Sony Alpha DSLR-A350K Digital Camera with 18-70mm lens

Bought at the end of June to replace my Konica minolta 7D,colour reproduction is truly amazing the Kit lens however feels very cheap and plasticey compared to all my minolta lenses, I'm now using both cameras.
A shame sony felt it a requirement to put a knob on the top with various shooting modes, they dont really do a lot that you cant do yourself, Live view I have found useful whilst shooting Macro.I work all my pictures through elements 6. A good web site for all ex Minolta SLR digital users going over to sony is as follows :http://support.sony-europe.com/dime/digistill/alpha/alpha.aspx?site=odw_en_GB&m=DSLR-A350
Its amazing what minolta products are compatable...so have a look and buy cheaply on e-bay.
Question....Why do we have to put up with the thud of a mirror going up on a DSLR now that we are in the digital age.

Brought this camera at the beging of May this year, it was the first Digital camera i have ever brought having used 35mm for a few years now. Very impressed with how solid and rugged the camera feels, the sort of camera that is strong yet light enough to go any where, more so that it's larger more expensive cousin, the A700... Now looking at the quility of the shooting, with 14.2 mega pixel effective resolution and being able to control the ISO all the way to 3200 this camera is very versatile, however, for the serious shooter a decent editing software like photoshop is a must. The live view function is also amazing and unlike other models offers true live view function!

all in all, will be a favorite of mine for a while to come!