Hello, gentle friends. Here's a super noobish question:

So, you know how on (insert reality show here) during a photo shoot, you see the various folks watching the stills as they're taken on a monitor? What does one need to hook one's still camera up to a monitor and see the output?

Did I read correctly that with still cams, you can't see the output until a photo's actually been taken, due to shutter and mirror placement?

So, do you simply take a USB cable from your cam to your computer, or what? Is there software involved? I have an Imac, as well as a CRT PC monitor. Also have my Sony Video Monitor, if that's useful. And a 42" plasma TV.

Video cameras, I understand. This still business, I do not.

To display the photo, first your camera needs an A/V or similar output. When I was at my former 9-5, we did shoots with Nikon's D70s, which has a composite out on an 1/8" jack. The quality of the photo was significantly reduced as it was displayed at NTSC resolution. Not sure what other options exist for near-real time (ie. not capturing to a computer first)

With dSLRs, the mirror occludes the sensor until the photo is taken so there is no real-time electronic update. Non-dSLRs are capable of real-time update because there is no mirror to interfere with the light path.

Somehow I had the idea you'd be able to snap a photo, then see it in all its glory on a monitor, but you're saying you only get a crappy NTSC proxy until you transfer the files off the cam for real?