wpacetti wrote:
Hi, Bill here new to this forum. I,m interested in mirrorless, but do not know much about them. Could anyone please advise.
Thanks in advance.
Ahh, where to start...
I would probably go to review sites such as
http://www.dpreview.com and read reviews of mirrorless cameras from Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic, and Sony. They are the four leading manufacturers of mirrorless camera gear. Canon and Nikon are way behind in mirrorless. And Pentax? They took the high (priced) road to medium format. They make a great one.
These companies all make excellent gear, both bodies and lenses. They each favor a different set of strengths and weaknesses. There is likely one that meets your needs better than others would, so read reviews carefully. RENT to try, before you buy. LensRentals.com and BorrowLenses.com are two excellent rental sites. Be sure you handle your final couple of choices and try navigating all the menus and buttons. Some cameras make more sense to some people than others do. So you want to be sure the body fits your hands, and your way of understanding the interfaces.
Mirrorless cameras have no reflex viewing mirror, because they use an electronic viewfinder system. Camera bodies tend to be a little smaller and lighter than dSLRs. But ONLY Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera *systems* from Olympus and Panasonic are substantially lighter than full frame or APS-C dSLRs. That's because the Micro 4/3 lenses are smaller and lighter (as much as 80% lighter for equivalent field of view!). Some mirrorless lenses are actually heavier than some dSLR lenses, so you have to be careful in your shopping if weight reduction is a priority.
If your priority is high level sports photography, or wildlife action such as birds in flight, you may prefer a dSLR. There is still a slight viewfinder lag with electronic viewfinders. HOWEVER, that is compensated by the ability of some mirrorless cameras to record at unusually high frame rates... 30, 60, 96, or 180 fps! And that lag is shorter with every new generation of camera released.
There is probably more innovation happening in the engineering labs of the mirrorless camera companies than at Canon and Nikon. But rumors of serious Canon and Nikon mirrorless gear have been circulating since 2010. We just haven't seen serious market evidence of it yet. Canon makes an M-series (M5, M6 are current) and Nikon makes the '1' series. They are generally regarded as capable, but at the rear of the mirrorless race. Canon and Nikon are both in a precarious position in the market... They don't want to endanger their cash cows (dSLRs and lenses). They're in much the same position as Kodak in 2003, or BlackBerry (RIM) in 2007... Too scared and conservative to commit to a paradigm change. So they keep doing what they do best. For now, it suits them.
What did I do? I abandoned Canon and Nikon in 2012, after using some of both of their equipment personally and professionally since 1968. I now use Panasonic — a Lumix GH4 and three Panasonic lenses. The GHx series is best for me, because I record equal measures of still images and video. One small kit does it all.
I produce training content, do product photography, and event photography. Previously, I had a dSLR and separate pro video camera, about eight times the total bulk and weight. It was always a pain to go from one mind set to the other, and drag that stuff through airports. Now, I can record video and extract stills from it that work perfectly in PDF manuals and printed manuals and eLearning modules. I can work completely noiselessly in a theater, using the electronic shutter. I can WiFi my images to my iPhone and email them immediately. I can remotely trip my electronic camera shutter, using the iPhone app, to avoid vibration in macro photography...
You probably have a completely different set of needs, so you may wind up with a Fuji, or a Sony, or an Olympus, or a dSLR... Just DO YOUR RESEARCH. It's worth it.