Mirrorless or DSLR

Episode 200 - Which is best for you, Mirrorless or a DSLR?

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Transcript

Hey, how's it going? I'm Andy Jones, and this is episode 200 of the Photography Side Hustle Podcast. 

 Well, it's been a few weeks since the last episode, and I was seriously thinking of quitting altogether because I've covered pretty much everything in past episodes. Then I thought I should really go over some of the earlier episodes; they're 3-4 years old now, so that's what I'm going to do. 

So I think this will really help you if you're just in the beginning stages of getting your head around photography. 

Right, this week I'm going to waffle on about DSLRs and mirrorless camera bodies. If you're not sure which to buy, this will help you. 

The differences between DSLRs and mirrorless bodies.

So in the DSLR body, there is a mirror behind the lens that sends the light up through a group of mirrors to the viewfinder. So when you look through the viewfinder on a DSLR, you are actually looking through the lens. 

The mirrorless body, as its name suggests, doesn't have any mirrors. What they replace the mirror with is a video feed. When you look through the electronic viewfinder of a mirrorless camera, you are actually seeing a video representation of what the sensor is seeing through the lens. 

The early examples of electric viewfinders were not that good; they were very pixelated. But, over the last few years, the EVFs have gotten to the point where they are the same as a DSLR viewfinder. 

The other difference is that they use a different lens mount. Canon changed its lens mount from the EF to the RF. Nikon changed from the F-mount to the Zed or Z-mount.

That means that if you change from a DSLR to a mirrorless camera body, your old lenses won't fit the mirrorless body without an adapter. These adapters only work to allow older lenses to fit the new mirrorless bodies. They don't work the other way around. You can't mount a new Nikon Z-Lens on an older DSLR body.

Battery Life

Battery life used to be a big issue on mirrorless bodies. That’s because the viewfinder is a video screen and uses more of the battery's power. Battery technology is constantly improving. My batteries don’t last as long as the ones in my DSLRs, but that’s okay. I just carry a few extras. It’s not a big deal.

Prices

As for price, DSLRs are a great deal right now. If you look at used bodies, you can save an absolute ton of money. 

For the price of a mid-level mirrorless body, you could buy a DSLR that, a few years ago, was the best available. Now I'm a Canon fanboy, and the 5D Mark IV was, and still is, a great camera for landscapes, weddings, portraits, absolutely anything. I would rather have a 5D Mark IV than a crop-sensored entry-level mirrorless body.

If you are thinking of buying a used body, make sure you buy from a reputable dealer. Don’t buy privately; you will have no guarantee. Trust me, I’ve made that mistake. 

With a dealer, you will get at least 30 days, and make sure to ask for the shutter count before you buy. You want one with 50k actuations or less. The Canon 5D shutter is good for 150,000 clicks, and many go way above that number. So play it safe, and get one with as few clicks as possible. 

I noticed that the B&H website is showing the shutter count for its used bodies now. So that is a big step forward. I wish all the dealers would be open about it.

A couple of years ago, I did the jump from DSLR to mirrorless and kept all my old lenses and used them with an adapter. The reason I made the jump was because of the eye detection autofocus that the Canon mirrorless bodies were offering. 

For me, having the camera automatically focus on the eye of the subject was a game-changer. Out-of-focus images don't happen very often. If I were starting out and looking to shoot sports, I would definitely look at getting a camera with eye detection because it does the hard part for you. The same goes for weddings or family shoots. If you've got moving targets, eye detection is great. 

If you shoot headshots in a studio, a DSLR is more than capable of getting everything you need. The same goes for landscape photography. You don't need eye detection. All you need is a good-quality camera to capture the scene. 

Another thing that is different between DSLRs and mirrorless bodies is the focus points. On a DSLR, you might have 9 to more than 50 focus points in the viewfinder. A mirrorless camera body can potentially use every pixel on the sensor as a focus point. 

Depending on the model, you could have around 100 focus points on an entry-level body or more than 5,000 in the Canon EOS R models.

The technology jump over the last 3 years or so has been incredible. The autofocus on some of these cameras is mind-blowing. The Canon R5 Mark II has predictive auto-focusing. I watched Jared Polin of Fro Knows Photo fame shooting a kids' basketball game, and the AI autofocus predicted where the ball would be passed to and then focused on the next person's eyes as the ball was passed. Which is total AI witchcraft if you ask me. 

Like I said, if you shoot sports or any fast-moving subjects, these new cameras can make your life way easier. 

But if you want the latest technology, it comes at a cost. You can spend anywhere from $3,000 to over $10,000 on a camera body. If you buy used, you can get a professional-quality full-frame mirrorless body for $1,200 to $1,600. Like a Nikon Z6 or a Canon R8.

The first time I covered this subject, four and a half years ago, I was falling on the DSLR side. Now I’m very much on the side of the mirrorless cameras. Not because they don’t have a mirror, but because of the auto focus and eye detection. It makes your life so much easier.

Alright, that is my take on DSLRs and mirrorless camera bodies.

I’ll be back soon with more photography waffle.

Talk to you soon, bye.