Question about mirrorless

[Old Crank]

I volunteered for the European games and part of my activities involved work with some media people.
I talked to a woman pro-photog who now has all mirrorless equipment for her work.
$$$$

She says that she thinks it is fine. She misses the sound of the normal SLR.

She also said mirrorless seems to her to be equal to the previous SLRs except in low light situations.

I didn't think to ask her about that observation.
Why would that be? And is it the view finder that is not as bright or the overall performance?

Any of you using mirrorless and can you weight in on that issue.

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. Speaking from my 34 years of being a professional AND being mirrorless for the last

12 years, I cannot find ANY negatives to the myriad of mirrorless cameras I have used. They have ALL been Sony's, so my viewpoint may be skewed, but I would NEVER use a mirrored camera again.
I can shoot at very high ISO's and experience so little grain.
I am a real estate photographer. On occasion, I need to shoot houses with no power. In those cases, I usually shoot at 1600 or 3200 ISO. TBH, I cannot tell the difference between those and when I shoot my normal 320 ISO.
Hope this helps.

[mitch96]

3. "I cannot tell the difference between those and when I shoot my normal 320 ISO. "

That's good to know. I'm an old film guy and I would us 100 ISO Kodak and worked around that. I might get daring and use 400 iso but it got grainy. Good to know I can use higher ISO on my new (to me) Oly OM10 and get away with it.. Tnx...
m

[3Hotdogs]

2. Not the answer you are looking for... I am a good photographer, not a great photographer.

--- made some pin money off of my stuff. I stopped selling because it is too much of a pain in the ass for the amount I sell.

I use a Nikon D800. Obsolete.

But I can't justify a couple'a $k for a replacement.

[IA8IT]

4. Owned a Sony A7R3 for three years and OMG YES!! What you see is what you get viewfinder.

I did wait for a price drop before I jumped to mirrorless. I feel it's viewfinder wins in low light condition too. Silent shooting wildlife is a blessing. Only negative is a careless finger on shutter I take several pics of my feet because I don't hear the click. Nuisance but no wasted film!!

[AndyS]

5. I can't imagine what the issue might be.

Using a electronic viewfinder (EVF) allows the camera to boost gain in low light so if anything performance is much better in that respect. Image performance is a function of sensor and if it's a comarason of noise in high ISO 4/3 sensors are at a disadvantage but APS or full frame should be completely equivalent to the same sensor size regardless of viewing system.

The older EVFs were lower pixel count and the refresh rate was sometimes noticable (flicker) but anything in the last 5 years should be indistinguishable from SLR (except for the enhanced brightness).

As for the SLR sound AP switched to Sony to get rid of that distraction. Gone are the days of a press conference with the speech completely drown out by the flappity flap noise!

Edit to add: Making the switch is body only cost as an adapter will retro fit the body to legacy lenses. Nikon is the best in this respect as every Nikkor lens ever made can be brought along. Updating to newer optics for the more compact size and performance can come along as you wish.

[Major Nikon]

6. The biggest issue is the use of legacy lenses

If you have thousands of dollars invested in SLR lenses you really like, switching to mirrorless could involve a significant investment.

The advantage to SLR in terms of low light will be with manual focusing in certain circumstances. If you have a split image focusing screen for your SLR you might be able to focus better in low light situations simply because you have an optical rather than a digitized indication of focus. However, even a split image screen suffers from the same handicap as it also works on differences in contrast. I would expect the differences, if any, to be small.

The advantage to mirrorless is a smaller/lighter camera and lenses all other things being equal. If you are just getting started buying higher end equipment this advantage far outweighs any disadvantages.

[moonshinegnomie]

8. focus peaking solves that

my sony gives me a visual indicator of whether im in focus or not when manual focusing

[Major Nikon]

11. So do all the manual DSLRs

Most of them can either use the dedicated prism AF sensors or they can use the digital media itself in live mode the same way a mirrorless does. Either way it’s still a digitized focus reference whereby using a split image focusing screen is purely optical. The advantage is you can more easy search for a focus point with more contrast as opposed to digital methods which can be quite literally a shot in the dark. Depending on whether or not you have a split image screen and your level of skill using it you might be able to focus better in certain conditions.

It used to be it was relatively easy to beat auto focus, but modern cameras have gotten much better in low light conditions and with an IR assist can potentially beat anything you could do manually.

[moonshinegnomie]

7. i use both. a nikon d850 and a sony a7iii

the only reason i still have my nikon is legacy lenses. but if nikon were to come out with somthing inbetween the z7 and the z9 i'll probably sell the d850 and switch to full mirrorless.

as for low light situation ive had no real low light issues

[Old Crank]

9. Interesting comments

I'm not currently in the market for a new camera body. I still have legacy glass from my film days. In theory all would move over to mirroless. Nikon. Lighter weight would be nice but how much saving will the camera give you if you have some long fast glass? I doubt that I will be interested in much longer than 200 mm plus a teleconverter. But a 200, f2.8 isn't exactly light.

I haven't worn out my old FM2s shutter and I am well past the advertised life span. But reduced mechanical complexity is good.

Thanks for the insights.

[Bo Zarts]

10. I'm shooting with Sony A7-R4 mirrorless, full-frame ..

And now I have added a Fujifilm GFX-100S mirrorless medium format.

I am sad to say that my Canon 5D MK4 has not been used in over a year. But I do use my Canon glass (along with Sony and Fujifilm glass) on the mirrorless cameras, with very satisfactory results.

[Gato Moteado]

12. if they meant visibility in the VF, then a mirrorless should be better in low light situations...

Last edited Thu Sep 15, 2022, 02:41 PM - Edit history (1)

...but the only way to tell would be to use the same exact lens on both cameras being compared, or at the very least, a lens with the same maximum aperture and focal length. i would think on a mirrorless camera there would be enough gain to brighten up the EVF in low light situations, giving you a WYSIWYG view based on your exposure settings. if they meant image quality in lower light, that has nothing to do with being mirrorless and everything to do with the sensor. newer sensors and sensors with less resolution (larger pixels) perform better in low light than older or high res sensors.

the main gripes about mirrorless cameras that i have heard are:

1. EVF has some latency, making fast moving subjects (birds in flight, sports, auto races) hard to photograph. the last couple years, the processors/EVFs have been getting better and are almost "live", so i don't hear this gripe any more.

2. battery life is significantly shorter than a DSLR because the battery has to power the EVF

3. form factor is too small for people with big hands.

the main advantages, IMHO, of mirrorless cameras are:

1. WYSIWYG EVF

2. focusing points on the sensor for more accurate AF since no lens/camera calibration is needed

3. smaller lighter bodies

4. no mirror slap which makes the body and lens vibrate while exposing the shot, blurring the image

5. in-body image stabilization giving you several more stops of hand holding at slower shutter speeds

6. better video and the ability to AF and track while making video

ON EDIT: i forgot one of my favorite advantages of mirrorless:

7. eye detection AF for worry free composition when photographing people or animals.

and, can't forget:

8. end-to-end and top-to-bottom focus points, which is invaluable and also makes number 7 possible no matter where your subject is in the EVF

[ManiacJoe]

13. Good summary!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

14. I've been taking pictures for more than fifty years.

It took me a long time to switch to mirrorless, and I'm not going back. I shoot with a Canon R5 and my wife uses an R7. I've never noticed any lag in the viewfinder when shooting wildlife. The autofocus systems are far superior. Battery life sucks, so carry at least one spare, maybe two.