burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

You are correct in not seeing a reason to change, if you're satisfied with the results.

That said... I've been using mirrorless cameras since 2015 (two Micro 4/3 Panasonic Lumix GH4s). I have had zero problems with them. One of my bodies is nearing a shutter count of 150,000. It would be double or triple that, if it counted electronic shutter clicks along with mechanical shutter clicks.

Counter-intuitively, the exposed sensor is only an issue if you let it be by changing lenses in a dusty environment with lots of air movement. Otherwise, most of the time, it's a non-issue. I've had to clean my sensors one tenth as often as the Canons and Nikons I used from 2003 to 2012. But I change my lenses far more often (almost always in still, clean air, with the camera body pointed DOWN). And I always keep a body cap or lens on the camera. I have always done that with every SLR, dSLR, and MILC since 1968.

EVERYTHING in that part of a camera behind the lens needs to stay pristine and clean. I learned that in the late 1960s from a working pro with six Nikon F bodies. He had damaged two of them by dropping them in his bag without body caps or lenses. After that, he bought several spare caps and kept them in a clean pouch under the lid of his bag.

Why has sensor dust not been an issue? It's because there is no flippy-floppy mirror, with its lubricants and foam dampening pads, to kick bits of those substances around the mirror chamber and onto the sensor cover glass. With little air movement in a mirrorless camera, and fewer moving parts to wear and deteriorate, the sensor stays cleaner. The worst things that can get on a sensor are lubricants and foam from the mirror dampening strips in a dSLR. They stick on, and must be removed with a special foam swab and solvent (pure methanol, such as Eclipse fluid from Photosol, on their Sensor Swabs).

When I was a training developer in the school portrait business, I worked for the same guy who ran the equipment sales department. We put hundreds of Canon dSLRs in our territories all over the country. Those photographers used them in parts of a special rig that never came apart unless something needed service or end-of-season cleaning. The lenses never came off in the field! Yet the sensors got dirty, just from use — about 440 exposures per day, per camera body, four to five days a week, for 13 weeks each Fall.

Even my training rig, that I used only when I was training new photographers, got dirty every few thousand clicks. I kept a Giottos Rocket Air blower bulb, Sensor Swabs, and Eclipse fluid with me at all times. (I still do, but the swabs and fluid have been used only twice since 2015.) (We used a 28-75mm zoom lens that worked for all our common products. It stayed on the camera.)

Another thing to note about mirrorless cameras is that the state of the art in camera and lens manufacturing has advanced far beyond what it was just ten years ago. Cameras are made in factories that meet various ISO standards for quality control and best manufacturing practices. They are engineered with the aid of computers, using very sophisticated software unavailable before the turn of the century. They are made by companies with decades of experience and knowledge in optics and electronics. Most important, they have a lot fewer moving parts to wear and break down.

Some of the best photojournalists in the world are using mirrorless cameras now. They rely on them to work every day under difficult conditions. Just ask Gerald Williams (gwilliams6 here on UHH) about his Sonys. He loves 'em.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I'm reasonably sure the first one was made with an iPhone. Maybe the last one was, too. Maybe they all were, although the second one looks like it was made with something else. The others look similar to what my iPhone delivers. That said, I really wouldn't care... If it meets the moment, it's a valid image. Some of the best, most iconic images of the 20th century were made with far more primitive technology.

Alphabravo2020

That was very educational. Thanks OP.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

CHG_CANON wrote:
Phones don't have mirrors ....

They have better than mirrors. The have another lens that faces you for selfies. My daughter was giving me a hair cut once and I wanted to see what a Mohawk would look like on a 70+ year old dude. Took out my cell and switched to the selfie lens and wala, there I was. Didn't want to break the camera, so didn't snap, just used it as a mirror.

Paul Diamond Loc: Atlanta, GA, USA

Mirror or mirrorless, cellphone, etc. is of little importance. Take the challenge! Use your DSLR or mirrorless with only 1 lens and train your eyes to "see" the images with only that focal length. Do it for at least a day. Same exercise for cellphone cameras - try to begin looking at the world as your 'digital eye' will record it (full frame - no cropping).

If you work at this, you will learn/re-learn what it was like before zoom lenses and before cropping a larger image/view to a different composition. It's a good challenge for those willing to develop the capability to learn and see. - You will 'graduate' when you can look at any interesting possible 'subject' and 'pre-visualize' the image you want to capture and the lens focal length to achieve your 'vision.'

Charles 46277 Loc: Fulton County, KY

Alphabravo, I too leave the cell in my car, just for emergencies. I am beginning to see digital photography as one part of a much bigger picture (rather than the new and better way of doing old things)--and I am not alone. My go-to place for traditional gear is eBay, because where I live there are no camera stores, much less stores that would have old gear.

I think even on eBay there are not many buyers for most 35mm cameras and lenses, but the best ones still have a market (Leicas, Takumar lenses, etc.) Clearly, the digital models have replaced these (as they were meant to do) except for a very small market. But large format, and even extra large formats like 11x14 or bigger, is another story. The big market there is in art, as you rightly mention. Usually, their art is the paper print, not a fleeting digital picture on a limited screen size (and very different look). A picture on paper is a different species with different goals, and the goals themselves take many forms. A platinum print can be made from a digital file (printed on clear negative material of any size, then contact printed on handmade printing paper), but you cannot fool Mother Nature: a picture enlarged in the camera, all else being equal, is finer than the same image small in the camera and enlarged later, depending on what the artist wants to create. This is why a photographer would not shoot weddings with a pocket camera using 110 film (even a very good one). It is also why today a full frame digital would probably be preferred over cropped-sensors for most commercial work.

There is not a market for wedding photography using the 11x14 camera (all's the pity...), but in fine art the goal is often to change the demand rather than to follow it or pursue it. I recently donated a monster Linhof studio 8x10 camera with numerous fronts, backs, cast iron tripod, and 6 fine classic lenses and accessories to a small college for their art department, and they were ecstatic. They will be offering workshop classes for interested students this fall. (It includes a back that attaches Canon cameras to it, and there are many ways to tie large format to digital technologies, such as PhotoShoping the big negatives. New art with photography can combine the technologies, which would be like combining the art of Adams with the art of Eisenstadt--large format and small, but in new ways that are possible only now.

Charles 46277 Loc: Fulton County, KY

I always wanted a trick camera that fell apart when clicked. Then if somebody said they might break my camera, I could use it.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

They’re not very useful if they don’t make sense.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

srt101fan wrote:
Isn't it a bit silly criticizing a Swiss army knife for not skinning a bear as well as a hunting knife? 🤔

Both excellent points. I think I consider my digital Camera's fun things to fool around with. My cell phone I use as a tool, and one of the last things I learned about was how/when to use the cell phone camera. I use it a LOT for FYI stuff. I take a snap of things like my tractor/lawn mower/paint cans so when I'm at the store and think to buy a filter, or deck paint, all the info is on my phone. Also things I can't easily see, like what light bulb goes in my microwave and I can't get my head twisted around to see the sticker between the stove and microwave bottom, snap, I can now see it and also have it on permanent file. Also, with a magnifying app I can photograph small stuff with super small print that I also keep that on file. My wife grew the worlds hottest pepper plant and I wanted to keep the name on file... snap, photo of the plant and it's name tag. These are all with my old LG v20 which is always in my pocket. The quality of these photo's is irrelevant, but I think is excellent anyway, particularly since NO planning, NO lighting or anything a 5 year old with no photo experience could do.

The other 100's of things these Pocket Computers can do are for a non photography section/forum...

Paint label for future reference


Small Part number blown up and lit up with Magnifier App


Pepper Plant ID

(Download)

Microwave light label on bottom of mic between stove and mic.

srt101fan

You make a strong case for these little wonder devices. Hard to understand how some people can be so dead set against them....

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

Right on brother! I actually do have a cell phone, however, and surprise, I use it to TALK.

hrblaine

>Disclaimer, I don't own a cell phone, and haven't since I retired.

I have a cell phone around here somewhere. I guess it has a camera but I've never taken a picture with it. I have Canons for that. I started many years ago with a Voightlander, then to a Nikon 35mm of some stripe, finally moved up to an F. Quit taking pictures for several years (law school/new job) and when I resumed, went to digital. Reading cell phones is bad enough, taking pictures with them is beyond the pale. That's my not-so-humble opinion anyway. Harry

al lehman Loc: San jose, ca.

Based on current technology, I doubt seeing myself replacing my DSLR with a phone camera for several reasons. My Canon glass is far superior than apple or samsung camera glass. Camera phones today are great for landscape, vacation, and general photography. When you want to count hairs on the chin of wildlife, or capture that cheetah at 100 yards, you will have far superior resolution with the DSLR. Camera phones have a market niche and are good for many aspects of general photography. Those larger sensors in DSLR's make a huge difference. Bottom line is your camera selection is simply based on your desire for resolution, quality, file size, flexibility, portability, and cost. If you travel to someplace like Yellowstone you will see DSLR cameras lined up on the side of the road with advanced lenses. When National Geographic, news, and commercial photographers shift to Apple or Samsung camera phones, I'll take another look at them. Enjoy your camera phone, they do take great images.

ChrisRL

Yeah, I'd agree and would add that the iPhones have taken the place of the point-and-shoots, from Kodak Brownies through the Polaroid cameras on down. And of course the vast, vast majority of point-and-shoot film users were vacationers, family snapshot artists, occasions (weddings, birthdays, etc) and in some countries, that practice, along with all the one-hour film places and the albums etc., still prevail over digital.

(case in point, 1.4 billion people in China know that anything they take on a smart phone can go straight to the Government - so they still use film for private and precious moments, and present each other with booklets of 4x6 snaps to put in their (huge) family albums).

So the amount of people using other than point-and-shoot have always been less than 10% of all camera/phone users. It's just that the 90% of point-and-shoot, in the States anyway, have switched over to smart phones. In other countries it's startling to see people with Olympus Pens, etc., still snapping away with abandon.

And of course we still get the people who used to go "I spent $50 on this Polaroid Super XYZ! I want it to take better pictures than your Sinar 4x5 thingymajiggy! And RIGHT NOW!" - they just do that with their iPhones and Androids these days.

DICK32

quixdraw has this tongue thoroughly planted in his cheek. No offence intended.