Frankly, I find a nice big bright screen with a grid for composing and leveling the pic far easier to use than a viewfinder. There are plenty of times that I've found it much easier to get the picture I wanted using the screen, mainly because I wear glasses, which I have to take off to use a viewfinder. If I take my DSLR out, I have to remember to wear contacts, to avoid having to take my glasses off and risk dropping them, not advisable with prescription Iridium Oakleys. Gigs are an area where the screen is particularly useful when there's a head in the way. I would totally recommend the Lumix range, particularly the TZ's, which I've taken thousands of photos with over the last four years, a TZ3 in my case, and the LX3, which is much loved due to having manual controls, though the zoom is much less than the TZ's.