Mirrorless Cameras
So technology wise this is where it’s at. Mirrorless cameras have all the perks of DSLR in terms of quality, focus speed, dynamic range etc but they have removed the archaic mirror system giving you the ability to use the rear screen of the camera OR the digital viewfinder to preview your images and compose. This means that you end up with a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) experience; you change a setting and it updates a preview instantly in the display for you. Because the mirror box has been removed in these cameras they are smaller and lighter however be aware that your lenses for full frame DSLR & mirrorless will be similar if not the same so whilst the camera body might be smaller and lighter it doesn’t necessarily impact the weight of the whole kit. Again, this new tech comes at a cost and the biggest cost is battery life. Whilst you might get 1000-2000 shots out of a DSLR battery, a mirrorless camera generally only delivers 400-800 shots at best.
Pro's
- Same image quality as the DSLR counterparts
- Much easier to learn than DSLR
- Tons of features as they are more ‘fully-digital’
- Stacks of lenses in the mirrorless ranges from each brand
- Much smaller and lighter weight than the equivalent DSLR
- What-you-see-is-what-you-get shooting experience
Con's
- Battery life kind of sucks (comparatively speaking)
- A bit of a curve ball here but I actually prefer she shooting experience looking through an optical viewfinder. Digital viewfinders are awesome quality with virtually no-lag but when doing wildlife (especially) staring down the viewfinder for long periods of time I feel like I’m watching a nature doco on a tiny tiny TV rather than being a part of the actual scene. This is all about personal experience so don’t change your mind based on this dot point!
Sensor Size
Like DSLR cameras, mirrorless cameras use a range of sensor sizes depending on brand and range. Olympus exclusively uses Micro4/3 whereas most other brands have Crop-Sensor and Full-Frame ranges.
