I watched the online Nikon Z6/7 Hands-on Panel Discussion (twice) as well as watched or read user reviews on numerous web sites, but I still don’t understand why I should want or need this new mirrorless camera. I currently own a Nikon D810 and two Nikon Df’s along with a variety of AI-S, D, G and E lenses. What are the compelling reasons why I should add this camera to my current Nikon product collection or replace one of my existing cameras? And if for some reason I need a mirrorless camera, wouldn’t I be better off buying a Fujifilm XT2 with a Nikon F mount converter?

I watched the online Nikon Z6/7 Hands-on Panel Discussion (twice) as well as watched or read user reviews on numerous web sites, but I still don’t understand why I should want or need this new mirrorless camera. I currently own a Nikon D810 and two Nikon Df’s along with a variety of AI-S, D, G and E lenses. What are the compelling reasons why I should add this camera to my current Nikon product collection or replace one of my existing cameras? And if for some reason I need a mirrorless camera, wouldn’t I be better off buying a Fujifilm XT2 with a Nikon F mount converter?

Paradoxically, the exposed sensor can stay cleaner!

I have used eight different Canon dSLRs and three Nikon dSLRs. All of them needed sensor cleaning at least once a year. I never changed or removed the lens from the Canon EOS 50D, but after moderate use (about 5,000 clicks), I had to remove the lens... to clean the sensor!

Why? Because there’s a friggin’ flippy-floppy mirror in it that has lubricants in its control mechanism. The mechanism that moves the mirror also creates micro-fine metal shavings that mix with the lube. There’s also a foam dampening strip below the focusing screen that the mirror slams into with every exposure. It deteriorates and sheds sticky foam particles.

All of that crud gets fanned around by the mirror as it flips and flops!

My Lumix GH4 has never needed a sensor cleaning in 42 months, with dozens and dozens of lens changes, many done outdoors on windy days! Yet its sensor stares at me each time I remove a lens. Maybe the sensor cleaning feature in the Lumix is just better, but I doubt it.

Mirrors just blow... dust and gunk onto the sensor.

Not all apply:

* Work absolutely silently in a dark theatre, with no light from a rear screen to disturb patrons behind you. (EVF plus electronic shutter = stealth mode!)
Can be done with a DSLR with mirror up.
* Do vibration-free macro work at long shutter speeds with remote control via WiFi and a smartphone app. (mirrorless design plus electronic shutter + WiFi = no vibration!)
Can be done with a DSLR with mirror up.
* Do nature photography silently and remotely (mirrorless design plus electronic shutter + WiFi = remote control of a silent camera!)
Can be done with a DSLR with mirror up.
* NEVER have to "fine tune a lens" to your camera bodies' focusing systems. (Focus sensing happens in the imaging sensor of a mirrorless, so if it's in focus in the EVF or OLED LCD, it's in focus!)
You still might with 3rd party lenses like Sigma 150-600mm
* Clean your sensor much less often. (No mirror means no mirror to fan flying droplets of lubricants, or metal shavings, or foam particles from the mirror dampener...)
Actually clean the sensor more no mirror to stop pollen or other objects reaching the sensor

I watched the online Nikon Z6/7 Hands-on Panel Discussion (twice) as well as watched or read user reviews on numerous web sites, but I still don’t understand why I should want or need this new mirrorless camera. I currently own a Nikon D810 and two Nikon Df’s along with a variety of AI-S, D, G and E lenses. What are the compelling reasons why I should add this camera to my current Nikon product collection or replace one of my existing cameras? And if for some reason I need a mirrorless camera, wouldn’t I be better off buying a Fujifilm XT2 with a Nikon F mount converter?

Mirrorless cameras have special applications that dSLRs can't handle. Unless you need them for those special applications, you don't need them:

* Work absolutely silently in a dark theatre, with no light from a rear screen to disturb patrons behind you. (EVF plus electronic shutter = stealth mode!)
* Do vibration-free macro work at long shutter speeds with remote control via WiFi and a smartphone app. (mirrorless design plus electronic shutter + WiFi = no vibration!)
* Do nature photography silently and remotely (mirrorless design plus electronic shutter + WiFi = remote control of a silent camera!)
* NEVER have to "fine tune a lens" to your camera bodies' focusing systems. (Focus sensing happens in the imaging sensor of a mirrorless, so if it's in focus in the EVF or OLED LCD, it's in focus!)
* Clean your sensor much less often. (No mirror means no mirror to fan flying droplets of lubricants, or metal shavings, or foam particles from the mirror dampener...)
* Record top notch video AND stills with the same camera. (While you can record video with a dSLR, the EVF allows much greater flexibility.)
* Use 4K or 6K still capture modes to work at high frame rates (30-60 frames per second STILLS)

There are many more reasons we mirrorless users love them. Specific brands do different things differently, so to really get a sense of what they do, you have to read the reviews and study the camera manuals (all online at manufacturer web sites).

I can tell you that the Nikon mirrorless will likely adapt F-mount lenses better than any adapter for Fujifilm cameras. We shall see. They'll need that adapter, because they don't plan to release many lenses in the first few years. (Which comes first, the bodies, or the lenses? They can't sell one without the others!)

The vast majority of dSLR owners should keep their gear for now. Wait until the over-eager GAS hogs take the slings and arrows of new technology in the back, and Nikon fixes a few things. If you need a mirrorless next week, go rent a Sony or Olympus or Panasonic or Fujifilm camera. All four have reasonably mature systems. They're all quite different, but they are all cameras.

I watched the online Nikon Z6/7 Hands-on Panel Discussion (twice) as well as watched or read user reviews on numerous web sites, but I still don’t understand why I should want or need this new mirrorless camera. I currently own a Nikon D810 and two Nikon Df’s along with a variety of AI-S, D, G and E lenses. What are the compelling reasons why I should add this camera to my current Nikon product collection or replace one of my existing cameras? And if for some reason I need a mirrorless camera, wouldn’t I be better off buying a Fujifilm XT2 with a Nikon F mount converter?