the lamp as camera helps also. In fact it answered what was going to be my next question:- 'How do you activate a second camera? Answer:- Select it and then Control + Numpad 0.'

Regards,

Colin