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When will mirrorless take over DSLR ... and time to sell mirror DSLR equipment??
- Thread starter mtbdudex
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I daresay it is indeed. Probably fewer people will buy a new DSLR this year and instead go for mirrorless instead. I'm very happy with my decision last November to do that.
Not only that but fewer DSLRs will be produced. Canon might keep the high end market alive but everything else will go mirrorless.
I suspect that both Canon and Nikon are regretting that they are so late to the mirrorless game....
A few months ago a friend was looking to buy a new camera, and she wanted an interchangeable lens camera, not a P&S like she'd always had. I tried to gently steer her in the direction of something mirrorless, since that IS the wave of the future, and in my opinion offers advantages over a DSLR, especially for beginners, but she was determined to get a DSLR and she had budgetary concerns, so wound up getting one of the inexpensive Nikons with a couple of kit lenses.
I think Nikon is planning to still release some DSLR models this year, including the D6, but I wouldn't be surprised if that D6 is the end of the line as far as their flagship DSLRs go. The times they are a-changin'......
A few months ago a friend was looking to buy a new camera, and she wanted an interchangeable lens camera, not a P&S like she'd always had. I tried to gently steer her in the direction of something mirrorless, since that IS the wave of the future, and in my opinion offers advantages over a DSLR, especially for beginners, but she was determined to get a DSLR and she had budgetary concerns, so wound up getting one of the inexpensive Nikons with a couple of kit lenses.
I think Nikon is planning to still release some DSLR models this year, including the D6, but I wouldn't be surprised if that D6 is the end of the line as far as their flagship DSLRs go. The times they are a-changin'......
I think mirrorless is in the driver’s seat now. Most of the drawbacks have now been overcome, and I for one love the zoom-to-focus on my E-M5iii. It’s been a huge help on my bug and bird shots. Couldn’t pull that off with a mirrored camera—at least not with my aging eyeballs.
I thought I was gonna SWITCH to mirrorless. After trying so many different models (I bough them used), it looks like I'm going to ADD mirrorless to my systems...
I can't seem to get past the laggy EVF's. A camera with a decent EVF is $3,000+
Plus decent mirrorless lenses are expensive right now (since they're newer).
There's a ton of great used deals on nice dSLR lenses out there....
This video talks about the decent resale value of good equipment:
I've had a Nikon D3300 for six years and shot with other Nikons for 5 years before that...
I learned 35mm on B/W film on a Minolta SRT201 in 1978...
Any questions, ask away - all the $$$ I spent over the years was part of the learning.
I can't seem to get past the laggy EVF's. A camera with a decent EVF is $3,000+
Plus decent mirrorless lenses are expensive right now (since they're newer).
There's a ton of great used deals on nice dSLR lenses out there....
This video talks about the decent resale value of good equipment:
I've had a Nikon D3300 for six years and shot with other Nikons for 5 years before that...
I learned 35mm on B/W film on a Minolta SRT201 in 1978...
Any questions, ask away - all the $$$ I spent over the years was part of the learning.
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The lag occurs when you're taking pictures in high sequence, not just looking and aiming for shots...
Give it a try...
It you are rapid firing 10 shots at once are you really looking into the viewfinder? The shutter will be closing so what are you seeing?
A good mirrorless will not blackout the EVF as you need to track the subject. I can shoot 11 fps on my Sony A6000 and track the subject with no blackout and minimal lag.
I just sold back a Panasonic G3 and in continuous mode, the finder totally blacks out and stays that way... which is why I just got rid of it.
It is if the mirrorless camera you have blacks out the finder. You won't know unless you read the reviews or try it for yourself. My A6000 does a decent job at continuous HIGH (11fps).
The Sony A9 and the A9 II are the champions when it comes to being able to shoot very, very fast at Continuous High Plus.....and not having blackout. Bird and wildlife shooters really like those two cameras for that reason.
I'm still old school with my Canon 6D MKII and I suspect my next camera will be mirrorless. I've gotten so used to manually adjusting for my exposures and using the histogram that it's pretty much second nature to me, the biggest advantage I can see to this new technology is to be able to see exactly what your going to get before taking the shot, at least that's how I understand it, correct?
I admit that I’m not a bursty photographer, but Olympus has something called Pro Capture mode, where it uses the electronic shutter to capture up to 60FPS—some shots are taken before you fully press the trigger, the rest being after. On a side note, I think this is why they are pushing for 8K on ILCs—not necessarily for 8K video, but to allow you to capture a long sequence and then pull out the shots you want and still have good res images. My G9 had a 6K feature that did this, which it also used for in-camera focus stacking.
I do notice that with my E-M5iii, if I take successive shots, it won’t bother with the post-shot result. I already have mine on for very brief moments, as I really just need it to double-check the final framing when I’m using zoom-to-focus.
For video I think mirrorless has won, but for me (with no interest in moving pictures) I hope there is good support for my Nikon SLR (D850) for a long time. I dabbled with Nikon 1 when they were first released and that was certainly not a good experience albeit not for work.
My Fuji X-T100 has that. What is really going on is your camera is taking a 4K or 8K movie and then you pull out the frames you want.
They only thing is these small cameras will overheat if you do that enough, ntm the huge mount of space you take up on the card...
Sorry, but I don't get the "mirrorless is the future" thing.
And before you think I'm a curmudgeon, consider I own a whole mess of mirrorless cameras, going back about a decade. Like a Pentax K-01 and Olympus E-PL1.
Some of the new mirrorless cameras are very nice, but what makes them nice isn't necessarily just the absence of a mirror. Especially since the other big fad is full frame. Or eye focus. Sony kind of led the way, but their cameras were just great values, and again it wasn't necessarily just that mirrorless thing.
Do they have some advantages? yep, that's why I own some. Do they have detriments? yep, that's why I own a DSLR.
I suppose if Canon and Nikon never make another DSLR by default the mirrorless will be the wave of the future save niche players who keep pounding out mirrored cameras (might be a nice strategy). But I would think given the lenses out there it would make sense to keep making DSLRs. If not, I'll be first in line to gobble up the D850s and Canons and such in the used market.
And before you think I'm a curmudgeon, consider I own a whole mess of mirrorless cameras, going back about a decade. Like a Pentax K-01 and Olympus E-PL1.
Some of the new mirrorless cameras are very nice, but what makes them nice isn't necessarily just the absence of a mirror. Especially since the other big fad is full frame. Or eye focus. Sony kind of led the way, but their cameras were just great values, and again it wasn't necessarily just that mirrorless thing.
Do they have some advantages? yep, that's why I own some. Do they have detriments? yep, that's why I own a DSLR.
I suppose if Canon and Nikon never make another DSLR by default the mirrorless will be the wave of the future save niche players who keep pounding out mirrored cameras (might be a nice strategy). But I would think given the lenses out there it would make sense to keep making DSLRs. If not, I'll be first in line to gobble up the D850s and Canons and such in the used market.
Note that the Pro Capture mode on the Oly camera captures full resolution raw images at 60 FPS; some cameras do the 4 or 8k capture but only at that resolution, and sometimes only in JPEG. https://camerajabber.com/olympus-om-d-e-m1-mark-ii-pro-capture-mode/
You need mirrorless to do video (can't have that mirror flipping up and down) plus it gets the size of the camera down. Doing video has become popular lately with vlogging and Social Media, which is what is driving the Camera Market.
I really love my Sony Cameras (NEX-5N was my first mirrorless, purchased to use on Telescopes and just got an A6000 used) as it seems that Sony has done their homework on features/usability.
Sony swept up on this mirrorless evolution because as a company they've been use to delivering new innovative gadgets to the masses (ie, Walkman, Playstation) for decades now compared to say, Nikon or Olympus...
Count me among those who say the baton has officially been passed to mirrorless.
Some ask owners of DSLRs why they want to sell their gear if it still works. That is a valid question - as long as one plans on never selling that gear. Anyone who ultimately plans to sell their DSLR bodies and lenses at some point should act now, if they can afford it. Prices will continue to inch lower from this point moving forward.
And newcomers to mirrorless will be surprised how good the gear is.
Some ask owners of DSLRs why they want to sell their gear if it still works. That is a valid question - as long as one plans on never selling that gear. Anyone who ultimately plans to sell their DSLR bodies and lenses at some point should act now, if they can afford it. Prices will continue to inch lower from this point moving forward.
And newcomers to mirrorless will be surprised how good the gear is.
Most modern dSLR cameras also do video. Sure, the mirror is a little clattery but video has been on dslrs for quite some time.
You don’t need a mirrorless camera to do video, you just need the mirror out of the way if it has one, which DSLRs do just fine when shooting it
.I agree that mirrorless fixed lens and ILCs are the future for a lot of reasons, among these are lower manufacturing costs, somewhat smaller bodies, ability to build optically interesting and sometimes more compact lenses, and doing clever things with autofocus. None of the reasons have anything to do with image quality of course, which is equivalent. And the best DSLR autofocus performance can usually keep up with the best in mirrorless, if not always in frames-per-second, in keepers and ability to deliver in tricky situations.
Is it the future? Yep! Sell my d850? Nah, no compelling reason to yet (for me). I’d probably add to the collection with some gen2 Z body later. I enjoy my mirrorless Fuji cameras and have for quite a few years so I live easily in both worlds ?.
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molly wrote:
"Most modern dSLR cameras also do video. Sure, the mirror is a little clattery but video has been on dslrs for quite some time."
But when you switch any "DSLR" into movie mode, the mirror is locked up out of the way, and for all practical purposes, you are then using a "mirrorless" camera to record the video (even though the camera still has a mirror inside).
So DSLR cameras that do video (and can be used in "live view still mode" as well) have in truth always been "hybrids" that work in DSLR mode using the mirror for photos, but which also switch into "mirrorless" mode (mirror locked up) for live view and video.
Going "full mirrorless" just removes the mirror altogether -- so now you're in "live view" mode all the time, even when looking through the viewfinder.
Forgive me for not knowing, but is "in body image stabilization" possible with a mirrored DSLR?
If not, that's one more reason why mirrors are soon going to pass into "camera design history"...
"Most modern dSLR cameras also do video. Sure, the mirror is a little clattery but video has been on dslrs for quite some time."
But when you switch any "DSLR" into movie mode, the mirror is locked up out of the way, and for all practical purposes, you are then using a "mirrorless" camera to record the video (even though the camera still has a mirror inside).
So DSLR cameras that do video (and can be used in "live view still mode" as well) have in truth always been "hybrids" that work in DSLR mode using the mirror for photos, but which also switch into "mirrorless" mode (mirror locked up) for live view and video.
Going "full mirrorless" just removes the mirror altogether -- so now you're in "live view" mode all the time, even when looking through the viewfinder.
Forgive me for not knowing, but is "in body image stabilization" possible with a mirrored DSLR?
If not, that's one more reason why mirrors are soon going to pass into "camera design history"...
I think Pentax had some variant of IBIS. But yes, if it's important to you, you'll likely need to go with some sort of mirrorless camera. Again, there are practical reasons for manufacturers to move to mirrorless cameras and some nice reasons to buy them, but there aren't always compelling reasons to do so. Back to the original topic - yes, "mirrorless is the future", but no, no reason to sell up on DSLRs unless you particularly want to.
Having had my first taste of mirrorless with Sony’s NEX 7, and now a more updated and thorough taste of it with my A7R IV, I can tell you that absolutely there is no way I would ever return to a DSLR. I love my mirrorless full-frame camera with its IBIS and its EVF and its various bells and whistles that all work just so very nicely for me....