Advantages of Mirrrorless cameras over DSLRs
There has been such an increasing buzz in the past few years, you’d easily think this is all hype. And you would be correct, at least partially. I mean, masterful works of photographic art have been created over the years with lesser cameras than we have available today. There are several things which make the experience of using mirrorless cameras different than DSLRs. Whether these differences add up to advantages that make a difference, will depend on your needs as a photographer.
So what then would be the advantages Mirrorless cameras have over DSLRs … and is there anything we’d even need in our photography?
Silent shutter / Electronic shutter
In a previous article we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the silent / electronic shutter. The benefit of a silent shutter will be very obvious to anyone who has ever photographed a corporate event or a wedding ceremony. Wildlife photographers will especially embrace this. Imagine, you could fire off rapid bursts of frames without disturbing the animal you are observing.
The photo above was taken during a memorial service at Arlington Cemetery. The sound of a camera clicking away would have been intrusive to a huge degree. With the Fuji X-H1 (B&H / Amazon), using the silent / electronic shutter, there was absolutely no sound. With this camera the mechanical shutter itself is pretty quiet, but the ceremony here needed absolute silence from the camera.
It can also lead to banding, as this example below will show. (This photo also appears in the linked article on Electronic shutter vs mechanical shutter.)
The sensor readout of the Sony A9 (B&H / Amazon) is 1/160th of a second, and is much faster compared to the slower readout of the Sony A7R III and Sony A7 III (1/40th sec). This means the Sony A9 camera will be much less prone to this unfortunate side-effect.
Focusing accuracy and speed
There is an essential difference in how DSLRs focus, vs how Mirrorless cameras achieve focus. Mirrorless cameras use the data directly from the actual sensor to achieve focus, instead of a separate AF module. This leads to greater accuracy, and a larger area covered by the AF sensors.
There are two different systems that modern cameras use to acquire auto-focus – Phase Detection, and Contrast Detection.
DSLRs use phase detection to acquire focus – there is an AF module in the mirror-box of the camera that senses light from a secondary mirror. It is fast and accurate, but alignment errors can happen.
Contrast Detection is measured off the sensor itself. This gives great accuracy. However, phase detection can be sluggish. You’ve seen how slow AF can be when you switch your camera to Live View mode.
The most recent mirrorless cameras use a combination of the two as a Hybrid Autofocus system – you get the speed of phase detection, and the accuracy of contrast detection.
The other implication of measuring focus off the sensor itself, is shown in mirrorless cameras having a much larger area of the scene that is covered by the AF sensor points. With mirrorless cameras, the multitude of AF points cover something like 90% of the viewable screen. Using off-center focusing points are more accurate than you can expect with most DSLRs. DSLRs also tend to have the AF points grouped around the middle of the screen.
Manual Focus
Focusing manually with a mirrorless camera is a much better experience than with a DSLR because you can view the zoomed-in image in the viewfinder. Much easier to see in bright light than the back of your screen. While you can zoom in using Live View in most of the newer batch of DSLR cameras, there is the comfort and ergonomic aspect as well of holding the camera to your face with a mirrorless camera. No need to hold the camera extended in front of you.
If you wears glasses, viewing the back of your camera held at arm’s length, can be a pain. Viewing the scene (or images you just shot) through the viewfinder is more comfortable, because you can set the diopter setting to match you eyesight.
WYSIWYG preview of the subject & scene
What you see is what you get. Mirrorless cameras have a default of showing you in real time, the actual (ambient) exposure, as well as any in-camera effects that were added. This would be a problem in the studio of course, since the viewfinder would be impossibly dark at apertures like f/11 … so there is an option to disable this feature so that you can actually see the scene in front of you.
With mirrorless cameras you can then dial aperture or shutter speed (or ISO), or your exposure compensation, until the exposure looks good in the viewfinder or back of the camera.
Other benefits of mirrorless cameras
- Video: Without the mirror there, the experience of shooting video is entirely different. The focusing options also improve.
- Weight and size: This reason is often given as an advantage, but is is debatable. Once you add a grip to a mirrorless camera, the size isn’t that much smaller. And when you add an 85mm f/1.4 or 24-70mm f/2.8 then you have pretty much the same size camera & lens combination as with a DSLR. For me then, this is a debatable and not important.
- No mirror slap: There is no vibration because of the mirror’s movement. No “mirror slap” to contribute to shake. Add the electronic shutter where you have no shutter moving either, it allows you in theory to hand-hold your camera at lower shutter speeds than a DSLR.
- No viewfinder blackout: Cameras like the Nikon D5 and Nikon D810 have remarkably short blackout times from the mirror flipping up and down … but with mirrorless cameras there is no viewfinder blackout.
Summary
I am really comfortable using a DSLR, and I love the immediacy of the optical view of the scene in front of me. For at least the foreseeable future, my main camera system will be based around Nikon DSLRs. Currently I have two Nikon D5 bodies as the system for weddings and events, and several D810 bodies for commercial work. With that, I am steadily using mirrorless cameras for some aspects of my work, for the very reasons mentioned above.
I’d like to hear your opinions on this. Please add your comments below.
Related articles
- Advantages of mirrorless cameras – Eye-focus & Composition
- Silent Shutter / Electronic shutter vs mechanical shutter
- review: Fuji X-T2 camera
- Sony mirrorless cameras with vintage lenses
- More articles on Mirrorless Cameras
I have been waiting for a mirrorless camera that is right for me. I tried a Fuji a while back but it didn’t feel right. I shoot a lot of performing arts using 2 DSLR’s and there are times when I need 3. So a mirrorless option as my 3rd camera would be a better option. I am a comfortable Canon shooter so I am waiting for Canon’s full frame mirrorless, to see what it offers.
One of the greatest benefits, for me, is using exposure compensation with a live histogram in the viewfinder. Crazy but true.
Although EVF quality was lacking and the cameras did not have interchangeable lenses, EVFs have been around for years in digicams, some of which were fairly advanced in design (histograms, magnified manual focus, overexposure indication, etc). And more recently the image quality of accessory EVFs for compact cameras has improved greatly. The user experience base for EVF cameras could be said to be fairly broad. My personal observation is that I have had no problem moving back and forth between my DSLRs and my mirrorless cameras. The difference doesn’t seem to merit all the fervor I have seen on the subject.
The sensor readout of the Sony A9 is 1/160th.
Does that mean for shots faster than 1/160 you’ll get a more severe rolling shutter?
I haven’t done any testing yet, but my understanding is that the faster sensor readout (1/160th) will make the camera much less prone to rolling shutter than the slower readout of 1/40th would.
Thanks Neil for posting on this hot topic, particularly since Nikon just announced their Full Frame Mirrorless models last week.
Actually I have been using an Olympus mirrorless camera for a couple of years now, mostly for family gatherings and holidays, and love the shooting experience. Initially I was skeptical about using mirrorless, but I quickly become very satisfied with final results and the ease of use, certainly the smaller body size is less intrusive. It has now become my camera of choice for gardening and plant images.
I have been using Nikon DSLR’s since 2003, and continue to shoot with a D4 for client work. But on occasion, images captured by the Olympus make it into the final client selection. Like most things in life, its down to personal choice because their Advantages and Disadvantages to both formats. As Darrell mentioned in this post, I have no problems changing between the two.
I recently made the decision to switch from my Nikon cameras to Sony A9s. I have just ordered two bodies and the necessary lenses, and when they arrive I’ll start selling the Nikon gear. This wasn’t a decision that I made lightly at all — I have been using a Nikon D4s as my workhorse camera for a few years now, backed up with a D800. It was time to do something about the D800 as it really doesn’t cut it (never did, really). As Neil said, there are so many times when the shutter sound of the D4s in particular is just obnoxiously loud and so the ability to work silently has become a high priority for me — not only in sensitive situations, but also at media conferences and similar events if I’m working around videographers and TV people for example who really appreciate it when a stills guy can work unobtrusively.
I took my D4s and a computer to the closest place to me where I could try out many cameras (Sydney — three hours drive away) and shot the same things to compare the results and the handling of different cameras. The Sony A9 ended up being my pick. It focused faster and more accurately than the Nikon DSLRs, including the D4s and the D850, especially in low light; I was able to get consistently sharper images at slower shutter speeds with long lenses; and (nearly) edge-to-edge focus points is just brilliant. Also, the eye-tracking focus capability of the A9 was very impressive, and it’s something that I will probably use a great deal when photographing speakers at lecterns and those sorts of events. Also the A9 has longer battery life, dual cards … little things that are necessary for professional work.
But there are some down-sides. The A9 doesn’t feel as good in my hands, nor do the controls feel quite right — yet. I’m trusting that I’ll get used to those differences and be able to customise it well enough to my liking (and I found the EVF perfectly fine and easy to get used to very quickly). Also the A9 is not a camera that I would take into environmentally rugged conditions, but I don’t really do that kind of work so that doesn’t worry me too much.
There are other considerations in changing systems like this — new flashes, new triggers (I’ll probably go the Godox route), new RRS camera and lens plates. It all adds up to a very big commitment.
But, for me at least, the mirrorless advantages — of the A9 in particular — now outweigh those of high-end DSLRs and so the commitment becomes justifiable, albeit reluctant.
I’ve shot over 100,000 action shots with the A9 under a variety of lighting conditions and have never has a single instance of either rolling shutter or banding. The silent shutter is absolutely game changing. Unless using flash I do not expect I will ever shoot with any camera that makes a shutter sound again.
The shutter sound will eventually be looked back upon as both primitive and preposterous.
What bothers me a bit about mirrorless cameras is their inability to use the old unobtrusive red focus assist lamps/grid on external flashes in low-light situations. Instead, AFAIK, all mirrorless cameras use LEDs built into the camera body for this function. I believe the new Nikon and Canon mirrorless cameras also work this way.
Sometimes, these LEDs are better suited for video lighting than subtle low-light focus assist. In fact, Sony’s newest OEM flashes have LED video lights built-in that also double as low-light focus assist.
I think I’m the only photographer in the entire world that is bothered by this. Otherwise, mirrorless is at the point where they look attractive to me.
Is there any disadvantage in the AF systems? I heard a comment that even with hybrid AF the speed/precision in low light doesn’t match a DSLR. But no real details why.
Valent – in my limited use so far with the Sony A9 with available light photography, I haven’t noticed any unusual focusing problems in low light.
I just purchased a Sony A7lll. I’m transitioning away from Canon. The most significant thing to me personally is eye autofocus. It’s an absolute game changer. Deadly accurate with a hit rate close to 100%.
I shoot in low light nightclubs with terrible stage lighting and no flash. I’ve been able to get the best photos I have ever taken under there extreme conditions. My Canon 5Dlll couldn’t cut it in those conditions. The Fuji XT-2 was marginally better.
The A7lll crushes them both in the low light clubs. But the eye autofocus is what made me really take notice. My hit rate was incredible and you can frame and compose the photo in any way you see fit without restriction because if you use continuous autofocus with eye autofocus enabled you simple lock on the eye and then compose at will. The camera nails focus almost every single time. That’s been my experience thus far. I’m really happy with this A7lll.
I’ve been using A9’s for over a year now and have around twice the keepers from weddings. Almost everything is in sharp focus. The eye detect AF is great. Still prefer my 5D4 and Profoto B1 for group portraits as it just seems easier and faster to get the shots and the 35L ii lens is really hard to beat. But the 5D4 seems so hard to use for general shooting in natural light with no live preview, no eye detect AF, no IBIS, no quick zoom for manual focus, no fast way to change white balance and see the result, much less customisation of the controls/ buttons, no one button press for a cropped photo in camera, and some other stuff. The A9 really makes the job easier but – I still prefer Canon and Fuji colours/ skin tones.
Fortunately for me, my needs (light amateur general hobby) made for an easy switch from my Nikon D3200 to a Fuji X-T10 mirrorless. The glass for this camera starts out expensive, which is a bit of a bummer, and I’ve yet to try adapters with less expensive lenses. Otherwise, it’s a nice all-around camera for all the basics.
Eventually, I will upgrade, but I’m not shooting much at the moment, so there’s no need.
Neil, do mirrorless cameras let you shoot in the same bounce flash manner that you are used to with Canon speedlites or Nikon with FEC +or–? How about Godox? How is the dynamic range?
Also, I have heard, for those who use multiple speedlites, that Canon still has to the best menu system. Also, don’t the great Canon/Nikon lenses factor into it or do you use adaptors with your old lenses? How well do they work? I wouldn’t want to sell my Canon 85mm 1.4 IS that I just bought for professional work unless I really knew the answers to some of these things. None of my wedding photo education mentors have ever mentioned mirrorless either. I already own all the Canon gear and four ex600RTs so there’s that too :-)
I don’t want to get caught with my pants down so any feedback would be appreciated guys thanks.
Tommy, with the Canon adapter, you can use the existing EOS line of lenses with the Canon R mirrorless camera.
The dynamic range should be similar to that of the Canon 5D mk4.
About how the 600EX flash integrates with it — I will have to do a bit of homework first. But I do believe it will work like you are used to.
I tried using the Sony Mirrorless camera, but after a few months of experimentation I sold it.
I bought a Nikon D5 as a replacement and I have never been happier.
I found the size and ergonomics just ridiculous – too small for my hands, though the less weight was appealing; it felt like a toy.
Also battery power is very problematic for long shoots — I need to have several in my kit which is a joke.
But the biggest complaint was the Electronic viewfinder -very limited in low light environments for professional work.
However, I can see the psychology why it appeals to street photographers : the silence of operation and less confronting when targeting subjects.
Not for me.
I would have to agree with you — for everything I like about the Sony A9, it has the worst ergonomics of any camera I have used. And I still love my Nikon D5.