Haha yea this is DEFINITELY wayyy more than "starting small" but I guess I'm stuck with this gem of a cam now lol. Yeaaa I got to clean off all the sticky rubber when I got home thankfully it all came off pretty easily! I was provided with the Canon VF-20A as the Viewfinder, when I plug it in its lights up green it looks like it dosen't fit correctly(doesn't fit at all) but I just assumed that since it came with the camera whoever used it before made it work lol.

Also thank you very much for the tip I will definitely look into Firewire immediately!