Retina Loc: Near Charleston,SC

Mirror movement and the sound that results can make a very big difference, enough to leave the DSLR home depending on the shoot. Granted, this do not matter to most people or most of the time, but the same can be said for macro lenses, filter threads, tripod sockets, etc. Point-and-shoot cameras used to meet the need for quiet, minimal vibration shooting, but now there are interchangeable lens cameras which some people prefer over P&S.

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

Not surprised at all. The Fuji line is a much more "professional" handling, in that its controls are mostly external, lending itself to easier manual operation. Also the jpgs it serves up are more detailed and have extremely good color. A lot of Pros have discovered the Fuji! (Especially in Europe)

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

Polaroid! I had a real nice one once upon a time.

BebuLamar

Which one was it?

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

I think that is just a bit of nonsense. I know ear and eye surgeons with huge hands and no problem handling the tiniest of instruments. (operating through an ear canal takes mighty small instruments: I know - I practiced ENT) You like what you are used to using!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Spot on assessment. Economics — sunk costs — are the issue.

If your employer owns a locker full of bodies and lenses, transitioning to anything else is difficult. Hopefully, the Canon and Nikon adapters for their existing dSLR lenses will smooth the transition for some organizations and individuals. Others, like you and I, can justify the switch to mirrorless and are happy we made it.

Eventually, a tipping point will favor more rapid transition. Hopefully, those with significant quantities of bodies and lenses will unload them before they are worthless.

I remember the transition from optical film printers to digital mini-labs in the school portrait business I worked for back around 2000 to 2007. We bought film scanners (see below) and ripped out over 40 huge, $50,000 to $160,000 automatic package printers and four PAKO long roll paper processors, plus a few tons of other obsolete equipment. Lots of equipment had to be disassembled and sold as scrap to be recycled, rather than sold as used gear. Other labs were doing the same things we were!

I remember the subsequent transition from film cameras to digital cameras in 2002 to 2007. We had hundreds of $7500 to $12,500 long roll film cameras that were used for years to make millions of school portraits. Suddenly, in early 2005, a properly adjusted Canon EOS 20D was capable of emulating Kodak Portra 160 film well enough to let us switch over 400 photographers to digital capture from film capture.

The kicker? We couldn't find anyone who wanted the film cameras! We had to PAY about $75 each to have them disassembled and recycled! We also recycled nearly a million dollars worth of Kodak Bremson HR500 film scanners (used for only three to six years!) and associated equipment, plus millions of dollars worth of film processors, mixing tanks, optical printers, etc.

Paradigm shifts are like that. When people wake up and realize what they're missing, there is a mad rush to the new normal. Our whole market gradually woke up to the reality that they no longer wanted a package of school portrait prints, when they owned a smartphone connected to the Internet and a handful of social media accounts and photo sharing sites. Herff Jones saw it coming, and sold our photography division to Lifetouch. Now, Lifetouch is part of Shutterfly...

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

It was a folding one that was covered in what I thought was leather. As I recall it was fairly large - about 8 x 4 inches and about an inch and a half thick.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

Maybe an SX70?

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

Congrats on your dismount from your high horse.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

That horse wasn't that high, less than 14 hands. More like a pony

worldcycle Loc: Stateline, Nevada

WOW! A true Zen master. The voice of reason.

BebuLamar

I think it's the SX-70 which I had 3 of them. One of them is the original SX-70 the others are the alpha one version and one with AF. I used to have fun taking picture with the AF version in total darkness as its AF is sonar and can focus in darkness.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Couldn't have said it better myself. Well done sir.

I see some people just feel the need to predict the end of DSLR's in favor of mirrorless cameras. I am with you in saying, who cares. I love the DSLR's I have and have had. I am not saying I would ever buy a mirrorless camera but for the time being, maybe the next 20 years I will be perfectly happy with cameras of the DSLR type. For those who want mirrorless, have at it, buy to your heart's content. But don't try to put some stigma on those of us who still enjoy DSLR cameras. I find nothing lacking about my Nikon D800.

Dennis

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Of course, the first principle everyone learns in engineering economics is that you must ignore sunk cost completely when making financial decisions. Money already spent, including money spent as the result of flawed or bad decisions, is water under the bridge. Nothing can be done about it, and if you don't ignore sunk costs going forward, the result will be more suboptimal decisions as the result of having improper boundary conditions around your analyses.

Glenn Harve

Use the tool that suits you. All this rivalry nonesense is weird. Support free choice, not the exclusion of free choice. Is photography still a freedom, or is it too doomed to group think....
The VAST majority of great photos were taken before mirrorless.