Mirrorless vs. DSLR

[JohnDizzo15]

There has already been a redundant rehashing of all the differences between the two types. Advantages, disadvantages, whatever.

The best way personally to look at it would be, "Can I accomplish everything I need to accomplish without a DSLR?"

There will undoubtedly be numerous people that answer yes to this. I cannot, with mirrorless in its current form.

In the last two years, I have owned a Sony a7r, Fuji xt1, xe2, and x100s. Although I still have Fujis, I cannot allow myself to get rid of my Canon DSLR kit due to my personal needs which cannot all be accounted for with the mirrorless cameras.

What I will say is that when I can also answer "yes" to the question, the DSLR kit will more than likely be done away with.

 

[Tinky]

I love car analogies.

They are great fun. About as relevant to cameras as chalk is to helicopters, but hey.

Here's a clue:

You sit in a car.
You put in fuel.
It moves places quicker than you could walk.

you hold a camera to your face.
you take photos with it.
it records scenes with more accuracy and quicker than you could draw it.

the on,y thing they have in common is that with rare exceptions they are seldom investments, and you'll want a new one after a few years when marketing people convince you that what you have is obselete.

I've posted two pictures. Both are XM's so it's a little confusing, both are also amongst my favourite specimens of their product type, but one is a car and one is a camera... can any car-analogy toting readers guess which is which?

 

[c.d.embrey]

ALWAYS use the right tool for the job!!! If my job is different than your job, different tools may be best. One size does NOT fit all.

Here's a comparison of an Olympus E-M1 with a 12-40mm f/2.8 (= 24-80 FF), a Sony A7II with a 24-70mm f/2.8 and a Canon 5D3 with a 24-70mm f/2.8L http://camerasize.com/compact/#482.412,579.393,312.289,ha,t Notice that the FF Sony A7II uses a smaller lens than the FF Canon 5D3. As expected the M4/3 has the smallest lens.

All three are professional level cameras, which is a better fit for your job is up to you.

 

[bdunbar79]

Tinky,

I couldn't agree more. I too am sick and tired of the stupid car analogies. Never in any other profession or hobby have I had to endure more car analogies.

 

[bdunbar79]

Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait! DSLR's and cars both have mirrors!!!

 

[Marsu42]

The answer in this forum will be clear, as it's the stronghold of old-school enthusiast dslr shooters (nothing wrong with that, mind you!). If people want gadget or bleeding edge, they probably don't go Canon and don't participate here.

Woha what happened there, I started out with a mirrorless and upgraded to a dslr when I became a big boy, does that make me old-old school

Probably, are you also interested in steam engines and write with a quill ?

I'm myself what I call "old-school", so it's certainly not a bad thing(tm) - it's just that a long time of using one type of equipment usually leaves you being used or even attached to it. That doesn't exclude a certain number of people doing some weird things like you did :-> but atm the normal Canon career seems to be film-slr to d-slr, then try an eos m or sony evf and come back screaming to the known and working system.

Your analogy seems to fail. Big cars went away because of the cost of fuel. Small camera bodies do not use less power.

Well, the comparison wasn't perfect and considering the aversion I'll settle for other analogies in the future, I'm sure I'll think of something. Maybe apples and oranges? But then again, "dslr" and "car" can be combined:

 

[Tinky]

Somebody had to go a level higher..... I'm looking at you Marsu!

 

[Tinky]

spot the difference!

 

[PureClassA]

And speaking of trains. Here's where this thread has gone!!!

 

[Marsu42]

Somebody had to go a level higher..... I'm looking at you Marsu!

You're looking in the right direction - I studied sociology, and indeed there are well-know clusters of lifestyle and milieus that have coherent set of property markers. I don't know if "quill", "steam engine" and "dslr" are among them but I wouldn't exclude the possibility

And speaking of trains. Here's where this thread has gone!!!

What do you expect from the 1000th mirrorless vs. mirror thread - it's nearly as worse as dynamic range

 

[Don Haines]

What do you think is better?

For photographers who prefer mirrorless, the mirrorless cameras are the best for them
For photographers who prefer DSLRs, the DSLR cameras are the best for them.

Why does one have to be better than the other?

+1
They are different. Different does not mean better or worse, it means different strengths and weaknesses

 

[jeffa4444]

What is better a Rolls Royce drop head Coupe or a Bentley Continental?

I have three Canon DSLRs, an Olympus OM-D E-M10 & Olympus E-PL5. They all have their uses, yes I use the Canon 6d the most but the Olympus OM-D E-M10 was great on vacation in Italy last summer fitting in a bag a 1/3rd of the size of my Canon outfit.

Best tools for the job are the ones that work at the time.

 

[RLPhoto]

Mirrorless for landscape photographers Could well be the future.

Well its always been there for landscapes in LF cameras.

 

[Loswr]

I've posted two pictures. Both are XM's so it's a little confusing, both are also amongst my favourite specimens of their product type, but one is a car and one is a camera...

Man, that is one ugly, boxy-looking camera. I'd never want to use one of those... *


* I remembered the smiley this time.

 

[vjlex]

I have pretty much the same question as the OP actually. I have a FF DSLR, and am looking for something smaller to serve as a second body. I previously had a Rebel, but gave it away to a friend. My interest is piqued in a small camera that I can throw one of my EF lens on if the occasion calls for it. The upcoming M3 and 750/760D both look promising. I'm not looking to start a war over which is better, I'm just curious about the clear advantages some of you have personally found to using one over the other, or that you foresee with the upcoming releases.

Right now, for me, the clearest advantage of the M3 would be that I could make it portable if I need to. The previous M1 and M2 didn't hold my interest because they lacked an integrated flash, which kinda killed the whole portability advantage. The advantage to the Rebel 750/760D is that I wouldn't have to buy an adapter for my EF lenses and I could even use one of my lens I currently have no camera to use with. Anything else I might need to consider?

 

[PureClassA]

Mirrorless?! Ha! Wait til ya'll see Sensorless!

 

[PureClassA]

PS - It's 10pm in New Orleans here. The next 36 hours are gonna SUCK.

 

[tolusina]

Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait! DSLR's and cars both have mirrors!!!

And:
wheels;
shutters;
apertures;
lenses;
gauges;
meters;
idiot lights;
actuator motors;
sensors;
displays;
buttons;
knobs;
levers;
switches;
doors;
circuits;
processors.

Anyone hoping car/camera analogies will go away, you might want to think about getting over it.
Last year's model is so, last year (car? or camera?).

Cameras ain't gots no pedals though.

 

[Tinky]

I've posted two pictures. Both are XM's so it's a little confusing, both are also amongst my favourite specimens of their product type, but one is a car and one is a camera...

Man, that is one ugly, boxy-looking camera. I'd never want to use one of those... *


* I remembered the smiley this time.

on the aesthetic front I prefer the upper versions pentaprism (there were different interchangable versions, much like the nikon f-f5s. WLFs etc.

The SR-Ts and XMs had a few things going for them that were ahead of their time, CLC non stop down metering being one, ahead of Canon and Nikon, the oversized mirror allowed a very bright viewfinder, a joy to use with a split prism screen, and of course the Rokkor glass.

So no matter how you think it looks, in terms of your function over form (which i have never disputed, note like you I'm fairly heavily entrenched in the EOS system) for their time they were tick, tick and tick.