MOVE TO MIRRORLESS
DISCOVER THE BENEFITS OF SWITCHING OVER FROM A DSLR TO A MIRRORLESS SYSTEM
Discover why you should consider switching over from a DSLR to a mirrorless system
Digital photography, as an art form, is influenced by ever-changing technology – much more so than traditional analogue was – and photographers need to be ready to embrace the new. But we naturally become entrenched in certain ways of working, and these ways of working are inevitably tied up with the kit we use. We invest lots of money and time in our cameras and lenses, and often develop a relationship with a particular manufacturer.
If you’ve grown accustomed to shooting with a DSLr system, then the idea of abandoning lenses that you’ve used for years can seem like a massive wrench – and an expensive one, at that. Not only this, but a major facet of our speed and efficiency in the field or the studio is down to our experience and familiarity with a certain type of camera.
But in recent years, one major technological development has made many photographers, amateur and professional
“There’s markedly less noise when you press the shutter button to take a picture”
alike, question their allegiance to the DSLr – the rise of the mirrorless camera.
DSLrs have been able to stall mirrorless models somewhat, owing to some key areas in which mirrorless technology has tended to lag behind – the limitations of contrast detection autofocus for subject tracking, battery life, and so on – but these drawbacks, while not necessarily entirely eradicated, have become less and less pronounced over time, and this trend is continuing.
Irrespective of the cons, mirrorless systems offer significant advantages. Chief among these is the reduced weight and bulk of both the cameras and lenses. For wedding or press photographers, who often have to carry lots of kit around with them for several hours, this is a massive advantage. Much the same applies to landscape photographers trekking across rocky coastal paths to get to their desired location: the less weight you need to carry on your back when the terrain beneath your feet is less than stable, the better.
This reduction in weight and bulk is down to the simple fact that the mirror mechanism in a DSLr design demands a certain amount of size, and absence of a physical mirror moving up and down inside the camera brings other benefits. For example, there’s markedly less noise whenever you press the shutter button to take a picture – perfect for street photographers or nature photographers who don’t want to draw attention to themselves or disturb the subjects they are trying to capture.
In addition to noise, mirror mechanisms also create internal vibrations. This was a particular issue with medium-format film cameras (such as the famous pentax 6x7), because they naturally featured larger mirrors, and it was often necessary to make use of a function known as mirror lock-up in order to affix the mirror out of the way before pressing the shutter button to commence the actual exposure. A mirrorless camera inherently avoids this problem. Similarly, with no mirror involved, frame rates are greatly improved, and an electronic viewfinder can offer a lot more than an optical viewfinder.
With both Nikon and Canon releasing major mirrorless models recently, it seems increasingly likely that this is where the future will lie. Indeed, there are now very attractive and relatively competitively priced medium-format mirrorless options available, combining incredibly high resolution with the advantages of portability and low weight.