“Mirrorless” is all the talk. Everyone, it seems, “is going mirrorless”.
But not me, and not many other photographers either: not quite yet.
Canon 1D Mark IV camera
Why not switch to the latest technology?
Well, while mirrorless offers advantages, like
- Preview information (eg histogram) through viewfinder.
- Post-shot view.
- Smaller, lighter! Especially if you get the new lenses.
…there are also good reasons for pros to hesitate and hold off. Here’s a few:
- If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.Why mess with something that is proven to work?
- Mirrorless is unproven. Looks good, but it’s new. Why risk it?
- Battery life. Not as good, not nearly as good as the pro DSLRs
- Dust. The sensor is exposed and every lens change introduces dust.
- New lenses needed—and that’s a major investment. Or you use adapters and invest in those, and forego the “smaller” advantage. Adapters are always iffy anyway: another point of failure.
As you see, there are good reasons to not mess with something that ain’t broken.
Yeah, I’m in the “if it ain’t broke” camp as well. For years, I’ve heard people go on about how much smaller and lighter mirrorless cameras are (although I’ve never ever had a problem with the weight of my DLSR) and their quality is almost as good as DSLRs. When their quality surpasses that of a DLSR, I’ll think about switching, but until then I’m sticking with the DLSR.
I totally agree with you. I have a Nikon Df in my kit, and that paired with the lighter 1.8 primes is like shooting mirrorless in terms of weight… much lighter kit, full frame, same sensor as the D4 – produces excellent results. Sure it doesn’t have video, but I am a photographer, not a videographer most days.
Otherwise, my D800 and D500 do the trick with an assortment of lenses that I own, why fix what isn’t broken.